|
|
|
T.O.D.A.Y.'S ENCOURAGEMENT for April 21, 2005
T.O.D.A.Y.
Ministries
14745 Merrilltown #1611 Austin TX 78728
Good
Morning!
I
want to put Hebrews 11:1 back up for us to read....."Now faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen".
Today, I want to talk about the word "faith", and also about the
word "hope". First of all, we need to understand the
scriptural definition of what "faith" is.....it is not nearly so
complicated as we try to make it. It "simply" means to TRUST. You
know, like when little children "trust" their parents to do what
they say they will do! If their daddy says "go ahead and jump off
the porch, I will catch you". They don't try to understand if
he will or if he won't....they just "jump off the porch", expecting
him to do what he said he would do! That is child-like faith
(trust)....which is the kind of faith that Jesus says we must have. In
other words..."Trust in The Lord with all of your heart and lean not
unto your own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5).
Now, I want to talk about the word
"hope" and what the scriptural definition of that word is.
When the Lord talks about "hope", He is not talking about WISHING!
He is talking about "joyful expectation"! Keep in mind, that
Hebrews 11:1 says that our faith (trust) gives substance to our
"hope"....if we don't have any hope (expectation), then our faith
has nothing to work with. Our "hope" is supposed to be in God
and His Word (Psalms 42:5 Amplified Bible).
Tomorrow, I will talk about the last part
of that verse...."the evidence of things not seen". Please
stay with me on this....remember that I said earlier, that reading The Word of
God and using other scriptures that relate to what we are reading,
is like taking all of the pieces of a jig-saw puzzle and putting them together
until we can see the "whole picture"! That is taking in the
"whole counsel" of God! I know that by the time we are
done with this, some of you will read Hebrews 11:1 in a different way than you
have ever read it before! Thank you for your "patience" with
me...I just cannot say all that I want to say in one
"encouragement".
|
|
|
In
His Love, Luanne