Beginning Your Year In Faith

Good morning in this new year and on this glorious Sunday morning. Waine and I are still in Hawkinsville and I had a pretty busy day yesterday taking calls from anxious parents. Its has been 60-70 degrees all weekend and Waine has enjoyed two (2) rounds of golf each day. It was 17 degrees here about 3 weeks ago, so in the span of 30 days, this area of Georgia has seen major temperature swings.

Continue to keep ET and his family in your prayers. His spirits are high and his eyes are fixed on Christ. His specific prayer request is that God would grant him a long life and that he would be able to see his grandchildren grow up. God has granted this prayer requests for many saints so I am requesting that this be the specific prayer you offer up for ET. Several of you have emailed me to remind me that ET's life will be rich whether on this side of Jordan or the next; of this I am certain and I am also requesting that this brother's specific prayer request be offered up. None of us know the hour or the day we are called to the other shore. This brother has not heard that call yet and I am confident that because his walk with Jesus is so profound he will hear the call before any of us do, so please send up your prayers.

I am continuing my walk through Romans, chapter 15 verses 16-21, " But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.  But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”  Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, “I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.” And Isaiah boldly says, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.” But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”. Amen

Paul is moving on with his calling. He was chosen specifically because he was both a Jew and a Roman citizen. He had a kinship with the Jews in Roman; he was schooled in the traditions of the Hebrew faith and knew that most Jews were still looking for their Messiah, although Jesus had walked among them. He is now having to convince the Christian Jews of Rome to extend their ministry to the Gentiles that reside there. Paul also had to convince these Christian Jews, that the Kingdom of God was not only meant for the direct descendants of Abraham but for all the children of God who have been reconciled unto God through Christ. Paul's other task was to teach the Roman Christian church that being Jewish is not what will give them the promise of eternal life. They, the Roman Jews, would have to accept the Gift of Eternal life by surrendering their lives to Christ. Both tasks were daunting and revolutionary! Jews are taught from birth that they have a birth right; they are the "chosen" people because of their kinship with and through Abraham. These Jews were still looking for their Messiah and still lived out of the Old Testament. Paul's message is that Christ fulfilled all the scriptures and promises of the Old Testament and the world was now in a new chapter with its own commandments. For the church to grow these Roman Jewish Christians would have to mature and embrace the teachings of Christ. Paul's knowledge of the scriptures and teachings of the Old Testament is why he was chosen to grow the church of this new found religion--the religion of FAITH and not works. Paul's consistent message is to let go of the "old" and embrace the new!

The same with us. When each opportunity arises for us to exercise our faith we have to let go of the "Old" - our fleshly nature and embrace the "New" nature of FAITH. This faith is renewed and strengthened in only 1 way and that is the Word of God which is why I feed myself the Word daily. There are days I do not have a firm grasp of all that I read but I can tell you for certain, even when I am not sure with  my mind what I am reading, my spirit is still fed and my FAITH grows. Our natural  mind is limiting; we give in to logic and barriers all the time which is why most of us are not POSSIBILITY THINKERS OR LIVERS. We operate too much in the natural world and miss the blessings that are in front of us. If you want to reach your full potential then you have to dwell in the supernatural world where barriers do not exists. FAITH will take you there, and that is a promise from Jesus.  Someone mentioned to me that they noticed that I asked for prayers when I wanted people healed. They thought that was odd since I am a physician. Actually, being a physician has convinced me that healing comes from God and that he uses physicians to assit in the process. As in ET's case it would appear with the  natural mind that we are in the 9th inning with 2 strikes and 3 balls; or in the 4th quarter of a football game with 1 minute to play and it is the 4th down. Well I watched the Wisconsin/TCU game yesterday where the kicker for Wisconsin actually ran with the ball as opposed to punting it giving Wisconsin a 1st down. Well if man can come up with that; how much more can God do if not limited by our impossibility thinking.

As you exercise your faith on behalf of this brother, you are actually raising the bar on your own faith and in your own life. Nothing we send out, either positive or negative returns to us empty. Send your Faith out today for yourself and others. Live in abundance today!

Stephanie

Righteousness is not a Behavior it is a Belief!

Good morning to all on this Sunday morning and Waine and I were praising God for this beautiful day in Hawkinsville, GA. Waine is off playing golf and I am having my devotion. Thank you for your prayers for ET and his family. His CT scan showed no progression of his disease and he is in the next phase of his treatment with radiation and chemotherapy for 5 weeks. Continue to pray that God will use ET and this journey to spread the Good News that Jesus the Christ is able to heal which is the message that his physicians are getting. Also, another friend of ours had a large colon poly removed and is doing fine. Waine's Mom, Violet, who is 87 is in failing health. Please pray for her healing and her quality of life. She knows Jesus so her future is secure so we are praising God for her life. Prayer changes things; prayer can change the course of time so that the outcome that everyone think would happen doesn't. Prayer engages our faith and then we are all in the miracle zone. Thank you for your prayers!

I am continuing my journey in Romans 3, verses 1-20, "What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very Words of God. What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all!   As it is written: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge." But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing His wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? Someone might argue, "If my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and so increases His glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?" Why not say—as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say—"Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is deserved. What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin." Amen and amen! May God add a blessing to the reading of His Holy Word.

Paul had a very difficult job--he had to convince the Jewish Christians to let go of just "trying to live" under the law and instead embracing the law to learn about faith and their obligation to use faith through Christ to defeat sin. If you think about it, this was a radical concept for Jews who had been taught for millenia that if they kept the Mosaic law their future would be secured through eternity. Jews had to embrace the fact that Christ ushered in a new disspenation that required everyone to accept His diety and then accept the gift of eternal life through Christ. No one, Jew or gentile, were going to be able to "work" their way or "behave" their way into eternal life. Likewise, for those who did not want to live by faith, there was no safety in the not living a rigtheous life  as an excuse to exhort others to embrace a life of faith. Both the Jew and the Gentile were being urged to embrace the principles that Christ lived and died for. As Christians who have only lived under the New Testament, these struggles that the Roman Christians were facing seem very odd to me however I am sure they were very confusing for those new Christians. The botton line for Christians then and now is that lving a life through faith is the Righteous Life we have been exhorted to live. Living by faith also means that we live a life with out doubt and fear. Practically speaking, each hour of each day, fear and doubt, are always present to interrupt our faith walk which will hinder our ability to manifest the fruits of the Spirit. When fear and doubt affect you today, defaet the Devil through God's promises for our abundance.

Please blessed today through God's Word.

Stephanie