PEOPLE WITH AWESOME FAITH ARE THOSE WHO LIVE THEIR FAITH!
– They make decisions based on their faith, or I should say they don’t make decisions outside their faith.
– They don’t need someone to remind them every week or ask them “have you prayed about it?” Their faith matters in everything.
– And that was the difference in the lives of people like Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Caleb, Ruth, David… need me to go on?
Half a truth is often a great lie. – Benjamin Franklin
This is why it is important to not take something online as fact. And it is important to not read portions of the Bible out of context. Always seek the whole story!
Half the truth is that Israel was in trouble with God much of the time.
But why does God keep coming back? Because God has an unquenchable desire to bless! And that’s The Rest of the Story!
NOTE THE CYCLE IN JUDGES
3:7, 11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth … .(God sends Othniel to deliver them) … Then the land had rest forty years.
3:12, 30 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD … (God sends Ehud to deliver them) … and the land had peace for eighty years
4:1; 5:31 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD … (God sends Deborah & Barak) … Then the land had peace forty years.
6:1; 8:28,33 The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD… (God sends Gideon) … the land had peace forty years …. As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals…
Autopilot is a dangerous way to live your life. Culture infiltrates our thoughts and our morals. If you don’t pay attention, close attention, your morals will change, even as a Christian. Constantly choose to live your faith!
Joshua 24:15-23 selected
Make the hard choices.
Look around. What needs to go? Dump the distractions! Delete the doubt!
Consider your “Friends”
What do the people around you challenge you to do and be?
Do they have a high or low opinion of marriage?
Here is a rule of thumb: who is influencing whom?
Media, music, hobbies & activities, etc.
Do my choices positively or negatively influence me?
Do they feed my spirit and its desires or my flesh and its desires?
Church 29:11 