Believing God - by Beth Moore - Ch 16-17

BELIEVING GOD FOR LOVE

1 Corinthians 13 (Amplified Bible)

 "¹IF I [can] speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God's love for and in us), I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.    ²And if I have prophetic powers (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and if I have [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God's love in me) I am nothing (a useless nobody).
    ³Even if I dole out all that I have [to the poor in providing] food, and if I surrender my body to be burned or  in order that I may glory, but have not love (God's love in me), I gain nothing.
    ⁴Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.
    ⁵It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].
    ⁶It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.
    ⁷Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].
    ⁸Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth].
    ⁹For our knowledge is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect), and our prophecy (our teaching) is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect).
    ¹⁰But when the complete and perfect (total) comes, the incomplete and imperfect will vanish away (become antiquated, void, and superseded).
    ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; now that I have become a man, I am done with childish ways and have put them aside.
    ¹²For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood [by God].
    ¹³And so faith, hope, love abide [faith--conviction and belief respecting man's relation to God and divine things; hope--joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love--true affection for God and man, growing out of God's love for and in us], these three; but the greatest of these is love."

"We Live By Faith, We Love By Faith!" - Beth Moore

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BELIEVING GOD EVER AFTER

There is one thing that stood out to me from this chapter; the idea that even though the faith chapter Hebrews 11 ends with verse 40, we can know that God is writing our testimony of faith and we can live our lives so full of faith and believing God, that we might just be able to imagine what verse 41 would be..."By Faith (your name)..."  Can you imagine that.  How awesome it would be to arrive in heaven to find out that you did it, you lived by faith, you made the faith hall of fame!  I want to, oh, how I want my life to be a life of faith and believing, even when things look impossible, I pray that I will have faith believing in the very one who made the heaven and the earth.  I want to make the faith hall of fame: What an honor it would be to be a part of the Faith Chapter - Hebrews 11:41 By faith...Kayla Conley ... 

Oh Lord, may we all be women of faith living life in such a way, that when we arrive at your throne in heaven we will hear "Well done, My good and faithful daughter!"  Amen.

Believing God - by Beth Moore - Ch 13-15

BELIEVING GOD TO GET 
YOU TO YOUR GILGAL

You may be going through a time in your life where it feels like you are walking around in a circle over and over again and you can't seem to get out of the cycle.  The Israelites were in just that type of situation.  I mean think about it, they walked, or I should say wandered, around the desert for forty years. Beth makes the point that it was not their failure that kept them stuck in the cycle, it was their prevailing unbelief.  So if prevailing unbelief keeps us in the cycle; then the opposite, is our answer to getting out of the cycle.  We need to have prevailing belief!  Beth points out that this does not mean we won't have times of doubt, but God looks at whether we let those moments of doubt be our deciding factor, or if we choose to have faith, and make decisions based on faith.  What stood out to me is the fact that God is not looking for perfection, we are not even able to be perfect, only God is perfect.  God is just looking for us to believe Him.  When we choose to believe Him, He sets our feet on the right path and He gets us out of the cycle and into Gilgal, our promise land, the place where God renews His covenant with us, and our reproach is removed.  So let us be women, who live our lives believing God and when we are tested may God find us to be women who had faith and a prevailing belief in Him.  

I feel like God is saying  that someone reading this blog is living life with a stigma, or a sign of reproach. As Beth said, you walk around with the letter of your approach on your chest and you feel like you can't get rid of it. God is saying to you, that He is your answer.  You need to believe in Him, trust Him to lead you and guide you into your promise land.  God is waiting for you to exercise your faith, and to walk in it.  Trust God, He knows your past, present, and future. 

This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity.  I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile." 
Jeremiah 29:10-14 NIV

Notice God promises to bring you back, or full circle - which is the meaning of Gilgal, and He declares (declare means to make known clearly or officially, to claim as a possession), that He knows the plans He has for you. In other words He has the plans for your life in His possession, trust Him to fulfill this promise!

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BELIEVING GOD WHEN ROUTINE
FOLLOWS REVELATION

In this chapter Beth talks about what we need to do after a mountain top experience.  For those of you who may not know what I mean by this, I am talking about a time in your life when things just can't get better.  Spiritually speaking it may be that you feel closer to God than you have ever felt before, or a huge prayer was answered in an amazing way, you just attended an awesome conference, etc.  Many times we go through life expecting God to keep us up on the mountain top, and when we find ourselves down in the valley, in the mundane ins and outs of everyday life, we wonder what went wrong.  The answer most of the time is nothing.  We may look for those mountain top experiences, but God is looking for us to be faithful in the everyday life, in the darkness of the valley, in the mundane, He is looking for us to keep on keeping on.  Attending church, reading God's Word, praying, worshiping Him in every area of our lives.  This is what we need to do...Believe God When Routine Follows Revelation!

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BELIEVING GOD WHEN VICTORY 
DEMANDS YOUR ALL


A number of years ago, I had the privilege to travel to Slovakia with a Group called AIM (Ambassadors In Missions).  This trip was a life changing experience to say the least.  On this trip we saw God move in a very powerful way.  I can't say that I have experienced anything that would compare to it.  After we arrived, while we were settling in, our leader and a small group of  about five people, went to a prayer meeting at the church.  At this time the Leaders of the church told them that they had been fighting a spiritual battle for months, and even with multiple other groups like ours coming to minister in their city that summer they had not seen a break through.  They were depressed and some of them were dealing with demonic forces in their homes and loved ones.  Our leader came back to the hotel that night, and told all of us that we were in for a battle and we needed to make sure we were ready.  Talk about a prayer meeting, we had one right there and then, and let me tell you God showed up in the two weeks that followed.  We saw a city that was like a fortress of the devils, crumble under him, and God moved in and we claimed that land for the Lord.  The church when we arrived was running about 20 people including children and when we left there was standing room only and people outside the windows trying to hear the good news.  I feel like God said to us the same thing He told the Israelites; that they would have victory, but they were going to have to give their all, in order to get it.  We walked circles around the neighborhoods and that city praying for God to move.  As we set up rally's and presented the gospel we had to have a group in prayer constantly.  If we stopped praying, something would happen to hinder what God was doing.  I remember one time, we had a group praying during a service, and they stopped praying when there was a transition in the program.  When that happened our sound system went on the fritz and only when we started praying again did the system start working right.  If we stopped for a minute it would mess up again.  I know that this may sound crazy to some of you.  But let me just say, we have a big God and even the sun will stand still to accomplish His will.  We just have to be willing to give our all when God ask it of us. When God presents us with the opportunity to work with Him, we will see Him do miraculous things in our midst, if we are ready and willing to give our all.  I pray that we will be ready to stand with our Shield of Faith held high and that we will wield the Sword of the Spirit with all of our strength. 

Here is a powerful testimony of a family who had to give their all and trust God for the miraculous. 
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