Believing
Believing is the key to receiving things from God in your life. I woke up this morning
praising God for the many things that He has done in my life; and I realized that it
takes faith to stand on the word even in the midst of the struggle. My daughter and
son-in-law were heavy in drugs, but as I was reading Isaiah 54:13,17 which says “and
all your children shall be taught of the Lord Yahweh, and great shall be the peace of
your children. No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every
tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the
heritage of the servants of the Lord Yahweh and their righteousness is of Me, says
the Lord Yahweh”. As I was reading this, I knew that it was for me and I began to
confess this over my children daily.
I went to visit my daughter and her family, and to take my granddaughter over to TBN
in Tennessee, and after a week, we came back, but my granddaughter came and
told me I couldn’t come in yet. It was in October and it was cold, and no one came to
get me, so I went up to the porch and the door was ajar, and I went in and
immediately I knew that they were doing drugs, my first thought in the natural was to
take the children away and legally I could have done that, but I prayed and reminded
God that He had promised to take care of my family, and I went to sleep. After all
God Himself says in (Isaiah 43:26) “put Me in remembrance; let us plead together;
declare you that you may be justified”. The next day we went shopping because they
needed some furniture, then I went home. But before I left I gave her a Bible and told
her to read it like a book, and that she should start in the New Testament. As she
began to read the Bible, God touched her heart, and within a few weeks she had
joined a church. This was the start of the new creation that they turned out to be.
My son who was in the Marines called me from Tokyo to say that he had gotten
saved. So you see that because I believed the Bible and stood on it, even over what
I saw and smelled, God was there to bring me through troublesome times.
Let’s look at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; in chapter three of the book of
Daniel, we see that these three Hebrew boys were carried away captive from Israel
and made to be a slave in Babylon, but they refused to let go of their belief. The
king Nebuchadnezzar ordered everyone to bow down and worship the idol he made
when they heard the sound of the music, but they refused because the word of God
says that we shall not bow down to a foreign god (Exodus 20:5, and 23:24). We
know that they were thrown into the fiery furnace, but they didn’t get burned; and
because of their boldness, the king praised their God (Daniel 3:28-30) “then
Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said. Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshch, and
Abednego, who has sent His angel, and delivered His servants that trusted in Him,
and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that thy might not serve
nor worship any god, except their own God. Therefore I make a decree, that every
people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be
made a dunghill; because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. Then
the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon”.
This is what Jesus was telling us in Matthew 5:13-16, which says “you are the salt of
the earth; but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is
therefore good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do
men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it gives light
to all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see
your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven”.
We must first establish that the word of God (the Bible) is the truth; and Jesus
Himself says in John 17:16-17 “they are not of the world; even as I am not of the
world. Sanctify them through Your truth; Your word is truth”. The apostle Paul says
“let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4); and in I Thessalonians 3:12-13
which says “that you would walk worthy of God, who has called you to His kingdom
and glory. For this cause also that we God, without ceasing, because, when you
received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of
men, but as it is the truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that
believe”.
Many people will say that without faith we cannot please God, but let us look at what
Hebrews 11:6 says “but without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that comes
to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
Him”. Now diligently seeking Him means, staying in His words. We have established
that faith is believing the word of God and then acting upon it.
Look as the apostle James describes this in James 1:22-25 “but be you doers of the
word, and not hearers only deceiving your own selves. For is any be a hearer of the
word, and not a doer, he is like to a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For
he beholds himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what manner of man
he was. But whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he
being not a forgetful hearer; but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his
deed”. And again in James 2:18-20,26 which says “yea, a man may say, you have
faith, and I have works; show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my
faith by my works. You believe that there is one God; you do well; the devils also
believe, and tremble. Now But will you know, O vain man that faith without works is
dead? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead
also”. Faith is a action; II Corinthians 4:13 says “we having the same spirit of faith,
according as it is written. I believed and therefore have I spoken; we also believe
and therefore speak”.
Our believing must not be in our own ability, but as Abraham was fully persuaded, so
must we be that God is able (Romans 4:17-21) “As it is written, I have made you a
father of many nations, before Him whom he believed, even God, who makes alive
the dead, and calls those things which be not as though they were. Who against
hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according
to that which was spoken. So shall your seed be. And being not weak in faith, he
considered not his own body being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body
now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of
Sarah’s womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was
strong in faith, giving glory to God. And being fully persuaded that, what He had
promised, He was able also to perform”. Our faith must be in God and what He has
promised to do (Isaiah 55:11) God says “so shall My word be that goes forth out of
My mouth; it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing
whereto I sent it”. We return His word to Him when we speak His words.
The Bible tells us in Romans 8:29-32 “for whom He did foreknow, He also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called;
and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also
glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how
shall He not with Him also freely give us all things”? and again in Ephesians 1:3
which says “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ”. All things are
ours, but we must believe and become fully persuaded that what God says He is also
able to perform. Many times people will come to you and ask you how you are going
to do it, but keep your eyes on God because it is He that does the work. Jesus says
in John 14:10 “believe you not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The
words that I speak to you I speak not of Myself; but the Father that dwells in Me, He
does the works”.
The Bible says to us “let the weak say, I am strong” (Joel 3:10). And in Psalms 68:11
it says “the Lord gave the word; great was the company of those that published it”.
Sermon by: Harriet Bond
Date: December 16, 2011
Believing is the key to receiving things from God in your life. I woke up this morning
praising God for the many things that He has done in my life; and I realized that it
takes faith to stand on the word even in the midst of the struggle. My daughter and
son-in-law were heavy in drugs, but as I was reading Isaiah 54:13,17 which says “and
all your children shall be taught of the Lord Yahweh, and great shall be the peace of
your children. No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every
tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the
heritage of the servants of the Lord Yahweh and their righteousness is of Me, says
the Lord Yahweh”. As I was reading this, I knew that it was for me and I began to
confess this over my children daily.
I went to visit my daughter and her family, and to take my granddaughter over to TBN
in Tennessee, and after a week, we came back, but my granddaughter came and
told me I couldn’t come in yet. It was in October and it was cold, and no one came to
get me, so I went up to the porch and the door was ajar, and I went in and
immediately I knew that they were doing drugs, my first thought in the natural was to
take the children away and legally I could have done that, but I prayed and reminded
God that He had promised to take care of my family, and I went to sleep. After all
God Himself says in (Isaiah 43:26) “put Me in remembrance; let us plead together;
declare you that you may be justified”. The next day we went shopping because they
needed some furniture, then I went home. But before I left I gave her a Bible and told
her to read it like a book, and that she should start in the New Testament. As she
began to read the Bible, God touched her heart, and within a few weeks she had
joined a church. This was the start of the new creation that they turned out to be.
My son who was in the Marines called me from Tokyo to say that he had gotten
saved. So you see that because I believed the Bible and stood on it, even over what
I saw and smelled, God was there to bring me through troublesome times.
Let’s look at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; in chapter three of the book of
Daniel, we see that these three Hebrew boys were carried away captive from Israel
and made to be a slave in Babylon, but they refused to let go of their belief. The
king Nebuchadnezzar ordered everyone to bow down and worship the idol he made
when they heard the sound of the music, but they refused because the word of God
says that we shall not bow down to a foreign god (Exodus 20:5, and 23:24). We
know that they were thrown into the fiery furnace, but they didn’t get burned; and
because of their boldness, the king praised their God (Daniel 3:28-30) “then
Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said. Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshch, and
Abednego, who has sent His angel, and delivered His servants that trusted in Him,
and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that thy might not serve
nor worship any god, except their own God. Therefore I make a decree, that every
people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be
made a dunghill; because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. Then
the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon”.
This is what Jesus was telling us in Matthew 5:13-16, which says “you are the salt of
the earth; but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is
therefore good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do
men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it gives light
to all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see
your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven”.
We must first establish that the word of God (the Bible) is the truth; and Jesus
Himself says in John 17:16-17 “they are not of the world; even as I am not of the
world. Sanctify them through Your truth; Your word is truth”. The apostle Paul says
“let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4); and in I Thessalonians 3:12-13
which says “that you would walk worthy of God, who has called you to His kingdom
and glory. For this cause also that we God, without ceasing, because, when you
received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of
men, but as it is the truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that
believe”.
Many people will say that without faith we cannot please God, but let us look at what
Hebrews 11:6 says “but without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that comes
to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
Him”. Now diligently seeking Him means, staying in His words. We have established
that faith is believing the word of God and then acting upon it.
Look as the apostle James describes this in James 1:22-25 “but be you doers of the
word, and not hearers only deceiving your own selves. For is any be a hearer of the
word, and not a doer, he is like to a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For
he beholds himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what manner of man
he was. But whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he
being not a forgetful hearer; but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his
deed”. And again in James 2:18-20,26 which says “yea, a man may say, you have
faith, and I have works; show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my
faith by my works. You believe that there is one God; you do well; the devils also
believe, and tremble. Now But will you know, O vain man that faith without works is
dead? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead
also”. Faith is a action; II Corinthians 4:13 says “we having the same spirit of faith,
according as it is written. I believed and therefore have I spoken; we also believe
and therefore speak”.
Our believing must not be in our own ability, but as Abraham was fully persuaded, so
must we be that God is able (Romans 4:17-21) “As it is written, I have made you a
father of many nations, before Him whom he believed, even God, who makes alive
the dead, and calls those things which be not as though they were. Who against
hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according
to that which was spoken. So shall your seed be. And being not weak in faith, he
considered not his own body being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body
now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of
Sarah’s womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was
strong in faith, giving glory to God. And being fully persuaded that, what He had
promised, He was able also to perform”. Our faith must be in God and what He has
promised to do (Isaiah 55:11) God says “so shall My word be that goes forth out of
My mouth; it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing
whereto I sent it”. We return His word to Him when we speak His words.
The Bible tells us in Romans 8:29-32 “for whom He did foreknow, He also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called;
and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also
glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how
shall He not with Him also freely give us all things”? and again in Ephesians 1:3
which says “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ”. All things are
ours, but we must believe and become fully persuaded that what God says He is also
able to perform. Many times people will come to you and ask you how you are going
to do it, but keep your eyes on God because it is He that does the work. Jesus says
in John 14:10 “believe you not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The
words that I speak to you I speak not of Myself; but the Father that dwells in Me, He
does the works”.
The Bible says to us “let the weak say, I am strong” (Joel 3:10). And in Psalms 68:11
it says “the Lord gave the word; great was the company of those that published it”.
Sermon by: Harriet Bond
Date: December 16, 2011
