Feed On God's Faithfulness

"Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness."
Psalm 37:3 (NKJV)

There are different kinds of food that you can eat that will help you in some way.  For example, eating carrots is helpful because carrots contain beta-carotene, that the body converts to vitamin A, which is good for your eyes.  Other examples would be things like spinach, which is high in vitamin K and good for the bones, salmon, which is high in omega-3 fatty acids and helps brain and heart health, and almonds, which are high in vitamin E and good for skin health.  Having these foods as a consistent part of your diet will help you in different areas of your health.

What we eat can be a benefit to us naturally, and what we spend our time with, what we feed ourselves in that way, can help us as well.  Trust is something built on relationship, the more time you spend with someone, the better your relationship with them will be, and this results in your ability to trust that person.  Some Christians do not have a great deal of trust in God, because they have not developed in their relationship with God.  But the more we learn about God and get to know Him and His character, the greater our trust in God can become.

Psalm 37:3 tells us to trust in the Lord and feed on His faithfulness.  We can develop greater trust in God by feeding on God's faithfulness by reading in the Bible about who God is, what He has done for others, and by reminding ourselves of all of the times that God has been faithful in our lives.  If we just look at our circumstances and think about the problems that we face, wondering what we are going to do, it makes it more difficult to trust God, because we are "feeding" on the wrong thing.  We need to feed on God's faithfulness and reject feeding on things that are contrary to that. 

Who Influences You?

"that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."
Hebrews 6:12 (NKJV)

There are some people today who are referred to as "influencers."  Generally speaking, these are people who create content, mostly on social media, which gives them some level of credibility in some area and because of this they have gained a following.  People will follow some influencer to see what they are saying or doing about a certain thing.  The people who follow these influencers are paying attention to what the influencers are saying, as a source of information about how they themselves can do things like the influencers have done.

There are many people in the world today who are exerting an influence on other people, but that is not always good.  Sometimes people have some level of credibility with people for whatever reason, but what is really being represented is not so good.  We are all influenced by others in some way, and it is good to have examples in our life and people that we can look to as a pattern of how we can do things successfully.  But if someone has not really done something of lasting or significant value, should we really be following that person and allowing them to be an influence in our life?

Long before the world came up with the term of "influencer," God already knew the value of a person's influence.  As Hebrews 6:12 tells us, we should imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.  There are many "influencers" today, but we should not just imitate someone who seems popular according to the world's standards.  The people we should follow and allow to be an influence in our lives are those who have successfully followed God and fulfilled His purpose in their life, they are a pattern of how we can do the same things and succeed in our own life. 

A Deposit Has Been Made

"who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,"
2 Timothy 1:9 (NKJV)

Everyone likes to have something credited to their bank account, and if a deposit has been made to your account, you need to know about it.  It is possible that you could have some kind of credit made to your account that you were not expecting or possibly not aware of.  Or you might receive the deposit of an unexpected gift and find it hard to believe that the deposit was really made.  Of course, if you checked your bank account and you could see the deposit listed there, you would then be sure that the amount was actually in your account.

One of the biggest problems that Christians have is a lack of knowledge concerning Bible truths.  This is something I have seen over and over again as I have taught God's Word in Bible schools, churches, and other venues.  There have been times where people have literally sat listening to Bible teaching with their mouths hanging open in amazement, as they hear what God's Word actually says about them.  This shocked reaction is often replaced by joy as people begin to understand who they really are in Christ and what God has provided for them through Jesus.

In the Bible, we learn that God has given us each something, He has made a deposit of something into our lives.  As 2 Timothy 1:9 tells us, even before time began, God gave us a purpose, and God gave us grace, the ability to fulfill God's purpose.  If we do not know about the grace given to us, we will not make use of it, and we will not fulfill the purpose of God, the calling, for our life.  By spending time with God through His Word and in prayer, we can discover exactly what this purpose and grace in our life is.  We have an eternal deposit from God, and we need to discover it and use it.

The Best Kind Of Peace

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
John 14:27 (NKJV)

When people think of peace, they generally think of some problem coming to an end and everything becoming calm where things were once in turmoil.  That kind of peace is based on circumstances and an absence of conflict.  But even if there are no problems happening, people can still be at a place where they lack true peace, because there is always the possibility of further problems.  So there is really no peace in this situation, just a lack of problems at the moment, which is not true peace.

Jesus talked about a peace that He gives and a peace that the world gives.  The kind of peace that comes from the world is mainly based on an absence of negative circumstances or problems, but the peace that Jesus gives is something that can be had even when there are negative circumstances or problems.  In Philippians 4:7, Paul talked about a peace that passes understanding, which is really talking about the same thing.  The peace that Jesus gives is a peace that is not limited to just a lack of negative circumstances.

In John 14:27, Jesus told His disciples that He would give them peace, but not the kind of peace that the world gives.  Jesus went on to say that the disciples should not let their hearts be troubled or afraid.  This is only possible with the peace that Jesus gives, because we often face challenges and problems that tempt us to be troubled and afraid.  This requires us to keep our focus on God in faith, regardless of our situation.  Only Jesus can give true heart peace where we can be at rest, even while there are negative circumstances or problems.