He Rewards Our Faith
ICS Daily Devotions
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NJKV) Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make your paths straight.
Hebrews 11:6 (NIV) But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
The first Scriptureencourages us to trust the Lord with all our heart, not lean on our own understanding, and acknowledge Him in all our ways, and He will make our path straight. Likewise, the second Scripture says we should have faith in God.
Many people carry out their own agenda in life, expecting God to bless it and rescue them when necessary. They hope and may even demand that God bless such projects or businesses. They are operating according to their own understanding without seeking the face of God. When God doesn’t bless their plans, they feel disappointed. Why would God be obliged to bless their plans when He was not even consulted about them? No one can dictate to God to do things for them or even bless their initiatives. We must determine whether something is just a good idea or God’s idea. He is the Lord of our lives, so we must pursue, articulate, plan and execute God’s ideas and dreams and seek His endorsement before hastening to implement our ideas.
How do we acknowledge God? This is achieved through praying the consecrated prayer. We must avoid the danger of praying without fully consecrating ourselves to God.
To ensure that it is God’s idea, we should get a confirmation through a Book, Chapter, and Verse (BCV) in the Bible, together with a witness of the Holy Spirit with godly counsel. If we are confident it is God’s idea, He will finance it and bless it, but we must bear the cost ourselves if it is our idea without consecration. Once God has given us the idea, we own it and know what the final product looks like—we are impregnated with it.
How do we know whether it is God’s will? Jesus teaches us in the Lord’s Prayer that the Father’s will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. There is a heavenly plan for each and every one of our lives. He is the master craftsman who created each of us uniquely with different talents and gifts. The prayer of consecration helps us to know whether it is God’s will:
Pray about the will of God for your life.
Submit yourself to God’s will.
Pray repeatedly until God’s will is known.
True faith comes from the heart. We will speak forth what we have believed. After that, we need to deal with the doubt and unbelief in our mind. Although we often feel uncomfortable or even anxious when we cannot see, feel, or have sufficient information about specific issues, preferring to have all the evidence before our eyes, the Kingdom of God does not work this way; everything must be done by faith in God and His Word. Nonetheless, we can rest in His promise that as we acknowledge Him by seeking Him diligently, He will reward us and make our path straight!
Sermon Series：Wise Saying
