Faith Builders Devotional

Gen 2:24-25

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Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. NKJV Marriage is a wonderful part of life. Marriage is the foundation of the family. When you get married the physical part brings two individuals together. A man and woman come together into one new household. Children are God’s fulfillment of the marriage. But just as we must keep up our relationship with God, we also need to keep up our relationship with our spouse. A vast majority of the pain that we have in this world is caused by people who were the children of a broken family. If you look at their family, you will see many homosexuals, alcoholics, thieves, violence, immorality and even murderers, became that way because they did not grow up with a father and mother who put Yahweh and His kingdom first. They may have not even had a mom or dad at all. A family needs to be a place that nurtures the children and helps them to grow up in the ways of God. Family is the foundation of society and the husband and wife is the core of that foundation. What you put into your marriage is likely what you will get out of it. Genesis 2:24 says the two shall become one. That means a man and a woman, from two different families, leave their family and marry to create one new family. Marriage is a union of equals but the husband and wife have different roles. The husband is responsible for financially taking care of the family as well as the spiritual welfare of the family. That means the husband needs to support his family through a good job and make sure his wife and kids are in church and growing spiritually. The wife is equal with the husband, but responsible for the things of the household (Proverbs 31:10). She manages the resources of the family with the husband. The wife is responsible for the day to day operations of the family. Of course, you can sometimes have variations in the extent of each role, whoever these roles are extremely important. When you first get married, it is a long honeymoon. It seems that no matter what the husband or wife does, it is a match made in heaven, they can do no wrong. But as time progresses and the husband and wife get to know each other many people have the thought, ‘Did I marry the right person?’ Of course, you have to stay committed to keep that marriage covenant you made. It is essential that you marry a person like you who knows and believes in God. When I was married, I was young and from a wonderfully solid family. We have great relationships. I had two brothers and a sister that were very involved in my life as well as my father and mother. The trouble was I was too involved with this extended family (people that are not your spouse or children) and listening to what they said above what my wife wanted. In my first year of marriage, I remember getting into arguments with my wife several times as she was concerned about my extended family’s influence on me. The whole root of the problem was that I had not broken emotionally from my extended family and fully focused on her and building our family. Genesis 2:24 says we need to leave our extended family (father and mother) and when I read this the Holy Spirit showed me I needed to refocus my energies and communications on my new bride. When I did that insecurity my wife was feeling vanished and our relationship continued to develop as God wanted it to. We apologized to each other and moved on in our lives together. If you would like to be married, God wants you to be married to a wonderful man or woman that knows Him. If they know Him, your marriage will last and you will be amazed at what God will work through the two of you. If you have married an unbeliever, yes, you have some work ahead of you. God is gracious. The biggest thing is to pray for wisdom (James 1:5), that the Holy Spirit will draw your unbelieving spouse, and remain faithful in your relationship with the Creator more than anything. I’ve found, the better relationship you have with Yahweh, the better your marriage will be with your spouse. If you are not married yet, now is a good time to start praying for that person God has for you. Pray that God will raise them up in His ways and their family will be a great support. Praise God for strong families!

Psalms 100:4-5

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Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

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For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations. NKJV Enter His gates with thanksgiving! The easiest way to describe it is when you enter into God’s presence, you are passing “the gates” of the physical world we live in to the spiritual world and connecting the two. As a believer, one of the most important things you can do is fellowship with the Father. How do you do it? The same way you go to visit with anyone. You’ve got to go to where they are. If you are near your church, then I encourage you to be there as much as you can. Whenever there is a prayer meeting, you need to be there. However, it is not always possible for us to make it to our church buildings. THAT is the cool thing about Yahweh! He said He will never leave you or forsake you Hebrews 13:5). He will go with you wherever you go. How does he go? Well, that is what Jesus was talking about in John 15 (read from verse 26). Depending on your Bible translation, Jesus said He had to go so the Father could send the ‘Helper’, the ‘Comforter’. The Greek word here parakletos literally means ‘one to come along side’. The Holy Spirit comes along side and helps and comforts those who serve Yahweh and act and live by faith. So, what about those gates? Even as someone who has repented and accepted the work of Jesus, you still need to fellowship with the Father because you need to get spiritually refreshed daily. You need to make the effort to Praise Him. You enter the gates of God’s spiritual property when you begin to praise Him. As you praise Him it is like a jet taking off. All those problems, complaints, concerns, worries… it all gets so small as you gain altitude and get farther away from it. When you begin to praise God, the Holy Spirit (your comforter along side) is there. Praise God and you will strongly sense the power of the Holy Spirit there. You start at the entry into His gates, and you go deeper. You go to His courts. That is where the true fellowship with the Father begins. You’re getting yourself into Yahweh’s living room. He is right there to converse with you. The key is you have to take the first steps. You have to enter into His gates and this is a spiritual act that will make you stronger. You start by thanking him for His goodness to you. Thank Him for what you’ve got; you’re job, you’re family, your friends, your health, your healing. There are so many things to be thankful for. Enter into His gates today!

Ps 24:1

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The earth is the Lord's, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein. NKJV Probably the most common question that unbelievers ask Committed Christians is, “If God is in control of the world, then why is it such a mess?” If you are a Cultural Christian like I was, you are immediately stumped by this question because you’ve have been taught that God is in control. There is this conception with Cultural Christian leaders that whatever happens is ‘God’s will’. This way of thinking (or doctrine) not only is wrong,but it confuses a lot of people who are looking for God. Father forgive me for blindly telling unbelievers that any event that comes their way is ‘God’s will’. If you think about it, if God is in control of the world, then He has done a horrible job of managing it. We have famines, war, people being kidnapped or abducted, unjust legal systems, babies being ripped out of their mothers’ wombs for convenience’s sake, dictators in control of whole countries, children losing their parents, children born with birth defects, drug dealers fighting for territorial control… this list goes on and on. The world we live in can be a very nasty place. Is this God’s will? Absolutely not! If you ever get confused about what God’s plan is, I suggest you go back to the Garden. What? That’s right, go back and see what God had planned for us in the garden of Eden. You can see God’s original plan. In Genesis 1 you’ll notice that God made the earth and gave mankind (that’s men and women) dominion or shall we say ‘control’ over the earth. In Psalms 24, you see that God owned the earth and He entrusted it to mankind. This is confirmed in Psalms 115:16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's; But the earth He has given to the children of men. NKJV God gave us control over the earth for a time. He still owns everything. It is basically leased to us. I like to call it the Earth lease. Do you remember the Genesis story? The enemy came and brought doubt saying, ‘Did God really say this?’ don’t do this, or don’t do that. He does the exact same thing today. The enemy always wants to get us doubting God’s plan for us. Unfortunately, our ancestors believed him and got duped out of God’s plan for them and lost the paradise God had created for them. So why is the earth such a mess? Well, it’s a combination of the enemy on the spiritual side, and all the humans on the physical side. As a believer, we don’t have to be a part of that. We don’t have to be associated with the hopelessness in the world. We have a living hope. His name is Jesus. Did you know Jesus went to hell on our behalf? Check out Ephesians 4. Not only that, Jesus took that authority back for us. So if you are a believer, you can be back in communion with Yahweh through Jesus (John 14:6). I have decided that as long as I am on this earth, I am going to walk in the authority that we have as Committed Christians. I refuse to allow God to get blamed for the enemy’s mess. The earth is just under the authority of man for a time. It will go back 100% to God’s control. Jesus is coming soon! Walk in His goodness and walk in His authority today. Use the name of Jesus in your life and watch the enemy flee. God is good and His mercy endures forever and ever!

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. NKJV
These days, it seems like everyone is going out of their way to try not to offend anyone else.  The United States started as a Christian nation, as acknowledged by the US Supreme Court, but just like the Israeli people during bible times, we have strayed and need to go back to God and His ways.
When you lose your ability to speak the truth, you move towards compromise.  Yahweh is not the Almighty God because He compromises.  Yahweh is pure and awesome.  Yahweh is truth.   If you want to know the God of the Word, you must know the Word of God (the Bible).  In John 17:17, Jesus prays for us;
Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. NKJV
With regards to God, many people say, ‘All roads lead to Rome’ meaning that there are many ways to get to God.  Jesus was very clear that there is only one ‘road’ that leads to God.  If I have a choice of going with what people say or going with what the Messiah says, I choose the Messiah.  There is only one way to God, Jesus the Messiah.
On the West coast of the United States we have one interstate freeway called Interstate 5.  Interstate 5 runs North to South, from Canada through Washington, Oregon, and California.  I have fond memories of the highway because every couple years my family would drive from the Tacoma area to Los Angeles to enjoy our Spring break from school in the parks there.  It would take a few days and we would stay at inexpensive little motels along the way.
If you want to go to New York, no matter how long you drive or which way you go, you will never get to New York City (NYC).  You have to head East from the West Coast of the United States to get to NYC.  You can’t just take any road east.  Even if you are heading in the right direction, some roads may lead you to Orlando, some to Atlanta, some may stop in Chicago.  Clearly all roads don’t lead to the same place.  If you want to have a relationship with your Creator, if you get on the wrong road you will get lost.
At events proclaiming humanitarian causes, you’ll see representatives from the religions of the world coming together and ‘praying’ for peace and such.  I have noticed that no matter what the cause, you only ever see Cultural Christians showing up.  Committed Christians know that if you want to pray about anything, there is no point of coming together with people who don’t know God.  Jesus is the first man to proclaim that He was the only way.  By coming together with religious people, Committed Christians know that this confuses unbelievers and gives them the feeling that it is all the same.  Yahweh warns us to beware of religion, calling it the “vain deceit” and “traditions of men” (Colossians 2:8).  Tradition will not bring you closer to God. 
It all comes down to seeking Yahweh.  The only way you can become right with Him is through faith in Jesus the Messiah.  We are saved by grace, not by what traditions we have (Ephesians 2:8).
Are you on the right road?  Want to go deeper with God?  Seek His face with all your being.

Matt 8:10
When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! NKJV
The importance of our faith in our daily lives is detrimental. Just reading Matthew 8:10 makes you wonder, what was done that was so great that the Messiah, the Creator of the Universe (John 1) stopped and ‘marveled’?
Was He amazed because a Roman captain, a leader of over 100 soldiers, had stopped him and talked to him? Was He marveling because He was talked to by a foreigner that many Jews loathed? What stopped Jesus in His tracks? It was the faith of the centurion. It was faith. What does Hebrews 11:6 say?
But without faith it is impossible to please Him[Yahweh], for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. NKJV
Jesus stopped and marveled because for the first time in His 30 plus years on the earth, He saw pure faith. What is pure faith? Faith is believing God and talking about it. Faith is speaking. What did this Roman leader do? In Matthew 8:8, the Roman Captain said,
The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.
Notice, the Roman didn’t even expect Jesus to come to his house. All he wanted was for the Messiah to speak a word and he knew his trusted employee would be raised off that bed of sickness. He recognized Jesus’s authority and knew of the miracles that happened when He spoke.
The greatest hinderance to answered prayer is brought up in Matthew 8:2. When you question God’s willingness to work in your life, you have no faith to stand on. Jesus made it very clear to the leprous man in 8:3 that He was more than willing to heal him.
God wants to work in our lives. Without faith, it is absolutely impossible to please Yahweh. Hebrews 11:6 says we have to do two things;

1)

Believe that Yahweh exists

2)

Believe that Yahweh is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him Healing is God’s reward. Prosperity is God’s reward. A strong marriage is God’s reward. A good job and good relationships with people is God’s reward. God wants to bless His children, just as I want to be a blessing to my wife and children. God wants to bless those who are diligently seeking Him and His Kingdom in faith. Are you walking by faith today? Are you speaking God’s Word over your situation or what the world has to say? The world talks hopelessness, loneliness, fear, and doubt. Yahweh’s Kingdom is hope, joy, and peace in any circumstance or situation. If you are speaking faith, then watch the world around you begin to change by the Word of God and the Word of Faith in your mouth.

Matt 8:28-29

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When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. 29 And suddenly they cried out, saying, "What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?" NKJV Jesus arrived by boat from the other side of the lake. He arrived to an area where there were apparently some cliffs with caves. People had used the area for burying their dead. Two demon-possessed guys were living in this area. The Word says they were ‘fierce’ or mean. One thing I have noticed is that much of the world doesn’t want to deal with the spirit world. Not only do they not want to deal with it, but most people run when they see anything bizarre. In this case, I would guess these demonically manipulated guys became notorious over the area because people were scared of them and probably stayed away. The only people around were some pig farmers. At the same time, people didn’t want to be around them, so they were outcasts from the city. When you repent, get born from above, and filled with the Holy Spirit, demons are going to see the power of the Holy Spirit on you. Whether we like it or not, it is a fight to live on this earth. If you are not with Yahweh, then you are condemned to be forever separated from God. There are some however that have given in to the enemy and ended up under their control. These men in Gergesenes were exactly in that trouble. In the Amplified Bible, Ephesians 4:27 says, Leave no [such] room or foothold for the devil [give no opportunity to him]. AMP It gives a clear exhortation for believers not to give a foothold to the enemy. What type of things can become a foothold? Drugs (alcohol, even prescription), sexual impurity, evil activities, unforgiveness, hate, compromise… there are many things that can give the enemy easier access to us but the easy way to identify them is these things are all negative. They want to control us. There are demons for just about every evil thing you can imagine. That is not God’s plan for us. Back in Gergesenes, these two men were being controlled by demons. Somewhere in their lives, they had given a foothold to the enemy to get in their lives and they were paying the price. I am sure it was a bit different for each of them, but the end result was the same. Notice that these guys weren’t really happy, weren’t real comfortable where they lived, and weren’t real friendly. This is how people can eventually end up if they allow the enemy a foothold. That partying every night seems so fun, but then the alcoholism creeps in. You have to have a drink on week nights. Then you have to have a drink at the office during the day. Before you know it, you get fired from the job. There are so many things like this that can mess us up. Don’t give the enemy a foothold in your life. These two men were freed because they probably realized the enemy didn’t want them happy but really wanted them dead. They were fed up with living outside in the rocks, and decided to turn to God because when they saw Jesus, they saw hope. Don’t give the enemy a foothold in your life. Be so filled with the Spirit that you are overflowing with the presence of God. God wants you to be free, He wants you to be blessed, and He wants you to be so filled with His presence that others will see you and want to be like you. They want that Holy Spirit confidence, that joy for any situation, that love, but most importantly they want that peace that you have as a believer. Show the world you've got God in you!