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Romans 1:12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. Does your faith encourage someone to have more faith? It should be that way, you know? Faith demonstrated can, and should be, contagious.  I remember years ago as a teen, a new teen entered our youth group one summer. This person was quiet but spiritual. I could see her faith by what she did and in the little that she said.  She read her Bible with much attention and she prayed with a certain fervency that left me wanting what she had. She only stayed in our group for a few weeks but she left an impression on my young Christian life.  That is the way that our faith should affect others. What we do and say should have an impact on those around us. Helping them to become more spiritual and faithful. This type of behavior is not to impress others by forced spirituality but to allow the Holy Spirit to work his work through us.  You can start doing this today! 

We are a fickle bunch. We often talk of God's blessings and rightly so. He blesses us daily and moment by moment. Each breath and heartbeat are blessings from our father. We talk about how we trust in him for our guidance and strength. We are very confident and bold in our proclamations of faith, when all is well.  But let something go amiss and watch out. We forget the blessings and want immediate attention and action. We become the focus of our universe. There is none more important than us.  Maybe I am talking to myself here. Maybe I am the only one who feels like this. However, I don't think so. We even see this atitude in many of the people who were cured by Jesus. They came in desperation and fell at his feet, needing something that only he could provide.  I sometimes wonder where all these people were on crucifixion day? Where were the 5000 and the 4000. Where were they all when Jesus needed them? The eleven? What happened to them? They didn't even stay awake when ...

When I was a kid my family went to Cooperstown New York and visited the baseball Hall of Fame. I don't remember much about the visit except that there were a lot of bronze statues and busts of a lot of unknown (to me) players from the early 20th Century. Getting into the baseball Hall of Fame is expensive. It costs you a lifetime of hard work and dedication. Thousands of professionals have played the game but few make it into the hallowed halls at Cooperstown. Hebrews chapter eleven is the Hall of Fame in the Bible. Each one named there has a special place in the history of what God has done and is doing through faith. Verse thirteen is the amazing result of all of this faith! These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. These men and women were characterized by faith to the point of death. They were promised things which they nev...