By Faith Expressed

It has taught us to lose all faith in ourselves and to place all of our trust in God who has rescued us from terrifying encounters with death. And now we fasten our hopes on Him to continue to deliver us from death yet again, as you labor together with us through prayer. Because there are so many interceding for us, our deliverance will cause even more people to give thanks to God. What a gracious gift of mercy surrounds us because of prayers! 2 Corinthians 1:9-11 TPT

I just want to say how grateful we are to serve God, to serve God with His global family.  We will never meet every single one of His people on His planet but we are  beautiful family made up of men and women who are so complex and different, broken and glued back together by His mercy - created by God- people of all ages, all shapes and sizes, all languages, all economic levels, from cities, towns, villages, remote spots and nearby hubs. We grieve with you, we celebrate with you. Thank You God....

Although our circumstances through history may be different, we too see havoc upon us now.  As we undergo illness, distress, loss, and heartache in our own lives, and in the lives of those we love, we cry out to the Lord. 

Think about this for a moment, we, like Apostle Paul get to love God, and we also can cry out to the Lord in our distress. God’s word is loaded with examples of faith under fire ......

And because He knows us each by name we have hope, trusting God sends comfort and reassurance in His perfect timing when we seek Him in prayer. 

When we receive devastating news or undergo a health crisis, we can feel crushed in the distress. Weak and wondering, we need to invite Holy Spirit within - the messenger of God coming to reassure us in our time of need. When we, even while terrified, fall to our knees we display an example of where our posture before the Lord will be when we face Him in our darkest hour. Surrendering our control of the outcome. 

Moreover, emotional pain and heartache from physical loss can take our breath away and remove our words. Be please know, when we come trembling before God with the devastation of it, He sees our misery.  

The doubt, fear, and hesitation are laid before Him. Unseen, our spirit cries out. Exhausted and exposed to our own vulnerability, we fully submit our warring emotions to Him. 

As a result, we slowly feel a warmth in the pit of our soul spread like a soothing balm to calm our emotions. God hears our cries and sees our surrender to Him. Jesus picks up the pieces laid before Him and methodically puts them in order as Holy Spirit envelopes us with new courage! Hold onto that! 

1 Corinthians 13:13 TPT Until then, there are three things that remain: faith, hope, and love—yet love surpasses them all. So above all else, let love be the beautiful prize for which you run.

My friends, we have received an inheritance in the kingdom of God, we possess that inheritance by faith, first for salvation and then for everything that God calls us to do and to be on behalf of His kingdom. 

We possess our salvation by faith expressed in absolute surrender to the Lord’s will, with risk-taking obedience. And even though the fullness of our inheritance will only be experienced in heaven - we can see that reward in the distance when our eyes remain on Jesus, it is this hope of eternal union and unbroken relationship with God that strengthens our faith. 

And as we believe our inheritance by faith, we receive and live in the love of God. This love is what we respond to at the moment of salvation. This love marks us as citizens of God’s kingdom and fellow heirs with Christ. Love transforms all we do and all we are into vessels of our loving God. We possess our inheritance in God’s kingdom through faith, hope and love.