Off-Season devotionals
Faith and Patience
Hebrews 6:12 NIV
We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
Promises are inherited; they are not earned. An inheritance can be described as a birth right. It is something we did not work for, but someone we are in close relationship with worked for. They did the work but they want to bless us with the result of that work. An inheritance is not based on what we do; it is based on our relationship with the one who did the doing. What a beautiful depiction of Christ! He has completed the work and He loves us so much that He has bequeathed the blessings of that work to us.
We experience this inheritance through faith and patience. Faith is the end result of our habitual intake of the Word of God (Romans 10:17). We do not decide to have faith; faith is a result. The Word of God is the Seed for faith and for patience. As we abide in the Word of God, faith will be produced and along with that faith, the ability to wait in a Spiritual manner during the off-season. All Spiritual fruit is the result of abiding in the Word; we cannot produce any Spiritual fruit apart from the Word.
We need faith and patience for the off-seasons of life and that means we need a steady intake of the Word. Find out what God has to say about the trial you are going through today and focus on His promise you have inherited because of Jesus Christ. Don't be lazy! Take the time to search the Scriptures and begin to enjoy your inheritance today!
WHAT GREAT LOVE
1 John 3:1 NIV
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
God’s love for us must be our foundation. Without God’s love we are hopeless. We cannot even love God without Him first loving us (1 John 4:10, 19). A work had to be done in each of us before we could love God – loving God is not something we can take credit for; it's something we should be thankful for! His love for you must be addressed often and repeatedly. It's always the right time to remind yourself of God’s love for you, but it's imperative that you remind yourself during trials because they can cause you to doubt His love more than ever.
We must focus on the infinite love that God has for us because it's too easy to believe that He is mad at us and withholding blessings from us when we are struggling. Our behavior alone can cause us to doubt His desire to bless us. When we focus on ourselves rather than Christ we're being self-absorbed and we will doubt. We must focus on Him, not self. We need to surround ourselves with His love and leave the doubt behind.
Trials have a way of making us feel unloved, but that's a lie. The Word is very clear about God’s unfailing, unconditional love for us. Copy verses regarding God’s love for you and meditate on them daily. The Word tells us that faith is made effective and active through love; it also tells us that faith is the victory – fill yourselves with God’s love and be prepared for victory. Nothing can defeat God’s love for you; nothing can change who you are in Christ!