FAITH
The Christian life is dependent upon faith. We stand on faith; we live by faith. "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). Do we have that kind of faith?

What is Faith?
Faith is clearly defined in Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith implies four things: self-renunciation, reliance with utter confidence on Christ, obedience and a changed life.

First, to have faith implies self-renunciation. The problems of the world are not from without. They are not political, social or economic in origin. Christ said that all of these evil things come from within.

Our soul has a disease called sin.

What is sin? Sin is transgression, lawbreaking, coming short of God's standards. We break a law of the United States and we are a lawbreaker. We break the moral law of God and we are a lawbreaker. Every person who has ever lived is a lawbreaker; he or she is a sinner in God's sight.

Christ died on the cross for our sins. The Bible teaches, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). "The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6).

3 things that prayer does...
1. Prayer relieves us.
2. Prayer refreshes us.
3. Prayer rewards us.


LAZINESS
2 Thessalonians 3:7-10

The Lord has appointed believers to be His ambassadors to a lost and hurting world. As His followers, we are to represent Him in our character, conduct, and conversation whenever we interact with family, friends, neighbors, or coworkers.

God expects us to be diligent in our work and faithful to complete it. However, in our self-absorbed, pleasure-seeking culture, it is very easy to get sidetracked into laziness. This sin is dangerous in a Christian's life because of the potential harm that can result -- it can hurt our witness for Christ, damage our relationships with others, and waste both the time and the gifts the Lord has given us. One negative result of such a lifestyle is a character marked as unreliable and untrustworthy.

Laziness frequently shows up as procrastination. For example, despite saying that we will take action, we repeatedly delay the start time. Or we may begin a project and yet find reasons not to finish it. Being neglectful is another manifestation: though we make an attempt to carry out responsibilities, they are handled in a haphazard or incomplete way; relationships with loved ones go untended; or the needs of others are overlooked.

Irresponsible behavior doesn't fit who we are in Christ. If you realize you've been careless in some area of your life, pray, "Lord, I have not lived as I should, and I ask You to forgive me. I choose to turn away from lazy attitudes and neglectful behavior. Please help me to follow through and become someone who is industrious for You."

The Problem with Just Looking

Maybe I'm just too sensitive about it, but I always feel a little sheepish
when I walk into a store, knowing that I won't buy anything. I'll just be
browsing along and some bored salesperson stands up and starts moving my
direction. Maybe that's what makes me feel bad. It's her look of hope, of
expectancy, of "at last I can justify my existence." "At last I can
accomplish what I'm here to do." So the salesperson pleasantly asks, "May I
help you?" To which I answer with the two most hated words in the life of a
salesperson, "Just looking." I am such a disappointment.

It's not just sales people who are bored by folks who are "just looking."
Jesus is troubled by people, often people like you and me, who aren't
interested in buying spiritually. They're "just looking." Like the people in
our word for today from the Word of God in John 9:13.

Now, this follows Jesus' amazing miracle of healing a man who had been blind
from birth. It should have been amazing to the religious leaders, the
Pharisees. But all they could see was that Jesus had healed this man on the
Sabbath, which they considered a violation of their laws.

The Bible says, "They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been born
blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes
was a Sabbath. Therefore, the Pharisees also asked him how he had received
his sight. 'He put mud on my eyes,' the man replied, 'and I washed, and now
I see." Awesome, huh? Not to the Pharisees. Their reaction? "Some of the
Pharisees said, 'This man is not from God, for He does not keep the
Sabbath.'"

Obviously men - very religious men - have no intention of buying into what
Jesus is doing here. They're just looking. Actually, everywhere Jesus did
miracles there seemed to be two groups: the expecters who are looking for
Jesus to do something, and the dissecters who are just looking at what Jesus
is doing. What bothers me is that the dissecters were the religious folks,
the spiritual veterans. Like me and maybe you. They were always so busy
analyzing what Jesus was doing that they missed what Jesus was doing. That
could be happening to you.

As you get more settled into Christian things, as you know more Christian
ideas, as you do more Christian activity, this subtle numbness can start to
creep in. You go to church, not so much to have God speak to you but to
watch God speak to others. You make spiritual events happen but you seldom
let them happen to you. You start to become a discusser of God's working
rather than an experiencer of God at work. You start to become critical of
other leaders and other methods.

Can you feel that creeping sleep in your soul? Somewhere you stepped out of
the middle of God's life-changing work and you moved to the edges to watch,
to analyze, to categorize, to criticize, or to help it happen. And it's cold
out there, isn't it? You show up at Jesus' store, you look around, but you
just don't buy into the wonder of it all. The great revivalist Gipsy Smith
started preaching when he was 17 and he quit when he was 82 because he died.
When people used to ask him why he was as excited and passionate in his
preaching even like when he was a young man, he simply said, "I have never
lost the wonder."

Maybe you have. It's time to get back into the mainstream where the miracles
are... where the powerful works of God are. Drop your analyzer's detachment
and return to your original love, your original excitement about Jesus. Let
God happen to you again! When Jesus is offering such supernatural
merchandise, it would be a shame if you're just on the edges "just looking."