#Faithfulness of God

[walkswithmyfather]

Joshua 3:11-16 (NLT). [11] Look, the Ark of the Covenant, which belongs to the Lord of the whole earth, will lead you across the Jordan River! [12] Now choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. [13] The priests will carry the Ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth. As soon as their feet touch the water, the flow of water will be cut off upstream, and the river will stand up like a wall.” [14] So the people left their camp to cross the Jordan, and the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant went ahead of them. [15] It was the harvest season, and the Jordan was overflowing its banks. But as soon as the feet of the priests who were carrying the Ark touched the water at the river’s edge, [16] the water above that point began backing up a great distance away at a town called Adam, which is near Zarethan. And the water below that point flowed on to the Dead Sea until the riverbed was dry. Then all the people crossed over near the town of Jericho.”

Joshua 4:1-8 (NLT). [1] “When all the people had crossed the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, [2] “Now choose twelve men, one from each tribe. [3] Tell them, ‘Take twelve stones from the very place where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan. Carry them out and pile them up at the place where you will camp tonight.’” [4] So Joshua called together the twelve men he had chosen—one from each of the tribes of Israel. [5] He told them, “Go into the middle of the Jordan, in front of the Ark of the Lord your God. Each of you must pick up one stone and carry it out on your shoulder—twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. [6] We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ [7] Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.” [8] So the men did as Joshua had commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River, one for each tribe, just as the Lord had told Joshua. They carried them to the place where they camped for the night and constructed the memorial there.”

“Remembering God’s Goodness” By In Touch Ministries:

“How can you create reminders of the Lord's faithfulness?”

“Some information—like a birthday or phone number—is easy to remember. Yet we tend to forget examples of the Lord’s goodness to us. Today’s verses suggest a way to counteract this.

After bringing His people safely out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, God miraculously provided another dry path by piling up the Jordan’s waters in a heap upstream. He knew the Israelites were about to enter Jericho and would, by His power, overcome that city. It was certainly compassionate of God to give that tangible illustration of His strength and presence before the battle. But He also knew how quickly they had forgotten Him before.

The Lord had a plan to help His people recall the miracle at the river. He told them to create a memorial with 12 stones, each representing a tribe of Israel that had passed safely through the waters (Josh. 4:7-8). Then they would have a lasting visible reminder of divine rescue.

We’re much like the Israelites: When God works in big, obvious ways, it’s easy to trust Him. But in time, we drift toward self-reliance until we’re reminded of our need for Him and repent.

How can you create reminders of God’s faithfulness? Whether it’s by journaling or creating a “thankfulness list,” make sure you have a way to remember the Lord’s involvement in your life.”

[Photo thanks to Mikhail Tyrsyna at Unsplash]

[tonreihe]

“The second regular theme is that of faith, although it is not usually human faith that Barth is most interested in. Everyday talk about ‘faith’ can sometimes seem to imply that faith is some kind of human achievement, capability, or state. One of Barth’s strategies in his exegesis of Romans II is to rid us of this idea. Barth tries to rip the roots out of any idea that ‘faith’ is something we do or don’t do, that it is in any way a human effort. Or to put it in Paul’s terms, faith is not something we can ‘boast’ about before God. Indeed, faith in itself cannot even justify us before God apart from God’s faithfulness. Barth often translates Paul’s pistis, normally translated as ‘faith,’ as ‘the faithfulness of God.’ ‘Faith,’ then, is primarily a reference to God; it doesn’t point us to our abilities, but to God and his faithfulness to his creation. Barth will, to be sure, often speak of the possibility and necessity of human faith as well, but typically not without clearing away some of these misunderstandings in the process.”

—Kenneth Oakes, Reading Karl Barth: A Companion to Karl Barth’s Epistle to the Romans

[pttyann]

He Knows Your Name

Sometimes especially during our test and trials we can feel like God has forgotten us but his word teaches and encourages us that he can never forget us nor will he ever leave us it’s such a blessing to know Jesus Christ I hope these scriptures are encouraging and remember God knows your name he loves and cares for you And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall…

[averagechristiannet]

The One Who Rules the World Cares for You

Randy Alcorn presents an encouraging article from pastor and author Paul David Tripp. In the midst of this crazy world that seems out of control, we are deeply loved by the one who actually rules over the earth and our lives. From Eternal Perspectives…

[pastordin]

Trusting Beyond Understanding

Trusting Beyond Understanding – Aamir and Carissa Din Home | Devotions | Contact Trusting Beyond Understanding “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” — Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) Devotional In moments of uncertainty, trusting God can feel daunting. Proverbs 3:5-6 offers a clear directive…

[bibleteacher-org]

Faith, Faith

Preached at Riverview Baptist

Photo by Daniil Silantev on Unsplash Please turn with me in your Bibles to: Hebrews 11:1-3 NOW faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For BY it the elders obtained a good report. 3 THROUGH faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. One of the most important…

[secondbeatsongs]

for anyone too young to know this: watching The Truman Show is a vastly different experience now, compared to how it was before youtube and social media influencers became normal

before it was like, "what a horrifying thing to do to a human being! to take away their autonomy and privacy, all for the sake of profits! to create fake scenarios for them to react to, just to retain viewership! to ruin their happiness just so some corporate entity could harvest money from their very humanity! how could anyone do something so evil?"

and now it's like, "ah, yeah. this is still deeply fucked up, but it's pretty much what every influencer has been doing to their kids for a decade now. probably bad that we've normalized this experience"

[lovelyreny]

[spn2006]

the fact that eric kripke isn't even christian really adds something to the way christianity is depicted on supernatural. because its really not about being christian at all, but about living in america, a country dominated by christianity, and having to decide for yourself how to handle that. faith is huge in supernatural, and the mythology of the show is very bible-centric, but notably, christ is never there. even sam, who starts out revering the angels, who once said he prays every night, doesn't actually call himself a christian or imply that he believes in jesus--the show is steeped in christianity and biblical lore and yet neither sam nor dean are christians. in fact, over and over again the church itself is depicted as a haunted house that sam and dean will only ever enter as strangers, as outsiders. priests, preachers, faith healers, chapels, crypts, etc. are all just iconography that create an intense sense of unease that sam and dean respond to instantly. as a jew, its very relatable. an essential part of living in america when you're not christian is that exact sense of unease, of knowing that the culture of your country has ensured that you'll get knocked over by christianity no matter where you go, that you'll see hundreds of people truly believing they're good people while doing awful things in the name of their god, and you have no choice but to confront that. kripke gets it

[walkswithmyfather]

‘Wait on the LORD’ is a constant refrain in the Psalms, and it is a necessary word, for God often keeps us waiting. He is not in such a hurry as we are, and it is not His way to give more light on the future than we need for action in the present, or to guide us more than one step at a time. When in doubt, do nothing, but continue to wait on God. When action is needed, light will come.” —J.I. Packer

From: “The Spiritual Encourager”

[tonreihe]

“Where the faithfulness of God encounters the fidelity of men, there is manifested His righteousness. There shall the righteous man live.”

—Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Romans

[lovechristianity]

[queerism1969]

[secretsoftheuniverse1987]

Thinking about how Dean Winchester was an atheist before he got caught up in the biblical apocalypse because in his mind, the two possible realities were an absent God and a cruel one. Thinking about him learning God was real and he had a Plan for him. Thinking about how that robbed him of his faith that a God wouldn't be capable of such cruelty. Thinking about how quickly he came to put his faith in Cas, despite his distrust of the divine. Thinking about The Man Who Would Be King. Thinking about Dean's only on-screen prayer to God being a plea to "bring him back."

[dailyeffectiveprayer]

Be so confident in God's plan that you don't even get upset anymore when things don't go your way.

[kdmiller55]

Yet For All That…

40 “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, 41 so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, 42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember…