TWO THINGS in life determine how far you go: the things you believe about God and what God thinks about you.
God's beliefs about you will define your relationship with Him (Gen. 18:19). And your beliefs about God will give God an impression of you (1 Kings 8:17-18).
Whichever way you view it, your thoughts are important to God and should also matter to you.
No wonder Paul warns that you should take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corin. 10:5).
You ensure that whatever you think gives God pleasure.
TO IMPRESS is to gain the admiration or respect of someone—to be in their good book.
Cain did not find God's admiration when he offered his sacrifice. God rejected it ( Gen. 4:3-7). However, Abel gained God's acceptance by offering his sacrifice by faith. (Heb. 11:4).
The question is, who gains when faith is present? Who profits when doubt is absent?
If you can answer these questions correctly, dealing with temptation will be easy.
DOUBT was absent when Isaac stayed and sowed in the land (Gen. 23:12-36).
Faith was present when Abraham did not consider his body now dead nor the deadness of Sarah's womb (Rom. 4:19). So, faith is accepting the ability of God.
Wherever faith takes you, hope is present. And wherever God is present, there's always hope (Ps. 147:11).
HOPE came to the fore when God said to Paul: As you have testified of me in Jerusalem, you will do the same in Rome (Acts 23:11).
His desire to know God and make Him known did not go unnoticed.
GOD gave Paul the lives of everyone on the ship. He also kept them alive in a shipwreck.
And when a viper bit him, he shook it off and threw it into the fire without ill effects (Acts 23:8).
OBEDIENCE gives you relevance with God and ensures you do not die before your time.
You become significant to God when all you see is Him.
For example, Saul could not take David's life because God kept him from harm (1 Sam. 18:10-11). God protected him as he was part of his plan.
You become significant to God when all you see is Him.
HE WENT through life, building the capacity to receive what God wanted to give him.
His longing for God grew as he sought God in difficult times.
If you are to achieve anything as a believer, your conviction in God must go deeper.
THE SCRIPTURES in your head will only do so much to you if you accept them.
It's the truth you are grounded in that you will walk in, and it's the same truth that will change your life.
If the Holy Spirit will remind you of anything, it's the truth you have read. (John 14:26)
Obedience is when your heart agrees with what your mouth says.
The Woman with the Issue of Blood believed that if she touched the hem of Jesus' garment, she would be whole (Luke 8:43-48).
She must have muttered this thought to herself repeatedly—this is how you meditate.
Faith makes you speak. (2 Cor. 4:13).
Final Thought
THE DISTANCE you go with God depends greatly on how you see and think of Him.
See God with the eye of faith, and your perspective on life will be different.