SCRIPTURE: Hebrews (NIV) 11:13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
OBSERVATION: A note from my past is attached to verse 13 above: “What a special thing to say. May it be engraved on tomb stones. May it be fixed in the minds of people left behind. “These people were still living by faith when they died.” It appears at times that someone’s faith died before they died. What a tragedy!
After years of experience of walking with God, after years of reading God’s Word, after years of prayer, surely my latter years should be filled with faith at a greater level than before.”
APPLICATION: “Living by faith when they died.” What does that mean to Leon? It means that my focus is not on my aches and pains, but on God’s work. It means that I am not full of the past because my mind and heart is overflowing with what God is doing today. It means that I am thankful for what God told me in the past, but I only want to talk about what God told me this morning.
In visiting with people, I can encourage them with what God has done for me, but my focus is on what God can do for them.
Surely it means “This world is not my home, I’m just passing through.”
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, each year my flesh grows weaker, but my faith grows stronger. Daily Your word is added that already established in my life. May I grow in blessing You and blessing others. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Pastor Leon
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