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FAITH AND WORKS

THE DAILY FOUNTAIN DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE OF THE CHURCH OF NIGERIA (ANGLICAN COMMUNION)

DATE: WEDNESDAY, 15TH NOVEMBER, 2023 

TOPIC: FAITH AND WORKS

TEXT: HEBREW 3:7-4:13

7.  Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you will hear His voice,
8.  Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness,
9.  Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years.
10.  Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, 'They always go astray in [their] heart, And they have not known My ways.'
11.  So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.' "
12.  Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;
13.  but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
14.  For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,
15.  while it is said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."
16.  For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, [was it] not all who came out of Egypt, [led] by Moses?
17.  Now with whom was He angry forty years? [Was it] not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?
18.  And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?
19.  So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
4:1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.
2. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard [it.]
3. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest,' " although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
4. For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh [day] in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works";
5.  and again in this [place:] "They shall not enter My rest."
6.  Since therefore it remains that some [must] enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience,
7.  again He designates a certain day, saying in David, "Today," after such a long time, as it has been said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts."
8.  For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day.
9.  There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.
10.  For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God [did] from His.
11.  Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
12.  For the word of God [is] living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
13  And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things [are] naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we [must give] account.
 

MESSAGE:  
Our today's reading brings two things to light about our anchor in Christianity (faith and works), as well as the consequences of unbelief. God can give us rest in our family, career or any other path of life. The blessing of God makes rich and adds no sorrow, yet we see some people who have made it in life but still lack some things, like health, children, etc. The word of God is can be depended upon, but we need to act on what we hear from Him in order to see it work in our lives. The word says 'Let us labour to enter into that rest' - this takes work! Faith is not just believing, sitting down and waiting for God to perform but believing God and acting on your beliefs. You cannot believe God for an excellent business and not be diligent. Your belief in God must spur you to act. Faith without works is dead!
The word of God cuts across all things. It is quick, powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword and has the ability to intervene in all situations, spiritual and physical. Depend on the word,speak the word and act according to the word to receive the change that you deserve

PRAYER: 
Lord, i believe Your word and i receive grace to step out in faith today to see Your promises fulfilled. Amen.

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