And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. - (Acts 6:5)

At this crucial moment in the life of the early church, the people joined together to look for leaders to help take care of the needy widows among them. While the task appears to be a “physical” task — taking care of hungry widows — the men chose to take care of this task had to be spiritual men. Spiritual in this context means men of faith and men full of Holy Spirit.

Let’s see this as a reminder that all of God’s work is spiritual and all who serve need to be spiritual as well!

Prayer : O Father, forgive us for segmenting our lives into spiritual and secular categories. Deep in our hearts, we know that all of our lives are to be lived under the influence and guidance of your Holy Spirit. Help us be discerning as we try to find those to lead and serve in every area of our lives as your people so that what we do and how we do it will reflect your holy character and your gracious compassion. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

There is something amazing about faith. Jesus often praised those who exercised their faith.

Once, a high official in the Roman army had his servant lying seriously ill. He wished Jesus to come and heal him. But because he greatly honored Jesus, he considered himself not worthy of having Him in his house. So he requested Jesus to speak a word of healing from the place He was at and believed his servant would get well! The Scriptures record that Jesus marveled at his daring faith (Luke 7:9). And the servant was healed miraculously!

Faith is always connected to honor. The Roman official highly honored the authority and ability of Jesus. So he was able to exercise his faith in Jesus. And the miracle happened!

The opposite also works. Jesus could not perform any miracle among a group of people who knew Him from his infancy. They did not honor Him. So their faith couldn’t work. And they missed their miracle (Mark 6:6).

Today, Jesus is ready and well able to perform miracles in your life. What you need to do is to honor Him and act out in faith. Honor His authority and ability. Honor His ministers (1 Thessalonians 5:12). And your faith will arise. It will fetch extraordinary blessings into your life!

- – - By Joe Abraham & Ancy Joe

One of the most interesting things I learned is in Hebrews 6. When God made His promise to Abraham, He had to swear on Himself since there was no one greater to swear by. (verses 13) In verse 18 we find that it is impossible for God to lie or change because of His promise and His oath.

God ABSOLUTELY CANNOT LIE. In Isaiah 55:11 we were also told that God’s Word cannot return to Him void. All of these verses give us confidence that what God said He would do must come to pass if we do our part. Earlier in this study we referred to Hebrews 11:1 where it talks about faith being the assurance or confirmation of things we hope for. Hope is the predecessor to faith. Hope is the inner image that believes things can change or something can happen.

Before we can have faith, we must get a picture of what we want. However, we cannot hope for something that is not in God’s Word. We need to find the promise in the Bible that assures us of what is ours in Christ. We then read that verse daily. Meditate on it. Look up the definitions for each word. We start confessing that promise as ours with our words. This will build a true, Biblical hope in us that confidently expects the promise to manifest in the natural realm. We may not see it right now but that’s ok.

We know that the just shall live by faith. We don’t have to see it to believe it. We believe it because God said it and we trust Him that we will see it in due time. This confident expectation becomes faith. This is when we know that we know that God said it and therefore I believe it. Hope moves into faith when the promise goes from “could be” to “it is” in your heart. Faith is the substance of things hoped for.

Faith comes out of hope. It’s a tangible result. There is substance. Hope and knowledge of God’s promises produces faith. Faith in God’s love for us moves mountains. Faith in God’s love for us heals the sick. It’s not our works of faith but the faith we have in God’s love for us and His ability to manifest His presence among us that brings change.

Of course, it’s important to again note that all of this starts with the Word.

No Word, No Hope.

No Hope, No Faith.

No Faith, No Results.

In order to have confident expectation, you have to know what God has promised. The only way to do this is to spend time in God’s Word. As you build up your knowledge of God’s promises, your hope and faith will begin to rise.