Maranatha Grace Church

But the just shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4b)

Hello:

Book of Habakkuk Challenge – Day 3 Habakkuk 1 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

How long, Lord, must I call for help,
 but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
 but you do not save?
³ Why do you make me look at injustice?
 Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
 there is strife, and conflict abounds.
⁴ Therefore the law is paralyzed,
 and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
 so that justice is perverted. (Habakkuk 1:2-4)

When we hear about the destruction and violence that are going on in the world, our hearts cry out for justice. It may seem there is no way out of the evil ways of nations and individuals, but we cannot despair. We have the blessed hope of the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In the Beatitudes, Jesus tells us that in the end righteousness will prevail, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).

The key to overcome evil is to focus on the Lord.

Do not fret because of those who are evil
 or be envious of those who do wrong;
² for like the grass they will soon wither,
 like green plants they will soon die away.

³ Trust in the Lord and do good;
 dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
⁴ Take delight in the Lord,
 and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalms 37)

May the Lord richly bless you!

Hello:

Book of Habakkuk Challenge – Day 4 Habakkuk 2 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.² And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.³ For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.⁴ Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:1-4)

The only true way and meaningful way to live is to live by faith. Faith is the first ingredient of the spiritual life. Three things will last forever as we read in 1 Corinthians 13:13, “Love, Hope, and Love”. The Bible tells us that without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). God wants us to take him at his word. To believe that “he is,” that he is the only unchanging reality of the universe, he is “I Am That I Am” (Exodus 3:14).

May the Lord richly bless you!

Hello:

Book of Habakkuk Challenge – Day 5 Habakkuk 3 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

¹⁷ Though the fig tree should not blossom, no fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
¹⁹ God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

What makes it possible for a Christian to be able to rejoice in the Lord in spite of some very trying and possible painful situations?  The prophet Habakkuk tells us why. “I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation,” he declares. He can rejoice because he gets his joy from the Lord. The joy that the Christian experiences is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). It is not something that he creates for himself, but something that is giving to him.

Without faith there can’t be no hope, and without hope there can’t be no love. The Bible tells us that there are three things that will last forever, “Faith, Hope, and Love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). The greatest of them is love, the least of them and the easiest to get is faith. Faith can be deliberately developed, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Our faith must lead to hope, and our hope must  lead to love.

May the Lord richly bless you!