“You can never please God without faith, without depending on Him. Anyone who wants to come to God must believe that there is a God and that He rewards those who sincerely look for Him” Hebrews 11:6
A friend of mine, one of the most dedicated men I have ever known, lived by a little black book. In this book he kept a careful record of all his activities, past, present and future.
In it he recorded the time he was to get up every morning, how long to have his devotions, how many verses of Scripture he should memorize that day, and to how many people he should witness. I was impressed; I wanted to be like him.
One day he had a mental breakdown, however. After he was released from the hospital, he said to me, “I was unable to live the Christian life. I tried to be a man of God by imposing upon myself certain rigid spiritual disciplines.
“Before they took me to the hospital, my last conscious act was to throw that little black book, which had become my god, into the corner. I never wanted to see it again.”
This man had to discover what I discovered with great relief some years ago: I will never be able to live the Christian life through my own self-efforts.
My only hope for victory, power and fruitfulness is to trust Christ to live His resurrection life in and through me. He and He alone can enable me to live the Christian life. It is faith, not effort that pleases Him, though we should never forget that faith without works is dead. Genuine faith always produces action – good works that please and glorify Him.
Bible Reading: Hebrews 7:17-22
Today by faith I will claim Christ’s resurrection life, and since He alone is holy I will claim His power to live a supernatural life. Since He came to seek and to save the lost, I will claim by faith His ability to seek and to save the lost.
by Dr. Bill Bright
Used by Permission
Further Reading
• The Kind of Faith that Pleases God – by Julie Lairsey
• He Has Not Deserted Me – by Bill Bright
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