Faith, Hope, Love

Faith, Hope, and Love are bound to each other. Where one is so are the others. They are not of the same importance,

“…the greatest of these is Love…”¹

”…without Faith it is impossible to please God…”²

”…who against Hope believed in Hope…”³

1 Corinthians 13:1-2 YLT

1 If with the tongues of men and of messengers I speak, and have not love, I have become brass sounding, or a cymbal tinkling; 2 and if I have prophecy, and know all the secrets, and all the knowledge, and if I have all the faith, so as to remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing;

• We feel like we are nothing at times.
• Satan wants us to live here.
• God wants us to go through to Victory.
  

This is what Satan wants to steal from you:

The leading of the Holy Spirit⁴

The understanding that we can do nothing without Jesus⁵

John 10:10 NASB

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (super abundant, superior, excessive, exceeding abundantly, beyond measure, more remarkable)

The thief (enemy, adversary, devil, Satan) is after the Word in every form.

• Jesus
• The written Word
• The spoken Word
• The Truth
• The Light
  

Why does the thief steal the Word?

Let’s look at what Jesus has to say about it:

Matthew 13:18-23 MEV

18 “Therefore listen to the parable of the sower.

19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one who received seed beside the path.

20, 21 But he who received the seed on rocky ground is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, eventually he falls away.

22 He also who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

23 But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit. Some produce a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.”

The Word is our weapon and our shield

Paul explains to us here the “Full Armor of God”

Ephesians 6:10-20 MEV

10 Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

12 For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your waist girded with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 having your feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace,

16 and above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the fiery arrows of the evil one.

17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 Pray in the Spirit always with all kinds of prayer and supplication. To that end be alert with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. 19 Pray for me, that the power to speak may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may speak boldly as I ought to speak.

The Word is the evidence of God’s Love for us

• Adam…God gave him not only this world and the Blessing, power, and authority to subdue and replenish it, but He also gave him Eve, a helpmate. And God spent time with Adam, one on one.
• Noah…God could have scrapped the whole world and all that was in it. But Noah walked with God, he knew Him and Loved Him and in a world filled with perversion, hate, and false gods, Noah and his family were the only ones who were faithful to God and He spared them.
• Abraham…the father of many nations, was faithful to God and God was faithful to him. God poured wealth over him and gave him Isaac when the world said it was impossible for he and Sarah to have a child at their age.
• Isaac
• Jacob
• Joseph – sold as a slave to Egyptian
• Moses – supposed to be killed but becomes the one to lead Israel out of bondage.
• Joshua – the anointing of Moses passed to him and in his 80’s led Israel into the promised land.
• Gideon – The Lord is with you, oh mighty man of valor
• Ruth & Boaz
• Eijah and Elisha
• David – shepherd, killer of Goliath, and a man after God’s own heart
• Solomon – asked for wisdom
• Job – would not forsake his God
• Esther
• Isaiah – prophesied about Jesus around 750 years before His birth
• Daniel – the fiery furnace, the lions den
• Mary – received the call to birth Jesus
• John the Baptist – went before Jesus to prepare the way
• Jesus – our gift from God
• Peter, John, and the apostles
• Paul – the enemy becomes through Jesus a great witness of what the Lord can do.
  

And since their times, there have been millions of miracles in this world that witness to the fact that Jesus Loves us and is still with us.

Wether it is:

• The new widow whose sons were taken into bondage to pay her dead husbands debt and God intervened with a pot of oil that ran out only when she ran out of empty vessels.
• Or Jesus stoping the funeral procession to raise a woman’s only child from the dead.
• Or Jesus committing Himself in the garden to the execution of God’s plan, paying for our sins once and for all and giving us, among so many things, the Spirit of Life, adoption, forgiveness, healing and riches.
• He still walks with us today and does for eternity.
  

1. 1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV
   And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. ↩
2. Hebrews 11:6 NKJV
   But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. ↩
3. Romans 4:18 KJV
   Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. ↩
4. John 5:19 MEV
   Then Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. For whatever He does, likewise the Son does. ↩
5. John 15:5 TPT
   “I am the sprouting vine and you’re my branches. As you live in union with me as your source, fruitfulness will stream from within you—but when you live separated from me you are powerless. ↩