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Are you feeling anxious or a sense of despair with all that is going on today? If your answer is yes, you wouldn’t be alone. With that in mind it’s important to take a step back and look at what the Bible has to say about faith and hope in troubling times. We are breaking down the Bible verse of the day, which you can cling to on rocky times.
The Bible App’s verse of the day today is Hebrews 11:1 which says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” This verse shows us that we put our faith in something that we can’t see in the natural. To our flesh, it would make sense to follow the world as we plan our path in life, but that is not the substance of faith God has called us to.
Contained within faith is something you can grab on to and anchor in when the natural is pointing a million other directions. That substance could come from a word of knowledge, prophetic word, dream or vision that God has given you about what is coming.
For each generation that rises it feels as if there are global events happening in the world that have never happened throughout history. What a frightening thought! But, Ecclesiastes 1:9 says, “What has been is the same as what will be, and what has been done is the same as what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.”
Inflation, War, rumors of war, famine, deceit, false teachers and the divide over political leaders is nothing new. The moral sins that are so evidently displayed throughout culture today date all the way back to Satan’s temptation to Adam and Eve in the garden. While American’s today continue to be extremely divided on politics, even within the church, the truth is this is nothing new.
Paul, addressing the church in Corinth over their division on leadership, told the church to come together in agreement in the same mind and the same judgement so there would be no division among them. Paul was concerned about a church divided over allegiance to leaders other than Jesus. Sound familiar?
Barna Group conducted a poll and they found 62% of pastors say they often preach about unity between church members. Despite that remark, only 48% of churchgoers agree that their pastors speak on unity often.
Even worse, only 30% of pastors report that they speak on unity between people of different political beliefs with 23% of Christians confirming they have heard it. While there is a clear crisis flashing before the churches eyes, it doesn’t appear many pastors are taking church division seriously.
First Corinthians 1:20 says, “Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made the wisdom of this world foolish?”
Later on Paul reminds the church that God choses foolish things of this world to confound the wise, and the weak things of this world to confound that which is mighty. Paul says, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
There is a plethora of ammo on your news feed today that you could grab ahold of to use debating and arguing with your very own brothers and sisters in Christ. God makes it clear that He is not a God of division. Satan’s goal is to divide the church to weaken the bride of Christ. Despite all of the turmoil in our world today set your mind on heavenly things and put your faith in the promises of God which are yes and amen. Grab ahold of the substance of your faith and spend your time advancing the kingdom of heaven instead of arguing with fellow believers. {eoa}
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Shelby Bowen is an assistant editor for Charisma Media.
