Matthew 5:8, the good life belongs to the pure of heart, because they will see God. They are the ones, who will look upon the face of God, but looking upon the face of God, isn’t that a very dangerous thing to do? It is, but it’s only dangerous if we live on the outside of Eden, because if we’re in Eden, we’re walking in the cool of the day. To see the face of God is shorthand for to gain re-entry back into Eden or in Revelation chapter 22, when the heaven and earth are reunited. John was shown the river of the water of life coming from the Throne of God and the Lamb. The Throne of the New Jerusalem is now where the tree of life is, at the center of Eden, the tree of life is the Throne of God. In other words, in this New Jerusalem, Eden, at the center of it is the tree of life from which flows the river of life. In the garden, the tree of life here, it’s the Throne of God and the Lamb and that’s because it’s the Holy of Holies.
Moses on Mount Sinai, show me your face and God said you can’t, because here, outside of Eden, it’s dangerous, you’ll die, but Moses saw the back of God, a great metaphor for the indescribable. To be pure of heart means that our behavior, that’s observable to others is doing right by God and doing right by others and that it’s matched completely by our internal lives and motivations that are doing right by God and right by others. We can fake it, while manipulating others, Jesus is putting his finger on that. We need to be connected to our true motivations, that’s the purpose of humanity, the relationship God designed humanity for, doing right by others and generous acts of love. This isn’t just behavior, it’s character, the core character of a person, but depravity, we can overemphasize that to a degree of actually not being faithful to the full portrait of human nature, because humans are a lot more in God’s eyes than depraved. But that compromised nature is really a big emphasis in the biblical story, because it’s realistic.
To live with unwavering trust, stop wasting time in doubt and fully surrender to God, this changes everything. At some point, every believer has to come to a decision, not a feeling, not a moment of emotion during worship, a decision, either we continue living with doubt, instability and repeated struggles or we choose to fully trust God and stand on his word, no matter what we see or feel. Living with little faith creates a life of constant uncertainty, we’re always second guessing, always anxious, always bracing for what might go wrong and the sad part is, many Christians accept this as normal, thinking faith means just surviving until heaven, but that’s not what God intended, God calls his people to live in victory, not perfection, but victory.
That shift begins, when we stop letting emotions lead our life, emotions are powerful, but they were never meant to be in charge, they change with circumstances, one bad day, one unexpected problem, one disappointing outcome and suddenly fear takes over, but faith rooted in God’s Word, doesn’t rise and fall with emotions, it stands firm. This is why surrender is so crucial, when we fully surrender to God, we stop needing proof before obedience, we trust his promises, even when we haven’t seen the results yet. We act in faith, because we believe God is faithful, not because we feel confident in the moment and that kind of faith changes how we live.
We begin to rely on God’s promises, instead of our own understanding, we lean on the Spirit of God within us, trusting that he will guide us through every situation, we stop panicking when problems arise, because we know God sees, what we cannot see. We live in time, God exists outside of time, he already knows the outcome and when we truly believe that it transforms our perspective, we stop asking, what if this goes wrong and start saying, God will carry me through. Matthew 8:26, why are you afraid, you of little faith, Jesus wasn’t shaming his disciples, he was inviting them into deeper trust, fear reveals where faith hasn’t fully taken root yet and this isn’t just about daily life, it applies to overcoming sin as well. The same faith we need to trust God with our future, is the faith we need to trust him to change our heart, if we believe God can provide for our needs, we also need to believe he can empower us to walk in freedom.
Unbelief is more dangerous than many people realize, it’s not always loud, sometimes it hides behind religious activity, but deep down they don’t fully believe God will do what he says. James chapter 1, a person who doubts is unstable in all their ways, that instability shows up everywhere in relationships and decisions in spiritual growth and God doesn’t want his people living that way. Another reason so many believers stay stuck, is because they don’t take their relationship with God seriously enough, God isn’t first. God is an addition, he’s involved, but not central and when God isn’t central, faith stays weak. Matthew 6:33, first seek the Kingdom of God, that word first, is non-negotiable, it’s the condition for the promise. If we ignore that order, life becomes a struggle, we’ll fight temptation without strength, we’ll face fear with peace, we’ll try to live the Christian life in our own power and that never works.
When God truly comes first, everything changes. We don’t waste time doubting every situation, we don’t stay trapped in cycles of fear, we don’t keep relearning the same lessons that hard way, we trust God sooner, we obey faster, we grow deeper, but that doesn’t mean life becomes easy, it means life becomes steady. Life is short, shorter than we like to admit, every day wasted in doubt, fear and hesitation is a day we don’t get back, God didn’t design us to drift through life uncertain and anxious, he designed us to live with purpose, clarity and faith. We don’t have to stay of little faith, we can choose today to take God at his Word, to stop sitting on the throne of our heart and let him lead fully, to move from emotional belief, to lived out trust, that decision changes everything
Moses on Mount Sinai, show me your face and God said you can’t, because here, outside of Eden, it’s dangerous, you’ll die, but Moses saw the back of God, a great metaphor for the indescribable. To be pure of heart means that our behavior, that’s observable to others is doing right by God and doing right by others and that it’s matched completely by our internal lives and motivations that are doing right by God and right by others. We can fake it, while manipulating others, Jesus is putting his finger on that. We need to be connected to our true motivations, that’s the purpose of humanity, the relationship God designed humanity for, doing right by others and generous acts of love. This isn’t just behavior, it’s character, the core character of a person, but depravity, we can overemphasize that to a degree of actually not being faithful to the full portrait of human nature, because humans are a lot more in God’s eyes than depraved. But that compromised nature is really a big emphasis in the biblical story, because it’s realistic.
To live with unwavering trust, stop wasting time in doubt and fully surrender to God, this changes everything. At some point, every believer has to come to a decision, not a feeling, not a moment of emotion during worship, a decision, either we continue living with doubt, instability and repeated struggles or we choose to fully trust God and stand on his word, no matter what we see or feel. Living with little faith creates a life of constant uncertainty, we’re always second guessing, always anxious, always bracing for what might go wrong and the sad part is, many Christians accept this as normal, thinking faith means just surviving until heaven, but that’s not what God intended, God calls his people to live in victory, not perfection, but victory.
That shift begins, when we stop letting emotions lead our life, emotions are powerful, but they were never meant to be in charge, they change with circumstances, one bad day, one unexpected problem, one disappointing outcome and suddenly fear takes over, but faith rooted in God’s Word, doesn’t rise and fall with emotions, it stands firm. This is why surrender is so crucial, when we fully surrender to God, we stop needing proof before obedience, we trust his promises, even when we haven’t seen the results yet. We act in faith, because we believe God is faithful, not because we feel confident in the moment and that kind of faith changes how we live.
We begin to rely on God’s promises, instead of our own understanding, we lean on the Spirit of God within us, trusting that he will guide us through every situation, we stop panicking when problems arise, because we know God sees, what we cannot see. We live in time, God exists outside of time, he already knows the outcome and when we truly believe that it transforms our perspective, we stop asking, what if this goes wrong and start saying, God will carry me through. Matthew 8:26, why are you afraid, you of little faith, Jesus wasn’t shaming his disciples, he was inviting them into deeper trust, fear reveals where faith hasn’t fully taken root yet and this isn’t just about daily life, it applies to overcoming sin as well. The same faith we need to trust God with our future, is the faith we need to trust him to change our heart, if we believe God can provide for our needs, we also need to believe he can empower us to walk in freedom.
Unbelief is more dangerous than many people realize, it’s not always loud, sometimes it hides behind religious activity, but deep down they don’t fully believe God will do what he says. James chapter 1, a person who doubts is unstable in all their ways, that instability shows up everywhere in relationships and decisions in spiritual growth and God doesn’t want his people living that way. Another reason so many believers stay stuck, is because they don’t take their relationship with God seriously enough, God isn’t first. God is an addition, he’s involved, but not central and when God isn’t central, faith stays weak. Matthew 6:33, first seek the Kingdom of God, that word first, is non-negotiable, it’s the condition for the promise. If we ignore that order, life becomes a struggle, we’ll fight temptation without strength, we’ll face fear with peace, we’ll try to live the Christian life in our own power and that never works.
When God truly comes first, everything changes. We don’t waste time doubting every situation, we don’t stay trapped in cycles of fear, we don’t keep relearning the same lessons that hard way, we trust God sooner, we obey faster, we grow deeper, but that doesn’t mean life becomes easy, it means life becomes steady. Life is short, shorter than we like to admit, every day wasted in doubt, fear and hesitation is a day we don’t get back, God didn’t design us to drift through life uncertain and anxious, he designed us to live with purpose, clarity and faith. We don’t have to stay of little faith, we can choose today to take God at his Word, to stop sitting on the throne of our heart and let him lead fully, to move from emotional belief, to lived out trust, that decision changes everything
