“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”– Hebrews 11:6

In the 1950s, there was a very famous race car driver by the name of Bill Vukovich who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1953 and 1954. Few other drivers had matched his success, and everyone wanted to know his secret.

One day, a reporter caught up with Vukovich and asked him what his secret was to winning the Indy 500 in back-to-back years. Vukovich, unfazed by the question, bluntly answered, “There is no secret. You just press the accelerator to the floor and steer left!”

Sadly, Vukovich was killed in a crash during the Indy 500 the very next year. Yet his words serve as a reminder that being successful at something isn’t necessarily complicated; it’s doing the simple things well.

Many Christians search in vain for the secret to the true spiritual life. Books have been written and conferences have packed auditoriums to teach this very subject. But the Christian spiritual life isn’t complicated. In fact, it’s embodied in the simple word faith.

So when you’re asked about what the secret is to the Christian life, the answer is simply, “Faith.” Have faith that Christ has saved you, faith in His provision for you each day, and faith that one day you’ll be with Him forever!

Pray and ask God to help you continue to strengthen your faith in Him.-(Senior Living)

Due to the nature of life, I feel the need to repeat what I said in the message last Sunday. It seems we all need constant reminders. We talk a lot about being “Bible believers”, but I wonder if that’s always true. Sometimes we fail to trust what we have declared as the truth because of trials that leave us feeling as though all things are against us. That’s when we need to hear something like this:

One Sunday morning at a small southern church, the new pastor called on one of his older deacons to lead in the opening prayer. The deacon stood up, bowed his head and said, “Lord, I hate buttermilk.”

The pastor opened one eye and wondered where this was going. The deacon continued, “Lord, I hate lard.”

Now the pastor was totally perplexed. The deacon continued, “Lord, I ain’t too crazy about plain flour. But after you mix ’em all together and bake ’em in a hot oven, I just love biscuits.”

“Lord help us to realize when life gets hard, when things come up that we don’t like, whenever we don’t understand what You are doing, that we need to wait and see what You are making. After you get through mixing and baking, it’ll probably be something even better than biscuits. Amen.”

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.“–Romans 8:28]

“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” – Philippians 4:11

Adrian Rogers said, “Paul came to a place in his life—not a physical place, but a spiritual place—where he felt divine contentment. Most people think they know what this word “contentment” means, but let me tell you what it means in God’s Word—“self contained.”

In the context of this passage, we learn that Paul was thanking people for their love gifts to him, but he wanted them also to know that he was not dependent upon them because God had brought him to a place of sufficiency in Himself alone.

That is, Paul was able to say, “I have learned that I don’t need anything or anybody else, but the Lord. I have Him, and therefore, I am self-contained, not self-sufficient. I can do all things through Christ.” Do you have a contentment today in Christ alone?”

So how was it that Paul learned to find what most people never discover? The key is Phil. 1:21″For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” As F. B. Meyer said –“Christ is the essence of our life…the model of our life…the aim of our life…the solace of our life…the reward of our life.” When we truly believe  that we will be content regardless of the circumstances.

“Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.“– Heb. 4:13

The one true God is omniscient; He is all-knowing. There is nothing in the past, in the present, or in the future that is hidden from Him. There is nothing spoken in secret, or thought in private, or done in darkness that is not known to Him.

The realization of God’s omniscience brings with it both conviction and comfort. It is convicting to consider that our whole life is an open book to God. “Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance” (Psalm 90:8). There is no hiding from the Holy One.

However, for the believer God’s omniscience also carries an incalculable comfort. The fact that every sin is open to His eyes means that every sin was paid for on the cross of Jesus Christ. The fact that God knew us so intimately and still chose to send His Son to die for us is unspeakably reassuring.

And when we come to the omniscient God in prayer, Jesus reminds us, He knows what we need before we even ask Him (Matthew 6:8). Not only that, but He knows our frame; He will never let us suffer more than we can bear (Psalm 103:14; Hebrews 13:10).

As Job reminded himself, “He knoweth the way that I take” and nothing will be allowed into my life except it be for my refining, for my good. –Baptist Bible Hour

God knows–God cares–God can help!