Christianity has been completely corrupted in the pursuit of being blessed. Too many teachers and preachers have taken the focus off of sound doctrine and true worship and placed it instead to the idea of being blessed with things, stuff, money, bigger buildings, larger ministries -- which even non-believers know cannot bring real happiness.
The [wrong] thinking is that if God loves you and you are in His will, you exercise faith, and His favor rests upon you, then He will bless you with a lot of extra things above and beyond what you'd have if you were just an ordinary believer. And we've fooled ourselves into thinking that if we do have some material wealth, it was God who blessed us with it.
This is not what the Bible teaches. What is a blessing? And is it a result of faith?
Hebrews is often called the "Hall of Faith" It is the Scriptural record of those individuals throughout biblical history who had great faith. The examples we find here are a roadmap -- a guide -- to understanding true faith and the result of that faith. Look at verses Chapter 11: 36-40:
For those who have fear, Jesus is there. For those who suffer financial collapse, Jesus is there. David said, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll not fear. why Jesus is there.The Hebrews writer promises, He will never leave us. He will never forsake us.I want a friendship with Jesus. I want Him with me.I want Jesus with me in temptations. I want Jesus with me in trials. I want Jesus with me in death. I have complete faith that is with me, ever step of my journey.Hebrews 11.6 tells us, Without faith, it is impossible to please Him. Acknowledging, Admitting, Confessing, Repenting of our sins with broken hearts then be baptized makes us a child of our Lord Jesus ,in John 15 Love each other as I have loved you.

Choices

　Daily we are being invited by God to make wise choices... choices that will lead to life, and not to death. We are free to choose our eternal destiny, the most important choice we will ever make. But many other choices confront us each day. And we need to pray for God to give us wisdom and enlightenment to make choices that lead to life!
Each day we face the choice to walk in obedience... in joy... in faith... in hope... in kindness... and in truth.
W e need to choose our words... the way we spend our money... and our time.
To pray... or not to pray. To believe in the Lordship of Jesus... or to reject Him.
Choices are ever before us. Choices are the hinges on which our destiny turns.
And each one of us has a role to play... to make a choice.
We are definitely living in times every hour counts toward our destiny. No one knows the day and the hour when the end will come... Jesus teaches us to be ready and watching. Matthew 24:42-44 (NIV)

42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

Faith

Does what we believe make a difference? It certainly does! Hebrews 11; witness the power and energy of faith.
       On road to Emmaus, on which Jesus walked with two dejected disciples who did not recognize Him. But later , Jesus opened their eyes. “Without a moment’s notice, they ran back to Jerusalem to tell of His resurrection.” That’s seven miles, friends! What empowered them to run the seven miles they had just walked earlier in the night? Faith! They now believed in Jesus’ resurrection, they now believed He was the Christ, and they absolutely had to tell the others in Jerusalem. Why don’t we have the energy to run and tell others of Jesus? Why is there an evangelism crisis in our churches? Lack of faith.
The Hebrews writer tells us that faith will empower us to please Him. We seek God in direct proportion to our faith. Peter declares that the “power of God unto salvation” is faith, and that the end of our faith is salvation. (I Peter 1.5 & 9) Faith gives us the energy to be obedient people.
  Hope . If this life is all there is, it isn’t enough. If this is all there is, I am tired and ready to give up. If all of my dreams die with me, then I have lived in vain. What a waste of energy! But, if there is life after life — and there is! — then I have the energy to go on, to keep-on-keeping-on. We know there will be a resurrection because Jesus was resurrected. We will be like Him. We will be raised bodily. We will live, know, touch and be touched by others. Our relationships, our fellowship will survive the grave. Life goes on. We never really die, we live forever. Jesus said, in John 14.2-4, that He was about to go away in order to prepare mansions for us to eternally dwell in. This hope powers us through the sorrows and trials of this world.
      The greatest energy known is Love Power. Love compelled God to give His son. (John 3.16) By the same token, hatred destroys so much of our energy. Hate drains the soul, blunts the mind and wearies the body. It robs us of our resolve to do right and to be right. Satan knows that jealousy, envy, revenge, hate will take over our will and keep us weak, sick and cold. Paraphrasing 1 Corinthians 13.1-3, Paul says, It makes no difference how much religion we have unless it is accompanied by love. Without love, religion is powerless. Faith, repentance, confession, baptism, church attendance, sacrificial giving, Bible study, prayer, and serving others, become only clanging symbols if we are without love. Without love religion is empty and accomplishes nothing.
Love energizes our faith, our religious practice, our obedience, and salvation. Love gives us the energy needed to be patient, kind and gentle people. Love power inhibits jealousy, pride, rudeness, selfishness and evil thinking. The power of love makes us glad when truth triumphs, when wrong is righted. Love bears up under all circumstances. It gives us power and energy to endure. “Love never fails.”
How many of us are experiencing a personal energy crisis? May God help us draw strength from our energy sources: To “work out our own salvation,” to “not become weary in doing good.” “Now there abides these three, Faith, Hope, and Love; but the greatest of these is love.” (I Corinthians 13.13) Amen?
                                            WALK IN LOVE,

                                   SUE SHIPP Outreach ministries