Unbelief is a Serious Sin

These days, most of us, moms and wives, we are back on the busy life again. The children have started school and jobs and husbands are busy with the jobs and we are back on the fast track of the treadmill, going on and on. So I thought in these days, and also the fear of the pandemic is also getting less and less, so everybody is going to work. So I thought during these days, there's something I want to remind myself, and that is to be diligent about reading God's word. And we hear that often in our meetings, brothers remind us how it's so important to read God's word. And in this connection, I want to just share three verses, which we all know. Matthew 4 verse 4, where Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. Now, when we think of the, when Jesus said that, he said that to Satan, Satan had come with a big temptation to him. We know about that. And just earlier, God had testified and said, Jesus, about Jesus, that this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And Satan comes with this temptation, oh, you're the son of God, eh? Then you, and you're hungry, why can't you make bread from these stones? But it's so wonderful that Jesus didn't reply, oh, didn't you hear what my father said? Nothing like that. He said, man shall not live. He's given, he included himself and became part of us. Human race, he said, must imply that he didn't come as God, he put aside his deity and came as a man to tell us all we should not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. Just like that, in all our times of trials and temptations which we face, the Lord will give us a word, give us a word from his mouth, that is from the word of God, from the Bible, which will nourish us and encourage us and can be a blessing to others. And then another verse which I want to ask to remind us is in 2nd Timothy, chapter 3, verse 16, it says, all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and training in righteousness, that the man of God or the woman of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. That's it. I may not explain it, but it's all given by God for us to teach us, to correct us, to train us. And like that, by doing that, we'll be complete and equipped for every good work. We need God's word. Then the familiar verses which we from our childhood, we've learned Psalm 119, verse 105, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. In every day, we need that light and that lamp to guide us. And Psalm 119, verse 130, says the unfolding of your word gives light. It imparts understanding to the simple. So just a few verses, you know, Psalm 119 is full of verses about God's word. So just to remind us how important it is for us these days to spend time with reading God's word and getting strength from God's word. We should not put that aside. Sometime during the day, we should take the time to read God's word and get help from God's word. In this connection, I am reminded about an incident. I mean, a few examples. One of our sisters in Bangalore church is a teacher, a school teacher, and she teaches in a public school. We call it government school where it's for the ordinary children. It's not a private school. And you're not allowed to speak about Christianity or about Christ in those schools. And we can even be put in prison that we are forcibly converting children and things like that. So one day, a little boy came to this teacher and said, ma'am, which is the true God? I don't know if it was a trick to catch her or get her into trouble. He just asked, which is the true God? Can you tell me, is it this God or that? And he named the gods of different religions in India. So she gave him a Bible, a New Testament. You know, we get the Gideon's Bible free. She gave him that and she said, just read that and you'll find the answer. So he took that New Testament home and he started reading. And the next day he came back and he said, what is this? I just read this one. So son was this and his son was this and his son. What's that about God in that? Then she said, just continue reading. That's just the introduction. You continue reading. So he took the New Testament home and he started reading. And a few days later, he came back and he was so excited and he's so thrilled. And he said, I found the answer. I found the answer when I was reading. I read that an angel came and told Joseph his name is Emmanuel. It means God with us. That means God has come to be with us. That's my answer. Jesus is God with us. And he found the answer just that one was. And she didn't have to tell anything to him. And later he came to love the Lord. I don't know the rest of the story. And he was from another religion. Then I also see how wonderfully God uses his word, one single word to speak to his longing and a thirsty heart. And another instant would come to my mind is I heard a message where some seeker from another religion was seeking for God. And he started reading the Bible and he read from Genesis. God spoke and God spoke and God spoke. Second day, third day. And he found the answer. He said, this is a God who speaks to me every day. First day, second day, third day. He speaks to me. No, not like the God whom I used to worship before, who never spoke. This is a God who speaks. And like that, he came to find God. See how wonderfully God uses one word from his scripture. So powerful God's word is. And the third example which comes to my mind is. A man, I heard a YouTube testimony of a man from one of the Middle Eastern countries. He opposed Christians and opposed Jews. And he said the motto was to kill every Christian they came across and every Jew they came across. And if they did so, if you kill and finish them off, then you can get a place in heaven. And you have to earn your way, not go to hell, but go to heaven by finishing off all these people and call them all infidels. So he said that was his motto. And when 9-11 happened, they were all dancing on the streets because they thought so many of them are killed. But he said the more I was thinking of this killing people, killing people, the hatred in my heart grew and became more and more angry and hateful. And confused. And he didn't like his condition like that. Then he said, if Christians are so bad, let me read their book. So why are they so bad? And if if it's a Satan's religion, let me. He was curious, but he was afraid. But somehow one day he somebody gave him a Bible and he started reading and he read and then he God started working in his heart. He hid the Bible under his mattress so his family wouldn't see it. But every time he got an opportunity, he'd read the Bible and then he read the words of Jesus. Love your enemies. Forgive those. Forgive and love. And he said, this is a different religion from what I've been taught. We've been taught to must hate them and finish them off. And here this leader is saying, love them, forgive them. Even when he was being crucified, he said, forgive. And he said the more he read that, the peace came into his heart and he couldn't understand when he thought of killing people. It was confusion and hatred. And when he read the words of Jesus, it was peace. And he said that he wanted that peace more and more. And he started secretly reading the Bible. And we know what would happen to a seeker like that. He came to know Jesus and he met up with some Christian friends and he accepted the Lord and took baptism. And of course, his family was against him. And those countries, if you if you become a Christian, the whole family can be killed. So he had to flee. He escaped to another country. And that's where he's living. So I thought how God uses his word to speak to us. Some stray word. And I know testimonies of so many, so many people who come to know the Lord from a tract or some word, something with some they accidentally found on the road or somewhere and they came to know the Lord. So God's word is so powerful. It's a valuable treasure we have in our hand. And we should not take it lightly. We should take it and say, Lord, maybe a time will come when I won't have a Bible. Maybe a time will come and I won't be able to read. My sight will become dim or maybe my mind will become I'll become old and forgetful or something and may happen to me and I won't be able to read your word. Help me to take these days value these days and read your word and meditate and teach them to my children and so that I'll be equipped. We don't know what the coming days are going to bring for us and for our children. We have no fear about it because Jesus said don't fear. But this is the time when we have to take the opportunities to read God's word, study God's word, teach our children, memorize God's word. And when we read the Bible, there are so many promises and there's so many warnings don't do like this. And so many consequences. If you do this, this will happen. We have to heed all that. And some things are there for an example. If you read first Corinthians 10 verse 11, it says. All these things are given, written there for an example. If you read, we think of the history of the children of Israel. Most of the Old Testament is about the children of Israel, the journeys and all. And if you read the history of the children of Israel, it's a it's not just history, it's a lesson for us. It's an example. And we can learn from that. Like, for instance, we know everything what I'm going to say where their condition in Egypt, their slavery and servitude is like our condition when we are slaves of sin. And then Jesus sets us free and crossing the Red Sea is like water baptism. Then going through the cloud is a picture of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and going the journey through the wilderness is our earthly life. When God supplies our every need, feeds us, clothes us, takes us through holding us by the hand, leading us by the cloud and by the fire, protecting us and leading us. That's an example. But when we read the different things that happen, all the how easily they forgot God's ways and they started grumbling and they started worshipping golden calf, you know, all that. And. Then when they reached the borders of the land, God had a test for them, he said, send twelve spies, we know that story, and let them review the land, scout out the land and come back. And out of the twelve, ten of them gave a bad report. And they said, it's a good land, OK, but there are giants there. And the two of them, we know Joshua and Caleb, they said, yeah, it's a beautiful land and there are giants, but they are nothing. God can help us to overcome those giants. And they didn't believe they didn't. They chose the majority. Even now, people are tempted to believe the majority. What do most people say? What do most churches say? We can't overcome the lust in our flesh. This this message of victory or sin leads us to bondage. Are you teaching sinless perfection? It's a cult. It's a wrong doctrine. Majority of the people don't want to believe that it's possible to have an overcoming life. And only two people said it is possible. Last Sunday, one of my sons was speaking and he put out a picture on the screen. And that was such a vivid picture. He borrowed a picture of a monstrous looking creature. And it was on the screen with big eyes and sharp kind of teeth and hideous looking for a little while. And he asked, what do you what do you think this is? So some of the children answered. One said it's a dragon. One said it's a huge monster. And somebody said it's Satan. And he said, OK, we won't keep looking at that picture. And he turned off the screen. When he said, you'll be surprised that this is magnified like a microscopic or zoomed picture of an ant. And such a small creature and an ant, when you zoom it up, it looks so hideous. And I thought that is really a lesson. The trials that we face. In God's eyes, you zoom out in God's eyes, they're like ants. But we when we look at it, they're like huge monsters. And we think, how can we ever conquer these these trials, these temptations, these these things which come against us? These big pressures. Pressures from a workplace or children or whatever it is, how can we they look like huge monsters, but they are like ants. That's what I was reminded of when Joshua and Caleb came and said, these are nothing. They're like bread for us. Because Joshua and Caleb, they look back and saw the wonderful things that God had done for his children in the past when there was no water. He miraculously provided water every day. He gave them bread to eat. They didn't have to go and sow and reap, collect green. They just had to go outside their tents, collect the food and keep it for the whole day. And they could have day after day their needs were met. And even then they were grumbling, oh, it doesn't taste like good. Didn't taste like the food in Egypt. You know why? Even though they left Egypt, Egypt hadn't left them. In their heart, there was so much of Egypt. And God wanted them to get rid of it. But Egypt was stuck in the heart like some vessels, which dirty vessels we don't scrub and clean. It stays that Egypt was in their hearts like that. That's why they couldn't get rid of it. But we know all those things which happened. And finally, when God saw that there was unbelief. That's what I want to talk about. Unbelief. When God saw these people after all these things which have done for them, they have unbelief. You can't believe in me. He said, that's the last straw finished. I'm done with you. He wanted to finish them off, but Moses pleaded and God spared them. And he said, none of you will enter this land. This land, which I promised. Imagine for 40 years they were walking and walking. The goal was to reach the promised land. And in the end, because of unbelief, they all had to turn back. They tried to go back, but they got it, got it terribly defeated. They learned a lesson. They said, no, we won't try to go ahead of God. We accept God's way. And they wandered. And God said, all of you people, adults who had unbelief, who didn't believe in me, all of you will die and perish. A new generation will come and they will inherit. That's why I thought this unbelief is such a serious thing. We think, oh, it's such a small thing. When we think of unbelief, what do we think of? When people talk of unbelief these days, they think of the health and wealth doctrine. They think, oh, you must have faith to earn more money, get a better job. You must have faith to get a better house or lots and lots of things in your house, gadgets and plenty of food and go on a cruise and do all these things. That's how God will bless. The devil has so cleverly shifted our eyes and think that that is God's blessing. But Jesus said, don't worry about these things. What you should eat or what you drink or what you wear. Don't worry. I'll take care of it. All the worldly people are worried about it, but I take care of it. You seek first my kingdom and my righteousness and everything will be added. Whatever we need, even before we ask, God will give it to us. God has given us the privilege of asking him because he is our father. But he will give it to us. So don't seek for those things. But he said, seek for my kingdom and my righteousness. So that's what that's the lesson we can learn from this to seek for the right things and overcoming life. That's what God wants us to have. And the devil so cunningly says, no, no, no, that's not for you. Your anger, you had your anger with you for so many years. How can you get rid of it overnight? No, that can be part of you. More difficult for you. And that will bring so many excuses and say, oh, my dad and my my whole family had this problem. It's a generation I can't get over it. And but those of us who've begun to taste a little bit of victory, can't we say things are much better than what it was even a few years ago? Praise God. And God has much more things ahead of us. You know, in Matthew 13, Matthew 13 was 58. We read this was Jesus marveled at unbelief. It's Jesus marveled at people's faith when some Gentile woman came and she said, Lord, heal my daughter. He marveled at her faith the way she answered. He marveled at the Roman centurion. So many people who were outside the Jewish family. The he marveled at their faith. But we read words like he marveled at people's unbelief. It surprised the same place where Jesus grew up. When he went back, they despised him and they said, we know him. He's a carpenter's son and we know his family. And they despised him. And so Jesus couldn't do any many miracles there because of their unbelief. And he marveled at their unbelief. Sometimes we think we Jesus, when he looks at our heart, will he marvel at our unbelief that we not believe in his word, that when he says he will give us victory, he'll take care of this problem. And we are having a little jittery tremor in our heart. And we think, no, can't be possible. And he should marvel at that. My child, I've done so much for you in the past. So many miracles I've done for you. Can't you doubt me? You're insulting me by not believing this unbelief is an insult to God, the power of God. We forget all the things which Jesus did for us in the past when we start doubting him. So when we face trials, maybe different ones for different people, but trials will come to all of us and and we give place to unbelief. It's like insulting God. Overcoming life is our birthright. It's not just for some few people, special people whom God loved, who have done some great thing for God, who made some sacrifices. No, it's a thing. It is a birthright. And for all of us, remember that verse, Romans 6, 14, we know that was sin shall not have dominion over you. I take it as a promise and as a command. The promise is God is telling us sin will not have dominion over you. That's how I take it. And the command is sin should not have dominion over you. We can take it both ways. Not by your grace, sin will not have dominion. And that's why God gives us opportunity to hear these words, these encouraging words, uplifting words, challenging words, not to let us allow us to be in defeated lives, like drowning people, swimming and swimming and hanging onto a plank of wood. He wants us to come out of that and live a life of victory. And he'll give us as much as we can hold. If our faith is little and say, oh, Lord, give me a little victory so I don't lose my temper outside. But it's OK if I keep anger in my heart. Then we'll be level. That will be our level. But we say, Lord, I don't want to be having anger even in my heart. I want to get rid of it totally. So instead of hating people and having an irritable attitude, I'll have love towards them. You can make me because in your word, it says love, forgive. As I was telling you about that, that example, I want that lot instead of hating people, instead of judging people, I want to be at rest and be understanding, instead of blaming people. Oh, it's that person's fault. That's why this is happening to me. Instead of blaming anyone, even our poor children, instead of blaming anyone, you say, Lord, I want to be at rest. I don't want to blame anyone. Actually, when we look at ourselves, it's like a big sea. But God can help us, help us to overcome little by little, little by little, all those waves will be still and there'll be a life of Christ in us. And we're not perfect. Till we meet Jesus, we'll be struggling, but it'll be better and better. I know it and I'm sure about it. I want to give a testimony. About when I, in the early days of our CFC, when this message of overcoming came to me and I was longing for a life of overcoming and victory and which I thought others had, but I was not. And I was struggling with the small children. And we had meetings at home and people who were unwise would come in and all kinds of things would happen. And I said, Lord, is there any possibility of me getting victory? And I want to share a verse which God spoke to me so powerfully, so powerfully that every now and then I think of that verse. And that's in Isaiah. Let me read that verse. If you can turn to Isaiah 29. Just a few verses from there, I can tell you about that. Isaiah 29. I was reading the whole chapter, but a few verses came out to me like as if God was shining a flashlight on those few verses. In verse 3 it says, I will encamp against you all around and I will besiege you with towers. I felt like everything, God was like encamping and putting ropes and ropes around me. And I was struggling and I couldn't get my free myself. And I will raise siege works against you. And and you will be brought low from the earth and you shall speak. And from the dust, your speech will be bowed down and your voice will come from the ground like the voice of a ghost. And from the dust, your speech will whisper. I thought that, Lord, that is my condition. Even my voice is like a whisper. I can't even speak loud to you. I'm so much crushed and burdened. And you're talking, you're telling me that I can have victory. And this is my condition. My even my voice is so weak, like a whisper. Then I read this verse. Let me see that verse. But the multitude of your foreign force would be like small dust. Multitude of my temptations. And in an instant, suddenly you will be visited by the Lord of hosts in an instant. So I said, Lord, is that really true? In an instant, you're going to visit me and you're going to deliver me. And I hung on. I held on to that word. I said, Lord, whenever it is, I know in an instant you can make this happen. And it was like a spark. In my heart, I got that hope. I got that faith to believe that which is possibly even for me. And I held on to that was and many times I said, Lord, you said in an instant victory will come in an instant. Things will be changed. Will that happen for me? Please make that happen to me. Now, I can't say in an instant, God, like a magic wand touched me and he changed me. No, but I can see an upward improvement by God's grace. Glory to God. I'm not saying it's me. By the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, I could see a change and a hope which encouraged me and kept me going. And I wouldn't say any more words of unbelief or defeat or even to please people. No, no, I'm still getting angry. I said, why should I tell people I'm still getting angry? I said, my goal is Christ. I'm going to look forward for the time when I'll be saved. And maybe it's the time when I meet Jesus. But even then, I'll wait for that. And that hope kept me going. And another testimony I want to share with you is also from Isaiah, that is from chapter forty nine. And that also came so vividly. Isaiah forty nine. That this happened at a time when our family was facing a big trial. Our whole family, my children had all left for college, but my husband and I, especially my husband, some people who were against him took him to court and we had no idea how we would be able to come out of that. It was not anything wrong that we had done. But you know how you can get things twisted and you can get it. And this was such a experience with we had no idea how we could come out of this. We had no lawyers and we didn't know how to deal with it. But God miraculously put us in touch with a relative of my husband, who's a lawyer, young boy, and he put us in touch with another lawyer. But during that time, I thought this trial is too much. And I don't want to share it even with my children because I don't want them to be sad that parents are going through this. But then God gave me this verse. Let me read that verse to you. Isaiah forty nine, verse twenty four. I read it in the living Bible. It was when forty nine was twenty four and twenty five. Who can snatch the prey from the hands of a mighty man? Because the people who took us were very, very rich and they had a lot of influence and they could do anything falsely and twist things and. Land us in a state of terrible state. So who can snatch the prey from the hands of a mighty man? Who can demand that a tyrant let his captives go? The Lord says even the captives of the most mighty and terrible shall be freed. Praise the Lord for I will fight those who fight you. And then almost like P.S. I will save your children. I was worried about my children. It'd be a big burden for them. They know that dad and mom are going through this time. I wanted didn't want him. He says, don't worry, I'll save your children. And that was came so powerful to me. That's why I thought God's word is so powerful for every need. He give us a word which he may not give to anyone else. But for us, we tell my child, this is my special word for you at this time. Hang on to it. Hold on to it. I'll take care of this. That's why it's so important and believe it. I believed it and said, Lord, nobody can snatch. From a mighty man, no person, no human being can snatch a captive. But even the most mighty tyrant is captive will be set free. And I held on to that. And by God's grace, it took some time. But the court case was over. And we didn't have to pay anything. And it was like we were the innocent party. Praise God. And I don't want to go into details of that. But God gives us opportunities. All these trials that he allows in our lives are just for us to experience faith in God. If we didn't have trials coming across apart, some sickness, some financial trouble, unique things which happen only to us. Maybe no one else. It happens to us and say, Lord, you allowed this. I know you have something to give me through this. You're going to encourage me. You're going to strengthen me and give me a word which will go, which I keep with me like a treasure right through my life. And maybe it will bless others. So. And those early years, you know, people used to come. Some sisters used to come to see me and say, what is this new doctrine you're teaching? Sinless perfection and that Christ committed sin. All kind of things, wrong things. And I said, look, I don't want to argue about all those doctrinal things. You hear it from the brothers. All I know is I I need victory and I want victory. I want an overcoming life. I want the life of Jesus and I want more and more of Jesus in my life. And less and less of myself, I want that. And this is the way I have found. And I praise God. He has led so wonderfully all these years. That's our choice. What doesn't force like being born again? God enforces. We chose. God said, here's the life. If you accept me and repent of your sins and you can become my child, it's our choice. And of course, God has chosen us. That's another thing. By God's mercy, he chose us. But that's our choice. Our choice to take baptism, our choice to seek for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And this also is our choice. Do we want victory or do we want a defeated life going on and on, wandering the desert? For 40 years or all the years of my life, just struggling and wandering and never experiencing what God wants us to have. Of course, there are giants. The giants are their anger and love of money and forgiving spirit. All those are big giants which are lived in our flesh for many, many years. But by God's grace, the God will put them not maybe with one stroke of the sword, but little by little, he'll put them to death one hit at a time on that serpent's head and little by little that's finally dead. And some of us who've gone that way, we can say, yeah, things are much better than it used to be. Our family life is so much better. Children, the way we deal with our children is so much better. And there's more wonderful things ahead of us. So praise God. And I have I'll summarize this in the end, but I my brother sent me a very interesting article. I thought I must read that out to you. You know how in the Internet people send some nice things. So he sent me this. It's it's a parable when I read it out to you. And the title is Your Sacred Self. You see, your sacred self by Dr. Wayne Dyer, D-Y-E-R. And in a mother's womb, the two babies. One asked the other. I mean, it's a parable, the babies can't talk in the mother's womb. But one asked the other, do you believe in life after delivery? The other replied, why? Of course, there has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what will be later. Nonsense, said the first. There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be? The second said, I don't know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs from and eat from our mouths. Maybe we will have other senses that we can't understand. Now, the first time that is absurd. Walking is impossible and eating with our mouths. Ridiculous. The umbilical cord supplies nutrition and everything we need. But the umbilical cord is so short. Life after delivery is to be logically excluded. So there's no life after delivery. The first reply, nonsense. And moreover, if there is life. Oh, no, the second insisted, well, I think there is something and maybe it's different than it is here. Maybe we won't need this physical cord anymore. The first reply, nonsense. And moreover, if there is life, why has no one ever come back from there? Delivery is the end of life. And in the after delivery, there's nothing but darkness and silence and oblivion, and it takes us nowhere. Well, I don't know, said the second. But certainly we will meet mother and she will take care of us. The first replied, mother, you actually believe in mother. That's laughable. If mother exists, then where is she now? The first, the second reply, she's all around us. We are surrounded by her. We are part of her. It is in her that we live. Without her, this world would not and could not exist. You know, the world of the womb could not and would not exist, said the first. Well, I don't see her. So it's only logical that she doesn't exist. To which second replied, sometimes when you're in silence and you focus and listen, you can perceive her presence and you can hear her loving voice calling you. Down from above. Maybe this is one of the best explanations of the concept of God. I thought those of us who mothers who are mothers really appreciate that. Coming from children and how much more it is when we come to know our heavenly father, that he's there for us and near us and taking care of us. Our time is up, but I'll just summarize a little bit of what I said. I tried to emphasize that unbelief is a serious thing. We should not take it lightly. It's so serious that so many people lost their lives because of unbelief. And as I said in first Corinthians 10, that's an that's a lesson for us to follow. And even if the majority of people are unbelieving. The two people who believed got a chance to enter the promised land. So unbelief is insulting God who promised so many things. And our faith and our faith is in God. Unbelief, our faith and our faith and our strength is in God, not in our strength. And we must always think of the past when we are tempted to disbelieve and have given to that temptation of unbelief. Think of the past wonderful things that God did for us in the past and miraculously healed us, took us out of difficult situations, solved problems for us to care of our children, jobs for our husbands, visas, name it, count your blessings more than what we can count. Then we'll be it'll help us to get rid of unbelief. And even the things we don't pray about, God has given us. So you can believe, trust God, say, Lord, help me to have faith like the disciples that help my unbelief in the attempt to have disbelief, say, Lord, help me, help me to have more faith, help me to get rid of the unbelief. And think of the of the ant story I told you. We look at it, zoom in and we look at our problem like a big monster. But in God's eyes, it's a tiny ant. He can just flick it like that or blow and it's gone. How powerful, what a powerful, mighty God we have. So don't look at it from the microscope, but look at it. Let God deal with it. Then our faith and belief should not be for earthly things. They said prosperity and all those things God will take care of and provide for us. But it should be for eternal things. I mean, not like things which are going to get in heaven, but right on Earth, right here on Earth, overcoming life. It can make life so much more happy and comfortable for our children. If we have an overcoming life, not getting angry and irritated with them and we are patient with them and forgiving with them, how much more happy it will be for our own children and our husbands and our family members. So that itself should make us believe and want an overcoming life. And then I want to share this was in first Peter to 11. This is it says abstain from those that wage war against your soul. That means anything that is going to pull us down and bring us into a state of unbelief. Avoid that. Keep away from that. Like if you if you are wanting to a person is addicted to alcohol and wants to get rid of that gossiping nature or whatever it is. The more we go near the alcohol place and have that in our shelves, we'll be tempted to have it. But you keep it away. Keep away from gossip. People gossip. Keep away from temptation to gossip or getting angry. Avoid those things. That's a beautiful verse. I like to remember first Peter to 11 abstain from those that wage war against your soul and don't grieve the Holy Spirit. That Ephesians 430 says Ephesians 430. Don't cause grief to the Holy Spirit. All those words should help us. Lord, I don't want to grieve you. I don't want to grieve the Holy Spirit. Then keep on asking God, Lord, help me to have more faith in this situation. We can begin the day saying, Lord, Lord, help me to have faith. But when the trial comes, that's when our faith is tested and say, Lord, in this situation, let me to believe that you will see me through. You will take me through this safely like you did in the past. Let me to have that faith and not given to unbelief and say, Lord, more than all these earthly things which I'm asking you for. I want Christ like nature. Even you allow trials in my life, sickness, poverty. I take it all on. If you can give me a Christ like nature and then that will help us. God, God is not here to punish us and torture us and beat us and give us sickness after sickness. He's here to take. He's our loving father. He'll take us take care of us. But because of the sin, cursed earth sicknesses will come. Trials will come. But he'll take us through. So and remember that victory over sin is our birthright. Christ like nature is our birthright. God wants us to have it. Why should the devil or anyone else or circumstances take away that birthright from us? So hang on to these things and let's encourage each other with these promises and these things challenge each other to keep having that faith and not give place to unbelief even for a single moment in our life. God has a plan for our life. We know that, you know, and his plan is we think we know Romans 820. All things work together for those who love God. And his plan for us was 29. He wants us to be conformed to the image of his son. We forget that. That's his plan for us. But he wants us to have that Christ like nature. And he's always planning for our good. Jeremiah 29 one, which is what is always planning for our good. And he doesn't want us to be as slaves as the children of Israel. That was not God's will for them to be slaves forever and ever. He wanted them to be free from that. And and every day he wants us to have that victory in our life. It's not just like on Sundays or certain days, but every day of our life betrays us and put away unbelief. And every day we can do that. I mean, father, we thank you for this time you've given us. And we could spend that your time and your presence, Lord. We want that, want that faith. We don't want to have unbelief, even a speck of it in our hearts. Lord, we want to believe that what you promised you're going to give us. And the Christ like nature is what we want more than anything else. Lord, we know you meet all our earthly needs. You've given us more than what we asked or deserved. But we ask you for this. By the help us to get that that overcoming life, we know it's not in by our strength, but by the power of your Holy Spirit. And when we are weak, we make us strong. So give us that power of the Holy Spirit daily in our life. And humbly, we can beat at your feet and experience more and more of that Christ like nature and that Christ like life. We thank you, Lord. I thank you for each sister who's here, tuned in and pray for your blessing on each one, their families, their children. Heal those who are sick, Lord, please, and supply every need. Those who are struggling for jobs, we pray that you provide jobs. You know everything, Lord. You know all our needs. We thank you that you can take care of our need and give us more than we ask or even deserve. So we ask these things with thanksgiving in Jesus precious name. Amen.