2022
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Before you click on the link below, you can read the transcript of the video below the link and the project Kevin suggests.
Fellowship Project: Blog Posting
After you watch the video and read the study notes below, answer these questions here:
Discuss how Jesus is the rewarder and finisher of your faith. What does that mean?
Discuss how you can seek the Lord and be diligent about it.
Talk about how you don’t lean into fear, but keep believing because it will lead to your reward.
1. How can you please God by just receiving His love?
2. What rewards do you think God has for those who diligently seek Him?
3. We get to see a part of God that we've never seen before, so we're expecting something. Are you expecting a physical gift from God, or are you expecting to encounter His love and His approval?
Jesus said to him, “What do you mean ‘if’? If you are able to believe, all things are possible to the believer.”—Mark 9:23 TPT
DISCUSSION:
God is a rewarder, and the body of Christ needs to be told and made aware of this. We often get into work mode because we want to please God, but He also rewards us. He is your rewarder. In today’s verse, Jesus asked the man, “What do you mean if I'm willing?” It was as though Jesus was shocked because the man said, Lord if you're willing, you can make my servant well. Then, the demon left. Earlier, when the disciples, the nine that were left, did not cast the demons out, the man was hurt, and his faith was damaged by it. So, he asked Jesus that if you're willing, you can do this. Jesus was shocked that he would ask that, which is why He replied with the question, “What do you mean if I am willing, do you believe?” In the Aramaic, this is exactly what it says. Jesus said that all things are possible to those who believe.
Hebrews 11:6 NLT:
And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
The problem is we have many people that say they seek God. We can seek God for most of our lives and desire to know Him, yet we never learn because it’s not taught that God wants to reward us. When you encounter demons, they don't even flinch when you mention the name; God or if you mention the spirit of God. There’s no reaction at all. They only flinch when you say the name of Jesus Christ and you mention the blood of Jesus. When you begin to worship Father God, you talk about Holiness, righteousness, and justice. You can see the demons responding, and they get unnerved. It's the same way when you start talking about God wanting to do something for you versus you doing something for God. In religious circles, if you tell the people about how God wants to do something for you, you'll see the breaks being put on and that they want to shut you up.
The reward for giving your life over to God is being filled with God. When you give something, that void has to be filled. When you give yourself over, you're going to receive the Holy Spirit in a greater measure; it occupies that place. Once that happens, there's going to be an outflow in your faith, and your faith is your response. Your faith manifests because of a transaction that happens inside your spirit.
You can't just come to God and believe that it exists. It says you have to believe that He exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him.
Demons know God exists. It's not like you are any different. Even if you say you believe in God. The demons believe in God. The key here is you must believe that He exists. It says in Hebrews11:6 that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him. In other words, I don't seek God thinking I'm not going to be rewarded because it says that I'm going to be. To say that you believe in God isn’t causing you to excel because the demons believe in Him. The excelling comes when you seek God, knowing He will reward you. Why would we pray if we didn't think we would get an answer? Why would we give something up if we knew that God wasn't going to fill that void with something from Him? It's emptying all of yourself. God's plan comes into your life to manifest through you.
Mark 5:36:
But Jesus refused to listen to what they were told and said to the Jewish official, “Don’t yield to fear. All you need to do is to keep on believing.”
Jesus spoke to the Jewish officials and said that all you need to do is believe. People would come and put pressure on them, and Jesus encouraged them not to yield to fear but to believe. He was told that Lazarus was dead, and the people said to Jesus that if He had come, that wouldn’t have happened. However, Jesus waited four days and didn't respond right away; He kept telling them that they would see the glory of God. He waited and waited because He knew the will of God.
So, what about you right now? Are you going to yield to fear? Are you going to stop seeking God because you say you believe in God? The demons believe in God, but do you believe He's a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him? I received this key in Heaven. Jesus gave me this message, and He said, tell the people that it's not enough just to believe that I exist, that you have to believe that He's a rewarder. Jesus has told me; all you do is keep seeking me because you will receive your reward.
Talk about how you don’t lean into fear, but keep believing because it will lead to your reward.
I often try to weigh what it's costing me in my life with time and energy versus what the return is in my investment. Is it helping people? I always ask that. The Lord said, if you keep diligently seeking me, I'm going to keep filling you, I'm going to reward you with more. I realize now that He trusts us, and He gives us the ability to have access to other things. All of you out there feel overwhelmed, and I can feel it in the spirit. You feel overwhelmed, and Jesus is telling you, don't yield to fear; keep on believing. The rewarder of your faith is the one who started your faith, and He's the one that's going to finish your faith.
Discuss how Jesus is the rewarder and finisher of your faith. What does that mean?
God wants to be actively involved in rewarding you for your diligence and seeking Him.
Discuss how you can seek the Lord and be diligent about it.