Luke 6
Yesterday I thought about what we have done with faith and the word of God.
Luke 6:20" And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. 22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. 23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets."

"Leap for joy;" is something most of us struggle with when we face any of those things. We are in a time that teaches the opposite of this first message He gave to His 12. He knew what they would face . We pray to not be in that list above , when Jesus explains our "reward is great in Heaven. "We do not want what the world offers ,those things come with a price as we see in the verses to follow.
I use to pray for my wants , listen toyour prayers , do we really want what God wants ? Jesus prayed for God's will , we are to do the same and sometimes that means being poor , hated, hungry, crying and rejection. Not sure this will be preached today, in a day we want the opposite that comes with a woe in front of that list.
Luke 6:24" But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.25 Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets. "

Understand what times we are in loved ones , prosperity, not lacking, laughing and popular comes with a warning label...Are the churches teaching the first message Jesus taught and what comes with following Him. When we teach following Jesus gives us verses 24 -26 and then we face verses 20-23 what does that do to faith? When Jesus healed and fed it was all about faith. What is faith , Jesus says this.

Luke 17:6 " And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you."

I have not been able to do this yet have you? Following Jesus is not easy in this world of offers and it should never be taught that it is. Jesus is our example and only through His love and sacrifice can we do anything.
We only have to look at the Cross to see what this world offered Jesus ...We long for what The Cross gave us and that is eternal life with our Creator. To be in the presence of a Lord that can tell a tree to be planted in the sea and it will obey. Faith is what we strive for till we are called home...