| Faith |
Created Date: 14-Apr-2020 |
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The Gift from God that Gives us Life! |
Last updated: 18-May-2021 |
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Faith, at times, can be misunderstood by all of us. Faith is an amazing and wonderful gift that enables two primary permanent benefits:
Those who gained Salvation in the Old Testament, obtained Salvation through Faith in God. When they died, they went to Upper Sheol to await the Savior Jesus Christ. Faith leads to Salvation, and is always initiated through God's Salvation Process.
Without Faith in God:
Jesus Christ came to free us all who are captives of a wrecked world, that resulted from the Fall of Adam and Eve. There will be opposition, hostility and warfare against those who have Faith in Jesus Christ.
With Faith in Jesus Christ, our lives will be rewarding no mater any suffering, where all suffering has benefits.
| John 3:16-21 | 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him. 18 He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God. |
| Matthew 10:33-39 | 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven.34 Think not that I came to send peace on the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law: 36 and a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. 37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And he that doth not take his cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me. 39 He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. |
| Matthew 11:29 | Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. |
| 1 John 4:4 | Ye are of God, my little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. |
| Isaiah 41:10 | fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. |
With Faith, we can call on God in Jesus Christ's name for:
in the midst of turmoil of the direst of situations that may include impending loss of our physical life. All righteous suffering has everlasting benefits that will result in Rewards in Heaven.
| 2 Corinthians 5:8 | We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. |
For everyone in the entire world, faith is required to
Conversely:
There is a Faith that delivers greater benefits, rewards and happiness and that is through Faith in Jesus Christ.
The greatest benefits, in our lives, is when we live in Faith that is righteous with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who indwells Believers, so that we are assured of our prayers are being heard. We always must take scriptures in context, knowing that there is power in prayer with righteous Faith.
| Romans 1:17 | For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith. |
| Habakkuk 2:4 | Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him; but the righteous shall live by his faith. |
| Hebrews 11:1 | Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen. |
| James 1:6 | But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. |
| Matthew 21:22 | And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. |
The scriptural passage of James 2:14-18, lets us know that works without Faith is dead, but it is also the loss of rewards. By not righteous works in Faith then we are allowing the Satanic Forces, which are against us, to steal the benefits and blessings that we can be achieving when doing righteous works in Faith.
| James 2:14-18 | 14 What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but have not works? can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister be naked and in lack of daily food, 16 and one of you say unto them, Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled; and yet ye give them not the things needful to the body; what doth it profit? 17 Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. 18 Yea, a man will say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I by my works will show thee my faith. |
Our greatest opportunity in life is to be in Jesus Christ's Service, the 3rd commandment, so that we can receive the benefits here on Earth and also accumulate rewards in Heaven, that are specifically related to our work. Many Biblical Scholars point to the scriptural references that state that Faith without Works is dead, as stated already, which has more meanings to it than most of us realize. Dead works do not accumulate any rewards, and more importantly be worthy of praise from Jesus Christ at the Judgment Seat of Jesus Christ.
Below are five of many scriptural references on the importance of works. Jesus Christ spoke about the wonderful parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard, which gives us reassurance that we are never to late to begin in the Service of our God.
A good friend of this author, John A., told me a wonderful statement which the scriptures also relate to us. Paraphrasing what John said:
"We sometimes may wonder if what we are doing in life is in God's Service. If we are doing what God has instructed us, and God put us in a position with goals to accomplish, then we only need to be responsible for what God has asked us to accomplish. We can never compare our mission in life to another Christian's mission as God has different goals for each of us."
| Matthew 6:19-21 | 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. |
| James 2:24 | You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. |
| Hebrews 11:6 | And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. |
| Ephesians 2:8-10 | 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. |
| James 2:26 | For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. |
We all will experience fear, despair, emptiness and loneliness in our life at different points. These types of emotions are all part of the emotion of Fear and it is the opposite of Faith. God has given us the methods in the scriptures to overcome ALL of these emotions. Take the time to seek guidance from God from the scriptures and each other. For more on this, see the topic on Fear.
There are several scriptures that many Evangelist or Pastors will speak about that can give us the impression that the power that God possesses is for our taking, where we can take it as simply as turning on a valve that provides water by using Faith. If this were the truth then Apostle Paul should have had his thorn of the flesh removed in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 when he asked God to remove it!
The scriptural references in Matthew, shown below, let us know that there is a Power obtained through Faith, but it has never been available for the simple taking. Careful reading of Old Testament and New Testament passages conveys that God:
Notice that even in the Matthew 9:20-22 passage, Jesus acknowledge the woman's Faith and that Jesus worked through her Faith.
| Matthew 8:5-13 | 5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, 6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. 7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.10 When Jesus heard this he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found such faith in anyone in Israel! 11 I tell you, many will come from the east and west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; just as you believed, it will be done for you.” And the servant was healed at that hour. |
| Matthew 9:20-22 | 20 And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; 21 for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch His garment, I will get well.” 22 But Jesus turning and seeing her said, “Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well.” At once the woman was made well. |
| Matthew 17:20 | He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” |
In the Book of Daniel, the prophet Daniel has a prayer that took three weeks for the answer to be presented to Daniel because of opposition from the Satanic unseen world, where God chose the Angel Michael to be conduit of delivery of a message. This does not mean we will be required to wait for answers to prayers, but we cannot expect the answers or requests to be granted in our timing.
| Daniel 10:2-3 Daniel 10:12-14 |
2 In those days, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks. 3I
did not eat any tasty food, nor did
meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed. ... 12 Then he said to me, “Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. 13“But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. 14 “Now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future.” |
God loves us and intends for us to rely on Him fully where this becomes more and more apparent to us as we grow in Faith. When we are living righteously, where God knows the areas that are not pleasing to Him which we are working on, then our Faith will become more and more aligned with God as we remove the sinful hindrances. We can have confidence in our prayers when we know that the desire in our prayer is not only good for us and others, but more importantly to God's Glory.
If we are knowingly living or doing activities, which are contrary to God's desires for us where we could do otherwise, then our Faith can be jeopardized in having the results we desire. As two examples:
At every point in our walk of maturity in Jesus Christ then prayers will achieve results when we know it is to God's Glory. Jesus Christ made provision through His entire life and the suffering leading to the Crucifixion for our benefit as read in the entire chapter of Isaiah 53 and many other scriptural passages.
| Isaiah 53:5 | But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. |
| John 14:13-14 | 13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask anything in my name, that will I do. |
| Matthew 21:21-22 | 21 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do what is done to the fig tree, but even if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea, it shall be done. 22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. |
There are more greater principles to the Power of God that are provided through the aspects of Sowing and Reaping. There are steps in our process of receiving the desires in our lives and more importantly in eternity. See both topics:
| Excerpt from Prayer topic: Some of this author's favorite Biblical Teachers from many decades ago spoke about the mandatory aspect of prayer which requires us to be specific, so that God will be revealed in the outcome. There is of course times when prayer needs to be generalized for help, guidance and reassurance. Praying specifically is very similar to how all of us would approach our earthly parents for needing something as children. In our working life, we approach our manager with specifics also. It doesn't help if we were to ask for help on homework from our parents but don't tell them the subject. It would be very unprofessional to ask a manager for help, but not give specifics. Our prayers should be on specifics also.
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Unfortunately, there are many Pastors and Evangelists at Churches, and in the Media, that are speaking about the use of specifics in prayers to obtain wealth and prosperity. While God does provide for our needs as so many wonderful scriptures impart to us, but prayers with underlying intentions to obtain desires that are not earned without hard work are not going to give glory to God.
Some of the cliché's, heard in the Christian community, that are associated with wrongful actions in prayer are:
which do not have any scriptural references. We should guard our prayers with righteous specifics so that God is revealed and also so that God gets the glory. This will also cause us to appreciate, give reverence and love more and more our awesome relationship we have with God through the Savior Jesus Christ. This is also part of the aspects of Grace that we can receive what is best for us because of what Jesus Christ did on the Cross for us.
What to read next?
What is Salvation? Is it possible to lose Salvation? We have eternal life. Evolution is not real. When a Christian suffers is there benefits from it. Rewards in heaven. Do we Tithe? What does the 3rd Commandment tell us? What is Grace and Mercy? Is there an Age of Accountability? Is there a place of unending punishment and exile form God?