By Marilyn LaStrape We as Christians are very aware of the fact that our faith and obedience to God is our lifeline to him. First John 5:4 says, "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith." However, there are times when we act like God is no longer on the throne and in complete control of everything and everybody! How do we know he is in total control? "The earth is the Lord's and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein" (Psalm 24:1). "If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine, and all its fullness" (Psalm 50:12). Our problems come and overwhelm us when we begin to doubt who God is and what he can do! In David's confrontation with Goliath, Goliath cursed David by his gods. David said to Goliath, "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel" (1 Samuel 17:45-46). What was that, the size of his faith in God! Queen Esther is given the challenge of challenges when Mordecai told her she had to go to the king to avert the annihilation of the Jews. At first she was reluctant, but when Mordecai made her see the gravity of the situation she said, "Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!" (Esther 4:16). What was that, the size of her faith in God! In the account of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, they made a statement of faith that is noteworthy in the face of King Nebuchadnezzar's threat to their lives. They said, "We have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up" (Daniel 3:16b-18). What was that, the size of their faith in God! What a challenge for us to exemplify that kind of faith, trust, reliance and confidence in him! When the king's officials decided that something had to be done to get rid of Daniel, they concluded the only way that would be accomplished was to find a charge against Daniel concerning the law of his God. They obtained the king's signature on a decree against praying to any god except the king for thirty days. Daniel 6:10 says, "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days." What was that, the size of his faith in God! In the account of Jesus walking on the water, Peter asked permission to come to the Lord, and our Lord granted Peter's request. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus. His faith allowed him to walk on the water. The storm was raging when he stepped out of the boat! His problem occurred when he perceived and felt the strong wind, he became afraid and began to sink. As Jesus reached out his hand and caught Peter, he said, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt" (Matthew 14:31)? Peter's success and then his failure were based on his focus. Fear and doubt are enemies of our faith! A paralytic is carried by four men and let down through the roof because of the crowd in the house. "When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven you'" (Mark 2:5). The only limitation we have is the size of our faith in God! In Luke's account of Jesus calming the storm, our Lord had fallen asleep. The disciples woke him up because they believed they were perishing. Jesus arose and rebuked the wind and the raging water. "But He said to them, 'Where is your faith?' And they were afraid, and marveled..." (Luke 8:25a). Jesus was asking them where was their trust and confidence in his veracity and integrity. The only limitation we have is the size of our faith in God! Paul is warned by a certain prophet named Agabus that grave danger awaited him if he went to Jerusalem. "Then Paul answered, 'What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus'" (Acts 21:13). What was that, the size of his faith in God! We are commanded to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might, not ours. When we persevere in obedient faith, God keeps us by his power. We are guarded by God's power through our faith. The entirety of our Christian lives rests on our faith! "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen" (Ephesians 3:20-21). Do we really and truly believe this passage, or is it just words on a piece of paper? We either have that kind of faith in God and his power or we do not. The only limitation we have is the size of our faith in God!
I have to add, what makes this so powerful is that there is nothing in our lives that God can't handle. Nothing at all!! Think up the worst tragedy or trial you can think of and God can still conquer it. We often get caught up in our emotions and fear and minimize the power of our great God by justifying our actions of fear and worry. You see, fear and worry will pop into everybody's lives at some point, how we deal with it is another thing. Are we going to give it to God or remain in it and allow ourselves to be devoured because of a lack of faith in the power of God. This is sin in itself because we are not leaning on the Lord. Satan loves this. He wants us to remain in our uncertainty and fears. Well, our beautiful God can give us complete assurance in all things. Jesus' action of calming the storm is so powerful. How many storms do we go through in our lives and how many do we not allow God to calm because we have an excuss? It can fool us but it can't fool God. He wants our storms, our fears, our sorrow, He wants our children, He wants our marriages, He wants our all so He can be our All in All (has anybody heard that song before?) in all areas of our lives. He wants to be center of all the good and all the bad. I love this. God is our caregiver, provider, Savior, comforter, etc.... Thanks again!!! Patty
You are so right, Patty! And yes, I know "You are my All in All!" I think I know this, but I have to keep digging deeper into this truth as life progresses.
Prairie, I think we all are like this. We learn more with each lesson that each day brings. Deena, did you get this from a book? I really like it. Patty
Actually Patty, My dh was going through and organizing all the sites I'd saved, and this site was one of them: http://www.gospelgazette.com/ I don't know why I saved it long ago, and I haven't been to it since, until now, but I really liked the article so I posted it here.
Thanks Deena, that was great. One of my favorite scriptures to read is Hebrews 11, whenever I feel a bit of drain on my faith. It is the hall of fame of faith, for sure.
I can't agree with this. When I was a Christian I was deeply moved by such things, I firmly believed every word written there. Recently however I've come to notice it's not just faith in God but human tenacity as a whole that pushes us forward. Pride, greed, and revenge can be just as powerful as any religious faith. One doesn't always conquer the other either, and I must admit since I've taken responsibility for my own successes I've been happier and more empowered. I'm not saying faith isn't a good thing, but it in and of itself isn't going to accomplish anything.
Hello, I do not believe we are saying that as Christians we need to sit back and everything will be peaches and cream, rather we are to rely on the Lord as our source of strength, believing He is all powerful and does have a plan for our lives. You are correct in saying we do have a hand in how things turn out in our lives. God has given us free will as to follow His plan or seek our own path. As humans, we will come upon trials and come across things that can overwhelm us, but we are to rely on God to see us through. We all experience negetive things that go on in our lives, many are buy the choices we have made. Sometimes things happen simply because we live in a decaying world and one day this all will pass as well. The point isn't that we will never stumble or go through trials, rather how we choose to deal with them when they come. Are we going to rely upon our own fears or God to guide us through when they do come because we know they will.:angel: Patty
Thanks for the explanation. That sounds a lot better imo, but I prefer the agnostic outlook. "God helps those who help themselves" pretty much though I'm not sure there's a God anymore :| It's a complicated belief system.
That's okay, God gave us freedom of choice, so you can choose not to believe in Him! To NOT believe in God takes more faith, in my opinion, than to believe in Him! There are too many unexplained things that take place, that can only happen through a Godly, GOOD, power! I LOVE loving and having faith in God, because it gives me hope, and I know He strenthens me when I'm having trouble! Not to take the trouble away, always, but to help me through it! Anyway, since God doesn't force anyone to believe, I wouldn't either. But I can ask you this: Don't throw God completely out. At least keep Him in mind when you're considering what you believe!
Very well said, Deena. I enjoyed reading that and agree 100%!!! God gives us free will to choose for ourselves what we believe. Of course, He desires for us to believe in Him, but if we don't we doesn't force it on us and loves us anyway!! How cool is that!?
The whole free will vs predestinaion is what put me over the edge oddly enough, ya can't truly have both and neither makes sense to me. It's not a bad thing though, with so much uncertainty it makes you look less on what is happening and more on what you can do. There's a lot more roads than I once thought and a whole lot more things I can do to make my life better.
There's an inborn yearning in each of us. That "hole" that causes the yearning can only be filled by God. I don't know what your belief, or disbelief, about predestination is. Care to expound a little more?
I keep being told that both pre-des and freewill exist at the same time, however this can't be true since that's a contradiction. If it's all predestined, than it's merely a matter of perception, thus making freewill an illusion here on earth. We may think we're making decisions, but everything is guided along by an omnipotent being. However, if we have freewill, then God wouldn't be omnipotent. There would be things he didn't plan and things he didn't know would happen. This makes me wonder about a lot of things, mainly how God could make people knowing far ahead of time how terrible they may be, loose them on earth, and then damn them. Or even more odd making good people who don't happen to be christian, let them fill their role, then damn them as well. It's rather sadistic, and moreso when you think even farther back to when he created the world. He knew man would sin, heck because he made everything he made sin, and if he is omnipotent and has laid our path out, he MAKES us sin, it's part of his plan somehow. That didn't make sense to me, I couldn't see how someone could love me then force me to do things he hates. That's pretty much it, there's other reasons I stopped too like some contradictions in the bible and the horrible amount of hypocrisy and stingy morals many christians today have. It's not a bad religion to me but I find many people use it as more of a spiritual crutch than a relationship, which is what they claim it is.
In order for us to know the will of God for our lives, we must live in constant fellowship with Him. He will lead us in fulfilling His plan. Apart from God, we are without guidance or direction. For example, I have a plan for my child’s life; a plan that will keep her protected and help her have a better life. This doesn’t mean she will follow it. She may decide that her plan is to do drugs and run the streets. Was this my plan for her? No! She has a choice as to follow the path that will lead to a joyous life or she can choose a path that will destroy her life. Although I am far from God, the Father and daughter/son relationship is the same in many ways. As parents we are here to help our children to grow into Godly adults. Sometimes our children will stray from the path, yet our plan and desire for our children still hasn’t changed. God is all powerful and all knowing but this does not mean that God is responsible for the evil acts of men. When Adam and Eve were created, they were created free. God did not create robots or puppets. Adam and Eve chose to turn away from God. They chose to sin. God does not make a plan for our lives that involves sinning. We come to many forks in the road as we walk with Christ. We have a choice to take the path God has planned or we can take the path of our hearts desire. When we take the path of our hearts desire, we are no longer in Gods will. We have separated ourselves from Him and are no longer in His plan. When God created us and made a plan for our lives, it did not contain sin. This doesn’t mean we live sinless lives. God knows everything, and yes, He knows when we are going to sin too but He didn’t plan for us to sin. You have to remember, again, we are out of His will; separate from His plan. When people sin, they are not filling the roll of God’s plan. They are filling their own selfish desires. God does not force us to follow His plan. He doesn’t even force us to love Him. If He was in the business of forcing people to do things and forcing us to love Him, then don’t you think He would force you to love Him right now? But you don’t. This goes back to your free will. As for the morals of other Christians, this is why we have a Savior. Jesus is the source of all hope and understanding. Many Christians do give a black eye to Christianity, but in the end, each will be judged according to his knowledge in the Lord and what he did with it. Something to also remember is that people may call themselves Christians, this doesn’t always mean they are. Also, our walk with Christ is ever growing. We should always be trying to better ourselves in the image of Christ. It is simply an excuse for people to use other’s sins as their reasons for turning their back on Christ. We are accountable for ourselves and nobody else. The Bible is clear as to what judgement awaits the person who has heard the gospel and rejects it. When we face God, the issue will not be the other sinners, rather it will be what we did with our knowledge of Jesus. Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Could you please explain what you meant when you said, “I find many people use it as more of a spiritual crutch than a relationship.”? Thanks!:angel: Patty
