What is Faith? Part 6

Let’s look at a practical example of using our faith. We will consider faith in spiritual laws – and specifically the giving law, sowing and reaping.

Check out Luke 6:38

“Give and (gifts) will be given to you, good measure , pressed down, shaken together and running over will they pour into [the pouch formed by] the bosom [ of your robe and used as a bag]. For with the measure you deal out it will be measured back to you.”

So remember that Faith means acting firmly towards God’s will.

Jesus said these words in Luke. Jesus said that He only did the will of His Father. His words were His Fathers words. So from Luke 6:38 what is God’s will??

…..for us to give and to receive a full measure back

What is faith? … to act firmly towards God’s will.

His will is for us to give a full measure AND for us to receive a full to overflowing measure back.

So a person acting in faith would give without any doubts or concerns that they would be missing out or that it would be detrimental to them materially.

Acting firmly suggests no wavering, no worrying about what happens after you give.

If the person was walking/living by sight – what they can see or think, they may only give a small portion or not give out all because they can’t see any future supply coming in.

I challenge you (and myself) to put this spiritual law into action and use our faith – being firm towards God’s will – and give. I love this verse because it takes away all fear of loss or missing out if we give. I don’t think that this is just talking about material things like money but also time. Give some of your time to help people and God will make sure that you will have time for the tasks that you need to do as well.

Tomorrow I will have another example of practical living by faith!

Rachel

What is Faith? Part 5

“For we walk by faith, and not by sight” 2 Cor 5:7

In our new life with God we don’t base our daily decisions or plans on what we can see or even understand from what we currently know. We base them on what God has revealed through His Spirit – we may not fully understand or see how the outcome can be successful but we move forward one step at a time in faith trusting God to make our paths straight and direct us.

How big must our faith be?

Check out Matthew 17 where Jesus talks about the disciples having “very little faith”. Then Jesus said that if we have faith as small as a mustard seed then we could move mountains!

We don’t need big faith to change things or receive from God. But there needs to be a firmness to our believing on God. Maybe the disciples were thinking that they had to produce the results – that it was their power that healed when all they had to do was rely on God’s power and in the name of Jesus. They were missing the faith element.

In order to have firmness towards God’s will we have to know what God’s will is – God’s words are His will. We discover the will of God through studying and meditating on God’s word with the Spirit teaching us.

For our faith to be strong it has to be built up – How? with the Word of God

Romans 10:17 says that faith come from hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

Now we don’t have to worry about doing all this faith building on our own – Hebrews 12:2  says that Jesus is the pioneer and the perfecter of our faith. The Amplified Bible says that Jesus is the Leader and the Source of our faith and is also its Finisher – he brings it to maturity and perfection. Jesus doesn’t leave us to try and build our own faith – he works with us. He was the beginning of it, He leads us in the growth of it and then He finishs it – praise God!

Next time we will look at an example of how to put all this into practice!

Rachel

 

What is Faith? Part 4

In the book of Hebrews it tells us that “Without faith it is impossible to please God” . It is essential for our new lives with God. We can’t live out our relationship with God (through Jesus) without faith – without leaning our whole weight , personality, decisions or plans on God.

Now let’s move onto Hebrews 11:1 – here it is from the Amplified Bible-

NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, [a]the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].

What does it say about faith?

It is the ASSURANCE – what does that mean?

Assurance =a positive declaration intended to give confidence, promise or pledge, full confidence, freedom from doubt, certainty, freedom from timidity. It is a statement , an assertion.

It also says that faith is the CONFIRMATION – ah! conFIRMation. Here is a mention of being firm!

What is a conFIRMation? =something that confirms , as a corroborative statement or piece of evidence. Like a title deed.

Faith establishes the truth, it acknowledges with definite assurance, it makes something firm, adds strength to something. Faith settles or establishes something firmly. Faith substantiates, authenticates and validates. Faith gives substance to something = bringing about the actual matter of a thing as opposed to the appearance or a shadow – but the real thing. Faith gives authority or legal validity to something. Faith makes something valid, it gives legal force to something.

So, Faith is the

• assurance
• confirmation
• title deed
• proof
• conviction of their reality
• perception of what we hope for as a real fact

Tomorrow I will share more on the hows of faith.

Rachel

 

What is Faith? Part 3

Now we are going to look at what it says about Faith in Habbakuk 2:4

“the just shall LIVE by FAITH”

The Hebrew word used here for faith is אֱמוּנָ֑ה (em-oo-narh) which means firmness and stability. The person with אֱמוּנָ֑ה acts with firmness towards God’s will. Being firm means that you are fixed on something.

The original Hebrew was shown in picturegraphs – each letter was a picture. The two root letters of אֱמוּנָ֑ה (em-oo-narh) is “aman” – a picture of water or blodd and a picture of a seed sprouting which represents continuance. These two pictures combined mean “blood continues”. Each spices continues by passing its blood to the following generation. It’s the idea of strength through the blood. There is a firmness to a species when it can continue and not die out.

As an aside , from the same root we get the word “Amen” which is an affirmation of firmness – so be it!

The statement in Habbakkuk that the just shall live by faith must be important because it was repeated not once, not twice but three times in the New Testament!

Romans 1:17

Galatians 3:11

Hebrews 10:38

Knowing the meaning of the Hebrew word אֱמוּנָ֑ה (em-oo-narh) or faith in English- we can understand a bit more of what it means to live by faith.

We can say that the just shall live by her firmness towards God’s will , towards what God wants, towards God’s plan.

What does it mean to be firm about something?

Firm – not soft or yielding when pressed; comparatively solid, hard and stiff. When you have faith and are acting firmly towards God’s will , you are securely fixed in place, not shaking or trembling but steady, fixed, not changin from what God’s will is.

Look up Hebrews 11:1 for tomorrow.

Rachel

What is Faith? Part 2

Did you look up Ephesians 2:8?

“For by grace are you SAVED through FAITH; and this is not of yourselves it is the gift of God”

For by grace you are saved through your faith!

It has nothing to do with you and your abilities or what you do but the grace that has saved you is a gift of God. You received this gift of grace through your faith.

Faith is the way we receive from God

God’s grace is available to all. As soon as it is received through someone using faith then something supernatural happens, their old inner selves dies and God gives them a new inner man and also places His Spirit with it.

Our salvation has nothing to do with what we can see, feel or even fully understand. I don’t understand how God’s Spirit entered my body and how He lives there, but He does. That’s why Paul wrote (under the inspiration of the God’s Spirit) “For we walk by faith, and not by sight” 2 Cor 5. I am going to talk more about that later.

So, Saving faith is more than just assent of the mind. If you relied only on your mind and what you understand then it is just superficial faith and doesn’t include your heart, your inner man. It doesn’t include a total reliance on God and His Word even when you don’t completely understand His ways. When the inner man has locked onto God and joined in covenant with Him by faith- it affects everything, nothing will be the same. His actions, words, attitudes, lifestyle, relationships, plans and dreams and desires all change and line up with God’s plans  and His Words.

Look up Habakkuk 2:4 and we will talk about it tomorrow

Rachel

What is Faith? Part 1

This was the question asked at church – What is Faith? If someone asked you what is biblical faith? what would you say?

First, I looked up the dictionary -

Faith: belief, the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another.

I don’t think this dictionary meaning is true biblical faith.

Some people approach Christianity and the Bible solely with their mind. They attempt to understand everything logically and they overlook the faith aspect.

Lets think about when you became a Christian- saved,born again. What happened? You heard about Jesus and the plan of God- yes, your mind was renewed but something happened on the inside of you, through your faith you received a new spirit. What happened to your old spirit?  did you see your spirit leave and the new one enter? no, what also happened at your salvation? God’s Spirit entered your body and took up residence. Did you see Him enter? You probably didn’t feel Him enter- but it did happen How do we know that? because God told us through His Word and we placed our faith in that.

Check out Ephesians 2:8 – we will look at it tomorrow

Rachel

 

 

Power Thoughts by Joyce Meyer

My women’s Bible Study has been going through Joyce Meyer’s book “Power Thoughts”.

It has been a life changing experience for everyone. Joyce really brings the Word alive and makes it very practical to our daily lives. The subtitle of the book is “12 Strategies to win the battle of the mind” and it certainly gives that.

I looked everywhere on the internet for a guide on how to study this book in a home group situation and I couldn’t find anything. So I had to work it out myself.

How I tackled this book:

I required everyone to buy their own copy from The Book Depository (the cheapest by far).
Then the group was to read up to page 71 (the introduction) themselves and then we came together for the first night and discussed what we read. We then had 12 weeks looking at one Power Thought each week. We would all read the Power Thought during the week then come together on the Tuesday night and discuss it. As the leader I would briefly review the next week Power Thought with the group before they read it. I did this by choosing Scripture that went with the Power Thought and wrote the references on little pieces of paper and then gave these out to the women to look up and read out to the group.

I also created some Power Thoughts Cards that go with each of the 12 strategies. I gave out the next weeks Power Thought to each group member and they would stick these cards on their bathroom mirror or any place that they would see frequently. This helped to keep the Power Thought in their minds while they study the chapter for the week.

I am happy to share the Power Thought Cards with you. I printed them onto A5 paper with page 2 on the back and then laminated them. Or you could print them onto cardstock.

Power Thought 1 “I can do whatever I need to do in life through Christ”

Power Thought 2 “God loves me unconditionally”

Power Thought 3 “I will not live in fear”

Power Thought 4 “I am difficult to offend”

Power Thought 5 “I enjoy people and I love helping them”

Power Thought 6 “I trust God completely; there is no need to worry”

Power Thought 7 “I am content and emotionally stable”

Power thought 8 “God meets all my needs abundantly”

Power thought 9 “I pursue peace with God, myself and others”

Power thought 10 “I live in the present and enjoy each moment”

Power thought 11 “I am disciplined and selfcontrolled”

Power thought 12 “I put God first in my life”

Enjoy!

Rachel Larkin