Tag Archives: faith

Belief and Faith

Posted on by
Reply

I had always thought belief and faith were the same thing.  The following example really helps you understand however that there is a difference.

When you approach a chair, you look at it.  You analyse its structure, and you brain no doubt completes many calculations whilst figuring out if that chair will support your weight.  Once you have collected enough evidence that the chair looks like it will support your weight, you come to the belief that yes it will support you.

Now comes the part that highlights the difference betweek belief and faith.   You have looked at a chair, and based on some factors have now come to the belief that the chair will support your weight.  You BELIEVE it will support you.  Now comes the part where you SIT on the chair!  THAT is FAITH in action.

Your brain can analyse the evidence but can only take you to a certain point.  Looking at Jesus, you can look at the historical evidence, as well as the biblical evidence to come to a belief in his existance, however belief if not enough on its own!

Even the devil believes in Jesus (James 2:19).  Intellectually the devil believes in Jesus, in God, in the Bible!  But the devil is not saved!  He has no FAITH in Jesus.

When you become a Christian, you first believed, it was then you excersised faith.  Faith is the hand that receives the gift of salvation.  Faith is a gift from God (Ephesisans 2:8).  By grace we have have been saved.

Morning and Evening – Psalm 92:1-6

Posted on by
Reply

There is SO much to give thanks to the Lord for.  Sitting here pondering this I realise how much

I take for granted, and how very little credit I offer to the Lord for everything He has done in my life and the lives of countless others around me and accross the world!

I can thank the Lord for the very fact I woke up this morning!  Yes the Lord has given me another day.  I pray I use it wisely and for His glory.  What other things might we want to be thanking the Lord for in a morning?  I will list a few that come to mind.

Thankyou for:

  • Giving His Son
  • Loving me
  • Family and friends
  • Food on the table
  • His beautiful creation
  • Fellowship with others
  • The car still works!

OK, my list is seemly random, but to make a point!  Psalm 92:4, reminds me how much God has done for us!  Jesus death for our Sins is mind blowing, and I cant thank the Lord enough.  What I often forget is that God doesnt stop there.  He has a hand on our lives, influencing those around us, caring for the creation around us, guiding our hearts and carrying us through those difficult times!

How often I take it all for granted, how often I forget to “declare my love” for Him in the morning, and my faith in Him in the evening (Psalm 92:2).

Check out my recent post about “Starting Right“.  And consider this.  What better way, to start the day, than spending time with God, praising, thanking, communicating with, listening to and growing in the Lord our God.

Thank you father.

Spiritual Gifts – 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Posted on by
Reply

Last night at our Lifegroup, we discussed the gifts of the Spirit. As part of our aims in our new Lifegroup we: “aim to encourage the use of the gifts of the Spirit in order to strengthen us spiritually as individuals and as a group”. Brynn therefore felt we should pick up on this and learn more about what the gifts of the Spirit actually are. We first looked through the gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11.

Wisdom

I understand this to be the ability to advise in difficult situations, resolving arguments, solving problems etc. I don’t think it refers either to a worldly wisdom but one that is of a divine nature.

Knowledge

Knowledge of the Word, and being able to effectively communicate the Word and the Knowledge gained from it.

Faith

Matthew 17:19-20 talks of faith enabling you to achieve wonderful and amazing things. As believers we all have faith, however I think this refers to a more radical faith where the normal rationalisations we add to a situation no longer apply to those people, and the have complete and utter faith in the Lord for something.

Healing

Jesus healed the sick.  By the power of the Holy Spirit some are able to pray over the sick and the sick are healed.  I think healing can cover both physical and mental illnesses or afflictions.

Miraculous Powers

Seems to tie in with healing, however there are stories too of other miraculous things taking place in modern times, for example people being raised from the dead.

Prophecy

The ablitiy to receive pictures and Word direct from the Lord, and to then be able to effectively communicate these to the group or to the individual that picture or word is for.  I used to think that prophecy was about predicting the future, however it would seem it is more being a mouthpiece for God, speaking wisdom, knowledge, encouragement and advice into peoples situations.  Prophecy can be particularly effective when someone prophecies into a situation in your life, or into something you are thinking about, and yet they have no earthly knowledge of the situation!  This has happened to me on occasions and it is incredible.

Distinguishing Between Spirits

Often when I watch religious broadcasting, certain preachers will set off alarm bells in my mind.  Sometimes based on what they are saying, and others just the feeling that although what they are saying seems Biblically sound, their motive is not that of the Lord.  It is the ability to see what is of the Holy Spirit, and what is of satan.

Tongues and Interpretation

This is an often debated subject in the church and one I believe we are going to study together in the Lifegroup to better understand this gift.  I think in a nutshell that its the ability to talk in other languages and others have the ability to translate.  I will go into more detail in on tongues as and when we have studied it in more detail soon.

Bryn pointed out that throughout the Bible, there are other gifts of the Spirit mentioned to include:

Serving, Administration, Teaching, Encouragement, Giving, Leadership, Mercy, Helping Others, Hospitality, Interpretation of Dreams and Creative Arts.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but certainly highlights the wide breadth of gifts that the Holy Spirit can and will bestow on believers.

Why so many gifts, and why does he give them to us?  Firstly, these are gifts.  They are gifts of His grace, and not of our own doing.  He gives us these different gifts, to different people, I think to build up the church, as well as each other and to help advance His kingdom.  We all have different gifts at different levels to create balance within the Church so that we can act as one body.  Ann made a good point, if we all had the same gift for example, prophecy, we would never get through one Sunday service as everyone would be prophecying and there would be far to much to act upon!

With such a wide range of gifts at our own church, things really do work well.  We have people gifted with musical abilities, others with serving others (the welcoming team), others with leadership, others with administration (including finances etc) as well as others with serving (including those that always have the tea and coffee ready at the end of the service).  During the service also, we are lucky to have many wise, knowledgable people who bring word to us all, as well as prophecy.  The Lord has built up a dynamic Church, full of people with completely different gifts, all working together to grow His church.  Its is indeed amazing, exciting and wonderful.

Faith Tester – Matthew 11:1-6

Posted on by
Reply

Doubt is definitely a faith tester!  Our Daily Bread hits the nail on the head, when it comes to the sorts of questions that regularly come to mind with regards to the existence of God, with regard to Jesus claims, with regards to pretty much any matter of faith!  The reassuring thing is that I would appear not to be the only one who has these moments!

John too when the going got tough did too experience those sorts of feelings.  It can be difficult to remain positive on the bleaker circumstances of life.  The test in these circumstances though are what you do with these thoughts.  Do you let them eat you up inside?  Do you let them take over your thoughts?  Do you give up all hope?

John did not do that!  He turned to Jesus and brought his questions to Him!  Jesus responded with encouragement and with examples of His miracles.  He was able to reassure John in difficult times.  We too should give any of these thoughts to Jesus and ask Him to help us.  He can and will through the power of His Holy Spirit encourage us, build us up and give us the knowledge and confidence in Him.

If anyone is reading my ramblings today, I really recommend you look at today’s Our Daily Bread.  Also if you find my ramblings useful, please take the time to contact me and let me know!

Guided by the Holy Spirit – Acts 16:6-10

Posted on by
Reply

In Acts 16:6-10 we see throughout the passage Paul and Silas are constantly guided by the Holy Spirit.  They have allowed themselves to be open to the guidance of the Spirit, and when the Spirit then gave Paul a vision, they didn’t sit back, trying to decide if they should do anything about it, they simply got up and went!  They obeyed the Holy Spirit and went on to preach the Good News to many who were saved.

Last night at our Lifegroup, we looked further into the sermon that Phil preached on Sunday (I am posting in Fellowship some the rest of my notes on the sermon in the near future). A large emphasis of what we talked about was about the Holy Spirit, and how He strengthens us and guides us, as well as enables us to grow in Him. Looking then at today’s Our Daily Bread reading, I was surprised that Ephesians 2:22 has popped up again (Sunday, Thursday and now Friday)! As you may have read from previous posts, I believe the Lord will repeat Himself as much as it takes so that we will sit up and listen.

22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

The Holy Spirit does live inside us.  Before Jesus death, the only place for God’s Glory was the Holy of Holy’s in the temple at Jerusalem, and yet when Jesus died, the temple curtain was ripped in half, Jesus rose from the grave, and the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples and has continued to be poured out across the world.  The Holy Spirit is there as our guide, like in this passage in Acts.  We need to listen carefully to what He says, and be obedient to His guidance.  If we feel we must share the Gospel with a random person on the street, then we should do so, ignoring the old human fears and impulses, but just trusting in the Lord and His Holy Spirit.  You may only plant a seed, but one day that seed with burst forth life.

Living in a state of obedience to the Holy Spirit is really quite exciting, as we are no longer living a life that we plan out for ourselves!  We are living a life where we don’t know where the Holy Spirit is going to take us next.  That is not to say we shouldn’t try to plan our careers etc, but we should lean heavily on the Holy Spirit for guidance to make the right career choices, family choices, etc.  I pray that I can be as faithful as Paul and Silas and that I will recognise the Holy Spirits voice when He calls and points me in directions, that sometimes I may not want to go.  And I pray that in those situations that the Lord will be Glorified.

Faith in the Promise – Hebrews 11:8-16

Posted on by
Reply

My Grandma died yesterday. It’s a sad time, and it made me think about what happens after death. I read through 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 and was greatly comforted by the description of how our Christian lives unfold, and how we yearn for our eternal spiritual rest in Jesus for eternity.

Today’s reading picks up on the tough times of life. When things are difficult, we often forget that we have such a wonderful promise in Christ Jesus who came to this earth, to die for our sins, that we may have eternal life! Yes, eternal life in heaven.

So when the going get tough, we need to stand strong in faith, knowing that one day,

we will receive our rewards in heaven.

These verses certainly aren’t saying “wish your life away”, as we are responsible as Christian, to make disciples of all nations. Lets not waste our lives waiting for the end, but by the grace of God, lets go forth and spread the good news. We are going to die one day, and we know we are going to a place of unimaginable happiness, so we literally want to take as many people as we can with us!

Picking up further on Faith, we are reminded of the promise we inherit from Abraham, and Abraham and Sarah’s faith in that promise.  Even though the were both too old to have children, they had faith in Gods promise, and because of that it came to pass.

God is God of the impossible, have faith in Him and have faith in His Promises.

Incomparable – Psalm 89:1-8

Posted on by
Reply

 6 For who in the skies above can compare with the LORD ?
Who is like the LORD among the heavenly beings?

What a great reminder of how awesome God is!  There is no one, no thing, nothing that can compare to Almighty God.  He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, Creator God and Wonderful Saviour.  He isn’t the angry old man with a long white beard throwing thunder bolts at those who displease him, but he is a Loving Father!

The Devotional today picks up on His saving grace.  Some people have amazing testimonies of how they were caught up in miserable situations, and the Lord took them out of those situations.  How inspiring.  However, for those of us with less “inspiring” testimonies, (saved at church at a young age), remember that the Lord still saved you.  Imagine what your life would have been like without him!  So he saved you BEFORE you got caught up in that world!

No other “god” offers this gift of grace, that’s what sets Christianity apart from any other faith, and is one of the many reasons our God is Incomparable.

Affliction – Psalm 119:65-80

Posted on by
Reply

Today’s devotional picks out 2 verses that speak to our daily struggles:

Psalm 119:67,71

67 Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I obey your word.

71 It was good for me to be afflicted
so that I might learn your decrees.

Whatever the Psalmist’s affliction, instead of becoming embittered and blaming the Lord, he actually thanked the Lord for the affliction! My initial reaction was Why?

“So that I might learn your decrees”.

When an event happens in your life be it good or bad, there is always the opportunity to learn a lesson from it.

I tend to find though, that I usually learn something more from a bad situation and tend not to forget it! I don’t think we are asking the Lord to send bad times to us so we can become wise, but at the same time, we can thank him for the wisdom and thirst for him that we nurture during those times.

Our God is a God of comfort, a tower of strength, and ever present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1). Through the power of his Holy Spirit, during times of difficulty, he will be there with us, comforting us, guiding us, making us stronger. And as a result of those situations, we will come to appreciate other things in life that perhaps we had not considered before, or simply took for granted.

Although I would like the rest of my life to be picture perfect and rosy, I know there will be troubled times ahead. I pray that each experience will be a learning experience, and that I will come through them with renewed and strengthened faith. In Jesus name, Amen.

Faith and Relationships – Mark 1:16-20

Posted on by
Reply

…”Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him….

I was surprised that todays devotional didn’t pick up on the fishers of men aspect, and stepping out in faith.  The above couple of verses is when Jesus called out to Simon and Andrew who were fishermen and asked them to follow him.  What happens next is something that I can’ t imagine happening now-a-days!

“At once they left their nets and followed him…”

I am not sure if they had had a conversation before, or if they new of Jesus, but something made them risk everything, and drop everything to follow him.  Leaving their lively hood behind, leaving all they held dear, they followed him.  What a huge step of faith!

Of course salvation wasn’t just for these select few.  Right from the very beginning Jesus was telling them he would make them fishers of men.  Remembering that when Jesus had risen from the dead, he have his disciples the “Great Commission”, “go make disciples of all nations”.  Matthew 28:19-20

The Devotional today looks into the relationship we have with Jesus.  Stressing the importance of not simply using Jesus as the “Get out of jail free” card, saving us from hell, but actually having a loving relationship with Him.  Also check this out about obedience.  We do not have a religion, we have a relationship!  This sets us apart from any other faith!

We therefore need to work at our relationship.  If I didn’t spend time with my wife, and didn’t speak with her, I am not sure how long our relationship would last.  The amazing thing is Jesus never tires of loving us, however we are missing out on SO MANY blessings by not continuing in a relationship with Him, and without a relationship with him, we are not equip to take on the Great Commission and reach others for Him.

I have gone from one subject to another in today’s Journal, so in a nutshell what I have learnt:  …when we take that step of faith and follow him, we need to continue to build on our relationship with the Lord so that He can do great things through us…

Comfort Zone – Genesis 12:1-9

Posted on by
Reply

In this passage God tells Abraham (then Abram) to gather his things, leave his home and travel to a place miles away.  Could you imagine doing this?  Leaving your home, your friends, the life you are used to to go to a place where you know no-one, and have no idea what is in store for you

?

Abram showed great faith and left his “comfort zone” to follow Gods calling.  In return God greatly bless Abram who’s step of faith still lives on today!

Lord I pray that when you call, I will be willing to step out of my comfort zone in faith, and do your will.  Amen.