Posted on 05/02/2014 10:16:14 AM PDT by OneVike
And even more to His supernatural presence to carry it out. To believe God says something is one thing. To believe God is not woofing, is another.
I would beg to differ.
Jesus said that if we had faith the size of a mustard seed, that we could move mountains.
After dealing with more than my fill of people telling me my health issues are a result of lack of faith, or rather that if I had enough faith, I’d be healed, God showed me that the reason faith the size of a mustard seed works is not because of the size of the faith, but the size of the God I have faith in.
Yes, there are different levels of faith and there is the gift of faith, but I think that the amount of faith on our part is not so significant as the biggness of the God that we have the faith in.
Thank you for the engaging essay, dear OneVike!
However, Christ Himself told the Disciples, after they woke him during the tempest on the lake, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" He did not say you of no faith, but "you of little faith"
Earlier in the same chapter of Matthew 8, a Roman Centurion exhibited a lot of faith when he told Jesus not to come, but instead to only speak a word, and he knew his servant would be healed. Because of his much faith, Christ responded,
"Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you." And his servant was healed that same hour.
Think about that. The Roman gentile had more faith than all of Israel at the time Christ walked the earth. That is a profound statement by God on faith.
Jesus obviously was very impressed with the great faith as opposed to the little faith of His Disciples in the boat.
True, Jesus said that if we had faith the size of a mustard seed, that we could move mountains. However, he was coming against those who lacked even that much faith. I am telling you that many are sick, and ill because they do lack even a smidgen of faith of a mustard seed.
So, I am sorry to disagree with you, but I truly do think that the vast majority of problems Christians have, outside of God's will, are directly related to or lack of faith. As I say, outside the will of our Father, because who can know the mind of God who gives to one but not the other.
Faith, is as I told Alamo-Girl, something that God wants us to have. Please read the comment I left for her about Malachi 3:9-12 and the test God told the Jews to challenge Him with on tithes. We need Faith to take the Promised Land or to crumble the walls of Jericho that are keeping us from our blessings offered by Him who promised them to those who love Him.
I do not say we can have anything we want, but we can have that which He wants us to have. As you know, our desires become aligned with His when we accept His Son.
I wrote in the article about the medical evidence that points to the ill effects on our physical system when we worry. That is because God made us to depend upon Him. When we fail to have faith in Him, we fail to depend upon Him. We become our own god, not Him.
Oh, I am not saying it is easy, because while Elijah showed great faith in God by challenging the 850 prophets of Baal and Ashura on Mount Carmel, when God cooked his bull, the false prophet’s bull, the wood, stones, dust, water, and the false prophets, he then turns around and exhibits very little faith by running to a cave to hide from Jezebel in fear of her. We all have our weak moments, but it's those moments we need to overcome if we are to truly enjoy the blessings He has to offer us.
Most of this I wrote in the article, but I reiterate it in a different manner in case you never read it.
God bless you sister.
Yes, I live in reverent fear of God. I dare not question His precepts.
Not that I shake in fear, but when I consider Moses approaching the burning bush, I can only imagine how his knees were knocking together when He first heard His voice.
The most “pre” of the precepts is that HE LOVES YOU...
Everything else is a proper love response to Him.
But what I mean, is that people scoff when God promises good. Anyone can find trouble or evil.
We are in agreement. Thanks, :)
God hates me.
If you won’t let Him love you, what’s left over?
He hate it when you won’t love him
I’m just playin’. I know God superloves me. I just like playing Droopy Dog. :)
We wuz all Droopy Dawg and putting wet blankets on heaven. Sometimes we think the problem is heaven is mad at us when it’s more like we’re mad at a heaven that can solve our problems better than we could ever imagine. Maybe not always as quick, but better.
Archangel Gabriel mugged me outside the QT and took my wallet.
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