What Faith is Not

Just recently I was reading a great article on faith, it is titled Faith in God by Christian-Faith.com. It made some great points about what it is, as well as what it is not. The page begins by an explanation on how faith has nothing to do with religion or agreeing with your mind.

Ultimately what the article states is this: faith must change the way you live, and it must be one that can save.

 Meaning of Faith

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Hebrews 11:1 clearly explains what the true meaning of faith is.

• It is being sure of what we hope for.

It says being sure, which proves the point that faith does not equal hope. Hope is not believing 100 percent, it is an emotional state that occurs when something you look forward to MAY happen.

• It is being certain of what we do not see.

Hope says that God may be real, but Faith says GOD IS REAL! You have to be one hundred percent certain that God is real and that He sent His only son to die for you.

This faith is one that can save, just sharing this with somebody who doesn’t know God can lead them to repentance. This is just one thing faith can do.

The Leap of Faith

As the verse at the top of the page illustrates, with faith nothing is impossible for you. From telling a mountain to move, to taking a leap of faith and leaving your situation in God’s hand.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”

2.You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. (Psalms 4:7)

3.But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. (Galatians 5:22)

4.Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.(Nehemiah 8:12)

5.When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty. (Jeremiah 15:16)

6.You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. (1 Thessalonians1:6)

7.You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. (Psalm 16:11)

8.Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 2:11)

9.Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. (Luke 24:52)

10.The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God–he and his whole family. (Acts 16:34)

11.There is deceit in the hearts of those who plot evil, but joy for those who promote peace. (Proverbs 12:20)

12.When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers. (Proverbs 21:15)

13. The father of a righteous man has great joy; he who has a wise son delights in him. (Proverbs 23:24)

I want to begin by saying that the Apostles were not very extraordinary people. Actually, scripture says that they were ordinary.

“When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized they were unschooled, ordinary men,…” Acts 4:13

In those days, it was very different, it was not so common to be educated. The majority of people were unschooled. This verse says that Peter and John, who are two of twelve apostles, were unschooled and ordinary. Bringing the point that they were no special men.

The reason this is important is that you don’t have to carry any special abilities or talents to be used by God. You can be used just the way you are.

We share in the calling of the apostles. They were

called to bear fruit that lasts and so are we.

“I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit- fruit that will last” John 15:16

The Will of God

It is by the will of God that these ordinary men were designated apostles. That same will urged them to go out and preach of the greatness of Jesus. These ordinary men went out and did exactly what was asked of them despite what the world thought.

These men were not of this world, rather hated by it. They were hated by the world because God chose them out of it. In the same manner God chose you out of this world that you might not conform to it.

“If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”

 For the most part, the apostles are pretty good role models of what it means to live for Jesus, but the most superior apostle is Jesus Himself.

“But I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgement. (Matthew 5:22)

Well to begin, in this verse Jesus explains that when your angry with someone, you are subject to punishment. You may be thinking, How can I be punished if my anger is the result of someone else’s wrong doing? This is because God wants us to be patient with each other, and leave judgement to Him.

Another reason why God doesn’t want us to be angry is because it is foolish. In Ecclesiastes 7, we are instructed not be quickly provoked in our spirit. The chapter also says that anger resides in the lap of fools. As children of God, we are not fools. Rather, we are royalty.

Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room

for God’s wrath, for it is written

“It is mine to avenge, I will repay”, says the Lord.

A common reflex when we become angry is to seek revenge for the wrong that was cast on you. Revenge is a very dark and evil path to go down on your own. This is why we can’t seek revenge because it will pull us toward destruction. So as the verse states, leave room for God’s wrath because His wrath is greater than ours. Believe that God will repay them for their wrong doing.

A Work of the Flesh

Anger comes from our sinful nature and when we submit to it, it gains access into our spirit and heart. Don’t produce bad fruit, but product the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control(Galatians 5).

“The act of the sinful nature are obvious… Hatred,…, Fits of rage,…, envy.”

 Characteristics of a fool:

• Shows his annoyance at once (Proverbs 12:16)
• Quick-tempered and displays folly (Proverbs 14:29)
• Provokes abundantly (Proverbs 27:3)
• Resentment and envy ( Job 5:2)
• Hot-tempered (Proverbs 19:19)

 All of these characteristics bring their own punishment. The book of Job tells us that resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple. While Proverbs 19 says a hot-tempered man must pay the penalty.

Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper

than one who takes a city (Proverbs 16:32)

“Consequently, faith results from listening, and listening results through the word of the Messiah.” (Romans 10:17)

Have Faith

As in any relationship, it all starts with trust. You need to trust God by putting your faith in Him. When you put your faith in God, you are trusting that He will do all He said he will do. When you do this, you will be counted as righteous by God because of your faith.

“Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” (John 20:31)

Belief leads to obedience

Do you ever have a problem being obedient? Silly question right. Well many of us have trouble being obedient when we don’t have full faith in God.

Obedience starts by having full belief in God and all of His capabilities. Keep in mind that He can do all things, which is why everything is possible through Him (Matthew 19:26).

Honored by Jesus

“Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth,

 the Son of Man will also acknowledge in the presence of God’s angels.” (Luke 12:8)

In this scripture, Jesus instructs us to acknowledge Him and He will do the same in Heaven. On the other hand, if we deny Him on Earth ( Like Peter did), We will be denied in Heaven.

No Excuse

There is no excuses for not believing in the Lord. It is evident that God exists in everything around us. This includes yourself, just take a look at your life and I am sure that you will find a few instances where God must have had to be.

Take a look at Romans 1:20, where God explains why there is no excuse for not knowing Him.

“For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky.

Through everything God has made, they can clearly see

His invisible qualities- His eternal power and divine nature.

So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”

So to conclude, all you have to do is believe and you will be saved for eternity. When you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved.

We are called to light up the darkness, and shine brightly.

Being The Salt of the Earth

“You are the salt of the earth”- Matthew 5:13

One responsibilities we are given by God is to be the salt of the world. In our everyday lives we use salt to add flavor to our food. We add it to make it our flavorful and delighting to eat. Salt is also symbolic for light.

In the same manner, God wants to use us to transform the world into one that is delightful for him to see and pleasing to his eyes. You are the light of the world! Sent by God himself to be an example to all mankind and show them how great God really is.

Where light is present, darkness has no choice but to flee.

Use What Your Given

Jesus provides an awesome example in the book of Matthew that illustrates our responsibility to use all that God has given us.

In this parable, there is a man who is planning to go on a long trip. Before he leaves, he entrusts his money to his three servants and distributes to them what they can handle ( God will not give you more than your can bare). Two of the servants invest the money and double the money they were given. While the third servants was afraid of losing the little he was given, he hid it until his master returned.

If you did not notice, Jesus is the master and we are the servants. The money is symbolic for everything that God provides for us. These include our money, time, wisdom, and everything else in our lives.

A couple of things to take:

• God only gives you what you can handle.
• He wants you to use what he gives you.
• He wants you to invest it to further expanding the Kingdom of God.
• Don’t procrastinate because you never know when our master will return.

A big problem in the world today is that many people are misinformed about the creation of the world. Two of the main beliefs are creationism and evolution. These two do not coexist by any means.

The theory of evolution is not in relation with creationism. Anybody who believes in God and His word needs to understand that the bible teaches creationism, not evolution! I will explain further in just a second.

What is creationism?

” The doctrine that the true story of the creation of the universe is as it is recounted in the Bible. “

- Dictionary.Reference.com

This put simply is what creationism really is, and how the universe did indeed come to exist. Creationism is basically the belief in the first chapter of Genesis, which states that God is the sole creator of the universe.

How God Created the Heavens and the Earth

The first chapter of the Bible explain how the earth and the first humans were made by God. It took God six days to complete His master piece ( keep in mind that one “day” in God’s eyes is not the same 24 hour day that we go by ).

Read Genesis 1 to see the order by which God created the world. If you read chapter 2, you will see the downfall of mankind and how sin entered the world.

 The Theory of Evolution

The theory of evolution is the false teaching that all creation just “evolved”.  An article titled, Evolution and the Bible by Henry Morris, states that it is: An explanation of origins and meanings without the necessity of a personal God who created and upholds all things. 

This theory completely contradicts the Bible and believers in this theory believe either there is no need for God or He is not powerful enough to do so ( this is being taught in schools!).

What Jesus Says is True

In Matthew 19, Jesus responds to the question of whether a man is allowed to divorce his wife. In His response He includes, “Haven’t you read the Scriptures? They record that from the beginning God made them male and female”.

Some people also thinks that God used evolution to created man and the universe, but this is not the case according to Jesus.

God created the heavens and the earth,

He crafted you from birth.

It was not simply by chance that this world came to be,

He made it for you and me.

1. What does God think of conformity?

“How quickly they have turned away

from the way I commanded them to live!”

In Exodus chapter 32, the people of Egypt whom God instructed Moses to rescue became the example of God’s view of conformity. The verse above was what He said when looked upon the people He saved from slavery creating idols right before His eyes. God seen how stubborn and rebellious they were and responded with great anger. Lucky for them, Moses pleaded with God to turn away from His anger.

Despite the people of Israel seeing God’s reaction to their sin, they continued to create idols that were able to be seen and formed to THEIR likeness.

• God responds in anger when His mercy is trampled on.

2. An example of an anti-conformist.

A very widely known story of the Bible is that of Daniel and the lion’s den. In this story, he acts as a role model to all believers when he displays great courage and puts his life of the line for his beliefs.

Daniel did not conform to the laws that were set that were against what he believed. He did not stop his daily routine of praying to God three times a day, when they said anybody found doing so would be thrown into the lion’s den.

• Do not conform to ideas or practices that are not in compliance with God and His word.

When he was thrown into the lion’s den he didn’t stop putting his trust in God. He continued to believe that God would protect him and in return…

“Not a scratch was found on him, for he had trusted in God.”

Conclusion

So to conclude, I ask that you listen to God’s commands and follow them. In return He will protect you from any harm that might be brought against you for not conforming to the ideas of this sinful world. Look to Daniel for inspiration, as we usually will not get so close to death for standing up for what we believe in ( though it is possible).

 You see, our decision to stick to what we believe in sets us aparts from everybody else and makes us different. This is what makes us unique and looked upon with admiration from God. Just as the red flower is set apart from all the rest, that flower is the one most likely to be picked.