originally posted by buffybot
No doult this question has been put to this site before but as i am new i would not know...so...What is faith there seems to be a lot of ideas about it but i am a bit confused at times.
From a Christian perspective: faith is an
Action based upon a
Belief and is sustained by
Confidence. These are often referred to as the
ABCs of faith.
1) 1st comes
Belief. This is not simply a belief an anything that you want to come true. It is based upon God's word, whether spoken (impressed upon you by Holy Spirit) or written (Bible). Belief is the easy part; for it requires no active participation as does faith. It is merely a mental exercise that leads to nowhere unless it fuels an action.
2) 2nd comes
Action. Action is caused due to the belief. You are moved to act in response to God's words. The premise is that you believe that 1) is true. At this point, God will begin to communicate with you in spirit (Holy Spirit). He imputes part of His own being (Holy Spirit) into you. His spirit gives you a new life: a life that begins to regenerate your own spirit and transform you soul.
3) 3rd comes
Confidence. Confidence is that part of the experience that requires 1) and 2). If you believe and act, you must have confidence that it will happen as stated or else, you are exercising futility. The confidence is brought by God's presence that has now become a part of your life. It it manifested by seeing that God is true to His Word. All that He has said, is being fulfilled or has been fulfilled. By acting in faith, God started trusting you; so, now you can begin to trust Him too. This mutual trust only strenghtens as you mature in faith. You will begin to discover that God will not pull the carpet from under you and misguide you. He will always be faithful to you.
In addition to Action, Belief, and Confidence, faith requires
Tenacity and
Courage. Tenacity is given through the Holy Spirit. It is our spiritual glue. It bonds us to our Lord, and nothing can separate you except that you stop aciting in faith. Once you do that, God then withdraws His Spirit from you until you start the faith action again. He has no obligation to help a faithless person.
Following God by acting in faith requires
Courage. You have to be willing to face the opposition that you will meet without compromise. When the Holy Spirit prompts you to act, you must obey regardless of what your earthly wisdom and intellect tell you. For God will not prompt you to do anything that violates His word. Furthermore, He will provide a means by which you can accomplish it. This is the essence of faith. I hope you better understand now.
Is it true that if you take a passage of the bible and pray it,and keep reading it it will come true.For example"it shall be done for you as you have believed" so if i want this or that to happen and i believe the words of jesus above will it happen?
The short answer to the above is NO! All Biblical passages can not be claimed as promises. Some scriptures are very specific in their applications. We can not claim some promise that was strictily given to the Israellites or to King David as ours, for example. We can only claim promises that apply to us. God can
only honor what He promised to us. There are many Biblical verses that tell us not to ask for things for our personal gains. What we ask for must be with the will of our Heavenly Father. God hates our selfishness; for it brings Him no glory.
We don not come to God because of what He can do for us; instead, we come to God for who He is. It is that simple. Most people do not adhere to this or understand this - even many Christians.
these days many say if you take the word as it is it will happen as you prayed it?
Totally false. As stated above, we must be seeking that which is in the Will of our Lord for us to do and to have. No selfishness or useage of God for personal gain is honored by Him. In God's wisdom, He knows best that which we should and should not have. For instance, if you are praying to have lots of money (whatever the reason is), you may not get it. This may be because you may have a hard time staying faithful to God if you get your hands on it. You may take your eyes off of God and onto the money. By now, your servitude has become money. You have become corrupt and have jeopardized your relationship with God. Also, you may not have previously demonstrated to God that you are a good financial planner, in your giving to Him for His purposes. Many people see this as some kind of punishment instead of seeing it as a blessing. You can only comprehend these type of things with spiritual growth, which can only come through
Faith
through Jesus.
well i have been praying for 6 or 7 years and i am still waiting for my request.
You don not wait. You keep acting in faith on His Word. God's time is not ours. It is in God's wisdom that He has us to wait many times. How else will we obtain spiritual grow if we don't learn how to action in faith? There is no faith is instant gratification. If God answered us that way every time, He will become like a genie or our bellhop. Then God looses His power and authority over us. He then becomes subordinate to us.
I must be doing something wrong but i don't know what it is,is it a case of my faith being bad so God can not answer because of my little faith or is it my sins?
Although this could be a true depiction of your situation, I see it as more of ignorance. You need to read Bible for understanding and to seek an intimate and personal relationship with God. Then you will come to know Truth. You need to be centered around the teachings of a good Biblical teacher.
One thing the devil likes is when he can help someone to think that they have little faith and can not please God, because they are somehow bad and or inadequate. He likes us to focus on our sins too. God takes care of our sins, but we must focus on Him and not the sins.
We are not sinnners because we sin; instead, we sin because we are sinners. Big Difference!!
If your above statement is true, you need to settle that with God; but if you are just ignorant, you only need to understand what I am telling you and get taught properly.
i know the word says wait for God to act and so on but i just don't seem to get on Gods good side some how
and i am to stupid to know why.
It is important that we take scripture in its entire context: that means consider the surrounding scripture context as well as the entire Biblical context. You don't really get on God's good side since God is all good. It is us who have a bad side and need to repent. Truthfully, although we often see ourselves as having a good side, we ony can be good once God's spirit envelopes us and transforms us to His goodness. Our personal goodness is worthless to Him. It may be pleasing to the world view of goodness; but the world, we do not seek.
What is FAITH and how do i get it to operate so God acts?
You don't set out to get it. You need to seek God because of who He is and not what you can get from Him as I have mentioned before. One paradox with God is that you ask for nothing, but He gives you everything: i.e., everything that is in His Will for you. We don't need everything that we ask for, but need everything that God gives us. Think on that!
i need to hear from those who are good at it so i can put right what i am doing wrong.
Please put me right.. please.
The Holy Spirit will tell you what you are doing wrong. You don't have to worry about that. You will be convicted of your actions or lack of them. We are not good at it. It is God's teaching us. We just learn how to follow the Spirit and trust it; for it produces the fruits of righteousness in us.
