What is "Faith"?

[d taylor]

I though it said then thou shalt be saved. So that does sound salvific.

Yep, different levels of faith is clearly seen in scripture.

Common faith Titus 1:4
Little faith Matthew 8:26, 14:31
Temporary faith! Luke 8:13
Strong faith Romans 4:20
Active faith. James 2:18, Mark 5:34
Great faith. Matthew 8:10
No faith. Mark 4:40

The Bible also talks about precious faith (2 Peter 1:1), growing faith (2 Thessalonians 1:3), rich faith (James 2:5), perfect faith (James 2:22), unfeigned faith and pure faith (1 Timothy 1:5), shipwrecked faith (1 Timothy 1:19), overcoming, victorious faith (1 John 5:4), and holy faith (Jude 1:20).

Romans 10 is addressing the saving of believers, not what an unbeliever must do to receive Eternal Life.

Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

 

[Divide]

Faith isn't belief without evidence, or even prior to evidence. Faith is built upon our life experiences, and while we can change beliefs through an act of will there would be no reason for an unbeliever to will themselves to belief in God if the evidence were against Him.

The evidence is not against Him. Some of scientists get it and some spout rubbish. But so many things point to God as being real that only an idiot could deny it (in my mind).

Archeologists are digging many things and finding more evidence. Ron Wyatt is purported to have found the ark of the covenant. (I believe he did. His story is on youtube). They found reference to a King David on some writings they found in Egypt. Besides all that I have to think...I can't make even a simple tree. You have to wonder where it came from.

They say now, the earth is in a Goldilocks zone. If even one ting out of a huge list of things was different by the smallest degree, earth would not have life. Like the carbon dioxide levels and in blood to have Hemoglobin made it takes a big list of proteins, and the content is exact. If even one protein were wrong, poison hemoglobin. So there is a lot to it, but like Scully and Mulder said, the truth is out there...

 

[Fervent]

That could certainly be a part of it. A continued acceptance of experience od evidence. Evidence is all over the place.. I remember when I was not walking with the Lord I could not see evidence for God anywhere. After I (was staring death in the face) and chose to believe and hope and cry out to Him and He saved me. The scope of my near death accident, and the fact that not only did I live, but I can walk on my own without any chair or crutches was an evidence to me that the Lord did step in and save me. I broke my back in two places and still walk on my own. Just not very far, lol. So that moment of crying out to God for help was obviously answered. I had four months in recovery to think about it. This happened. So when I realized that, I re-committed my life to Him. And began my walk with Him. Now. So what? right? But it was after this that changed my vision sort of. Now I can see God's fingerprints everywhere almost on this planet. The evidence is plainly seen.

It sure does seem like it is a belief first and then the prayer answered type of setup to me. The Lord has done many supernatural helps to me (miracles). Not part the red sea miracles but big enough for me! I bet I have 15 to 20 good testimonies of prayers answered and supernatural things happening at times.
He sent an Angel in disguise as a man to my Garage Sale after I prayed for help. The man (Ha!) talked the price up and spent 2400 dollars with me! (That's a great Testimony!). Another time He let me hide from the Police so that I wouldn't be arrested! They had three cars looking for me and couldn't see me! But I could see them, lol. Another time He had delivered to my house 2 pounds of gourmet coffee beans (That one is what I call the coolest testimony ever for me!) Another time, my son was about to be arrested for unpaid traffic tickets and I refused to let him be arrested and prayed immediately about it! I needed him and we were on our way to work. And the cop did find the warrant for him and he was not arrested! (That blew my sons mind!)
I'd be happy to share any of these if you want to hear them. Which one?



And after seeing so many miracles, do you believe that my arrogant carnal mind still tries to tell me that it didn't happen, Lol! I laugh at him now and tell him to shut up. I don't believe the doubting lies.

The relationship between faith and evidence is certainly complicated, but ultimately the issue is a moral one and not simply a matter of order between belief and evidence. I used to routinely get into debates with atheists over the existence of God and it was not uncommon for me to have resolved all of their objections only for them to pull out a moral objection. For some, it was a declaration that they wouldn't give up a particular sin ("Well, I'm not giving up my weed!") and for others it was a more general moral objection ("I was raised Christian, and that was oppressive to me.") When it all comes down to it, it is our sin that blinds us to what should be self-evident and it is from the self-evident that we are then able to build all the evidence that follows. So while faith may call us to step out and trust even when we can't see the evidence, it is also built upon what is evident beforehand. You cried out to God because you recognized His existence from the evidence of your life, whether you consciously recognized that reality or not. So it is both evidence followed by belief, and belief followed by evidence. Unbelief is suppression of the truth, not ignorance of it.

 

[B Griffin]

The relationship between faith and evidence is certainly complicated

As "faith" relates to God, "faith" is the positive reaction to a proposition made by God. "Unbelief", of course, is the negative reaction. We either trust and act on what He says, or we don't. It's just that simple.

When an atheist says He doesn't believe there is a God, he is really saying, "when God revealed Himself to me, showing me His eternal power and Godhead, I refused to acknowledge Him as God (Rom 1:20-12)". When God draws him to Jesus, telling him that Jesus is the only way for his soul to be saved, he refuses to "hear and learn from the Father" and he refuses to go to Jesus (John 6:44-45).

But God has grace towards us even in our unbelief. He requires us to believe, but He provides a whole bunch of evidence to help us overcome our unbelief. Just look at all the evidence that Jesus offered as evidence in John 5:

• The words spoken by Jesus (vs 31)
• John the Baptist's preaching (vss 32-35),
• The miracles Jesus performed (vs 36),
• The personal testimony of God the Father (vs 37), and
• The OT Scriptures (vs 39).

And consider that Jesus didn't want Thomas to wallow in unbelief, so He presented His nail-pierced hands for inspection (John 20:27).

 

[Richard T]

Great topic with some good posts. If I may add my two cents, Hebrews 11 is where the faith heroes are described are believing in things to come that came from a belief in God. These are things that are expected. The expectation was a result of hearing God. Faith comes from hearing the rhema word of God. The written word can put you on the trail, but the spoken word from your heart will put you in the faith category. Noah heard from God and believed. Enoch had the testimony that he pleased God. It was from this that he believed for his translation. In Pentecostal circles one might hear "pray it through." If a job or mate is an example, you can read it in the word, confess it with your mouth and if God speaks it through to your heart you are going to have that thing which you pray for. Too many try a formula but if they don't hear from God, they are likely going to come up short. You can't usually name it and claim it with little effort. It probably is goign to be easier to go to the dentist than believe God to heal your cracked tooth.

I always loved the book, Faith Foolishness and Presumption. Fred K. Price. Many might think they have faith but they presume instead. Lots of believers did this with covid. After not getting it for months, some thought it was their faith. Then a surprise when they got it. Presumption is dangerous. Those that won't go to the dr because of their "faith" might be a good example. Are they really sure? do they have the evidence?

Evidence of the past helps, but you can't always rely on your past faith for similar situations. You have to hear from God, if you can't hear your situation or prayer may fail or just depend on God's mercy. How you hear might be different but in some way you have to get it. The Centurion was amazing in that he likely just heard and looked at Jesus and knew that Jesus could perform that what he said. Great faith would be like that, you may not have to hear but you assume God has it covered. The disciples in the boat should have known Jesus could not drown. They acted in fear instead of faith.

On a side note, only one translation works the best for me. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for" becomes
Hebrews 11:1 (GW) 1 Faith assures us of things we expect...
Not to nitpick, but hope to me assumes that the outcome is positive. But look at the rest of heb 11. The flood was not positive, Noah likely did not hope for it, but he sure did expect it. martyrs would be another example? So yes, faith can occur for a negative event. Fear can occur for a negative event too as the often-quoted Job scripture that what he feared came upon him. There is no real dilemma, if the fear is against the word of God it is not faith. Those fears need to be cast aside and replaced with faith. If it is a corporate fear, like a bad weather event, if God spoke it, it would not be fear it would be faith. It rains on the just and unjust. I'd believe it was coming and get out of the way. I remember the OKC bombing where one Christian woman reported that God had told her to stay home that day. She obeyed in faith. Mockers might have said don't be fearful, but the reality is she had faith and it perhaps made a life-saving difference.

I'm working on if fear is the opposite of faith and I think sometimes it is but often fear is healthy and we all have fears that never materialize so I don't think that it is, in many cases. If you're not sure if you have faith out of the abundance of the mouth the heart speaks. What are you speaking? If you are believing for something positive, do your words match your heart?

God bless

Hebrews 11:5 (KJV)
5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

 

[Divide]

I had a thought. Does faith require that doubt exist simultaneously?


If something takes faith to believe in because there is not sufficient evidence provided to prove it, then somewhere down in there, there will be at least a smidgen of doubt.

What if it doesn't happen? What if they are not healed? I might look foolish if I lay hands on them and pray and it doesn't happen for them.

What would Jesus say to that I wonder? Just believe? and we all know that sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't. Why is this? What is belief anyway?

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Sounds like Hope, that it will happen and an inner conviction of the as yet unseen. So it's sort of a 50/50 proposition. I hope God does this but sometimes He has other plans so not everyone gets healed all of the time. SO what's the difference? There is doubt because we know that God might not do this healing for us for whatever His reason. What can we do to tip the scales above 50/50 chance?

Let's ask Peter, he walked on water and he probably knew or had heard of many people drowning and dying from the water. But Peter did a dangerous thing. He got out of the boat. In doing that he grasped a conviction within himself that it will happen moreso than he doubted that it wouldn't. So Peter stepped out of the boat which was an action of his which demonstrated that he holds to the conviction of faith more than he had doubts.
And I'll prove it, I'll get out of the boat...

So he walked on water. And it was Perters belief that tipped the scales for him and spurred him to get out of the boat and committ his weight to the water. So we have tossed action into the mix. In the original language of Greek, the word Belief or Believe has a connotation of an action being performed, always. To believe is to have more than a conviction and to walk it out, trusting in God and putting his life in the Lord's hands, essentially. So that's prolly where we get the principle to walk in faith.

To take action with a trust of a positive outcome. I've heard that they way that the Military teaches the men to be courageous is to tell them, act with courage, even if you don't feel it. Soon, they are courageous. Maybe.

So I'm thinking that the doubt had to be present. And to act in the face of doubt anyway and hope & trust in our Lord may just be the thing that activates faith to manifest a supernatural whatever into our life.

But don't focus on the doubt. Focus on the Lord and trust Him. Peter was walking on the water. But then he glamced around and looked at the wind & the waves and began focusing on the doubt...and immediaitely began to sink in the water and Jesus had to save Him!

You might look foolish to lot of people if you lay hands on someone in church to heal them, and they don't get healed. That's part of doubt! Who cares if I look foolish, if it's in the Lord's will, all here will see the power of God today! People like to pray when they doubt. Oh Lord, don't let this or that happen, save us Lord! Because they know it is beyond their capacity to do somethng, but they act on it anyway.

Just like when I was out of coffee and thought to pray for work or money so I could buy more. But I remembered the scripture that says, don't worry about what you will eat or drink or wear, the Lord knows your needs before you ask Him...so I didn't pray about it and had faith that God would provide like His word says. I didn't realize it at the time but that was an act of faith, standing on His word and promises. I chose to have faith in Him, And a 2 pound bag of coffee was knocking at my door in less than 30 minutes! The Lord responded to my act of faith, because, that's what He does!

 

[fhansen]

Faith simply means that we believe God when He communicates with us.

Yes, its the reverse of what Adam did-and so it brings us out of our alienation from God and back into the communion with Him that Adam forfeited, but that man was made for.

 

[Hawkins]

The relationship between faith and evidence is certainly complicated

It's not complicated, however humans are blinded from knowing it more clearly. Humans made use of faith on a daily basis to approach truths without their own awareness.

Humans mostly don't know what they are talking about. Sometimes it can be a very subconscious perception (somehow about 'right and wrong'). It ties to an in-depth awareness on how shall a truth convey among humans. Humans are unaware of the correct methodology of conveying a truth, ironically they make use of it on a daily basis and on almost everything!

Isaiah 6:9: 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving'.

Truth, almost all kinds of it, including scientific truths, are gathered and reckoned by an authority to validate it to be most likely from an eyewitness account, then for an audience-facing mass media to broadcast it as fact or truth. If a piece of info is conveyed this way, and there is not a better alternative for it to convey. It is deemed as the valid and most proper way for a truth to convey among humans. However due mainly to the incapability of humans, the same vessel carrying a truth can also carry a lie, say infected by a lie from the eyewitness.
A typical example is, is it Biden or Trump actually won the election? We knew clearly that one of them must be a lie. Even so, since both are conveyed by a valid and legitimate vessel that one can (and can only) choose one of the two to believe with faith. The public is incapable of going further to identify which of the two being a lie! Poor incapable humans!

In this process, the agent counting the votes serves as the eyewitness, more critically it's the vendor providing the computers doing the counting. Only they know clearly how accurate the counting machines are and what can be considered as an accurate outcome. An authority (from the government) will accept and reckon the data as valid and factual then allows the US-facing (yes, it's a critical factor for a truth to be conveyed) media to broadcast it as fact/truth for the US citizens to choose to believe or reject. Since other "eyewitnesses" claimed that the vendor of computers is not honest, and counted invalid votes in favor of Biden. The current presidency (i.e., republicans serving as an authority) reckoned such a claim as factual then allowed the US facing media (mostly Fox News) to broadcast it as fact/truth, and for the US citizens to believe or reject with faith.

This world is full of nations and civilizations throughout its history. Can you establish a valid history of a small nation the same size as Israel?

In the case of Israel, God's truth is conveyed in the same manner. With prophets serving as the eyewitnesses, Israel being God's chosen people as the chosen authority, broadcast/proclaimed by Judaism which is Jews-facing. Such that the message of salvation is carried forward by the vessel. When Judaism failed to function. It's re-done again in the same way. God's chosen apostles serve as the eyewitnesses, for the Church serving as an authority to gather and reckon, then for a human-facing mass media which is Christianity to broadcast/preach. The human-facing factor is enforced by the explicit command, which other gods lack, to preach (i.e., broadcast in a human-facing manner) the good news to all nations.

Is there a better alternative for the same truth to convey? The answer is no, or you may find out a nation as small as Israel to validate its history! It is because the claimed truth follows the valid vessel of how truths shall convey among humans, plus there is no obvious alternatives for the same claimed truth to convey, that humans can treat it as truth or reject it, both in terms of faith. In the same manner as how you choose Biden as the winner but not Trump, while knowing consciously that one of the two must be a lie but incapable of distinguishing it.

In the process of conveying truths among humans, only direct eyewitnesses are with the evidence. Everyone else is with faith. Do you have the evidence that black holes exist? You don't. You only have the faith that the scientists are not mistaken while only the scientists have the evidence, they are the eyewitnesses. Under most such circumstances, humans don't know what they are talking about.

 

[B Griffin]

Great topic with some good posts. If I may add my two cents, Hebrews 11 is where the faith heroes are described are believing in things to come that came from a belief in God. These are things that are expected. The expectation was a result of hearing God. Faith comes from hearing the rhema word of God. The written word can put you on the trail, but the spoken word from your heart will put you in the faith category. Noah heard from God and believed. Enoch had the testimony that he pleased God. It was from this that he believed for his translation. In Pentecostal circles one might hear "pray it through." If a job or mate is an example, you can read it in the word, confess it with your mouth and if God speaks it through to your heart you are going to have that thing which you pray for. Too many try a formula but if they don't hear from God, they are likely going to come up short. You can't usually name it and claim it with little effort. It probably is goign to be easier to go to the dentist than believe God to heal your cracked tooth.

I always loved the book, Faith Foolishness and Presumption. Fred K. Price. Many might think they have faith but they presume instead. Lots of believers did this with covid. After not getting it for months, some thought it was their faith. Then a surprise when they got it. Presumption is dangerous. Those that won't go to the dr because of their "faith" might be a good example. Are they really sure? do they have the evidence?

Evidence of the past helps, but you can't always rely on your past faith for similar situations. You have to hear from God, if you can't hear your situation or prayer may fail or just depend on God's mercy. How you hear might be different but in some way you have to get it. The Centurion was amazing in that he likely just heard and looked at Jesus and knew that Jesus could perform that what he said. Great faith would be like that, you may not have to hear but you assume God has it covered. The disciples in the boat should have known Jesus could not drown. They acted in fear instead of faith.

On a side note, only one translation works the best for me. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for" becomes
Hebrews 11:1 (GW) 1 Faith assures us of things we expect...
Not to nitpick, but hope to me assumes that the outcome is positive. But look at the rest of heb 11. The flood was not positive, Noah likely did not hope for it, but he sure did expect it. martyrs would be another example? So yes, faith can occur for a negative event. Fear can occur for a negative event too as the often-quoted Job scripture that what he feared came upon him. There is no real dilemma, if the fear is against the word of God it is not faith. Those fears need to be cast aside and replaced with faith. If it is a corporate fear, like a bad weather event, if God spoke it, it would not be fear it would be faith. It rains on the just and unjust. I'd believe it was coming and get out of the way. I remember the OKC bombing where one Christian woman reported that God had told her to stay home that day. She obeyed in faith. Mockers might have said don't be fearful, but the reality is she had faith and it perhaps made a life-saving difference.

I'm working on if fear is the opposite of faith and I think sometimes it is but often fear is healthy and we all have fears that never materialize so I don't think that it is, in many cases. If you're not sure if you have faith out of the abundance of the mouth the heart speaks. What are you speaking? If you are believing for something positive, do your words match your heart?

God bless

Hebrews 11:5 (KJV)
5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

Good post highlighting that "walking in the Spirit" has the Spirit of God at its center.

 

[Divide]

Henrews 11:1
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.../KJV

It does not specify if the faith substance is a material substance or a spiritual substance. It is, the substance of things hoped for? That would be our thoughts and the desires of our heart, would it not?

It is the evidence of what we can not see, so I'm leaning to a spiritual substance. This might be where man in the material realm interacts with the spiritual realm. We have thoughts and think about things, good things that we want to see happen. Our thought waves and heart vibrations (out of the heart a man speaks) cause a reaction the the spiritual realm and then somethinf consequently manifests to us somehow in the material realm.

I've tried to tell a small mountain to go to the sea, and I even tried telling a tree or two to uproot and be gone. And it did not work at all. So certain conditions may have to be met along with the faithful thoughts for it to be able to manifest to us. Namely, is it within the will of God? So you can't have faith for a Lambo. But you just might be able to heal someone or cast a real demon out. And many times it doesnt happen when they dont even try to cast it out. Unbelief. Well if it isnt true then it wont hurt anything to try. They should make a board game like that Lol. Cast your Neighbors Demon Out...by Milton Bradley, Lol! Some people would get quite a surprise I bet. It doesnt take much faith, like a grain of a mustard seed. You have not because you asked not. So ask.

Have a relative who you think might be possessed. Walk up to them and lay hands on them and take authority and cast it out in faith in Jesus name. If nothing happens it'll be good for some laughs. (They might not be possessed!) But they might have a moment and be set free. God responds to faith. That's His job. How do you exercise faith? Make it stronger.

Easy. Start using it. Reach out beyond your previous capabilities in faith and speak up out loud and believe it in your heart. You already know that God can. So use it.

Plus, faith comes (is increased) by hearing (Rhemas) the word of God so stay on a reading plan. Keep the scriptures on your mind...and things will happen for you. I have so many Testimonies of the Lord helping me! God is so good! But you have not because you ask not or ask amiss.

 

[Divide]

How do you exercise faith? Make it stronger.

Easy. Start using it. Reach out beyond your previous capabilities in faith and speak up out loud and believe it in your heart. You already know that God can. So use it.

Peter did walk on the water.

Peter did not walk on the water until he got out of the boat. That's us.

 

[Divide]

In the process of conveying truths among humans, only direct eyewitnesses are with the evidence. Everyone else is with faith.

It's simple to exercise your faith, it's just hard. Especially the first time, lol. But when you do and something supernatural happens you will know it and be in the evidence club, lol. I have plenty of evidence for myself and can only tell the testimonies about it but I can't really prove that those things happened. So people must take testionies on faith like you say.

It occurs to me that I did have one supernatural thing done by God that I have two witnesses to prove it happened. Scripture says by one or two witnesses the truth is established. What happened was, one of my friends bought me a nice new NIV Bible so we could bible study on the phone and both have the same version.

Then friend #2 came around after awhile and noticed my new bible and says, oh you shouldnt have got an NIV because it is missing a lot of verses. and we sat there for 45 minutes or an hour and looked a lot of them up and compared to my KJV and he was right, many verses that were in the KJV were not in the NIV.

SO on some christian forum we were talking about which bible version is best? Many chimed in to say they like the NIV so I felt compelled to chime in also and tell them about the missing verses. One of their respected memebers asked me for some examples and I said sure. I did not remember any of the specific verses we looked up and so I called friend #2 and he quoted a few to me that I could use as examples. I said goodbyee so he could go back to work, lol. But you know how forums are, better have your ducks in a row or some young girl will yell at you, lol. So I decided it was best to double/triple check the verses that I would be posting.

I had a problem. He gave me 3 verses just for an example selection, and when I looked them up...the verses were not missing. They were in there. So I went (TILT) like a pinball machine because we looked them up before and they were missing! I didn't want to bug my friend at work again so I googled missing verses in the NIV, and boom it gave me a huge list of missing verses. So I started looking them up one at a time and it got worse as it went on because every verse I looked up in that NIV bible was not missing that verse. I kept checking until my head started to hurt and finally, closed that bible and put it on the table in front of me in frustration. I told this man I had the examples and now I don't. What can I do? I didn't know what was going on. I slumped back in my chair and began to pray. I said Lord, I don't understand this they were missing before and now they are in there...and as I spoke these words, my eyes looked to that bible and the table, and very clearly in gold lettering were the initials NKJV....

My jaw hit the floor and ny heart hit the roof! NKJV?! That bible was a NIV!! And now it is a NKJV, lol. I looked through it and even my underlinings and highlighters were still in it. Friend #1 can testify that he bought me a new NIV. Friend #2 knows it was NIV and we had that bible study about missing verses. It had to be the Lord. So I have two witnesses besides myself. But none of you know that it really really was an NIV before, so you take it on faith that I speak tuth, or choose not to believe it. There's 3 of us that have the evidence. I love this new bible, it's a lot better than the old one. I have to suppose that the Lord changing my NIV bible into a NKJV bible, is his endorsement of the NKJV.

 

[Divide]

So I was reading in Revelation 21 about the new Jerusalem. And in verses 7 & 8 it got very interesting.

7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”...NKJV

And that word cowardly jumped up at me and made me think, what's that mean? I never heard that before or at least, like that. So I went back to the original language and it translates that word from G1169 Deilos
δειλός deilós, di-los'; from δεός deós (dread); timid, i.e. (by implication) faithless:—fearful..../BLB


STRONGS G1169:
δειλός, -ή, -όν, (δείδω to fear), timid, fearful: Matthew 8:26; Mark 4:40; in Revelation 21:8 of Christians who through cowardice give way under persecutions and apostatize. (From Homer down.).../

Delios is defined as faithless, did you catch that? Faithless and fearful. Do not fear is the most often repeated phrase in the entire bible. So it must be important. But this verse makes it sound like it is a command to be believing and in faith (Because of Revelation 21:8! )

So not walking in faith could get a soul killed, yikes. We're not talking about I have faith and trust in God. He will protect me when I go to the store. It's taking a risk and spelling faith r-i-s-k. It means getting out of the boat and committing your weight to the water like Peter did. That's actng in faith. That's walking in faith. More than mere belief. Acting on it.

Those who who do not choose to act out in faith in public in some way may be the ones called lukewarm in the end?

All these wonderful promises and pictuers of things to come in this chapter and then boom a big warning too!

Faithless. Don't be faithless. I have acted in faith before. What happened? How much time to read testimonies do you have? Lol. It's like we have to do something in the Natural to be able to tickle the Supernatural to respond to us. It's not a vending machine, so your heart must be right. In whatever you act out in faith about. But the Lord has helped me so much that I have been able to discern a pattern of sorts, lol. And it is, Last minute, Never late.

Those who dont act out in faith lose their faith then, right? And acting in faith builds ones faith.
Does all this make sense? I think so.

 

[Aaron112]

"Without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please the Creator" ..... and HE is the Perfect, Final, Righteous JUDGE ...

 

[Aaron112]

Only they know clearly how accurate the counting machines are and what can be considered as an accurate outcome.

..... "only they know"..... info-gate ? !

The Creator sets in place KINGS and PRINCES..... and yes, even lowly presidents....
The Creator is directing all events and sets up who He Wills, and takes down who He Will.

 

[Aaron112]

I had a problem.

COOL!(full post)

(stay tuned for more)

 

[Aaron112]

Henrews 11:1
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.../KJV

It does not specify if the faith substance is a material substance or a spiritual substance. It is, the substance of things hoped for? That would be our thoughts and the desires of our heart, would it not?

No, I don't think so. The heart of man is the most deceptive of all things I think.

 

[Divide]

Here is a Faith testimony that was answered.

Remember when they gave out the stimulas checks. Well the last check I got I had it all planned out. My plan was to spend every penny of it on things that I normally can not afford. Useful things. And the check cleared and I bought al my goodies. I think I spent every cent of of it in one day. A long day but one day.

I come home broke with goodies and put them away and stuff and then I wander down into the basement to do a load of laundry and tada I'm standing in warm water on the floor. The hot water heater was leaking and I instantly knew that meant replacement....I had all of the money to replace it this morning, and now I have zero money to replace it. My heart started to sink but I caught myself and became suspicious (LOL!). I knew very well that the Lord knew that I had the money that morning also and he never gave me a clue this was coming! So while I;m still standing in hot water I said out loud, you know what Praise the Lord because, Lord I don't know what you are doing here, but I know that you will handle it. I had to laugh because, I couldn't go around cashing in purchases or something weird like that and if God didn't warn me not to spend the money, then He was doing something else so all I can do is have faith in Him.

In the meantime, I might as well look at the serial number and model number to see it's age and I would be wanting to try to get a similar model so it is an easy swap with minimal materials. 5 years & 6 months old. bam, barely out of warranty. Figures. Oh well, praise the Lord, I might go without hot water for 1 month tops. I'll live right through that, Lol. The washing machine cleans fine with cold water, lol.

So I went back upstairs and dryed off my feet. (I shut off the water to it and started it ro drain already). And first thing the next morning I called the plumbing supply place and asked about my specific model and price so I would know that. I gave him the model & serial and he put me on hold and then came back and said, this water heaters is under warrenty! Rheem WH's come with a 6 yr warranty. That's Rheem's thing instead of 5 yrs like all the other brands. So I wasn't going to go without hot water and man that made my heart jump!

I'm pretty sure that the Lord was just testing my faith to see what I would do?!!! The Lord has a wonderful sense of humor. At least I passed this time, yay! I didn't even say anything bad when I saw the WH was bad, I laughed and said I dont know what your doing Lord, but can I watch? And I got a new water heater out of it as blessing. (Right before it was going to go out of warranty!) See what I mean, last minute never late?

The Lord is so good to us when we obey Him and have faith in Him!

 

[Divide]

No, I don't think so. The heart of man is the most deceptive of all things I think.

I remember reading that too. The thing is though, that since I began walking with the Lord seriously, time passes by and I notice that there have been changes within my heart. I am in no way the man I was at say, 21. Not even close. I react differently now to what same stimuli woud have generated something bad like anger.

I am not perfected yet but I don't have the heart I used to. I've never experienced compassion for a stranger until lately. There's different facets to this heart thing that is a progressive work but progress is very possible.

But we have to have some sort of nexus between our soul & body and the spiritual realm of God. It must be related to action in the body or thoughts in the mind.

When you have a thought in your mind, your brain is a Chemist and puts out a mixture of the right chemicals to send as a signal to some part of the body. So for example, a thought of, I fear what may be about to happen, so your brain chemist says ok boys ship out some Adreniline, a lot of it. And that chemical cocktail is received by your leg muscles or whatever and gives you a boost in case you have to fight. And depending on what type of thoughts you have determines what the chemistry is for that. I am no scientist, but it is said to be a scientific fact. Our thoughts influence our body and enviroment.

And I'm saying...If thoughts are of the unseen realm but affect the brain and body then it can very well send a signal that is useen to the spiritual realm and have effects there. Faith works in all biological processes right along side with all other signals to brain through our thoughts..

I think it explains why a fervant prayer availeth much. Take the classic, young mother in accident and child pinned beneath car. This lady's brain signals going out are going to be much defferent than your daily morning prayer said over coffee prayers. Different chemically. The brain will interpret her state as stress and make the mixture (of fervancy!) This mixture in the brain affects not only the body but the soul and spirit also. I would conjecture that the lady in such a state would not even have to pray to be answered and helped. The fervancy of her state makes it a prayer that the Lord will hear.

When is a sigh a prayer?
Have you ever needed to pray about something and you knew it and so you sat down to pray and before you begin you're thinking of just the right way to say it and so forth, and you go silent thinking too long. You're so introspective at that point that you are in your heart thinking. And you let out a sigh...and the Lord hears htat sigh from your heart as a prayer which will have all of the info of what is on your heart. And all that without a word being said.

 

[tdidymas]

No, I don't think so. The heart of man is the most deceptive of all things I think.

"The heart is deceitful above all else..." But not every desire of the heart is evil, since we trust in the Lord, and He will "give you the desires of your heart." Further, "with the heart man believes unto righteousness...," so then, there must be discernment about what is in our heart, whether it be right or wrong, which is learned from scripture with wisdom from above (that is, spiritual wisdom coming from the Holy Spirit who lives in our hearts).