Family of God: Re: [FamilyofGod] To Share...yet another...

Thank you lashanda I needed a wake up call LOL love u in Christ

On Wed Jan 19th, 2011 4:12 PM EST George wrote:

>Amen LaShanda! Having knowledge of God and His son is the basis of our faith.
>Having incorrect knowledge can lead to disaster.
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>Brother in Christ, George...
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>Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be
>filled.
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>________________________________
>From: Lashanda W. <gods_work_in_progress@yahoo.com>
>To: FamilyofGod@yahoogroups.com
>Sent: Wed, January 19, 2011 1:02:18 PM
>Subject: [FamilyofGod] To Share...yet another...
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>Shelley,
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>I just couldn't resist...! Lol. :-)
> The Nature of Faith
>by startingwithGod.com on April 28, 2010
>By Dave Lowe
>
>Everyday we continually exercise faith. Ninety-nine percent of every belief or
>value we have is held by faith. Faith is central to all of life. For example,
>let's say you get sick. You go to a doctor whose name you can't pronounce and
>whose degrees you've never verified. He gives you a prescription you can't read.
>You take it to a pharmacist whom you've never personally met, and he gives you a
>chemical compound that you can't understand. Then you go home and take the pills
>according to the instructions on the bottle. All the while you are trusting in
>sincere faith. Faith is also central to the Christian life. The word faith
>appears 232 times in the Bible.
>WHAT IS FAITH?
>First, I think it would be helpful to tell you what faith isn't.
> * Faith is not an emotion, ie. feeling good about God.
> * Faith is not a blind leap in the dark, in spite of the facts.
> * Faith is not a universal force that you wield that allows you to get the
>things you want in life. (i.e. the force in Star Wars…Luke use the force!)
>
>Unfortunately, these ideas of faith are even being taught today in some
>churches.
>Hank Haanegraff in his book Christianity in Crisis tells the story of Larry and
>Lucky Parker who withheld insulin from their diabetic son, because they were
>told that if they merely had faith (if they merely used the force) then he would
>be healed. Tragically, their son lapsed into a diabetic coma and died. Rather
>than conducting a funeral, they held a resurrection service, believing that if
>they had enough faith, that is, if they said the right things and simply
>believed hard enough without showing any signs of doubt, then the force of faith
>would bring their son back from the dead. Larry and Lucky Parker were later
>tried and convicted of manslaughter and child abuse. Why? Because they had the
>wrong idea of faith.
>The gospels in the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) show that the
>disciples were also often confused about faith. However they were wise enough to
>ask Jesus about it. In Luke, chapter 17, you see the disciples asking Jesus to
>increase their faith. And here was Jesus' response to them:
>"If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be
>uprooted and be planted in the sea'; and it would obey you." Jesus' response is
>interesting. Notice He doesn't say some of the things that we've become
>accustomed to saying in the church. Jesus didn't say, "You just need to try
>harder." Nor did Jesus say, "You just gotta believe." Jesus' response reveals an
>important truth about the nature of faith. The mustard seed is the smallest of
>seeds. Jesus used that fact to illustrate that it isn't the size of your faith
>that's important. Rather…the power of faith rests in the reliability of its
>object, not in how confident you may be.
>Let me illustrate what I mean. Suppose I'm standing on the edge of a lake during
>the first cold weeks of winter in the Northeastern part of America. The lake is
>frozen over with a very thin sheet of ice. Being filled with faith and
>confidence I take a step to walk across the newly formed layer of ice.
>Unfortunately, even though I am extremely confident and "full of faith" the
>result would be a cold, wet shock. As long as the ice is thin, it doesn't matter
>how much faith I have. The ice is not reliable.
>Now imagine a few months later, after the cold winter has taken effect. The ice
>is now several feet thick as I stand at the edge of the lake. Because of my past
>experience, I'm extremely cautious as I think about walking across the ice. I'm
>not sure whether the ice will hold me. After all, it didn't before. Even though
>I'm frightened and have "less faith" than I did before, the smallest most
>hesitating step will be rewarded by the feeling of a firm footing. What's the
>difference? The object is more reliable.
>It's true that the power of faith rests in the reliability of the object.
>However…
>The degree of faith one places in an object is directly proportional to the
>knowledge of the object.
>For example, consider a man terrified of flying. When he first arrives at the
>airport he buys insurance at one of those coin-operated insurance policy
>machines. He has his seat belt buckled twenty minutes before take-off and is
>sure to listen carefully to the routine "emergency instructions." He has no
>faith in the ability of the plane to get him to his destination. But, as the
>journey progresses, the passenger begins to change. He first unbuckles his seat
>belt, then has some lunch, and pretty soon he's talking to the person next to
>him and joking. Why the change? What happened? Is there more faith at 36,000
>feet? Of course not. The more he learned about the object of faith, the plane,
>the more faith he exercised in that object.
>It's the same in the Christian life. The more we learn of the Lord, the more
>faith we can place in him. Learn to live by the facts of God's Word rather than
>your feelings. Spend time in the Bible just observing, asking God to show you
>more of who He is. There are many places where you could start. Psalms 145, 146
>and 147 are three wonderful chapters describing who God is. In all of the Bible,
>ask God to teach you more of Himself and notice specifically how He wants you to
>trust Him. In any given situation, ask God, "What about You would be helpful for
>me to know, as I trust You in this situation?" Go to the Bible and become a
>student of God and His relationship with you.
>D.L. Moody once said, "I used to pray daily for the Lord to give me faith. Then
>one day I read Romans 10:17, which says 'faith comes from hearing, and hearing
>by the word of God.' So, I began to read my Bible, and faith has been growing
>ever since."
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> LaShanda
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>"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him
>that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but
>is passed from death unto life." (John 5:24)
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