How Reasoning Increases Your Faith

Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.  Hebrews 11:19

True faith is never blind or unreasonable. 

Because faith comes from hearing and believing what God says, and because what God says is truth, you can draw certain conclusions about your life based on what God has promised you.

For example, God promised Abraham a son, Isaac.  He promised Abraham that through Isaac Abraham would be the father of nations.  So when God commanded Abraham to kill Isaac as a sacrifice, Abraham reasoned like this:

1.  God promised that through Isaac I would be the father of nations.
2.  God commanded me to kill Isaac.
3.  Therefore, God, who cannot lie, will raise Isaac from the dead.

Notice how Abraham's reasoning assumes two things:
1.  God's faithfulness.
2.  Abraham's obedience.

In other words, Abraham assumes that he will actually go through with killing his son. He expects Isaac to actually die, and thus for God to actually resurrect him.  This is reasonable, if it is a given that God cannot lie. 

True faith is never blind or unreasonable.

Let's take another example.

Jesus said that if you seek first God's kingdom and righteousness, God will provide your needs.  Say you are seeking God's will for a trip you need to go on.  You need to repair your car in order to make the trip, or so you believe.  God reveals to you that it is His will for you to make the trip, and that you will indeed make it to your destination.  Now these things must follow reasonably:

1.  God will provide you with the money you need to repair your car and make the trip.
2.  The money you already have is enough to repair your car and make the trip.
3.  If you have no money, and God does not provide the money, then your car will make the trip without being repaired (or he will provide another car.) 

One of these three things has to be true if God indeed promised you would make the trip. 

True faith is never blind or unreasonable.

If you start with what God says, commands, or promises, knowing that God cannot lie, you can draw certain conclusions from His words, and those conclusions are expressions of faith.

What has God promised you?  As a result, what must be true in your life?

You Confidence and Assurance

"You're destroying your life!  Think about what you're doing son.  It doesn't make any sense!"


"Mom, I know you don't understand.  Trust God and trust me."


"I do, but I want what's best for you, and I don't know if you've thought this through."


"I've not only thought it through, but I've prayed about my decision and I have peace about everything I'm doing."


"How can you be so confident?  What assurance do you have?"


"What Jesus said gives me assurance of what I hope for:   Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  This is the assurance of what I hope for, and the evidence of what I don't see at the moment.  I know I only want God's will, so I also know that He will not only reveal His will, but provide for me to do it."


"I understand son.  I'm with you and will pray that God blesses your faith in Him."


Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

Is Your Faith Real? (Part 2)

Only a real risk tests the reality of a belief.  C.S. Lewis, from "A Grief Observed"


What is God telling you to do in your life that may be dangerous?  Something that if you did it you could suffer a real loss?


God warned Adam and Eve of impending death if they ate from the tree of knowledge.
God told Noah to build an ark and thus save his family from the destruction of the world by water. 


Adam and Eve risk death in disobeying God.  Real death.
Noah is putting the life of his family on the line by trusting God and building the ark.


We keep seeing this in scripture, but sometimes we don't see it in our own lives.


God told Abram to leave his home and family, what he knew, and to go to a land God would show him.  An unknown land among an unknown people.


Later God makes Abram an amazing promise: He at age 100, and his 90 year old barren wife will have a son.


Over and over in the Bible God promises things that only He can do, and commands his people to take risks that can mean their life or death.


Over and over again in our lives, if we would but see it, God does the same with us. 


Where you work and live, if you are trusting God, are decisions that determine the course of your life. At times you sense God leading you into the unknown.  In these times I encourage you to remember:  The unknown is normal for God's people. 


We are those who "walk by faith and not by sight."  Our faith is not "blind" in the sense that we act unwisely.  The wisest thing to do is to trust God, even if you can't see more than a step ahead.


Is your faith real?  You can know in two ways:
1. Is your faith in Jesus a matter of life and death for you?
2. Does your faith involve a very real risk in your life?


click HERE for part 3

Is Your Faith Real? (Part 1)

You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.  C.S. Lewis, From "A Grief Observed."


What in your life depends so much on God that if He doesn't come through you simply won't make it? Moses and the Israelites at the climax of God's deliverance knew the answer to your question.


The Red Sea is in front of Moses and the Israelites.
Pharaoh and his armies are behind them.


There is no escaping the Egyptians or the Red Sea.
But God is there.  His angel.  His Cloud.  His Servant Moses.


We read this Biblical story in awe, but sometimes don't see that we are now the children of God, the chosen people of God on earth.  This means that God will put us on display in the same way.  He will make it known through our lives that He alone is the true God, our only Deliverer, our only deliverance.  This shouldn't surprise us, because this is how He saved us.


The truth or falsehood of the gospel of Jesus Christ is a matter of life and death to you and me.  If it is true, we have eternal life by believing in Jesus.  If it is not true, we might as well commit suicide.  Because our lives are based on believing something that means life or death to us, how much more will our life of faith mean that if God isn't with us, we are as good as dead?

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW AND DO TO LIVE A MEANINGFUL LIFE



God is A Relationship, The Relationship defining every relation and person.  Existence, Expression, and Experience.  Father, Son, Holy Spirit.  The Father Is Who He Is.  The Son is The Exact Image and Likeness and Embodiment of the Invisible Father.  The Spirit is the Experience of The Father and Son’s Union.

 

You are aware of God through Creation and conscience, as Your Creator and Law Maker, as the one to whom you owe your life, for whom you live your life.

But you ignore Him as your Creator and you disobey Him as your Law Maker.

Because of these two things, because you reject your Creator and Law Maker, your source of life and goodness, you are subject to the penalty of God:  The Eternal Death Penalty.  Those who reject God are rejected by God.  Those who rebel against the Supreme King are banished from life by the King of Kings.

 

This is true for you.

 

But God loves you.

 

He wants you to live and not die, and to be what He made you to be.

 

So He Himself paid your death penalty by becoming a man, dying for your wrong doings.  Having died for you to be forgiven and for your sins to be forgotten, He rose from the dead for you, so that your life and identity will be new. 

 

If you accept what God has done for you, then you will be forgiven, your sins forgotten, and you will become one of God’s children.  God’s Spirit will live inside of your new spirit, and he will lead you in all you do.  You will be like God and act like God, possessing eternal power and a divine nature. 

 

You and God will no longer be enemies.

 

But you will become someone else’s enemy:  The Devil’s enemy.

 

Submit to God.

Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.

Be intimate with God, and He will be intimate with you.

 

1. Read His words to know His nature; read them from the beginning to the end.
2. Be faithful to your conscience.  This is how the Spirit begins to lead you.
3. After faithfulness to your conscience, be faithful to your intuition.  From there the Spirit gives you revelations. 
4. Finally, listen to His voice, which you will learn from the Scriptures, from faithfulness to your conscience, and from faithfulness to intuition.

This is eternal life:  Intimate relationship with God.

 

Invincible Faith In 4 Words

“Only God is good.”  The Lord Jesus.

Jesus often answered questions with questions.

Once a man had a question for Jesus and called Him “Good Teacher.”

Jesus responded, “Why do you call me good?”

“Only God is good.”

These four words contain the key to invincibility in faith.

• Only.  Exclusively. 
• God.  The Supreme Ultimate Being.
• Is.  Right now.  And forever.
• Good.  Right.  Pleasing.  Satisfying.

God’s goodness, 

God as the only good, 

is our only hope, 

and our only true source of unwavering faith.

Haven’t you experienced this?

Have you ever had your hopes set on something, like money for example, that didn’t deliver what you hoped?

How about a job?

What about that man or woman that you thought would surely make you genuinely happy?

Even when he did.

Even though she did.

Even though the job and money were exactly what you hoped, or maybe even better, there was something still missing. 

Someone.

God.

When things are at their worst, why do we feel the worst isn’t it?

Yes, we may think life is full of disappointment, and that disappointment seems normal.

But part of us knows it’s not supposed to like that?

Why?

Only

God

Is

Good.

We know this.

So we keep going.