What Faith Is

“For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is
written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” – Romans 1:17

What FAITH is

Holy Scripture defines faith as assurance of salvation in Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The word translated “substance” in the Authorized Version means “firm confidence,” or “assurance.” Luther correctly translated the word as “eine gewisse Zuversicht,” that is, “a certain confidence.” Faith is assurance that the things the believer hopes for, according to the promise of the gospel, are both real and for him personally. Similarly, faith is the “evidence,” that is, the conviction, that the things not seen are realities for the believer. Since the things hoped for and the things not seen are the things of salvation in Jesus Christ, faith is the assurance and conviction of salvation.

Early one morning around 5:00 o’clock I was sitting on the love seat in our living room having a

time of worship and prayer. During my prayer time I was intensely praying for God to show me his glory.

Just as I got the words out of my mouth the room lit up with a bright light. My heart felt like it would

explode from the force of the pressure. I could feel it beating rapidly in my throat. Fear gripped me as

I sat frozen to the love seat. Never in my life have I been so afraid. It is almost indescribable.

Almost as soon as the fear gripped me I began to feel very foolish. I realized that just as I had

prayed those words that a car pulled out from the road across from our house and the headlights had

shown through the window and illuminated the room. As foolish as I felt it still took several minutes for

my heart to get back to normal.

God spoke to me, “Do you still want to see my glory?” I answered, “I’m not sure if I am ready to

see your glory. If the headlights of a car scare me that bad I can’t imagine if it had really been you.” I

changed my prayer that morning from, “Lord, I want to see your glory.” to “Lord, help me get ready to

see your glory.” That light, even though it came from a car, exposed the condition of my heart. I think

God set me up. – exerted from justworship.com

Asking by faith

We all can relate to this situation; We seek, & in the presence we find God. We get overwhelmed so much some times that we don’t realize what we are really asking Him to do. Without preparation of what we ask for, we ask God, why has this not happened yet? It may be that your not prepared, His Word does declare…

” Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened.” – Matthew 7:7

“…And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” – Matthew 21:22

Bargaining with God

For some, if we don’t recieve what we had asked for, we begin to bargain. Let me suggest that it is never ok to bargain with God, when we do, we set the parameters of the deal, not the almighty. It is God who sets the terms of the covenants and they are non-negotiable.
God says, “This is what i will do for you; here is what you will do.” There is no bargaining here. What God has promised is not in doubt and what we are to do is not in doubt; whether or not we do it is another matter, but there is no bargaining–only God’s promises and stipulations, and our obedience. God is in control!

If i were to pray before a sermon ” God if you give us your Word of assistance, we will worship you…” NO, what a foolish prayer, by faith we receive, knowing that He will direct the message and service the way He wants it to be directed, we are only a vessel in which He uses us for His glory.

~ Psalm 90:17 ~

” So that they might put their confidence in God and not forget God’s works, but keep His commands”

Exodus 33:7-10

7 And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.

8 And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle.

9 And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses.

10 And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door.

– It amazes me that for most of us to worship God and to serve Him without wavering faith is to see His promises happen right in front of us. For His very being being promenate, our natural eyes looking upon Him, forgetting that in the supernatural He is doing the same wonders.

Exodus 32:17,18

” 17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses,
“There is a noise of war in the camp.”
18 But he said, “It is not the sound
of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of
singing that I hear.”

Not rejoicing, but singing in response of a golden calf! Instead of not having faith and waiting for Moses to come down from the mount, they decided to make up their own god. Its a scary thing to think about that if we don’t receive from God what we think we should have at that time, by doing so we force Him to make that step, instead of Him moving us. but beware…

Do we realize the goodness of God? Think back about all the blessings of God, where He has taken you, and where He is taking you next! How exiting to think that the God of Heaven & made the Earth in six days, knows your life better than you. Are we taking for granted the goodness of God? Or are we expecting the goodness to come our way despite our obedience?

– For the children of Isreal, a disobedient generation that God had rescued; did not realize what God had done for them until it was too late.

What more do you want?

A mother and son lived in a forest. One day a tornado roared through. The mother clung to a tree and tried to hold her son, but the swirling winds carried him into the sky.

The woman began to weep and pray: “please, O Lord, bring back my boy! He’s all i have. I’d do anything not to lose him. If you’ll bring him back, i’ll serve you all my days.”

Suddenly the boy toppled from the sky, right at her feet. He was a bit mussed up but safe and sound.

His mother joyfully brushed him off. Then she stopped for a moment, looked to the sky, and said, “He had a hat, Lord.”

– “He had a hat” Stand firm (September 1999)

The Isrealites who God had rescued out of Egypt, made the Red Sea part, rained down “manna”, made water come out of a rock

Drawing Closer

James 4:8 “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

It’s always that first step, that first initaitive to step out. He is reminding me of the times that when i was at church, during the altar call, the Holy Spirit would convict me so hard, i couldnt stand still; i was drawn to the altar, and every service that i held back, my heart got harder and harder. Think of it as a well, the lower the water level in a well, the dryer it gets, until it is completely empty, the ground becomes hard. I heard the message, it tilled my ground, but i didnt let the holy spirit plant the seed that it needed to plant. I know there will be a reader that someday will read this. Take the step, it is worth the step.