Creflo Dollar talks about this on the link below.
Law vs Grace
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Monday, June 23, 2014
FAITH...THE FAITH...FAITHFUL
Faith: The definiton of faith is "The act of believing...of trusting in something.In Christianity it means believing, trusting and relying upon God.
THE FAITH... This is the core of Christian BELIEF; what God has revealed to man. The Good News of Jesus Christ as our Savior. The Word of God produces THE FAITH.
Keeping the faith, to a Christian, means to stand strong and trust in God.
In 2 Timothy 4, Paul wrote the night before he was to be executed..., 6 "For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept THE FAITH. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing".
FAITHFUL: : having or showing true and constant support or loyalty: something deserving trust : And keeping your promises or doing what you are supposed to do.
Paul’s letter to the Colossians is addressed to “the FAITHFUL brethren in Christ.”
Paul was chosen to tell the world of the New Covenant because he was faithful and said this in 1 Tim. 1: 12.(NIV)
12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service.
FAITHFUL... is the result of the act of faith. God is faithful and trustworthy, and through being faithful...we become like the God we trust and put our faith in. God is THE FAITH and will remain forever FAITHFUL to us.
Psalm 100:5(NIV)
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
So what does all this mean?
While researching all this, I found that the Hebrew and Greek words for faith floats between two meanings:
trustfulness,trustworthiness.
We have to ask ourselves a few questions.
Do we trust OUR faith...in THE faith... and believe enough in God's trustworthiness for us to be faithful to Him?
Do we trust the Bible and what it tells us?
How much trustworthiness is in Jesus Christ?
Faith is us BELIEVING all God has revealed about Himself to us.
It means we accept it as being true, ALL the things that God has written in his Word. The Bible.
Faith is an action. When the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin of unbelief, a change takes place in us. A renewing of our minds. We may or may not notice it right away, but a change has come over us. We find ourselves conducting ourselves differently. Some things are not appealing as they were.
Faith is also an attitude.
As a result of putting our faith in God and because of our commitment to him, we slowly turn our hearts and minds over to Him.
Day by day, we learn to live for Him. We want to become more like Him. And we have a Helper to accomplish this...the Holy Spirit
(Expound...HOLY SPIRIT guides our thoughts, actions, speech).
We begin to have new outlook on things. Our attitude is changing. We start looking to God for wisdom, guidance, and strength. We learn to trust and rely on Him And less upon ourselves.
This is the "REST" or "comfort" of faith, trusting God more and more and less, less in ourselves that is. We rest in God. We go to Him for comfort and He always welcomes us.
And it is this attitude of faith, this relying on Him, that God desires most from us. A relationship with His Child.
This is the plan God had when He created Adam and Eve; for us to depend on Him.
And we accomplish this with FAITH.. staying in THE FAITH... which leads to our FAITHFULNESS.
Our trust/faithfulness is in our Heavenly Father who loves His children UNCONDITIONALLY. No strings attached. And even when OUR faithfulness wavers or we backslide...God never does.
He is ALWAYS faithful and will forgive us and wait patiently for us to come back to Him.
I personally cannot understand why anyone, once they understand God's love, mercy and grace, would ever turn away.
Oh ye of little faith....
In Mark 4 PARAPHRASE.
That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A big ol' storm came up, and the waves broke over the boat, and it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping like a baby. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
So Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have NO FAITH?”
They were flipped out and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
When Jesus calmed the storm and then rebuked the disciples for their lack of faith, he was actually saying, “Haven't you figured it out by now that I got your back and at least have a little bit of faith in me?”
They had had plenty of evidence that Jesus was able and willing to protect them and provide their every need.
It should have been more than enough to bring them to a “little bit of faith.”
Jesus was trying to lead the disciples to such a strong attitude of trust and faith so that anything they will come up against will and can be faced with calmness and without fear. God is looking for the same kind of faith from us today.
All through Jesus's ministry he looked at the hearts of men and women for their FAITH. And when he returns, He'll still be looking for that FAITH.
It says in Luke 18: 8, “But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”
Faith is essential in the Christian life. It is not optional, it is not an app on our cell phones. It comes from within us. Without it there can be no relationship with God.
To those who believe, nothing is impossible. And to those who don't belive, everything is impossible.
(Expound. A little faith is enough to start. Faith is all God asks. faith grows...Mustard seed...tree...birds ...)
Faith is all Jesus asks: “John 14:1 (NIV) “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me..”
When the ruler of the synagogue was told that his daughter was dead, Jesus steadied his faith, in Luke 8:50, saying, "Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole". And Jesus made her whole.
And when the distraught father of the boy filled with demons cried out in despair in Mark 9, our Lord assured him that “all things are possible to him that believeth.” And Jesus cast out the demons.
It was about their FAITH. Without faith we can do nothing with God, and God can do nothing with us.
FAITH...THE FAITH...FAITHFUL
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