If we never had a problem, would we turn to God?
Our faith in God is strengthened from "faith to faith", from problem to problem, for as we turn to God for help and as HE reveals Himself from problem to problem, we put our faith in "that word" which we believe God has said to us.
Romans 1:15-17 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
(Gospel means: God's story)
17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
When we have a problem, we learn to turn to God for help. God will, by HIS Holy Spirit, help us, often with a scripture but sometimes with a concept. And when we believe that which God has spoken to us and act upon that basis, we walk in faith in that which God has spoken, showing we believe we have heard from God.
God told Noah that HE was going to destroy this world because of the violence of man. Then God told Noah to build an ark for himself and his family. As Noah built that ark, which was specified by God by HIS Word, Noah witnessed of God, as the people saw what he was doing.
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the friend of God.
24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Faith comes when we hear from God by HIS Holy Spirit. Our faith is based then upon that word that God speaks to us on the specific issue of this present life.
The Holy Spirit of God, who lives in us, brings the word that is from God to our mind in the form of a thought. By "this word" we have the information we need to make godly decisions in the matter at hand and to go in the will of God in faith with assurance.
I Cor. 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
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Some church goers try to have faith without actually hearing from God.
I have heard several people say: "God would never allow that to happen to me."
The "faith" upon which we have a sure anchor is in that word which God speaks to us by HIS Spirit.
* On the night of December 6, 2018, I fell at my house in Texas. I had broken a hip and had a severely broken left wrist. As I rolled onto my "good" hip, and began to crawl to area where phone was sitting, I had great pain and didn't think I could get there. But I heard this word from God by HIS Spirit, "You can do this." Because of that word, which I believed to be from God, I had faith to keep trying. It took 4 1/2 hours, but I did get to the phone. I pulled on the cord and the hand set squirted across the room, but I saw a Kindle tablet lying on the floor being recharged. I managed to send email to our church group asking for help. Ambulance workers were at my front door in less than an hour. As they got into the house and reached me in bedroom, they put me on a gurney and began rolling me past the front door of my house to take me to hospital, and I heard again from God. HE said to me by HIS Spirit, "You'll never see this house again." Because of "that word", which I believed to be from God, I put my house up for sale even while I was in the hospital. I knew by that word, that God had another plan for me. After 2 1/2 months in hospitals, I moved directly to my new home, which was in Colorado, 450 miles away. God worked it all out for me. I never saw the Texas house again.
* Two years later, when I was 83-years-old, I was bombarded by "what if" thoughts. "What if this happens? What if that should happen?" I called on God immediately for help! I heard this from God by HIS Spirit: "God shall supply all your need." "OH, Yeah ..." I remembered and believed Philippians 4:19. All fear vanished and the weight lifted and I was at peace again, because of "that word" which I believed to be from God.
* In 2020, I was thinking of having my 25-year-old car reupholstered in the front seats. I heard this from God by HIS Spirit, an optional way I could go: "Or you could just buy a new car." "That's right!" I realized, for I had sold the house in Texas and had the cash from this house sitting in the bank and I could buy a new car. I had never thought of doing that before I heard this word that I believed to be from God. Now I had faith to spend a portion of that money. God knows future.
Faith comes after we hear "that word" from God in the midst of the situation.
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
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Examples:
* A woman in our church group reported hearing the following word which she believed to be from God. "Now is the time to get a dog." Several months passed before she actually got a dog. This does not fit what she said she heard to do.
* My concern over woman driving alone to airport after midnight to pick up man and the dog she had purchased. I prayed and I believed God said to me, "Have her take a chauffeur driven car to airport." She was delighted with the instructions ... but then she twisted the instructions and reasoned those instructions away, rendering the instruction to be void.
* After an accident, as the ambulance people were rolling me past the front door to my house to take me to hospital, I heard the following word which I believed to be from God: "You'll never see this house again." From hospital, I put the house up for sale.
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Here is the correct example of faith from the Bible:
Genesis 12:1-5 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
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Jesus says:
John 10
27 MY sheep hear MY voice, and I know them, and they follow ME:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of MY hand.
29 MY Father, which gave them ME, is greater than all; and no (none) is able to pluck them out of MY Father's hand.
30 I and MY Father are one.
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of MY hand.
29 MY Father, which gave them ME, is greater than all; and no (none) is able to pluck them out of MY Father's hand.
30 I and MY Father are one.
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