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The challenge of faith


Pekoudah

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Jesus often challenged His disciples with their weak faith...or lack thereof. As in...where's your faith? Now for us humans, this kind of faith (in miraculous power from God) is not at all natural. But Jesus seems to be goading us to dive in ...to what is fully outside our comfort zones.

Whenever faith is spoken of it is always in a miraculous context. Moving mountains...throwing trees into the sea...even being planted therein.

Paul says ....

Gal. 3:5 He therefore that ministers to you the Spirit, and works miracles among you, does he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

Working miracles?

Jesus told His disciples to raise the dead....

Mat. 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

This is certainly a standard that is far above what we see in the churches of today. We can ignore Jesus' commands...but is this not due to a lack of faith? Is anything too hard for God? Can we not do ALL things through the strengthening power of grace in Christ?

What about....seek first the kingdom of God?....certainly THAT is for everyone! But the kingdom is not of this world. So then faith has to take us to another place...another realm. Or is it still faith according to the bible?

 

So then faith makes things move. Faith is alive...living faith in a living God. Dead faith in a dead idea of God.

Now Jesus also said...will the Son of Man find faith on the earth when He returns?

Not human religious beliefs based on opinions...but real faith that qualifies to do the works of God in power?

Are we not being challenged in our faith?

Lord increase our faith.

 

Edited by Pekoudah
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I believe the bible to be the words from God. They are inspired by the Holy Ghost. But translations from the original languages are sometimes lacking in the original intent of the words...in order to try making sense to what they thought it meant. So we have to factor in that problem. Another problem is when an idea written as is...makes no sense at all...well some sense must be given to it. It has to be presentable in the given language. If it is too mysterious sounding...it is changed...much to the detriment of a proper understanding. When we read it...it is for us...not for a publisher. So we can let the word be obscure...or retain the mystery... until the truth is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. That is the advantage of NOT being a translator with an agenda to make sense of the word in a limited time frame. We can take our time and wait upon the Lord for His guidance. After all, Jesus said the SPIRIT would teach us...not our own intellect.

So where the translators filled with the Spirit so that the translated words carry all the original meanings and intent? NO. We need to go to the original language to see the problems the translators faced. We need to look to the Spirit to help us to understand.

So then Jesus says..."go the extra mile". Do we do this in our study of the bible? This means we need to be more careful to not stop at what the English words "sound like" to us. We need to dig deeper and be ready to throw out human logic and reasoning...to get at the truth.

 

Now this is an important topic when you consider that the bible is written in a way that is unlike any other book. The bible is unique. As such we must compare the words found within against itself...or other times the same word is used.

Now the Greek word εις (eis) is a case in point. The gospel of John uses this word often. Of course John is speaking of spiritual things...things not meant to be grasped by human logic...but by the Spirit.

εις (eis): Definition.."to" or "into"

Let's let the bible reveal the bible...

John 12:46 I have come into (εις) the world as light, so that whoever believes in (actually "into" εις) me may not remain in darkness.

(an inconsistency in translation here changes the same word differently the second time it is used in the same sentence...and loses the logic flow of the words of Jesus in the bargain)

So then...Jesus has come INTO the world as light, so that whoever believes INTO Him does not remain in darkness.

The light of God is found IN Jesus.


The word εις implies movement....going from one place to another. We go TO Jesus in order to enter INTO Jesus. It is a supernatural transaction. This goes far beyond a human logic. In fact, human logic can only hinder our faith towards God.

It is like being able to fly by entering INTO an airplane. It is the plane that can fly...not us. But we take on the ability to fly by entering INTO that which can. So in the same way we enter into Christ in order to walk as He walked....and to love as He loves.

We do this by faith.

Can faith move us? Jesus said faith can move a mountain. So, yes...even faith is not what we logically think it is. In fact, human logic has to be left out of the equation if we are to get an accurate picture of what the gospel is telling us.

Biblical faith is not just believing ABOUT Jesus it is a faith that moves us INTO Jesus where He is. Eternal life is found only in Him. So then we enter into Him where there is light and life.


John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes INTO (εις ) him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Edited by Pekoudah
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There is a whole miraculous world hidden in the details.

When speaking of believing in Jesus or on Jesus the.... "in" or "on" can make all the difference in the world.

Do you live in a house or on a house? The latter makes me think of Snoopy.

Do we pour water on a cup or into a cup? The former makes me think that the cup has been turned over.

The bible is all about the details.

Did Jesus walk on the water or in the water? The former is a miracle. (A misreading here fully takes the miraculous event away from us.)

If our faith is meant to take us TO Jesus or INTO Jesus that that is very different from believing ABOUT Jesus.

IN English, when we believe in something, we are believing about something. That's all we can humanly do. But is the bible about what is only humanly possible? Or is it something far more profound and miraculous....like walking ON water rather than IN water?

So then the bible is very transportable.....very easily accessed. But the meaning is too deep to be understood properly by the natural man. It would be just foolishness to such a person. We can read the bible with our natural eyes, but we will never understand it with our natural minds. It is spiritually discerned...only.
Logically, knowing the greatness of God, should we opt for the easy way to understand something....something the flesh can handle? Or should we allow our human understandings to be surpassed in the wonder of it?

Jesus says abide in Me.

We know that Jesus has come into our hearts. He is in us.

But more mysteriously...He wants us to enter into Him. How we understand that will determine the nature of our walks. It will determine if we are to seek God or not...and how fervently we do so.

Do we already have the fulness of grace? Or is there more that we are missing?

 

Are we not being challenged in our faith?

 

Here is a question regarding this challenge... How did Cain know that his sacrifice was not accepted by God? What was the sign that Abel's was?

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This is a topic which is very interesting to me. I will get back to you on this subject later as my time is limited today. Your posts should give us something to meditate on, and as we do, we will begin to experience the blessings and the power of abiding IN Christ and allowing His words to abide IN us. Catch you later.

 

Gary

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Let's look deeper into the challenge. (as if we have not already been challenged) :)

There is a popular verse that everyone knows...yet the depth of it is not readily understood.

הִנֵּה עֻפְּלָה, לֹא-יָשְׁרָה נַפְשׁוֹ בּוֹ; וְצַדִּיק, בֶּאֱמוּנָתוֹ יִחְיֶה.

 

Hab. 2:4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

Now this can be taken 2 ways...depending on whose faith we are talking about. A person's own faith leads to righteousness...but it takes the faith OF Jesus Christ to take us into holiness. At the holiness level our lives are hidden with God...so that His life is made manifest in us and through us. As in...No longer I but Christ.

The Hebrew "emounato" does not specify who the "his" pertains to. But that the beauty of the word of God...it has multiple layers. :)

So then a man's own faith leads to his own righteousness. But the faith of Christ leads to the righteousness of God.

The New Testament is about God upping the ante...from faith to Faith.

In the OT there was no higher level of faith. But with the coming of Jesus Christ...God takes us to the level of Jesus' walk through abiding in Him. As we enter into Christ we take on HIS life, His nature, His attributes. And HIS kind of faith.

Rom. 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it has been written: "And the righteous will live by faith."

(interestingly Paul here is only referring to the new faith by saying "by faith"...rather than "in His faith")

 

One last thing to consider...

Gal. 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed.

....before faith came??? Didn't people have faith in the OT? Of course...but not THIS kind of faith! :)

The challenge of faith and the purpose of grace is to transform our lives from our power into HIS power.

 

 

 

 

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6 hours ago, Pekoudah said:

Jesus says abide in Me.

We know that Jesus has come into our hearts. He is in us.

But more mysteriously...He wants us to enter into Him. How we understand that will determine the nature of our walks. It will determine if we are to seek God or not...and how fervently we do so.

My older son had confessed Christ when he was 4, so when my younger son was 4  I asked him if he would like to ask Jesus to come into his heart.  He looked down at his small chest and declared: "Mother, He's not in me, I am in Him!"

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Here is a challenge in more than one sense. Not only is the challenge of faith present but also there is a challenge to understand the biblical meaning of the text. But I find this very important...hence my mention of it.

 

1 Tim: 3:1 It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to (the office of overseer,) it is a fine work he desires to do.

While this verse seems innocuous enough...there is a meaning added into the text in the translations that is not there in the Greek.

 

The whole phrase "the office of overseer" is from one Greek word...episkopay...meaning visitation or inspection.

 

So right away the real sentence should read..."If any man desires visitation" One need only go to Strong's concordance to check this out.

There is no office of overseer....it is a function of God and of a man ordained by God....to inspect, oversee, visit...

The Greek does not say in the verse... episkopos..or...overseer...no it is talking of a function of an overseer....or...episkopay.

 

Why is this significant? Because all ministry begins with a visitation or inspection from God. God needs to approve a worker for the work of the gospel. God can also send a man..an episkopos (overseer)...who visits in the Lord's name....since he himself will have been visited by the Lord and approved to the work.

We are to desire God's visitation in order to be anointed for His work.

I know that very few people will see this...but to me this is very important that all things be inaugurated by God Himself. Men like to have the initiative...but this cannot be in the things of the Lord. No, God must always retain the initiative. He doesn't need men running around doing things for Him. Can you say...half-baked?

 

Whatever is not planted by the Father will be rooted up.

Mat. 15:13 But Jesus replied, “Every plant that My Heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by its roots.

 

This is no small thing to get wrong in my view. Why lose everything for a lack of the Great Inspector's approval??

The challenge of faith here is to wait for power and anointing from above before embarking on ministry in the Lord's name. Didn't Jesus have His disciples tarry in the city BEFORE beginning their ministries?
 

 

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