The Man of Faith

[Who me]

8 hours ago, Neighbor said:

I do. I have to rely upon God alone.

It is harder to live in servitude  to God  as His  willing-servant when  either broke or rich than it is when one is appreciative of the manna  provided perfectly for the day's need.

Wealth of this earth is fleeting at best and permanent at very worst. May I not be so poor as to resent God, nor so rich as to mistakenly think I have no need of Him.

 

 

5 hours ago, ayin jade said:

Someone unemployed for over a year

Someone who is very ill, such as someone who has cancer.

Life isnt easy peasy for everyone in the west. Hardship isnt necessarily an indicator of trusting in the Lord either.

 

5 hours ago, OneLight said:

I do, every day.  Not everyone is self sustained as you describe and self reliant on their own behalf.

Thank you for pointing out we are not all as well off as others.

My point about being self suficient still applies.

It takes courage to trust God when life is hard, as well as faith.

In the west faith is not automaticly in God, but in what ever god is being promoted by society.

[Neighbor]

2 hours ago, Who me said:

My point about being self suficient still applies.

Hi,

Self sufficient? ??? Just what point is that?

The idea that there is  a privileged  group "the West" that has no need of God because it has everything in general that it needs seems  to be quite askew from anything I have known of myself, or of others that God has placed me in contact with  during my lifetime.

I find that God treats me as an individual, a sheep given to His Son, but an individual, one that Jesus has taken responsibility for in that He laid down his life for me in order to conquer even death itself for me. Death, the price  of sin against God and the curse placed on all of creation because of it, has been paid off completely.

Neither poverty nor riches as measured in monetary accounts has changed that  one iota in general, nor specifically in my own life.  Instead during my own perception of my own "self sufficient" time of denial of God as an atheist, and in my more blessed time as  a turned about to God Christian, my need has been the same. My recognition of my need, and it being met, now that has indeed been different.

My own perception has been turned about by God alone. I now recognize there is no self sufficiency, no matter the numbers that are used to calculate wealth status. 

Pride, in any sense of accomplishment toward any self sufficiency, has been zipped away from me three times. Inheritance monetary wealth has been zipped away  three times. Health has been zipped away from ones I love the most. My own body has endured much physically debilitating pain for fifty years and more. Yet, I am no more or less the Christian for it. When  I am by the accountant's methodologies prospering, even then security for tomorrow is only to be found in God, and by God alone.

Who of us knows what tomorrow's manna crop will even look like? None the less, it will be fully sufficient for the perfecting, perfect for the further sanctifying of me, and for me  it will be  if given yet another day, a day closer to my being able to say in person;  My lord, hello. Your servant thanks you.

As I have come to see it, security is in Jesus alone! All other measures come up short. There simply is no self sufficiency.

 

 

[Neighbor]

"The Man of Faith"

As to the title the man of faith and what he  the man of faith is described as being, seems to me to express a person that God simply does not use. Least  it seems the men  and the women  told of in the Bible generally have failings, often serious ones.

In general they are found very weak, and often fleeing the call of God. Yet God uses them  in spite of themselves and their resistance to their calling by God.

They get used anyway, to do God's will and good purpose, and then often they still fall back into a weak person's station and standing once again. All I think to show that it is God's doing and by God alone that all things happen. God is faithful to His covenants. He is sovereign in all matters.  He is God, the degree of or  the lack of Man's faith not withstanding, God's will is done. 

[OneLight]

5 hours ago, Who me said:

Thank you for pointing out we are not all as well off as others.

My point about being self suficient still applies.

It takes courage to trust God when life is hard, as well as faith.

In the west faith is not automaticly in God, but in what ever god is being promoted by society.

I have said it many time on this site and see I need to say it again. Blanket statements like this are a lie.  You claim that "faith in the west is not automatically in God, but in what ever god is being prompted by society".  You are making a statement that covers every person in the west, which must mean you know the hearts of every person in the west.  This cannot be true as you are not God and are only operating on assumptions.

First, where is "the west" you speak of?

Second, if you mean the US, there are many of us who place their full faith in God and not society, which blows your theory out of the water.

The lost, not a "man of faith", does fit your description, but contradicts you thread title, meaning you are speaking of two different groups.  You need to specify which group you are speaking of.

Edited October 7, 2019 by OneLight

[Repose]

17 hours ago, Who me said:

Who in the west actually trusts in God?

 

We are employed with good salaries, have money in the bank, lots of food in the house.

Who actually has to trust God?

Good salaries, if you're lucky. Let's say a person didn't go to college, so they get a job that fits a high school diploma. Burger King. This would normally mean that they make about $10 a hour, and with luck (it never happens in fast food), it comes with 40 hours. That's $400 a week, $1600 a month. Rent for their tiny apartment with roaches is $1200. Then they have $400 for food, gas, insurance, taxes, etc. That number is far more dire if, in trying to go to college, they did not join the military in order to fund their education - thus leaving them with no diploma and no job in their field. Even with military assistance, it might not be fully paid for, nor a job in their field guaranteed. 

Just because there's a lot of money in the US doesn't mean people are better off, especially the working class. You basically work for chump change that's quickly sweeped out from under you. There's hardly a clean way to get rich, after all; people with money make it by stepping over other people, more oft than not.

Even then, there are numerous tales of the homeless and inmates turning to God. There's a group of homeless as well, whose name I can't track down on Google, that act as traveling teachers/preachers. They are a loose organization that travel around preaching, often opting to put whatever money or goods are given to them to other homeless, and they themselves eat out of the garbage and avoid shelters, to let others get the food and beds offered.

[luigi]

I agree with the comment about us here in the West (industrialized nations), who have a lot of material goods, have less faith and trust in God.

Here on this forum, we are all double minded to varying levels, placing our faith in both God and Mammon.

[Who me]

23 hours ago, Neighbor said:

Hi,

Self sufficient? ??? Just what point is that?

The idea that there is  a privileged  group "the West" that has no need of God because it has everything in general that it needs seems  to be quite askew from anything I have known of myself, or of others that God has placed me in contact with  during my lifetime.

I find that God treats me as an individual, a sheep given to His Son, but an individual, one that Jesus has taken responsibility for in that He laid down his life for me in order to conquer even death itself for me. Death, the price  of sin against God and the curse placed on all of creation because of it, has been paid off completely.

Neither poverty nor riches as measured in monetary accounts has changed that  one iota in general, nor specifically in my own life.  Instead during my own perception of my own "self sufficient" time of denial of God as an atheist, and in my more blessed time as  a turned about to God Christian, my need has been the same. My recognition of my need, and it being met, now that has indeed been different.

My own perception has been turned about by God alone. I now recognize there is no self sufficiency, no matter the numbers that are used to calculate wealth status.

Pride, in any sense of accomplishment toward any self sufficiency, has been zipped away from me three times. Inheritance monetary wealth has been zipped away  three times. Health has been zipped away from ones I love the most. My own body has endured much physically debilitating pain for fifty years and more. Yet, I am no more or less the Christian for it. When  I am by the accountant's methodologies prospering, even then security for tomorrow is only to be found in God, and by God alone.

Who of us knows what tomorrow's manna crop will even look like? None the less, it will be fully sufficient for the perfecting, perfect for the further sanctifying of me, and for me  it will be  if given yet another day, a day closer to my being able to say in person;  My lord, hello. Your servant thanks you.

As I have come to see it, security is in Jesus alone! All other measures come up short. There simply is no self sufficiency.

 

 

And how do the afluenent or the poor react towards God?

Do they thank him for there prosperity, do the poor seek him and his blessings.

I live and work among both groups and I see no sign of gratitude or even of interest among the afluent and while the poor are willing to talk and discuss religion they are not willing to change there ways.

[Who me]

20 hours ago, OneLight said:

I have said it many time on this site and see I need to say it again. Blanket statements like this are a lie.  You claim that "faith in the west is not automatically in God, but in what ever god is being prompted by society".  You are making a statement that covers every person in the west, which must mean you know the hearts of every person in the west.  This cannot be true as you are not God and are only operating on assumptions.

First, where is "the west" you speak of?

Second, if you mean the US, there are many of us who place their full faith in God and not society, which blows your theory out of the water.

The lost, not a "man of faith", does fit your description, but contradicts you thread title, meaning you are speaking of two different groups.  You need to specify which group you are speaking of.

 

Yes it is a blanket statement, but one that is shown to be accurate by how society is acting.

Do a simple survey.

How many people can attend a service in your church. Now how many people live in the square mile around your church. Which number is greater?

Does society support Christian morality? do films promote chastity, sobriety etc.