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What is faith?


kittylover0991

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I have a question, what is faith?

Hebrews 11:1 says "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things hoped for".

There is a verse in Jeremiah that says God answers our prayers before we even ask, and I've taken that verse to heart, along with something that a preacher said a little while ago that "Faith is not believing that God can, but believing that God will". That's become a huge part of my prayer life, and a good portion of what I believe when I pray and ask God to answer a prayer. He always does and He always has.

But isn't that statement a little too vague?? Does that not then mean that if I were ask God to do a miraculous work in something and then it didn't happen, that God didn't answer that prayer? That doesn't make sense. I'm tempted to go back to that original idea that "Faith is believing that God can"... It means that God WILL answer that prayer, but it doesn't mean that He will answer it as you want... He CAN answer it your specifications, but only if it be in His will.... Would faith then be trusting that God will answer your prayer according to what He knows is best?

Just a thought,

Crystal

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About an answer to prayer, I have believed that there are three answers. Yes, No and wait awhile for an answer. I do not believe in "name it and claim it" as some do. I see this as false doctrine. Yet, even if we do not immediately see an answer, it does not mean that God is not working on it.

To answer you original question ... you already answered it.

OneLight

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Faith is in the present tense. And it is something that can be faked. True faith always receives. True faith is in the person of God Himself and not yourself. You do not have to be perfect in faith to receive, but it does have to be directed toward God. Your concentration cannot be upon "how you are doing it". The knowledge of God as a person births faith. The knowledge of the scripture promises by the power of the Spirit births faith. You cannot just decide well I am going to ask God for this and he is going to give it. You must have a basis for your faith.

Humility is the ground of faith. Arrogance gets nowhere with God. We seek Him through prayer and study and obedience. We learn who He is and we ask according to who He is and what His Word says and reveals concerning his will and ways. Our faith is built up as He proves hiimself to us and our understanding of Him grows and deepens. This is a life long walk and school. And a joy.

God surely answers prayer. There is much reason for faith. Many promises and the goodness of God himself. Prayer develops us as we change to suit Him so that we can have the true faith and not a feigned one.

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An example I was shown of faith one time was comparing it to sitting down in a chair. Do you question it will hold you? Not likely. Is it there? You think it is. You have faith that the chair is there and will hold you up, so without paying much attention to it you flop into it believeing it will do what it is said it will do. Much the same with God. We believe in Him and the things he does. We know He is there, and we trust Him to catch us.

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An example I was shown of faith one time was comparing it to sitting down in a chair. Do you question it will hold you? Not likely. Is it there? You think it is. You have faith that the chair is there and will hold you up, so without paying much attention to it you flop into it believeing it will do what it is said it will do. Much the same with God. We believe in Him and the things he does. We know He is there, and we trust Him to catch us.

Good analogy.

:emot-highfive:

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I have a question, what is faith?

Hebrews 11:1 says "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things hoped for".

There is a verse in Jeremiah that says God answers our prayers before we even ask, and I've taken that verse to heart, along with something that a preacher said a little while ago that "Faith is not believing that God can, but believing that God will". That's become a huge part of my prayer life, and a good portion of what I believe when I pray and ask God to answer a prayer. He always does and He always has.

But isn't that statement a little too vague?? Does that not then mean that if I were ask God to do a miraculous work in something and then it didn't happen, that God didn't answer that prayer? That doesn't make sense. I'm tempted to go back to that original idea that "Faith is believing that God can"... It means that God WILL answer that prayer, but it doesn't mean that He will answer it as you want... He CAN answer it your specifications, but only if it be in His will.... Would faith then be trusting that God will answer your prayer according to what He knows is best?

Just a thought,

Crystal

Faith, you listed the biblical meaning of the word, which, in any case is true, and then we have the dictionary definition of the word which correlates more with being a synonym of "belief", which is wrong ... at least if you believe wholeheartedly what god plainly describes as faith.

Chiefly, why many prayers do not get answered is for a few simple reasons, but I will only describe here the major one that I feel seems to be at heart here. Lack of faith. Many Christians just have not had a revelation on the true meaning of faith. The world and it's system will tell us that it is simply, "believing" that what you say or hope for will come to pass. That is factually incorrect. Faith is different. Belief and hope are one and the same. Belief and hope is the foundation of what faith rests on. I can't have faith without hope and I cannot have hope without faith, well I can, but I can't if I want whatever situation I find myself in to change. See my belief and hope is my (goal that I want to accomplish) and my faith is the action be it by spoken words repetitively, or actually physically doing something which manifest my hope to me.

Thing is, many people pray to god over and over about the very same issue. We are called to pray to god ONCE about a specific issue, because he said in his word in Mark 11, "When you pray if you doubt not in your heart that whatever you pray for if it's in god's will, you shall receive it." See, it's saying when you pray. When you pray. At that exact moment, you must believe that god has answered your prayer. The world will say, seeing is believing , however in the spiritual realm (since god is a spirit and the kingdom of god and everything else bends to spiritual laws and, god, himself) it doesn't work that way. If I see something, I don't believe I have it, I KNOW I have it. It is like walking into a political debate and hearing both sides from the Democrat and Republican parties, I won't say I believe I see a debate going on, because that can denote the possibillity that I can be wrong, however, I would say I KNOW a debate is going on, because it's before my very eyes. If we are praying over and over about a specific topic, that really says quite a bit about where we're faith wise, it shows a lack of faith. I am not pointing fingers, simply because we've all been at fault for not having the kind of faith god requires about certain issues in our lives, but I am saying ... if I really believed god answered my praers at the MOMENT I initially prayed for it, why bug him again with incessant prayers to remind him, it doesn't do any good whatsoever.

What I should do, however is be patient. The enemy knows we live in a time sensitive world where we require/need things in a time span and at a certain period, so it is so easy for us to become weary and agitated. God also said, "The testing of your patience blooms faith." He's not testing anyone, but the circumstances in this world, brought on mainly by Satan is the one that tests us. Since god knows all that we will ever do, why would he need to test us? You test only to figure out what a person will do, or as far as school is concerned, how much they know. What we should do is be patient. Give thanks and worship for what god has accomplished, and for as long as it takes to receive your manifestation say daily, "Jesus, I thank you I believe I have received." See, according to god everything is in the past tense. So we are to call things as though they are not, as though they were. Christ died on the cross, and said he died so that we may be healed. Healed, pay attention to that, it is in the past tense, not present or future. As far as god is concerned, we already ARE healed. Now, I am not denying the existence of symptoms or problems but we are to ignore those symptoms and problems, and not be moved by natural circumstances. We are to speak the answer to the problem, not the problem. If we do both, it confuses our faith and we get nowhere. If god says we are not to be moved by our senses, but by the spirit, we ought to obey that.

Now, I know someone said they did not believe in naming and claiming , but why? God is god of specifications, when he created the world, how did he do it? He did it two ways, by his faith and by careful spoken words. Christ was and is very meticulous in the way that he operates. He had a name, species, type and category for everything that is in existence; he didn't just haphazardly create things with no purpose or just because "he had a few minutes", it was fit to his specifications. If you can believe that we were created in his image, and that we were created a little lower than the angels, after our fallen state (since angels are messangers, and are, in fact, spiritually lower than humans inititally) why is it hard to believe the concept of naming and claiming? If you have faith, you are to act or speak on what you believe aren't you? Because that is what faith is. It is the affirmation of belief. So, for example, when I tithe or give an offering in church, since I know Jesus is a lord of specification, I write on the envelope every week what I am believing for. Yes, god knows what we need before we ask him, but we have to ask him in faith, just because he knows isn't going to get him involved. He's dillienated that part to humans to ask for what we will, and if it is according to his will, it'll be done. Some people get fogged out and become so religious and traditionalist, that they give, yes, but they don't have a purpose for their giving. Unfortunately, without belief (hope) you cannot have any faith, and therefore, many prayers or petitions are never manifested in a believers life. According to god it's already done, but we must use our faith to take our manifestations.You must name it. And speak it, until it comes to pass. Naming and claiming correlates to what we should all be doing in our prayer closets every day.

Once again, this is not meant to be taking in an offensive way, but the reason many people don't get things answered is because they operate in the belief (hope) realm, quietly knowing something can happen, instead of using their action (faith) to see the manifestation of their hope pan out. Sadly, many preachers don't teach thoroughly enough about what faith truly is. I can know that if I put my key in the car, it'll start (hope/belief) ... and tell everyone around me that, and yes I'd be correct, but if I don't actually put my key in the ignition (faith),I will never go anywhere.

So, that's pretty much my take on things.

Edited by Christ_Sheep
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I have a question, what is faith?

Hebrews 11:1 says "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things hoped for".

There is a verse in Jeremiah that says God answers our prayers before we even ask, and I've taken that verse to heart, along with something that a preacher said a little while ago that "Faith is not believing that God can, but believing that God will". That's become a huge part of my prayer life, and a good portion of what I believe when I pray and ask God to answer a prayer. He always does and He always has.

But isn't that statement a little too vague?? Does that not then mean that if I were ask God to do a miraculous work in something and then it didn't happen, that God didn't answer that prayer? That doesn't make sense. I'm tempted to go back to that original idea that "Faith is believing that God can"... It means that God WILL answer that prayer, but it doesn't mean that He will answer it as you want... He CAN answer it your specifications, but only if it be in His will.... Would faith then be trusting that God will answer your prayer according to what He knows is best?

Just a thought,

Crystal

to me, my faith doesn't have much to do with answered or unanswered prayer. my faith rests on the simple fact that 'God Is'. i trust that all things are working together for good whether i can see it or not.

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I have a question, what is faith?

Hebrews 11:1 says "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things hoped for".

There is a verse in Jeremiah that says God answers our prayers before we even ask, and I've taken that verse to heart, along with something that a preacher said a little while ago that "Faith is not believing that God can, but believing that God will". That's become a huge part of my prayer life, and a good portion of what I believe when I pray and ask God to answer a prayer. He always does and He always has.

But isn't that statement a little too vague?? Does that not then mean that if I were ask God to do a miraculous work in something and then it didn't happen, that God didn't answer that prayer? That doesn't make sense. I'm tempted to go back to that original idea that "Faith is believing that God can"... It means that God WILL answer that prayer, but it doesn't mean that He will answer it as you want... He CAN answer it your specifications, but only if it be in His will.... Would faith then be trusting that God will answer your prayer according to what He knows is best?

Just a thought,

Crystal

damo1 high kittylover 0991

we need to let god be god if he says no it means no if he says yes it means yes if he is saying pull up weight that means exactly as he is saying it

to many christians try to force god to do so much for them with out pulling back and then alowing him to bring the blessings in

i have also seen christians lose it if god does not anwswer a prayer and wil almost leave the church for this i have also seen christians get jelouse over some one who has gods hand on them and is constantly being blessed by god

we just need to chill out and let god be god

i have been blessed by god on many occasions when ever we needed something i would lift my need up to god i would claim it and then i wil belive and then i wil go on with life sometimes they get answerd with in a week their wear times wear i had to wieght and while weighting its as if my own faith was being stretched but threw this weighting time i new god was also teaching me something as he use to also answer my prayers with in a month from the day i lifted my need to him

also he has oppend up doors wear i could provide for my wife and son by the amount of jobs that would fall in to my lap as i would say let your wil be done in this situation lord not my wil but your wil and would thank him every time he blessed me or looked after me like when their was no food in my cuboards some one would turn up with some left over food and i would not need even to ask my father in heaven that i was in need though i was realy in need and he would blow me away

i have even been taken on fishing trips some one could not go on the day this was planned so i would get a ph cal saying do you want to come on a fishing trawler boat this means wear guys take you out to al the good fishings spots everything is done for you and food even made the night before this would also blow me away as i love fishing

we also had people ring in and say do you need anything for your son we had two dogs and a couple in my old church bless their hearts took our two dogs to the vet and payed for the vet check on our dogs payed for their shots and would constantly do this for us

we also had a family give us a car that they wear not using as i got a ph cal saying do you want our old car we no longer need it as me and my first wife would walk to church with ethan only being 2monts old and i would carry him in my arms or push him in the pram or get a lift with some one who lived close this just blew me away when this couple rang me on our home number i cried to as i could not hold back the tears and i was very thank full for this blessing

i have also learnt to only ask god what i need i am never greedy i do not even want to live in a rich mansion i love the granny flat i am living in it meets all my needs and has an old pot belly stove

and know i have been provided with extra work before i move to canberra and i also have been provided free rent in return i do the cooking look after the dogs and do some cleaning i have known my spiritual mentor since i was 18yrs old it just blows me how god has been looking after me like this this job i am going to have utnil dec the 29th wil pay for my things to be moved to canberra as i wil be earning 1500 hundred a fortnight for a group that deals with foster kids i have one boy who is 16yrs old to look after so he wil not be a handful and i just love my daddy when he does things like this for me

so chill out do not get stressed out if your prayers are not answerd straight away as this could be also god teaching you something like he did with me on many occasions

god bless from your brother in the lord damien

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I write my requests down in a little notebook that I call my prayer book, any of the prayers I want answered. And then I go back and write down the answer when it comes. This helps me when someone asks me to pray for something. I jot it down in the little notebook I have in my purse so I won't forget to pray about it. It's a lot more exciting when the answer comes and I can write it down as answered. And sometimes it is not answered the way I think it should be answered. And a lot of times it does not come at the time I expect it to come. But it helps me keep track of all my petitions and I'm learning more and more that way. Bonnie

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I like this brief excerpt taken from "If You Care - The Gospel" by Morton Clyde Brown.

It is a common belief that everyone has a natural intuitive faith. For example, when we sit on a chair we know the chair will hold us up. This is not a true faith, but rather a proven premise based on logic, concluded on the law of averages. This kind of faith is certainly not the faith spoken of in scriptures, for the scriptures speak of a faith that is credited as righteousness.

Now if we acknowledge that God is righteousness, then we must accept that faith is also a gift of God, revealed only by God, and not a development of any human intuitive intelligence. And it is only available to those to whom God chooses to reveal it.

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