Today was a Bible study that was so beneficial for me. Everytime this topic is taught I get more – it shows me where I stand in faith. The longer I walk with the Lord, the more my faith is increasing. I can see this in my reactions to the teachings of today. A few years ago I would have bristled at this study, but now I am seeing the truth. It is kind of like building faith one step at a time, but when we see the principles working, our faith increases. We take tiny steps that, over time, add distance.
I love Bible studies when we talk a bit. There were several testimonies of what good things God has been doing in our lives, and we were still floating after the Praise and Worship service of last night.
One of our members was talking about how she met a situation by speaking God’s truth, not her circumstances, and from that comment our Bible study focused. Pastor Don shared with us a few verses that he uses when he is faced with challenging situations and needs to build his faith.
Romans 4:16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all…
FAITH is the ability to believe something you don’t see, as if it is real.
GRACE is God’s ability to empower you to get what you want.
SEED OF GOD – we, believers, are God’s seed, the Children of Abraham
We can acquire by faith what God has promised His believers. This enables us to believe what we don’t see and to get the ability and power from God to go get it.
Part of the grief we suffer in life is that we procrastinate at the point of achieving God’s promises. God sets the playing field, and then we wait on Him. But waiting on God is not a passive thing, it involves doing in obedience what He tells us to do.
Abraham would never have been the Father of Faith if He sat in UR and waited for a map to come to him from someone else. He got up and moved, and God led him as he stepped out in faith.
Pastor Don said, “Go get it, it is there, waiting for us.”
Pastor Don mentioned the “peace that passes all understanding,” and pointed out that we can’t wait until the peace comes, we have to go beyond our understanding, trusting God in faith, and then we attain that peace.
Romans 4:17 …(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;…
Abraham was 75 years old when he received the call from God and was told that he would be the Father of Many nations – this is well beyond the normal age of childbearing. He waited 25 years in faith for the birth of his son, Isaac. Most of us do not want to wait one day.
When God does do, in His own timing, what we are waiting for, our Joy so vastly exceeds our suffering that there is no comparison. It helps us to understand what a slight, momentary affliction is. God has a way of blessing his kids at His timing, giving things promised, prophesied, or believed for.
7bHow do we operate to make it happen more quickly: Romans 4:17b ..God who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; (notice the semicolon – which means the thought continues in verse 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, ‘So shall your descendants be.”
Contrary to hope – is what we perceive in the natural
But HE BELIEVED – Positional hope/Spiritual hope even though the position in the natural situation is hard to believe.
God does not like unbelief. He has provided sufficient evidence that He can do what He says He will do. The Spirit man hopes on the basis of our belief in God.
Mark 11:22-24 …Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
We can have doubts in our mind, but must have faith in our heart.
Romans 4:19-20 warning And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waiver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.
We can waiver at the point of natural hope, but not in the promise of God. We need to keep reminding ourselves of what God said, strengthen our faith, and reminding ourselves that it is a PROMISE of God.
Pastor Don said that people think of healing power like it is water that washes over one. It is more like food, once you take it in our bodies are converted. It is either stored or used, but it is still in our system. Your body takes what it needs and uses it. (Heather’s note: we are given a measure of faith – we can either use it or it atrophies). Pastor Don pointed out that Paul instructed Timothy in 2 Timothy 5-7 …when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded in you also. Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
We need to stir up what God has given us. We need to become effective liars. (Heather’s note, that got our attention). It is a person coming from a position of falsehood (accepting circumstances) to one who is speaking words of faith (promises of God) even though it doesn’t seem to be happening in the physical. We have to say the truth – God’s word, even if circumstances seem to say that that is not the way it is.
When we say it enough, we train our minds and bodies to see the truth of God’s word. (Heather’s note – we will have what we say). If we speak circumstances, if we say things that do not agree with God’s word, we may end up having things turn out not the way we want them to turn out.
Pastor Don gave an example of a couple with marriage problems – if they read each other’s laundry list of faults it will cause division between the couple. But if they start saying that their partner is a loving, thoughtful, generous person, eventually the truth of God will line the physical up and the spouse will change to be more godly.
Hebrews 11:1-3 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
(Heather’s note – God spoke and created the universe out of nothing Genesis 1:1 In the beginning was the Word).
Someone asked why the word “worlds” was plural. Pastor Don pointed out that there are many universes (something the writers of the Bible did not know in their day). He gave an example of ants – that they have a whole world, system, way of living – their own ant universe so to speak, as do other animals, etc. Then he cracked us up by talking about the movie Men in Black pointing out that there was a galaxy in a tiny ball on a cat’s collar – and the aliens basically told men that they are so stupid to believe that a galaxy has to be on a scale that we perceive. (Someone then quipped – don’t put God into a box).
We have to find a way to stop the poison in our mouth. Stop the negative thoughts in our minds, for we say what we think about, and when we say something it gives it power, gives it birth.
I wish you could experience one of our Friday Bible studies. Imagine 25 or more people sitting around tables. We have shared a pot luck lunch, chatted a bit, and then we feed on the Word of God. Pastor Don is always open to questions, if we don’t understand something we ask. If we have question we puzzle over during the week, we ask. He knows the Bible so well that he can answer on the spot. It is a group of people sharing ideas and thoughts. If we don’t have questions, he always has a study prepared, or something He is working on. Our Bible studies are anywhere from 1 1/2 hours to 2 1/2 hours long, and we could go on if we were allowed. The Bible truly comes alive. We are so blessed to have such good shepherds in our pastors. And at times other members of our church teach the study. With so many people seeking God in His Word, there is a richness that is so sweet.
Hoping you have a blessed weekend. We are probably going to have tons of rain from Hurricane Ernesto.
Heather
