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Post by amboyd on May 30, 2014 4:44:31 GMT
Ok so these chapters in Romans have been teaching us about being righteous, respecting authority, not being judgmental, living for God and not for this world, and loving everybody no matter what they look like or what they've done. These chapters have also highlighted what needs to be done to receive joy, peace and happiness: to TRUST, have FAITH, and BELIEVE in GOD. This leads me to a few curious questions: What does trusting, believing, and having faith in God mean to you? How do you/would you go about living this kind of lifestyle? Is it just as simple as trusting that your phone will work at all times as long as you pay your phone bill, or is it something much deeper than that?
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Post by crystalc on May 30, 2014 15:39:22 GMT
Good questions babygirl!!!
I can best define faith as believing to be true what God says to you and what He says about you. What our senses may tell us can be in contrary to the promises God has made us. Its our faith that gives wheels to our hope, granting us assurance in the things that may not make sense. Living this type of lifestyle is difficult because we want to be in control most of the time. Being able to relinquish that control to God helps you to exercise your faith. To know Him is to love Him and to love Him is to trust Him. Your life should reflect that. You live your life based on what you believe to be true about God. For example, He is the same God yesterday, today and forever so because I know that I can trust that He can deliver me from this financial bind just like He did before. Therefore I will not worry, I won't get stressed out because He loves me enough to make sure I'm not lacking anything. I don't think faith has to be a complex concept but the devil wants to tells us lies about God and about ourselves. Now simple doesn't make it easy. Faith is merely hope until its tested.
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Post by cspain03 on May 30, 2014 18:33:36 GMT
I think Crystal nailed it! I agree Faith is nothing but hope until it's tested and I think the more we push ourselves to grow in God and the more we push to grow closer to God and take hold of what He's placed in our lives, the more we are tested. I also agree that faith can be simple but I wouldn't compare it to my cell phone working cause I paid the bill, with God and true blind faith in God, I can trust He is gonna provide even when I don't "pay my bill" - when I least expect it, when I didn't pray for protection or deliverance or peace or ask for forgiveness or tithe, when I wasn't worthy. You expect you phone to work when you pay your bills but I think we get caught up when we expect things to happen when we do X,Y,Z cause we're often still at a point where we are living in the world and don't see the blessing in just being able to give God praise and follow His word without Him doing anything in return.
Again I agree with Crystal that we want to be in control, I know I do, so for me, that's my biggest road block in life. Trusting God enough to REALLY give Him full control - here are the keys AND imma get in the back seat and shut up! I want to get to that, it's HARD but I feel I get better daily a d being obedient to Him helps.
I think obedience and trust and faith all come together and have to if we really want to be real about this Christian journey and our relationship with God... I am going to be obedient because I love you (not because I want something from you) I and going to trust you because I know you love me too (and will supply all my needs) I am going to have faith in You and Your Word because I want you to be in control of my life(cause I will surely send myself right to hell doing it on my own).
I want to get to the point where I have blind trust and faith in God. I had a young adult friend at church describe it as "free fall faith" - to really let go and let God. It's hard, our culture doesn't make it any easier either. But God never said it would be easy, He said He'd never leave or forsake us!
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Post by amboyd on May 31, 2014 19:01:52 GMT
Thank you for replying my loves. These posts were very powerful!
Like you Courtney, I struggle with releasing my grasp on control. I've been raised to be independent and to be a leader that I kind of inherited a "bossy" characteristic (sometimes good, sometimes bad). I take my time planning things and most of the time my ideas work and are correct BUT I have to realize that there are always other ways of doing things. We can plan all we want to but we are imperfect and He is. Constantly consulting Him, and putting Him first, is what I think activates our Faith. It's a mix of believing in yourself but also believing that his final word is the right word and by obeying Him we trust Him enough that it will all work out.
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donp
New Member
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Post by donp on Jun 3, 2014 1:15:02 GMT
To me, trusting in God and exercising faith is like a rewarding challenge. I truly believe that God created us to be good stewards of what He's given us ... so I interpret that to be all encompassing. I believe that it was God that put the desire in us to be self-determined and goal-oriented. BUT in addition to that, He left us with the challenge to seek after Him to the point that we surrender the power and free-will that He gave us for the life and purpose He has for us. That's tough and challenging because like Crys and Court said already, we have to deny ourselves first, then we have to learn to ignore the messages that society sends us about what's important.
The one thing I learned about trust is that it is so easy to lose, and difficult to gain. But with God, we can't earn His trust. He knows us completely, so in a sense we have to learn to trust ourselves enough to fully rely on Him. So for me that looks a number of different ways ... I have to constantly reassure myself these things: 1.) God loves men, and His intention is to mold me into something that will be glorifying to Him 2.) My best is only a weak reflection of imperfections that He's instilled - in other words, everything that I am, it is by Him, so the things that are underdeveloped in me only have a true chance because of Him. Who better to do the work in me? 3.) Trust requires action (or inaction in some cases) - this reminds me of my part to stay discerning and submissive to whatever He wants to do .. not rely on my own strengths and abilities, but trust that HIs ways are ALWAYS better
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Post by crystalc on Jun 3, 2014 16:51:47 GMT
The good thing about faith is that you don't need a whole bunch for it activate or make manifest what you need from God. Faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains. That's the great thing about our God, His math always multiplies the little we have into much. A lot of times we are looking for this formula or we attempt to emulate the things we see in church. God wants what you have so He can bless it! How's that for motivation? I want all of us to be encouraged because His yoke is easy and His burden is light. What we carry isn't ours to bear. The weight that has us hunchback in the Spirit is not the way we should live. That's a tactic of the enemy--to shrink back. Because we are made in the likeness of Christ we have dominion power to RULE! Leave your cares and worries at His feet! He cares enough for you to work it out for your good. He will even give us peace that will exceed what we understand.
If not for anyone else, just for me...
Peace & Love
Crys
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