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Quotes
for Thought |
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"True faith is
trusting the sovereign God even when we don't understand." Hank Haanegraff
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"It is not the part of
faith to question, but to obey.
AB Simpson |
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This is a life of
faith, for God will try the truth of our faith, so that the world may
see that God has such servants as will depend upon His bare word.
Richard Sibbes |
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"Then Peter
said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost." Acts 2:38
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Devotion
Have Faith In God
Jesus Clears the Temple
12The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was
hungry. 13Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he
went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found
nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14Then
he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And
his disciples heard him say it.
The Withered Fig Tree
20In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree
withered from the roots. 21Peter remembered and said to
Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!"
22"Have faith
in God," Jesus answered. 23"I tell you the truth, if anyone
says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not
doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will
be done for him. Mark 11:12-14; 19-23
Introduction
The greatest need we
have is to have the need of faith. We need and
earth-shaking, devil-defying, mountain-moving faith in living
God.
Hebrew 11:6 - . . . without faith it is impossible to please
God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists. . .
It is through
faith, and faith alone, that we understand that the "worlds
were framed by the Word of God, so that
things which are seen were not made of things with do appear."
Just as it takes "faith"
to believer that God created this world by his infinite power, it
also takes faith to believe that God is able to perform a
creative work in our lives.
If there's anything
the devil would like to do, it's destroy our faith and
confidence in God. If he can get us believing more in our
circumstance than in God's ability to take care of that circumstance
he can successfully destroy our faith in God.
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Faith simply means, to believe God above your senses! Logic and
reasoning are not longer accurate when faith is in use!
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Faith is a fusion of the supernatural into a natural circumstance,
changing the impossible to the possible!
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Faith transcends the boundaries of logic and says, "All things are
possible to them that believe."
Maybe the devil is
trying to destroy your faith and confidence in God.
Romans 10:17
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
(NASB) God wants to increase your
faith!
I don't know what
level of your faith is, what step your on, or what rung of the
ladder you're on! But I know you can let your faith rise
up; if you put your faith and confidence
in God!
Body
In Mark 11, Jesus
was leaving Bethany when He and His disciples became hungry.
Seeing a fig tree having leaves, He came hoping to find something
there. When He looked, there was nothing so Jesus cursed it.
Now it's the next day they're passing the same fig tree and it's dried
up from there roots. Peter, remembering said, "Master, behold,
the tree which thou cursed it withered away." Jesus answered
Peter and said "Have
faith in God."
Then Jesus said,
"For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this
mountain, be thou removed and cast into the sea, and shall not doubt
in his heart but believe those things which he saith shall come to
pass; and he shall have whatsoever he saith."
A lot of people have
confused faith with a way of thinking! They think
faith is a positive mental attitude that one can adopt at will.
Some have gone as far as to suggest that faith is the exercise
of one's power of imagination to get what one desires.
If that's the case,
faith becomes a mental imagery and the more vivid the mental
image, there more powerful their faith becomes.
Therefore, whoever has the greatest imagination has access to the
greatest amount of faith.
If we're not careful
we can take a few scriptures out of context and conclude that faith
is some kind of "force" That causes things to happen. Some have
even gone as far to say that words are "containers" that, when filled
with the "force" of faith, obligate God to perform on our
behalf.
In Mark 11, Jesus
isn't giving us a "formula" for faith by which we can make
anything happen that we can imagine, but rather he's telling us that
there's got to be an "object" of faith, and that object of
faith is not faith itself, but faith in God.
The emphasis here is
not moving mountains and getting everything we desire in prayer, but
it's on having faith in God! Everything else is the
natural by-product of our faith when our faith is firmly
rooted and grounded in God.
Sometimes we put
more faith in prayer, healing, deliverance than we do God!
But those things must never be the object of our faith!
If that's the case, then when the miracle doesn't come, our faith
is shaken.
Once you have "faith
in God", let what come what may - your faith won't be shake
because it's firmly rooted and grounded in God.
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I.
Have Faith in God's Goodness
If you're going to have faith in God you've got to have faith
in his goodness!
Goodness - The state or quality of being good; virtue,
excellence, kindness.
The enemy would try and confuse us the way he confused Eve in
the Garden when said, "If God was really good he wouldn't
withhold this from you." Since that day the devil has been
trying to use what God withholds to try and cause us to question
his goodness.
Sometimes he withhold healing, understanding, justice!
I don't know what kind of God you serve but the God I serve
is a good God! Everything about him is good!
(Psalm 136:1 Give thanks to the LORD , for he is good.
His love endures forever. NIV)
The scripture proclaims his goodness:
- Psalm 31
19 How great is your
goodness, which you have stored up for those who
fear you,
which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take
refuge in you.
- Psalm 27
13 I am still confident of this: I will see
the goodness of the LORD in
the land of the living.
- Psalm 107
8
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men
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This month
devotion going to be 3 part study on faith; it will be continue in next 2 issues.
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To be
continue in November issue:
II. Have Faith in God's Purpose
III. Have
Faith In God's Promises
IV. Have Faith In God's
Provision |
The
collusion in December issue:
V. Have Faith in God's Power
VI. Have
Faith In God's Justice
VII. Have Faith In God's
Faithfulness |
POEM
What Is Faith
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| V. Raymond Edman |
FAITH is dead to doubts--
dumb to
discouragements,
blind to impossibilities,
knows nothing but success.
FAITH lifts it hand up through
the threatening clouds,
lays hold of Him who has
all power in heaven and
on earth.
FAITH makes the up look good,
the outlook bright,
the in look favorable,
and the future glorious
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Humor
A Very Faith Woman
An elderly lady was well-known for her faith and for her boldness
in talking about it. She would stand on her front porch and shout
"PRAISE THE LORD!"
Next door to her lived an atheist who would get so angry at her
proclamations he would shout, "There ain't no Lord!!"
Hard times set in on the elderly lady, and she prayed for GOD to
send her some assistance. She stood on her porch and shouted "PRAISE
THE LORD. GOD I NEED FOOD!! I AM HAVING A HARD TIME. PLEASE LORD, SEND
ME SOME GROCERIES!!"
The next morning the lady went out on her porch and noted a
large bag of groceries and shouted, "PRAISE THE LORD."
The neighbor jumped from behind a bush and said, "Aha! I told
you there was no Lord. I bought those groceries, God didn't."
The lady started jumping up and down and clapping her hands and
said, "PRAISE THE LORD. He not only sent me groceries, but He made the
devil pay for them. Praise the Lord!"
Words for Thought
If God can make a tiny seed
Into a bloom so fair,
What can He make, O soul, of you
Through study, faith, and prayer? —Anon.
God Bless!
Gerald Klingelhoefer
One God, One Faith, One Baptism
Ephesians 4:5
Since April 1,
1997
there have been
Return
To
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Memory
Verses |
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Rom. 10
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by
the word of Christ. (NASB) |
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Psalm 136
1 Give thanks to the LORD , for he is good.
His love endures forever. (NIV) |
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Psalm 31
19 How great is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you,
which you bestow in the sight of men
on those who take refuge in you. (NIV) |
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