“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6) As we read this verse we must conclude that faith is a vital ingredient in our walk as Christians. Without faith, the Bible tells us that it is impossible to please God. In other words, without trusting God we can never please Him. We must believe, first, that He exists and second, that He actually will reward those that earnestly seek Him. The challenge comes when we study what faith is. “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1) So faith is a cry for us to have confidence that we will receive those things that we are hoping for, but at the same time to have an assurance for what we are unable to see. This means my friends, that faith is a blind walk. When we walk in faith we are trusting God for every step we make. The greater challenge is not only the fact that we can’t see, but also that what we see contradicts or takes us further from the things we are hoping for. 2 Corinthians 5:7 tells us very clearly: “For we live by faith, not by sight.” Wow! That is a tough one; so how then do we distinguish between faith and stupidity? The answer is very simple; we must have a Word from God! This brings up another question, how do we know that it was God speaking? Let’s explore seven ways that God speak to us before moving on: 1.Through the Word of God (2 Tim 3:16, Psalm 119:11, 105) 2.Through the inner still, small voice of Holy Spirit (Acts 11:12, Acts13:2,Acts16:6-7,1 Kings 19:12,Isaiah 30:19-21) 3.Through the advice and counsel of men and women of God (Proverbs 12:15) 4.Through the Audible Voice of God (Acts 9:4-5) 5.Through Dreams (Matthew 1:20-21) 6.Through Visions (Acts 10:9-18) 7.Through Angels (Luke 1: 26-38) Let me also add that it is perfectly ok to ask God for confirmation of His Word. The Bible encourage us in 2 Corinthians 13:1 “This will be my third visit to you. “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” We must be careful, because our hearts can be our worst false prophet. (angelcasiano/2010/09/10/the-most-dangerous-false-prophet/) Take also into consideration that God will never contradict His Word to accommodate our desires or what we want to do.There are simple ways to know that God is not speaking. For example, many pastors are getting the churches deeper and deeper in debt under the umbrella that “God told me so!” But that is not true. The senior pastor comes with a vision for a larger building, totally ignore that the congregation is not yet that large in numbers and most of all, ignore the fact that there is no money available for such project. The Elders tell him so, but he accused them of having no faith. So he goes on and takes a loan and start the process of financially destroying his ministry. What is wrong with this picture? 1.The Pastor ignored the wisdom and safety of the multitude of counselors. So the word was not established by two or three witnesses. (2 Cor. 13:1) 2.The pastor totally ignored the Word as the Word clearly tells us to owe no man nothing (Romans 13:8) Beloved, this is a good example of stupidity on our behalves. I, myself have embraced such stupidity and it still costing me even today. So as we continue to answer the question: How are we able to distinguish between faith and stupidity? The answer is indeed very simple: If you have a confirmed Word from God, then, no matter what your eyes can or cannot see, no matter how long is taking, no matter the circumstances, no matter what people say or don’t say, hang on to that word and press forward.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 06:13:01 +0000
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