Keys of Faith
The following keys all support each other to makes a picture of our Father God and His teachings. I am assuming you believe in God, His Son, and God's unifying Spirit. I would like to discuss issues with other faiths too because they also teach of God and His Kingdom. I don't argue details because they aren't necessary for salvation. We each only know parts of spiritual truths. Please email your concerns and comments.
For 15 years I have struggled and have finally realized that I can not lift a finger to be like Jesus. I could not keep the 10 Commandments, demanding me to do this or not do that. I grew up in a church just like that. Ugh! They did not teach about God's power that He bestows on us when He lives in us. I became disillusioned, always struggling to be good, and I left the church when my parents said I no longer had to go at age 18. Thank God I am now delivered from following the law, perfect though it is. In the New Testament ( N.T.) we are told to walk in the Spirit and follow His small voice. It is 100 times easier to follow the Spirit than it is to control my own life. This lack of control is the deciding factor keeping people away from experiencing a spiritual life. A friend of mind said she couldn't give God control even thought she craves a spiritual life. It was very frightening to me at first.
First Key - Faith Itself
I've heard many teachings on faith but none that I can really remember or put into practice. Hebrews 11 is called the faith chapter. I had to define faith in a way that I could understand and remember. This is what makes sense to me:
Faith is a confident believing that God will do what He says He will do.
It is imposable to please God without having faith in all things. My faith has to grow like a child grows. I sometimes have fear and see it as a horrible monster, hard to tame. At the beginning of my spiritual journey exercising faith felt like I was jumping off a cliff without a safety net. God says, "fear not" and in many instances I have have this faith. I still waver.
Can you have blind faith? Can we believe in God's promises? Are they all for us if we just humbly believe? There are hundreds of promises in the Bible. Here are just a few.
"We know that the love that God has for us, and we trust that love.
God is love. Those who live in love live in God, and God lives in them." (1 John 4:16)
"His mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear Him" (Fear in this
case is to be amazed, having a healthy fear of God and Christ's limits power)
(Luke 1:50)
Jesus said,"the Father Himself loves you. He loves you because you loved
me, and believed that I came from the Father."
(John 16:27)
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourself; it is a gift of God." (Ephesians 2:8)
Only the Holy Spirit can work these verses into your mind and life that eventually shows up in your thinking and behavior. Believing on an intellectual level does no good. You can know the whole Bible, but if God's Spirit does not live inside there is no true understanding. King Solomon said, in all your getting get understanding. Understanding is like yeast in dough. Without it the dough won't raise and become what it is meant to be. " It is impossible to please God without faith."
If you truly love God and have asked God for His Holy Spirit, but don't feel any different, don't worry. God will fill you in His time, not necessarily yours. I wait rather impatiently for many years, but I believe now that God had to get me ready. Trust God and wait as long as it takes and keep learning and praying in the mean time. We each have a purpose in His plan that is cut out just for us.
He also will keep you safe while you follow Him. He said, anything that comes into your life I has allowed, whether good or bad. In bad times you are to look for the opportunity to grow. This is hard to understand, but it is comforting once you believe and understand deep within you. Scripture says that Jesus learned obedience through His sufferings. He is described as a man of sorrows.
After receiving the Holy Spirit one main way to growth is by knowing the Bible. This is necessary. How can the Holy Spirit bring God's words to your mind when you haven't learned what He said? Scripture says, "study to show yourself approve unto God." If you are lazy about studying, then how do you know what God is all about? You don't. Going to church every Sunday and being spoon fed God's word is not enough. When you study diligently you show God that you seriously want to know Him. As Jesus said, you must love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. These are the two laws to follow. Talking to God as you go through your day and meeting with others also makes you grow.
Warning from our Father through Jesus!
In Revelations 3:15-16 God warns the church in Laodicea," I know your deeds, that you are neither cold or hot: I wish that you were cold or hot. Because you are luck warm, and neither hot or cold, I will spit you out of my mouth." God will only take those who persistently seek Him and He says He will reward them. I pray that the viewers of this web site are hot for God and love Him above all else.
Second Key - Humility Like A Little Child
Jesus said we can't enter the Kingdom of God unless we humble ourselves as a little child. Many places in the NT address this issue in different ways that mean the same thing. When you are "born again" you become like an infant, who, through faith, is raised all over again with God as your new Father. This process can be fast or slow. God starts to create your spiritual mind like your mind grew when you were a child. Children are humble under their parents guidance and are excited about learning new things. This same excitement can be yours. Just admit your lack of knowledge and feel how great God really is and how little you really are.
The apostle Paul goes in detail about God's children and renewed minds. He talks of the regenerate mind of a person who walks in the Spirit. (Following the small voice that lives in you when you are filled with the Holy Spirit) The Spirit is the power that reprograms your mind to be like Jesus. This is impossible for us but possible for God.
Again I do not claim to know all of God's truths because, "we look through a glass darkly." We know only the parts God chooses to reveal to us. He gives us abilities to complete what He wants us to do. You must first ask, and have faith, that God will give you a new mind.
God will not do it for you if you are trying to do it yourself.
That's impossible. Total dependence on God is vital.
Third Key - Dependence
This world, especially in the "developed" countries, value personal independence of thought and deed. Jesus tells us that we have to be dependent on God, with humility, and do His will, not ours. Jesus prayed to God for Him to change his mind and not crucify him, but Jesus then said, "Thy will be done."
Having a small child's attitude means you don't know very much and can do very little. Again, you can't change and be like Christ or God by obeying laws because you can't ever be good enough. God requires perfection if you follow laws to get to Him. Children depend on their parents to do everything for them. Newborn children will die if their parents don't totally care for them.
The human ego is a natural powerful characteristic and will fight to have it's way. The Spirit and the flesh are always waring against each other for control. You need to see the corrupted human nature and reject it.
How God changes you is a true mystery. The NT says that the Holy Spirit is like the wind. You can't see the wind but you can see it's effects.When our Father starts working in us, we can actually feel the changes in life. Your priorities change and things that were appealing to you lose their excitement. Problems are healed in God's time. Pray for God to heal you.
Gambling in casinos was never a real problem for me but it had a strong appeal and sometimes I did loose too much money. Thank God I didn't have a casinos near my home. Just a year ago I studied how to win the most money at the tables. My sister lives in Las Vegas and when I'm in a casinos now the exciting has dissipated. I now don't feel much of anything.
My life was riddled with fear. My mother died when I was 9 and I felt that the world was a dangerous place and I was very vulnerable. I was afraid of people because they could seriously hurt me and painfully shy. I believe that God's perfected love cast out all fears and I am no longer that venerable person but God's lovable child. God's Spirit is power. love, and creates a sound mind. My dependence is security that my father will take care of me, the creator of the universe. By the torture of Jesus, his whipping, we are and will be healed.
Fourth Key - Freedom VS The Law
A teenager once asked me, "How can we have freedom when we have to obey laws?." Teenagers ask such wonderful questions. If you follow the moral laws, the 10 Commandments, you have no freedom. What? For instance a traffic sign says stop then you stop. The law, like a tough cop, says stop or else. You had to learn to obey that law. At first, each time you came to a stop sign you remembered the law and the consequences of breaking the law and you stopped.
but
When you are a seasoned driver you don't have to think about the law because it becomes part of you. Scripture says your new nature is law abiding. It becomes a part of you like stopping automatically at the sign. With God's abiding Spirit all we have to do is follow that small voice in us. God will control us and the world around us.
The apostle Pale said that the law was our tutor. The tutor are the tablets of stone brought down from the mountain by Moses, the 10 commandments. But when Christ came the laws were written on our hearts by God's indwelling Spirit.9hewrebs 10:16) Our conscious becomes very strong. As we go about living our lives we talk and act on our new nature because we are reborn by God's seed. Flesh begets flesh but Spirit begets Spirit. We continuously pray to become more and more like Jesus Obeying the law becomes our new nature coming from a renewed personality. We are free from the law. God took our lawless nature, transferred it onto Christ and He was sentenced to death. Our old sinful nature was crucified with Jesus.
Our current laws are both moral and civil. These laws are a curse to us, however, we still have to obey them. We do have a choice to not follow them. Like the old saying states, "They make bad choices." Laws are a curse to mankind because they give us choices. Adam and Eve were told not to eat of the tree of good and evil and you know what happened..Christs death and His resurrected life has done away with the law.
Galatians 3:10 says:
"For as many as are of works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of
the law, to perform them.' "
Galatians 3:13 also says
"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse
for us -- for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.' "
If you want to obey the law using your own power you will fail. Jame states;
James 2:10
"For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point he has
become guilty of all."
If you lie on a regular basis you are known to be a liar, but you could be truthful. I've often heard that a person makes" bad choices." You are a liar pure and simple. That's who you are.
If you have no choice but to tell the truth then you are honest. Why no choice? Because being God's son, with His traits, you don't lie because your Father can't lie. Then you can't lie. Once you say something it is done because God's words accomplishes what He says. Honesty describes God's sons as we stay in God's will. As a child grows they may be short or tall, male or female. As God's child grows you are also trustworthy, loving, honest, and kind. You can't be otherwise and have no choice but to be who you are. God's Spiritual DNA is His child's DNA.
God sees us as perfect but as long as we are alive our human corrupted nature will fight for control and it frequently has it's way.
Love life live long