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Location: Democratic Peoples Republic of Redneckistan
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Blue
I think the point Jesus was getting across was that at THAT time in the infancy of the loving, merciful God being revealed to us through the miracles Christ was doing was like "Show and tell" you about our real loving,forgiving Father. Before that time most people followed all the rules out of fear.
Faith for many comes from seeing and hearing first. Christ was still here in the flesh. On the Day of Pentecost He gave us the greatest gift of Himself within us to continue to show and tell us in order for our faith to grow through our spiritual eyes and ears.
When we have enough faith to know that He dwells within us then we realize there is nothing to fear.
Great post Miss Blue...I think that is exactly right.
I've had to go through some scary things over the last few years and my faith would be tested....each time at the last minute I would give it over to the LORD,trust HIM and would come through with flying colors and MORE faith than I started the ordeal with...as time has went on I have realized the LORD is in me and each time I am reminded of that I get a TINY bit closer to the mustard seed sized faith...I think we ALL grow like that.
Great post Miss Blue...I think that is exactly right.
I've had to go through some scary things over the last few years and my faith would be tested....each time at the last minute I would give it over to the LORD,trust HIM and would come through with flying colors and MORE faith than I started the ordeal with...as time has went on I have realized the LORD is in me and each time I am reminded of that I get a TINY bit closer to the mustard seed sized faith...I think we ALL grow like that.
When Jesus speaks of little faith, He is referring to human faith, which is different than divine faith. Divine faith moves mountains, even if it's as a grain of mustard seed. Miracles from this kind of divine faith are happening all around the world, but the blind can't discern them.
the fact that the mustard seed sprouted after soooo many years is just awesome!! It's weird about faith, either you have it or you don't.....but if you have it, it comes in different "degrees" and sometimes it just doesn't mature past the mustard seed. Some days my faith is strong and other days it wanes and flounders around like a fish out of water but there are some things that I KNOW to be true, like you mentioned......God's love for us all. It took me so many years to know that and now that I do it's like nothing anyone or anything could do can shake that part of my faith.
Faith is so multi-layered, to use Brian's analogy from another thread, faith is like an onion where we have to constantly peel away another layer to learn something new and be shown how to use that information. I'm such a babe in Christ and sometimes I feel like I always will be but then something will happen, like your little mustard seed sprouting, that let's me know that I'm progressing and growing every day.
What a wonderful analogy Sparrow, thank you!!
Right on! And to the bold... I am right there with you.
Right on! And to the bold... I am right there with you.
peace,
sparrow
Hey Sparrow....would you like to share a version here of what you told me? I think it's a pretty awesome story that needs to be shared. I'm still tripping over the mustard seed sprouting!!
How much faith is required? Jesus speaks of "ye of little faith" several times:
Matthew 6:30
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of littlefaith?
Matthew 8:26
And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of littlefaith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
Matthew 16:8
Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of littlefaith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?
Luke 12:28
If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of littlefaith?
It's like Jesus was saying "here, you got no faith but I'm going to show you or tell you anyway"........so who here is going to claim they have more faith than those who were actually in Jesus' presence???
My faith is less than this:
Luke 17:6
And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustardseed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
If someone with only the faith of a mustard seed should be able to talk to trees and tell them what to do and they do it, how much more should we be able to move mountains with our great claims of faith? Oh how I long for the faith that some of my relatives and acquaintances have/had, the kind of faith that really can accomplish anything. How do we obtain this kind of faith?
I think on balance God is aware that man by nature has a little faith. I know Abraham agreed to sacrifice his son as a sign of great faith in the Angel but that was his son, not himself.
When you think of John the Baptist, who Christ acknowledged as a very righteous man, a guy who lived right before God and who was able to recognize Christ and to baptize him you can begin to understand man's lack of faith. When John suffered tribulation and was facing life and death situation, he doubted Christ and sent some of his disciples to Christ to verify if he was the promised Messiah. The guy expected Christ to save him from death but got no such assistance, rather his situation got worse and his head was severed.
Without a doubt, he would have reflected on the earlier situations of Meshac, Shedrack and Abenego in the Furnace fire, who were delivered, just as he would have also reflected on Daniel in the Lion's den. In those cases, the Messiah was not physicallly present, but in his case he was and yet he was still in prison for no just cause.
The ways of God are mysterious. He is the one that gives the ability to have faith or to do anything at all.
...................... How do we obtain this kind of faith?
I think we lack faith because we lack relationship. The day I realized that the presence of God wasn't like a CD I could pop in and out depending on what I wanted to hear or how I wanted to act. Either I had to be in the thing for 24 hours a day or I was wasting my time....and possibly His.
I started making a conscious effort to keep in mind He was with me all the time. Sounds easy enough until you realize how differently you would react to life if you physically saw Jesus standing next to you. It changed the words of my mouth, my temper, my party habits, what music I listened to, what movies/TV I watched....and a whole bunch of other stuff.
The trade off was....my faith level is incredible. I have no doubts He is with me because I never mentally turn Him off. It has been an AMAZING journey that I have to maintain every day. Trust me....sometimes I still blow it.
The next day, I noticed something was wrong with my bracelet. I thought the seed was gone, and I almost panicked a tiny bit..(I mean, come on man.. my grandma had this thing for what..like 50 or 60 years! Now I have it, and I lose the dang mustard seed??! ) but it wasn't gone, the little thing sprouted!
The ways of God are mysterious. He is the one that gives the ability to have faith or to do anything at all.
EXACTLY!! God is the one who gives faith, or anything for that matter. I have the faith that God has given me, if he wants to bestow me with the faith to literally move mountains I won't argue with that. But, as it stands right now my faith is lacking in a lot of areas and I need God's grace and will to change that.
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) but it wasn't gone, the little thing sprouted!
