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Nisan
New Member
USA
82 Posts |
 Posted - October 31 2006 : 5:26:56 PM
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Faith
Without faith it is impossible to please Him . . . —Hebrews 11:6
Faith in active opposition to common sense is mistaken enthusiasm and narrow-mindedness, and common sense in opposition to faith demonstrates a mistaken reliance on reason as the basis for truth. The life of faith brings the two of these into the proper relationship. Common sense and faith are as different from each other as the natural life is from the spiritual, and as impulsiveness is from inspiration. Nothing that Jesus Christ ever said is common sense, but is revelation sense, and is complete, whereas common sense falls short. Yet faith must be tested and tried before it becomes real in your life. "We know that all things work together for good . . ." ( Romans 8:28 ) so that no matter what happens, the transforming power of God’s providence transforms perfect faith into reality. Faith always works in a personal way, because the purpose of God is to see that perfect faith is made real in His children.
For every detail of common sense in life, there is a truth God has revealed by which we can prove in our practical experience what we believe God to be. Faith is a tremendously active principle that always puts Jesus Christ first. The life of faith says, "Lord, You have said it, it appears to be irrational, but I’m going to step out boldly, trusting in Your Word" (for example, see Matthew 6:33 ). Turning intellectual faith into our personal possession is always a fight, not just sometimes. God brings us into particular circumstances to educate our faith, because the nature of faith is to make the object of our faith very real to us. Until we know Jesus, God is merely a concept, and we can’t have faith in Him. But once we hear Jesus say, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" ( John 14:9 ) we immediately have something that is real, and our faith is limitless. Faith is the entire person in the right relationship with God through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Oswald Chambers - My Utmost for His Highest
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JADE
Junior Member
USA
184 Posts |
Posted - October 31 2006 : 5:45:51 PM
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Great article. I once wrote a paper on "Common Sense" when I was in College. The major point that many miss when they say they use common sense is that in order to truly use common sense, one has to have had a prior experience to base it on. Such as a kid that first finds out that something is hot. Before he touched the "HOT" object, he had been warned not to touch it because it is hot. Now when he finally touched it and found out what "HOT" means, he can now use "common sense" to never touch anything else that is deemed hot. But before that it would have been incorrect to say he should have used common sense not to touch it. It may have been good logic, but not common sense.
So it is very difficult for one to use "common sense" as a reason to have or not have "faith". Not impossible, but very difficult since we all experience so many different things to build on our common senses. So much of faith(in anything, not just religion)can not be logically defended. But when one has had those personal experiences it is very hard for someone that hasn't to understand why their faith is so strong.
God bless,
JADE
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I question...Therefore I think...I think...Therefore I am...I think? |
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Nisan
New Member
USA
82 Posts |
 Posted - November 01 2006 : 4:12:33 PM
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Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:24)
What will He do? He will sanctify us wholly. See the previous verse. He will carry on the work of purification till we are perfect in every part. He will preserve our "whole spirit, and soul, and body, blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." He will not allow us to fall from grace, nor come under the dominion of sin. What great favors are these! Well may we adore the giver of such unspeakable gifts.
Who will do this? The Lord who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, out of death in sin into eternal life in Christ Jesus. Only He can do this: such perfection and preservation can only come from the God of all grace.
Why will He do it? Because He is "faithful"--faithful to His own promise which is pledged to save the believer; faithful to His Son, whose reward it is that His people shall he presented to Him faultless, faithful to the work which He has commenced in us by our effectual calling. It is not their own faithfulness but the Lord's own faithfulness on which the saints rely.
Come, my soul, here is a grand feast to begin a dull month with. There may be fogs without, but there should be sunshine within.
(Faith's Checkbook by C.H. Spurgeon)
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Christy
Abrahamic Forum Co-Moderator
138 Posts |
Posted - November 02 2006 : 07:59:15 AM
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Thanks for sharing sweetie!
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"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."
http://angel2drew.forumco.com |
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Nisan
New Member
USA
82 Posts |
Posted - November 09 2006 : 12:09:53 PM
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The Undetected Sacredness of Circumstances
We know that all things work together for good to those who love God . . . —Romans 8:28
The circumstances of a saint’s life are ordained of God. In the life of a saint there is no such thing as chance. God by His providence brings you into circumstances that you can’t understand at all, but the Spirit of God understands. God brings you to places, among people, and into certain conditions to accomplish a definite purpose through the intercession of the Spirit in you. Never put yourself in front of your circumstances and say, "I’m going to be my own providence here; I will watch this closely, or protect myself from that." All your circumstances are in the hand of God, and therefore you don’t ever have to think they are unnatural or unique. Your part in intercessory prayer is not to agonize over how to intercede, but to use the everyday circumstances and people God puts around you by His providence to bring them before His throne, and to allow the Spirit in you the opportunity to intercede for them. In this way God is going to touch the whole world with His saints.
Am I making the Holy Spirit’s work difficult by being vague and unsure, or by trying to do His work for Him? I must do the human side of intercession— utilizing the circumstances in which I find myself and the people who surround me. I must keep my conscious life as a sacred place for the Holy Spirit. Then as I lift different ones to God through prayer, the Holy Spirit intercedes for them.
Your intercessions can never be mine, and my intercessions can never be yours, ". . . but the Spirit Himself makes intercession" in each of our lives ( Romans 8:26 ). And without that intercession, the lives of others would be left in poverty and in ruin.
Oswald Chambers - My Utmost for His Highest
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Christian Devotionals
