Faith
The Critical Need for Faith in the Christian Experience and how to have it
Here is a little bit of background on my story that helped me to identify the need for faith and how to have it in my personal relationship with Jesus. I have spent a lot of my Christian life studying the bible and learning a lot about God. I am also a die-hard pragmatist, and in my specific case, I wanted to have a solution for everything. One day my sister in law Joy Rader shared something about her faith that so intrigued me that I decided to interview her. The following are some of the highlights of that conversation.
One question I asked Joy. Is the only difference between me and you Prayer? Her response "I would say so" as she laughed at me which really helped to drive the message I needed to learn home. She continued by saying Brian is such a hard worker and that's perfect because that is the way you're supposed to be, but it doesn't matter if you are a hard worker if you're not going anywhere. As I was beginning to see I and my pragmatic approach was leaving God out of the equation and as a result "I" seemed to be my primary problem. As an aside I often times heard Larry Burkett say if you're not learning the lesson God is trying to teach you it's a lot like having one foot nailed to the floor. Try as you might your not going anywhere until you learn that lesson. Click here for further examples of this point.
Joy continued with this illustration "Think of your car tires in the fresh winter snow as tires that are slick not having any tread and attempting to move forward in the snow. In this condition and on your own all you're doing is spinning your wheels. Prayer and asking for help is like God installing the ultimate snow tires. Now with God's help, you will actually get some traction and move through the snow like a tank. You'll actually start moving forward. It may not turn out the way you are wanting it to but at least you're going to go somewhere and it's going to be the right place as God leads the way.
Here are some examples of how this works out in scripture:
2 Corinthians 1:20 For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. (***Tony a friend put it this way in commenting on this verse "in Christ everything means yes" Tony continuing well what the heck does that mean because I get a lot more no’s than I do yes’s. A no in Christ is Christ saying no or not now to what you are pursuing closing off the road that I should not be traveling and simultaneously (whether perceived at that time or not) opening another door and saying yes this way.
Proverbs 16:9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. This is why planning on our part is so important, but we need to leave room for God. God uses all of our planning as a platform to spring from. Sometimes I will start my day on plan from 8:00 am – 9:00 am. From 9:00 am – 12:00 pm God has determined my steps that had nothing to do with my plan, and from 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm I pick up with what I had planned and complete the day as planned. This is an example of this verse in my daily life. It's also wise to remember that we are not always going to succeed in the little things as we planned, but if we are open to where God is leading us things will turn out just fine. As Jeremiah 29:11 puts it "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." In summery you can still have a goal just pray about everything and sometimes it turns out like you want and you're happy about it, and sometimes doesn't turn out just like we "want" but now we can have faith that everything will work out exactly as it should and most importantly God is in every part of our plan.
James 4:13-17 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” 14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.)
Joy comments on these passages saying all the time when I am praying I will say to God I cannot do this anymore please help me. Another way of praying when you do not know what to do is simply say please father I need your help and you can add to this any of the specifics of you’re unique situation. After doing this I always feel so much lighter. I've finally learned that doing it by myself doesn't work. The cool thing about Christians is we do not have to say if I can't make my life work. That's what so amazing about it. I don't have to make my life work. That's what Non-Christians have to do. If you realize you are in a cycle of life sucks and it's not going anywhere and I hate myself or my life. And that's God flicking me to the ground reminding me that I've been relying on myself and I've hit rock bottom again. When we become aware of that then God's there to pick us back up again as soon as you ask him too. It's not I'll get to it when I feel like it. That's pretty cool. The God that made everything you can just say that and instantaneously it's done. Why wouldn't we take advantage of that?
I also commented to Joy that often I feel judged by God. I feel like God’s standard for me is on the mountaintop and my living standard is in the valley. Joy responds "no, no, no, no, no”. Okay, who were God's stories about? Prostitutes, murderers, thieves, and the instant they even move toward him and they're not even Christians and even say I believe in Jesus and he died for me. There like Jesus come save my dead son, but they have faith to ask him and he did it and they do not even call themselves Christians, but they knew that God had power and they asked him for help and that was all it took to save them. I know reading the Bible like Paul will say this is how you need to be and I even get like I'm stressing because I need to be all these ways, and oh what's the right thing to do. In the grand scheme of it is you just have to believe and that's it. We can try to better ourselves to be more Christlike, but you can just say, God, I believe in you and trust him and make a ton of mistakes but repent. Or you can try and do all your work and be perfect and your still at the exact same position with God which is seeing you the same way he sees his son Jesus. I don't have it all figured out. I think knowing that I don't have it all figured out is my key to success. I think you're trying to have it all figured out where I'm like I don't know what I'm doing God please help me. That's really my figured it out, and I think my natural personality type makes it easier for me to be that way and also being a girl it's easier to be a follower. You feel like as a man you need to be a provider for your family and do all this stuff, and you have a lot of responsibility and you feel like you have to rely on yourself, and you have to be strong, and you have to be all these things. I think you can be all these things just ask God for it. Like, God give me the strength to lead my family, God please give me the ability to make this business work, and that's all you have to say. So then your business will be fine and you will be strong, and you’ll be a leader and you'll be all these things, but not by your own ability. Joy continued if I was in your situation and I got a new client I would instantly try to be like hey God I have this new client please bless this relationship and please let me be able to help them to the best of my ability. Your still going to be doing the same thing and you're using your own knowledge, and your strength, but also be like God help me to use the knowledge that I have to help this client so that God has control of it now and your outcomes are better because a perfect being is the one controlling it. You can't get better than that!!!
Here is a little bit of background on my story that helped me to identify the need for faith and how to have it in my personal relationship with Jesus. I have spent a lot of my Christian life studying the bible and learning a lot about God. I am also a die-hard pragmatist, and in my specific case, I wanted to have a solution for everything. One day my sister in law Joy Rader shared something about her faith that so intrigued me that I decided to interview her. The following are some of the highlights of that conversation.
One question I asked Joy. Is the only difference between me and you Prayer? Her response "I would say so" as she laughed at me which really helped to drive the message I needed to learn home. She continued by saying Brian is such a hard worker and that's perfect because that is the way you're supposed to be, but it doesn't matter if you are a hard worker if you're not going anywhere. As I was beginning to see I and my pragmatic approach was leaving God out of the equation and as a result "I" seemed to be my primary problem. As an aside I often times heard Larry Burkett say if you're not learning the lesson God is trying to teach you it's a lot like having one foot nailed to the floor. Try as you might your not going anywhere until you learn that lesson. Click here for further examples of this point.
Joy continued with this illustration "Think of your car tires in the fresh winter snow as tires that are slick not having any tread and attempting to move forward in the snow. In this condition and on your own all you're doing is spinning your wheels. Prayer and asking for help is like God installing the ultimate snow tires. Now with God's help, you will actually get some traction and move through the snow like a tank. You'll actually start moving forward. It may not turn out the way you are wanting it to but at least you're going to go somewhere and it's going to be the right place as God leads the way.
Here are some examples of how this works out in scripture:
2 Corinthians 1:20 For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. (***Tony a friend put it this way in commenting on this verse "in Christ everything means yes" Tony continuing well what the heck does that mean because I get a lot more no’s than I do yes’s. A no in Christ is Christ saying no or not now to what you are pursuing closing off the road that I should not be traveling and simultaneously (whether perceived at that time or not) opening another door and saying yes this way.
Proverbs 16:9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. This is why planning on our part is so important, but we need to leave room for God. God uses all of our planning as a platform to spring from. Sometimes I will start my day on plan from 8:00 am – 9:00 am. From 9:00 am – 12:00 pm God has determined my steps that had nothing to do with my plan, and from 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm I pick up with what I had planned and complete the day as planned. This is an example of this verse in my daily life. It's also wise to remember that we are not always going to succeed in the little things as we planned, but if we are open to where God is leading us things will turn out just fine. As Jeremiah 29:11 puts it "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." In summery you can still have a goal just pray about everything and sometimes it turns out like you want and you're happy about it, and sometimes doesn't turn out just like we "want" but now we can have faith that everything will work out exactly as it should and most importantly God is in every part of our plan.
James 4:13-17 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” 14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.)
Joy comments on these passages saying all the time when I am praying I will say to God I cannot do this anymore please help me. Another way of praying when you do not know what to do is simply say please father I need your help and you can add to this any of the specifics of you’re unique situation. After doing this I always feel so much lighter. I've finally learned that doing it by myself doesn't work. The cool thing about Christians is we do not have to say if I can't make my life work. That's what so amazing about it. I don't have to make my life work. That's what Non-Christians have to do. If you realize you are in a cycle of life sucks and it's not going anywhere and I hate myself or my life. And that's God flicking me to the ground reminding me that I've been relying on myself and I've hit rock bottom again. When we become aware of that then God's there to pick us back up again as soon as you ask him too. It's not I'll get to it when I feel like it. That's pretty cool. The God that made everything you can just say that and instantaneously it's done. Why wouldn't we take advantage of that?
I also commented to Joy that often I feel judged by God. I feel like God’s standard for me is on the mountaintop and my living standard is in the valley. Joy responds "no, no, no, no, no”. Okay, who were God's stories about? Prostitutes, murderers, thieves, and the instant they even move toward him and they're not even Christians and even say I believe in Jesus and he died for me. There like Jesus come save my dead son, but they have faith to ask him and he did it and they do not even call themselves Christians, but they knew that God had power and they asked him for help and that was all it took to save them. I know reading the Bible like Paul will say this is how you need to be and I even get like I'm stressing because I need to be all these ways, and oh what's the right thing to do. In the grand scheme of it is you just have to believe and that's it. We can try to better ourselves to be more Christlike, but you can just say, God, I believe in you and trust him and make a ton of mistakes but repent. Or you can try and do all your work and be perfect and your still at the exact same position with God which is seeing you the same way he sees his son Jesus. I don't have it all figured out. I think knowing that I don't have it all figured out is my key to success. I think you're trying to have it all figured out where I'm like I don't know what I'm doing God please help me. That's really my figured it out, and I think my natural personality type makes it easier for me to be that way and also being a girl it's easier to be a follower. You feel like as a man you need to be a provider for your family and do all this stuff, and you have a lot of responsibility and you feel like you have to rely on yourself, and you have to be strong, and you have to be all these things. I think you can be all these things just ask God for it. Like, God give me the strength to lead my family, God please give me the ability to make this business work, and that's all you have to say. So then your business will be fine and you will be strong, and you’ll be a leader and you'll be all these things, but not by your own ability. Joy continued if I was in your situation and I got a new client I would instantly try to be like hey God I have this new client please bless this relationship and please let me be able to help them to the best of my ability. Your still going to be doing the same thing and you're using your own knowledge, and your strength, but also be like God help me to use the knowledge that I have to help this client so that God has control of it now and your outcomes are better because a perfect being is the one controlling it. You can't get better than that!!!
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