Facets of Faith: Facet One

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Believing, Bible, Crucifixion, Faith, God, Gospel, Healing, Holy Spirit, Jehova, jesus, Jesus Christ, light, Love, Loving G-d, scripture, scriptures, signs, The Lord, Word, Yaweh

Oh, faith. Faith can move mountains. Oh, faith, faith can move mountains! The Father has structured faith such that true faith can be found only in His just people, yet He gave man the power to use their free will to put faith, an adulterated form of it, to work doing anything their heart desires. Faith certainly has many facets.

First off, lets see what The Bible has to say about faith.  Many verses are written about it and when we put the Word into context and study with a believing heart we will shape ourselves into people we will love and value more. People who are more suitable to be in the presence of God.

Hebrews 11:1 <Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.>

In my relationship with faith, I have found that it is much easier to put my trust in somebody I believe is real. How do you feel about this? Put your answer in the comments section. Maybe it will strike up a conversation with a new friend.

In John Ch. 1, John writes that the Word is God. A way that faith can be increased so much further is through reading Scripture with a mind that knows it all is the truth. You see, in the gospels, whenever the Pharisees and so forth came to Yeshua, they came with a purpose in their hearts. “And those stinkin Pharisees came along, testing Him”, or “Those rascally Sadducees were sent to Him, to trip Him up in His speech”, or “Those recalcitrant publicans questioned Him vehemently, trying to trap Him.” How is it that any of them would receive a worthwhile “substance of things hoped for” if what they were hoping for was to prove the author of life wrong?

When you go to the Word, where is the heart? Are you using it to trap somebody, to win an argument, or to lift yourself up in anyway? What are you aiming to accomplish when you go to The Word? Is that aim something God can honor? Is that aim true? God allows adulterated hearts to learn His truths for a time, thanks to mercy. Mercy, eventually, should not be the aim though. If the truth is not allowed to grow into faith, He gives that recalcitrant person over to a reprobate mind, eventually. He does that because He is a good Father, handling truth and His children responsibly, with real, unadulterated love. So, when you go to the Word, go in humility to God, and stubbornness against the lies the world has taught you about His word. Go knowing that God is going to prove some of the thoughts and feelings in your mind wrong, for your good. The truth will set you free if you diligently practice faith in Him. You cannot go to Scripture to hear Him if you are not going to His Word in faith, trusting that He wants to correct you and encourage you. How can you improve and live differently if no corrections take place? Have faith in Him when you go to The Word.

Understanding that He is right and you are in need of His guidance is a fantastic part of any strong person’s foundation. He may change the way you think about Him, revealing a part of Himself to you that was seen askew or not seen at all! Your relationship to Him, and your relationship to the world around you may be changed once you have a more full, unadulterated view of Scripture: His main form of communication to you. We are in a war, and God allows all of us to start so incredibly deceived that it is nearly impossible for a person to use the life He gave them for it’s true purpose. You will behave differently based on the bending and breaking of your mind to support the idea that all the things in the Bible support each other.

It tells us that <the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.> We all start with a carnal mind. The hope is that our minds will be changed. One of the purposes of life is to let Him wash our carnal minds, filling us with a mind that functions the way He intended. The way is narrow that leads to life, and <to be carnally minded: death; but to be spiritually minded: life and peace.> So, when your carnal mind is telling you that a verse in Scripture is being contradictory to it’s partners (other verses in Scripture), it is indeed time to snuggle up with The Savior, and be saved: from yourself, from the very mind you are using to read the Scriptures with. He will wash you clean from all that stressful, anxious rebellion, and make a move towards that which is life and peace for you. I speak from experience, not just words on a page I have been told to believe are true. I have faith that they are true and I want you to experience being set free the way I have. It is monumentally life changing and awesome.

Trying to prove Scripture wrong (even in your own mind) is an act supported by evil alone. Remember, God is the Word. If you successfully prove Him wrong then you would, in human terms, build yourself to His status or greater than His status or whatever. God is right, you are wrong, deal with it from that starting point. Most can concede to man, the church, and organized governance in that way, eventually, but few have the strength to stand before God in that way. Proving the Scripture wrong is an act that comes from a prideful, scared, recalcitrant, cowardly place. God wants us to be humble in everything that we do: healing, learning, filling others, teaching, performing miracles, administrating, studying, and helping one another to sharpen our faith as we proclaim the gospel from the housetops. If we cast a mountain into the sea, we would do well to be humble about it.

If you do successfully convince yourself and others that you have proven a Scripture to be wrong or contradictory, you may appear to be right in the reality that supports the carnal mind: for a time, a generation even. In the structure of the spiritual reality you are very sick and need to ask God for forgiveness. You need His caring love, you need Him to wrap you in His embrace. He is Lord, you are not. Stop lording over your own life. You are screwing things up for yourself. You should seriously consider asking God to help you to believe in His Son and His offer for you, instead of defending what the world has taught you about His Word in the face of His simple truth laid out before you. Then, as an act of humility to Him (kinda like bowing yourself down to a king when he passes by), dedicate some time each day to do something for the new part of Him that has been there, right under your nose all along: local mission work, personal study, treating people better based on His standards, finding and cultivating a skill He has given you. It shows The King of kings and The Lion of The Tribe of Judah that you are personally making a decision to put Him in control of you more now than you had yesterday. That is faith: action that stems from a proper understanding of Him and His expectations, and a selfless heart. Apps, and study guides, and preachers can only bring you so far if they are your main course.

Reading something in The Bible, with a heart of pride, that sounds like it is contradicting itself such as Revelation Ch. 22 verses 10, 18 and 19, we immediately jump to the conclusion that The Bible is defunct. This conclusion generally does not show in our words, but in our choices when a difficult situation arises that tempts us to make a choice that is not Biblical. If His word is defunct, so is The Lord: leaving the throne wide open for adultery to set in. No need to humble ourselves: challenge mitigated! we think. Sure, you keep tellin yourself that a couple years from now when death starts rap rap rappin on your door with it’s slow and methodical dance towards the grave, where pride’s final resting place will always be, has always been, and there are no exceptions to that. Away with you Satan! When our minds see a contradiction in the Bible, know that it is an opportunity for you to communicate with Your Creator: a fearful thing. The goal is to find out how it is not contradictory, through reading and studying the Scriptures. Reading the Scriptures is your best opportunity to do the listening part of prayer. Keep The Savior and those Scriptures on the forefront of your mind, all day, until God answers. He wrote it. He created you. He created and Lords over the world around you. Trust in Him and His Scripture from a noble and integritous heart. Change is scary, but you can do it. It is The Creator of the universe’s will for you to be victorious in this, even if it does not feel like it right now.

Lastly, in this journey where we are finding new age (from the new covenant forward) tools that are used to cultivate faith, the question word “how” is a very powerful tool in strengthening ones faith. Learn why asking “how” is so powerful in the next post. This post originally was a single, long-winded post extrapolating some of faith’s facets. I have decided, out of respect for your time and willingness to adapt to His ways, to break it up into two or three parts. This first part’s focus was on how reading Scripture from a place of faith is the key to unlocking the mysteries of God. Even with it’s being broken into three parts they are still quite long compared to other posts here. I hope they are extremely informative and a blessing to you.

Closing Prayer: Lord, I ask that those with ears to hear have heard, will hear, and will be able to spread faith from themselves to others. Protect the readers here and myself from the world of darkness, binding all their powers and principalities under Your authority. Give my readers wisdom in spreading this truth, not just to any others, but those whom You choose. Father, You are both magnified and glorified. You are awesome and the serpent is under Your feet. Thank You Lord for giving us the faith we need to move mountains and to align our will with Yours.

Thanks for reading and being a strong servant of The Most High God. If this article has resonated with you and you found goodness in it, please, consider sharing it with your friends and loved ones. Consider sharing it with a lost soul. Who knows, it could be that your sharing this little piece of God’s good news is just what that believer needs for encouragement, that friend needs to hear to keep them on the straight and narrow, or that lost loved one needs to bring them to a personal relationship with Messiah. Your shares, comments, and likes are very encouraging to me, and are a big part of what has helped me keep this ministry going since 2013. Thank you so much for all your support.

Go in faith, and a warm welcome to all the new followers of Gleaning The Scriptures from July and August. The comments section is wide open to say hi to everyone if you are new and to welcome new people if you have been here for a while. Lets use this blog to encourage and lift up one another through righteous and loving prayer. This ministry has reached more than 1,000 followers in more than 30 countries! Here is a pat on the back and a warm thank you, Gleaning the Scriptures would not be what it is without your support.

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As The Protector In The Fire

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Abednego, Beltashazzar, Bible, build, building, built, courage, Crucifixion, Daniel, Egypt, Faith, Fiery, Furnace, Gospel, Healing, Holy Spirit, jesus, Jesus Christ, Loving G-d, Meshak, Nebuchadnezzar, pagan, protection, relationship, scripture, scriptures, Shadrak, strength, The Lord, worship

Daniel Ch. 3 Excerpt

<Then, King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?”

They replied, “Certainly, your Majesty.”

He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!”

So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.>

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Gleanings:

Fair warning: this article will probably not feel good to read, it will probably sound wrong, and might change the way you view certain Biblical concepts. We are exploring who it was that was with the three in the fire. Was it an angel, [(good or bad) let’s remember God created satan and is in control of His angel, satan] or was it The Savior? If it was Yeshua than where else in Scripture does Yeshua reveal His image to our ancestors before His birth?

Don’t think it is impossible for satan to protect God’s people from fire. It is obvious satan is not known as some kind of wonderful shield. In fact, our shield is necessary to protect us against the devil. Do not be so naive to overlook some facts here though. The enemy protects satanic tribes from fire all the time when they are performing rituals like walking across hot coals. If those people are not worshiping The Savior they are in the devil’s stronghold. The occult survives because of the devil’s protection. There are several other examples of how the devil has the power to protect if you just look into it with an open mind.

The devil has many faces. He has tricked people into worshiping something other than Elohim in many ways (they did not get tricked because they were stupid, they got tricked because the devil is powerfully deceptive). Remember that Moses performed four miracles that the magicians of Egypt copy-catted. Another example of how satan has power that reflects the same as on high. Any pagan god gets it’s power from satan whether it be Baal, Allah, or any other god or thing that is put above Our Father in the hearts of wicked men.

So, King Nebuchadnezzar was quoted to say “…and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” That really does leave a lot unanswered. We know what we want to believe, however the point here is not to ruffle feathers or to be scary. It is simply an honest exploration of what God actually meant and His true character (the way He does things) without society’s current skew on Him. Did He use satan? Based on the text, it is not impossible, not probable, but not impossible. What was the fourth image of man in the fire? This could be answered through prayer. It is worth consideration, even if you come out of it with the same conclusion you had before.

I digress, have you ever really dug into what makes people feel good? Comedians often study the science of laughter. I use to be a people pleaser and lived to put smiles on people’s faces. I explored the structure of what puts a smile on a face, and what pulls a laugh right out of the gut. In studying these things, I have dug a bit beyond the “what” of what makes people laugh and went into the “why.” buh buh buhhhhhhhhhhh. I am gonna tell you here in a minute that the “why” is scary.

More often than not, what makes people smile a genuine smile is good, pure, and lovely. What makes people laugh is about 50/50 though. Irony makes people laugh. The blunt truth, put in a certain way does the same thing. Another way to make people laugh is to build tension, then break it with a joke. Lies also do it when told just right. Saying something that obviously is not true makes people laugh. Not just any kind of lie, though, but a blatant obvious lie said in the right circumstance. If you are scratching your head right now, just remember this and pay attention when a bunch of people are laughing. What made them laugh? A lot of times it is because somebody said the exact opposite of what the obvious truth is.

Why? Why is our body chemistry set in such a way that when we hear a blatant lie, we encourage the behavior with a laugh. A feeling so good during the moment that it wells up within us and we cannot help but burst out laughing. The answer is satan. The great deceiver coddles, and nurtures good feelings for people when they go against God’s rules. I know this is a hard pill to swallow, but it is not a lie, is it? satan is not all stealing, killing, and destroying, although that is his end goal in every circumstance. Sometimes the devil comes in the form of a laugh, an overwhelming sense of brotherly bonding, even protection from pain. Do not fret though, because The Father’s will is done in the end and no matter what satan wants or does not want to do, when The Father has chosen to put a good servant or an evil servant on a must-get-done task, it gets done.

Lets buy the idea that the devil has set us up to fail by making it feel good to tell lies in just the right ways. Why would he do that? Consider the one single outfit that The Father has bestowed upon His children. It is not pajamas, or a business suit, a leotard, or a swim suit. The one single garment He has given His children to wear is armor. The Father is very blatant with us about the fact that this entire life has purpose: we are warriors in a war. In ancient times the belt was the most important part of the armor if the whole thing was to be worn as it kinda links all the other pieces together. Scripture teaches us warriors that the belt is likened unto truth.

Now, as brusque as it may sound, you cannot pray a prayer and all of a sudden be wearing the belt of truth. We are not wizards, it does not work that way. Instead, a Messiah bound covenant keeper must structure his or her life around truth. That truly is armor. No wonder the enemy has first deceived most into behaving such that life is about ensuring family and friends have their comforts met. Is that a warriors way? Are warriors focused on comforts? No. In fact, most warriors have sacrificed their idea of comfort and their focus is goal oriented task completion based on the orders from above, or just their training if things get really bad and they are cut off from their orders. No wonder satan has structured this world such that second, we are encouraged, coddled, and nurtured into structuring our lives around telling white lies, funny lies, and lies to save our little behinds when we back ourselves into a corner that needs lies. The enemy wants lives to be structured such that we have to rely so heavily on mercy that we are completely incapable of even understanding orders if we happen to hear them. His deceptions are cunning, wise, and effective.

Brothers and sisters, not a single righteous person drifted into a strong and courageous relationship with God. It is hard work, sacrifice, and daily being thankful for the mercy that we once relied on and the grace that He bestows on us when we begin to behave with a spiritual maturity that gets real work done. Do not be idle brothers and sisters, actively be working out your salvation, as that is the reason why you are here. The Father uses all things, high and low, far and wide, rich or poor, seen and unseen, good and evil for the good of all who are actively putting their trust in Him.

Have a great evening, God’s children, we are incredibly blessed to be loved by a God who has done so much for us. He took on the sins of the world so that we could be free! He set us between His shoulders and defeated the blazing fiery serpent. Our God is amazing. We will take rest in Him and wait for our brothers and sisters so that we may enter heaven together! Praises to you Yeshua Messiah!