**THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS IS **FAITH** EXPRESSING ITSELF THROUGH LOVE**!!{Galatians 5:6}
Acts 26:17,18: Jesus said to Paul, "I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are **SANCTIFIED BY FAITH**!"
Romans 1:17: For in the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed--a righteousness that is **BY FAITH FROM FIRST TO LAST**!!
Romans 3:23-25: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood--to be received **BY FAITH**!!
Romans 3:27,28: Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? **NO**, because of the law that **REQUIRES FAITH**! For we maintain that a person is **JUSTIFIED BY FAITH** apart from the works of the law!!
Romans 5:1,2: Therefore, since we have been **JUSTIFIED THOUGH FAITH**, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access **BY FAITH** into this grace in which we now stand!!
Romans 10:5-9: Moses writes about the righteousness that is by the law: "The person who does these things will live by them." {Lev 18:5} But the righteousness that comes **BY FAITH** says...The word is near you: it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the message concerning **FAITH** that we proclaim: IF you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your **FAITH** and are saved!!
Romans 12:3: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the **FAITH** God has distributed to each of you!!
Romans 14:23: Everything that does not come **FROM FAITH** is sin!!
2 Corinthians 1:24: We work with you for your joy, because it is **BY FAITH** you stand firm!!
2 Corinthians 5:6-10: We are always confident and know that as long as we are at home with the body we are away from the Lord. For we live **BY FAITH**, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please Him... For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad!!
Galatians 2:16: We know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but **BY FAITH** in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our **FAITH** in Christ Jesus that we may be **JUSTIFIED BY FAITH** in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law **NO ONE WILL BE JUSTIFIED**!!
Galatians 3:23-26: Before the coming of this **FAITH**, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the **FAITH** that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be **JUSTIFIED BY FAITH**. Now that this **FAITH** has come we are **NO LONGER UNDER THE SUPERVION OF THE LAW**. So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God **THROUGH FAITH**!!
Galatians 5:5,6: For through the Spirit we eagerly await **BY FAITH** the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is **FAITH** expressing itself through **LOVE**!!
Ephesians 2:8-10: For it is by grace you have been saved, **THROUGH FAITH**--and this is not from yourselves, it is the **GIFT** of God by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do!!
Ephesians 3:16,17: I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts **THROUGH FAITH**!!
I Thessalonians 1:3: We remember before our God and Father you work produced **BY FAITH**!!
2 Thessalonians 1:3,4: We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your **FAITH** is growing **MORE AND MORE**....Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and **FAITH** in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring!!
2 Thessalonians 1:11: We constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling, and that by His power He may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed **PROMPTED BY FAITH**!!
I Timothy 1:3,4: Command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer... Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God's work--which is **BY FAITH**!!
2 Timothy 3:14,15: Continue in what you have learned and become convinced of...and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation **THROUGH FAITH** in Christ Jesus!!
Hebrews 11:1,3,6: So **FAITH** is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see...**BY FAITH** we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, in that what is seen was not made out of what was visible... Without **FAITH** it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He **REWARDS** those who earnestly seek Him!!
Hebrews 12:1,2: Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfecter of our **FAITH**!!
**THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS IS FAITH EXPRESSING ITSELF THROUGH **LOVE**!!{Galatians 5:6}
Ephesians 2:8-10: For it is by grace you have been saved, **THROUGH FAITH**--and this is not from yourselves, it is the **GIFT** of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do!!
For me that raises other questions. What are we trusting in? what is the object of our faith? Are we worrying ourselves about having enough faith? are we doubting the Lord because we feel or think that we have the wrong kind of faith?
The Corinthians were anything but shining examples. but paul tells them they were abounding in faith(II cor. 8:7).
romans 3:3 says that even the unbelief of some in Israel doesn't nullify the faithfulness of God.
I like this translation of eph. 3:12-in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through his faithfulness.
without a doubt, there are passages that emphasize our faith and faithfulness. but it is based on the faithfulness of God and of Christ. there are a number of verses that are translated "faith of Christ" in the older translations. they come much closer to being a better representation of the concept "faithfulness of Christ" than many of the newer translations.
In closing, let me add this scripture-mark 9:24-"Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!"
**THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS IS FAITH EXPRESSING ITSELF THROUGH ***LOVE***!!{Galatians 5:6}
**THE FATHER LOVES HIS FAITHUL SAINTS JUST AS MUCH AS HE LOVES JESUS**
John 17:23: Jesus says to His Father, "You sent Me and have **LOVED THEM** even as you **LOVED** Me!!"
**JESUS LOVES HIS FAITHFUL SAINTS **JUST AS MUCH** AS THE FATHER LOVES HIM**!!
John 15:9,10" Jesus says, "As the Father **LOVED** Me, so I have **LOVED** you!! Now remain in My **LOVE . **IF** you obey My commands, you will remain in My **LOVE** , just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in His **LOVE** !"
John 14:21,23: Jesus says, "Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who **LOVES** Me! He who loves Me will be **LOVED** by My Father, and I will **LOVE** him....If anyone **LOVES** Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will **LOVE** him, and we will come to him and make Our home with him!!"
I John 3:18: Dear children, let us not **LOVE** with words or tongue but with actions and in truth!
WHAT'S **LOVE**GOT TO DO WITH IT??
I Peter 1:22: "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere **LOVE** for your brothers, **LOVE** one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again... through the living and enduring Word of God!
I Peter 4:8: **ABOVE ALL**, **LOVE** each other **DEEPLY**, because **LOVE**covers over a multitude of sins!
I Corinthians 13:2,4-8: If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not **LOVE** I am nothing...**LOVE** is patient, **LOVE** is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. **LOVE** does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. **LOVE** never fails!!"
John 13:34: Jesus says, "A NEW command I give you: **LOVE* one another As I have **LOVED** you, so you must **LOVE** one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples." John 15:12,13: Jesus says, "My command is this: **LOVE** each other as I have **LOVED** you. Greater **LOVE** has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
I John 3:16: This how we know what **LOVE** is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers!
Ephesians 5:1,2: Be **IMITATORS OF GOD**, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of **LOVE**, just as Christ **LOVED** us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God!
Luke 6:27,28,35,36: Jesus says, "**LOVE** your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. **LOVE** your enemies, do good to them. and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your **REWARD** will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful!"
Matthew 28:19.20� Jesus commands, �Go and make disciples of all nations... teaching them to *OBEY EVERYTHING* I have commanded you!� {See I John 2:3-5}
EVERYTHING would also include all the other commands in God's inspired Word from Acts to Revelation as per 2 Timothy 3:16: 4:2: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work...Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction."
If we really **LOVE** our brothers and sister in Christ we will lovingly teach them to obey all the approximately 400 commands of the NT with **LOVE** in the hope of countless eternal rewards when Jesus comes with great power with all His angels.
Revelation 22:112: Jesus says,"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done!?
Matthew 16:27: Jesus says, For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father's glory with His angels, and **THEN** He will **REWARD** each person according to what he has done."
Ephesians 4:15: "Speaking the Truth in **LOVE** , we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ! From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in **LOVE** , as each part does its work."
Ephesians 3:17-19: "I pray that you, being rooted and established in **LOVE** may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the **LOVE** of Christ, and to know this **LOVE** that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God!!"
I John 4:7-12: Dear friends, let us **LOVE** one another, for **LOVE** comes from God. Everyone who **LOVES** has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not **LOVE** does not know God, because God is **LOVE**. This is how God showed His **LOVE**among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is **LOVE**, not that we **LOVED** God, but that He **LOVED** us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends,since God so **LOVED** us, we ought to **LOVE** one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we **LOVE** one another, God lives in us and His **LOVE** is made complete in us!
Romans 8:35,37-39: Who shall separate us from the **LOVE** of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...We are more than conquerors through Him who **LOVED** us! For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the **LOVE** of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!!
Yes, MountainGrace, you make some great points. I think our main problem as Christians can be applied to all the questions you have set forth. Many times we start out trusting in God by our weak faith... only to fall back and try to fit things or make things happen ourselves, because in order to really trust in God to do whatever we have required of Him, it takes not only a mustard seed of faith, but PATIENCE... WHICH WE don't have...this is why James teaches us to allow or let patience have her perfect works in us.
Well, that means being still and waiting until GOD'S TIMING has come to pass, because God waits for us to be still and know that we can trust in Him... be still and wait, so that our FAITH might be increased through our patiently waiting on Him to act on our behalf.... I know for myself, I sometimes find myself saying as David..."God, get in a hurry and do such'n such...lol
To respond to your other question. I too, find myself thinking I have no faith at all, when things are not happening as I thought they should or as fast as I think they should. Only because I get IMPATIENT waiting for God to get a move on...lol... Of course, satan uses this wait period, to try and convince us that we have no faith and that God isn't going to answer. AND, God uses this wait period to ALLOW the devil to test us and discourage us in our faith, to see if we ARE INDEED trusting AND DEPENDING on/ in Him ONLY.... depending on His promises or if we are depending and trusting in our own strength and depending on our own means to make things happen.
The wait period of our faith to see faith in action should and most always take me to the passage wherein, we are encouraged that "weeping may last for the night but JOY comes in the morning"... notice God never tells us when that morning might come... morning, may be over night, in a day or a week or month or years.. but we are exhorted to hold on nevertheless until that joy come in our hearts, and we see/feel that rise of joy coming our way through our answered prayers. Our faith will never fail if we are truly trusting and depending in/on the Lord.
To your third question, I would have to say, we do doubt much. This is also why God instructed men and women of God, He sent forth to not doubt, but to be of good courage... even the disciples doubted many thing Jesus told them, but Jesus instructed and encouraged them not to doubt... There is one thing the disciples did, that many of times I haven't done, but I have been encouraged in my heart to hold on and not doubt... but the disciples ask Jesus to INCREASE THEIR FAITH, during the times they found themselves doubting. Moreover, the disciples/apostles doubted Jesus' return and even the resurrection of our Lord, therefore, having the wrong kind of faith doesn't necessarily mean we must doubt whether one has weak or strong faith. Even sinners have strong faith, and God said He rains on the sinner and the saint because of their faith.
Yes, God honors His word and it doesn't matter if the person is a sinner and has faith, God will honor this sinner's faith...otherwise, we would have no salvation, because while we were YET SINNERS... BUT GOD!
Thus, having this "wrong kind of faith" as you refer to it as being, I can only suspect this is your meaning of "wrong kind of faith"... this is within ourselves out of FEARS, after all fear hinders faith... and this really doesn't amount to having weak or strong faith, but having fear. Many Christians have weak faith and some have strong faith only because their faith over the years during trials and tribulations has been strengthened through the many tests of trials, and some have not been strengthened due to whatever course of action taken to remove their life problems. The only way a person can have strong faith, is our faith MUST BE CULTIVATED through the TRIBULATIONS, SORROWS, AND DISAPPOINTMENT WE ENDURE IN LIFE.
Yes, the Corinthians were abounding in faith because they had the key, they had "FAITH TO BELIEVE" in the spiritual gifts God had poured upon them. After all, we are taught that it is IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE GOD without faith! This is also why we don't see or experience miracles like we should, we as Christian believers LACK STRONG "FAITH TO BELIEVE", and MANY CHRISTIANS refuse to allow God to "CULTIVATE THEIR FAITH", through the process of waiting, tribulations, sorrows and suffering, and other experience... we have become "MICROWAVED" Christians just as the world. No one cares to wait patiently for anything or anyone, and especially wait on God.
Reminds me of what Paul writes to us in Romans Chapter 5: Note verses 3-5 (Verse 1: "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God�s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."
GNWS states: "Because they rely upon the clown called pastor to tell them what they believe instead of reading for themselves. They also read the works and words of men which have no power to save, to change or to empower people unto faith in Messiah"
I am so glad the Gospel of Jesus Christ IS NOT ABOUT YOU NOR DID/HAVE YOU ORDAINED NOT ONE OFFICE OR OFFICER IN GOD'S CHURCH (BODY OF CHRIST OR A CHURCH BUILDING! PRAISE THE MOST HIGH GOD IF ISRAEL!!!!
Ephesians 4:11-16 "And GOD HIMSELF (not GNWS)...but it was GOD HIMSELF WHO gave/ordained some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head�Christ� from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."
Jude, RIGHT ON!!!! That;s why Posted what I did, because he calls pastors clowns and thinks there are such in the Bible. AND YET... he 's under the assumption that GOD SAID WOMEN ARE TO KEEP SILENT AND LISTEN TO SUCH MEN AS HE TO TEACH US ... WHAT A TOTAL JOKE! .... to think that God would have anybody listen to a man or woman who doesn't rightly divide the word of truth .. Nooooot! LOL
CORRECTION: Jude, RIGHT ON!!!! That's why I posted what I did, because he calls pastors clowns and thinks there are no such office in the Bible. AND YET... he's under the ASSUMPTION that GOD SAID WOMEN ARE TO KEEP SILENT AND LISTEN TO SUCH MEN AS HE TO TEACH US ... WHAT A TOTAL JOKE! .... to think that God would have anybody listen to a man or woman who doesn't rightly divide the word of truth .. Nooooot! LOL
George didn't focus on the word "pastor" in Eph 4:11...since he likes to argue it's not in the Bible...
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