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Being Faithful
But the LORD God gave him this warning: "You may freely eat any fruit in the garden except fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat this food, you will surely die."
[Genesis 2: 16-17 (NLT)]
"You won't die!" the [devil, which disguised as a] serpent hissed.
[Genesis 3: 4 (NLT)]
[Genesis 2: 16-17 (NLT)]
"You won't die!" the [devil, which disguised as a] serpent hissed.
[Genesis 3: 4 (NLT)]
My cell group discussed about this just now. And I have so many things to say about this topic: Faith.
Firstly, think about what is your definition of "faith in God". For me, faith is a strong belief in something or someone. This belief is seen and heard not by the physical eye and ear, but from the eye and ear of your heart - what does God let you see and tell you.
Yet faith comes from listening to this message of good news - the Good News from Christ.
[Romans 10: 17 (NLT)]
[Romans 10: 17 (NLT)]
Well, His Word is very important in maintaining your faith in Him. In Genesis 2: 16-17, God specifically told Adam not to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But because the serpent (devil) told them that they will not die, which is the opposite of what God said, Adam and Eve was tempted to eat the fruit, for it looks so delicious. The temptations let them fall into evil desires: disobeying God. Result? They fell short of God's glory for they sinned against God. They did not follow God's Word, and they "died".
Hmm? Died? Snow-White-and-poisonous-apple died?
No!
There are two concepts of death that are brought up in the cell just now:
1) Death of your spirit: God no longer has full control over your body, soul, heart and mind. Evil has taken part of it, for you have accepted the word of the devil. So, disobidience of God leads to death of the spirit.
2) Death of relationship between you and God: You have sinned to God. You are no longer Holy. God is Holy. He doesn't mix with sins (Ci Maria in my church used the symbolism of God and sins as water and oil - never soluble). Our relationship is broken.
But! Jesus came and took all of our sins! God gave us one more chance to rise up to Him THROUGH HIS SON, OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST! If we have faith in the Trinity, we could gain salvation.
So, ultimately, what is faith?
Just now, we played a game: we are split into 2 groups and one person in each group is blindfolded. The person has to find an item around the room with the guidance of the other people in your group. Trust me: it's hard to figure out which group screams what? The point of the game? There are 3 lessons we learn from this game:
Lesson One: Parts of faith
One part of faith is believing. When the person in the blindfold is led in darkness, he or she will not ask "Why?" to any advice the teammates give. The person just follows the advice. So, we need to follow God's advice just like that.
Lesson Two: Identifying God's Voice
Our thoughts are normally bombarded by decisions from different aspects of our lives: knowledge (of good and evil), personal belief, moral values, instincts, the Bible, etc. So, which is God's voice? Duh~! The Bible! We follow His Word! If the blindfolded person follows the direction of the wrong team because they hear the wrong voice, he or she will be led astray.
Lesson Three: We need God!
Imagine that we play this game alone in the group. We have no voice to lead us to the item. We till wander across the room, just that we wander in darkness, reaching out for things we don't know what it is. But the game has others who is advicing you to where to go. Thank God for that! For He is the One leading you! Well, just think the room as Earth. The Earth is in darkness. Your teammates are One God. And the item is Heaven (ultimate salvation). God is shouting to us, like out teammates. Without Him, we are wandering around the Earth, knowing and seeing nothing! We are blinded by our sins. We need God's voice! We need Him!!!
This is why Adam and Eve sinned against God: they heard and follow the wrong voice! Remember that Satan is not a liar, but a tempter. He tempts people to fall short of God's Glory. This is why it is difficult to hear the voices in our hearts. God and Satan speaking in 2 voices, telling you opposite things. So, how to know which is which?
Pray! When praying, you are communicating with God alone. Satan is not involved! Be focused to your prayer and you'll hear God's Voice telling you what to do. Note that our God tells things in unique ways. Believe me! I experienced it once when God tells me to surrender any problems to Him through my friend. And I have to say that the experience when you do so is SO amazing!
And don't look at faith like a heart. Faith cannot be counted. Doesn't mean if you have "one" faith, that's enough. There's no "one" to faith. "One" is never enough! Neither is "millions". We must have "infinite" faith - i.e. complete faith in our Lord Jesus Christ!
"All right, come [and walk on the waters to me]," Jesus said.
So Peter went over the side of the boar and walked on the water towards Jesus. But when he looked around the high waves, he was terrified and began to sink. "Save me, Lord!" he shouted.
Instantly Jesus reached out his hand and grabbed him. "You don't have much faith (also: You of little faith)," Jesus said. "Why did you doubt me?"
[Matthew 14: 29-31 (NLT)]
So Peter went over the side of the boar and walked on the water towards Jesus. But when he looked around the high waves, he was terrified and began to sink. "Save me, Lord!" he shouted.
Instantly Jesus reached out his hand and grabbed him. "You don't have much faith (also: You of little faith)," Jesus said. "Why did you doubt me?"
[Matthew 14: 29-31 (NLT)]
Temptations and problems (and doubts) also shakes our faith if we are not strong. When we are weak in our faith, we tend to be destroyed (collapsed) by evil temptations or problems. In these verses, we can see that Peter has little faith in Jesus, because when he saw the wave, he was afraid and thought that he might sink. He is forgetting one thing: walking on water is God's Will for him! Jesus is by his side! The same thing happens. When we are in trouble, we tend to forget God and follows our own instincts. This is wrong. We have to live, in bad times and good times, in God. How? Through God's Word - The Bible! That's what Romans 10: 17 says.
Now you know what is faith, pray that God will strengthen your faith in Him. Seek Him and His Word every day! Make a strong faith be your strong foundation, so that it will not be destroyed like Peter's in a storm.
God bless you!
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