For the past fifteen years, I have been deceiving myself by listening to teachers and preachers teaching the faith message. I neglected my responsibility to prove out what I heard by the Word of God and listened to the false teaching that faith was for me to use to get things for myself.
Whether it was for circumstances to change to my advantage or for material things that I wanted or needed. I foolishly believed that if I got things using my "faith" that I actually had faith. I have come to believe that faith actually has nothing to do with material things or circumstances that I want.
The word "faith" is used in the King James Version of the New Testament 231 times. In glancing through the passages that contain the word "faith", I found that I could not find any passage where we were instructed to use our faith for money, houses, clothes, jobs, or any material thing. I can't find where we were instructed to use our faith for the necessities of life or to get what we want. I have come to the conclusion that our faith is for furthering the kingdom of God, to help us live holy lives, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation, and to love others with the love of God.
My blog posts may not be so controversial for a while but I am going to satisfy the questions I have about all I have been taught for the last fifteen years. I think faith should provoke us to want to DO something FOR God not GET something FROM Him. So I am going to go through and actually READ every passage IN CONTEXT where faith is mentioned in the New Testament and see for myself what it is. Maybe then I will get back to my "first love". I remember it and can feel it tugging at me. I am determined to rediscover it.
A Reflector of His Bountifulness
11 years ago
3 comments:
Great post! I share your views and I happen to be on the same quest. I’m also re-learning the art of a simple trust in God and finding faith in Him. The same preachers are teaching that faith is a currency that one could use as a mean of exchange for any transaction. They seem to define and understand “transaction” in its very materialistic sense. They claim and boast that they have a great faith in their accounts. Isn’t it strange that when they need anything they resort to manipulation, coercion and merchandising of goods? Is it too much for us to ask them to simply trade their faith for their needs instead of milking out our wallet and purses? The truth is they have lost their faith; they have become apostates and blind guides that are leading us.
I always enjoy your blogs and agree with all of your comments
John Edwards AKA Junker Jorge
My favorite part of this post is where you write, "I have come to the conclusion that our faith is for furthering the kingdom of God, TO HELP US LIVE HOLY LIVES, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation, and to love others with the love of God."
I particulary like the "holy lives" part. I see no indication that it is even a priority with the majority of evangelicals today.
Great post!
-Martha
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