Saturday, March 8, 2008

What Is Part I: Faith

Caleb has been asking some great thought provoking questions. Thanks Caleb, for letting me get in on the conversation. There's more to come, by the way. Stay tuned for parts two, three and four. With that said, Here are my thoughts on faith:
I think a good starting description, or definition, is in the book of Hebrews. It says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Heb 11:1 NASB) How much more clear could it be!! But there's one problem. My little pea brain can't always process that concept, so I cry out "Lord, help me to know!! Help me to understand! I don't know if I can trust you!!" But if I would just read a little closer I'd see that that's sorta the point.
Romans 8:24 says "For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?" Of course!! How could I surrender to God if I knew everything about Him? How could I surrender to God if he revealed all of His mysteries to me? How could I trust God if I knew all of His intentions? If God were to reveal all of His plans and purposes to me I'd know what He knows and I wouldn't need him!
And, I don't know... but, I hope that Christ really did conquer death, and although I've never physically seen Him, faith is my assurance that Christ really did conquer death. It is the foundation of my conviction that God really does exist.
So, I guess that's it for now... Good topic though. Definitely worth mulling over for a bit.

18 comments:

Caleb said...

Thanks for the excellent thoughts. I'm glad to have you taking part in this and I will do the same. I look forward to what is to come.

Anonymous said...

Faith is believing in those things that we do not see.

We are Christians because we know that Christ was here and that He is coming again.

But faith goes hand in hand with hope and love.

For we hope for a better future, that is why for now we love one another, for it's through love that we obey Gods' commandment.

Caleb said...

I'm adding this in response to your comment on my prayer blog because I think that there is such a strong correlation between faith and prayer. Your dream is so powerful and it's amazing how vividly you remember it. I have no "miracle" stories on prayer to share with you but I do know that mine have been answered a number of times and not always in the way that I expected but always in the way that I needed it to be answered. Kerri and I were discussing prayer the other night a but and also miracles. It had something to do with feathers falling from the ceiling. I feel like the more that I hear about weird things like this the more that I desire to see a "miracle" but in my heart I know that everyday is a true miracle from God. I don't need these silly little acts to prove Gods presence. I just have to focus on him and then I know that He is there with me. So I'm jealous that you had such a powerful and vivid dream but I'm so happy for you. That is such an awesome thing!!!

I think that the power of prayer goes hand in hand with the "faith as small as a poppy seed" thing. I think that we have so much power in our prayer through God....or I should say that God has so much power that he uses through us. What a priviledge that is. Prayer works and I'm poor at it. I seem to get some of my best prayer time on my dirt bike or on my mt. bike. It's like I have to keep that ADD part of my brain distracted to really pray well. The funny thing is that I ride better when I'm praying. I'm trying to find more time with scripture and God and am slowly getting better and the better that I do the better my life gets so there is some great power there. I feel like my thoughts are coming out all scrambled and I'm rambling due to being tired so I'm going to get going but it was good to see you today and I'll talk to you soon.

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