What is faith to you?

[stovebolts]

Faith to me has many dimensions but what I've grown to understand, is it's an utter trust in God. (Hebrews 11).
Faith for me is when under all odds, we put our lives and the lives around us in the hands of God. I don’t' believe this is a passive faith, I believe it is active.

Thoughts?

 

[ChristineES]

Last year (more like 18 months ago) we were about to lose our home. I prayed and put it in the Lord's hands and we still have our home and have no danger of losing it. That is faith.
Yeshua said that we should become like children in faith. When a child is ill, he or she knows that his mom and/or dad will take care of him or her and be there for him or her. A child will know that his parents will have food and clothing for him or her and so on. That is the kind of trust we need to have in Our Heavenly Father.

 

[thessalonian]

Faith is knowing God is greater than me and is in control.
Faith is knowing that some things are above my understanding.
Faith is knowing I am not in control.
Faith is doing without counting the cost.
Faith is doing what is right and knowing that in the end it will be for the good.
Faith is trusting that God loves me far more than I can love myself or anyone else can love me. Therefore he has my best interest in mind, since true love is having in mind the best interests of others and there is no more truer love than God, who is the source of all love.
Faith is trusting that he died for my sins and therefore trusting in his forgiveness when I have confessed.

That is enough for now

 

[lovely]

Thess,

I like your post very much...it represents my thoughts too.

Faith for me is the knowledge, and the hope, that even in face of seemingly prevailing evil, and sin, that God is my victory, and always treating me with goodness, always refining me, always teaching me, always holding me, etc...

I guess I could list tons of things, but basically He is all-sufficient for my life, and my only root source of hope because He is true, and His promises are true. When I lost my husband, because of God's preparation through other trials, and because of His abundant grace, and love, for me, I was able to accept His Will and praise Him in the midst of it. I was able to know right from the first day, all the way to this very moment, that He is always doing what is best for my life...even when I can't see it, and even when the pain seems unbearable. How? How, can one endure, and believe, such things? I could never do it on my own, because I am weak minded, and easily broken, but God, in me, can do it because He is the strength. His is the source of spiritual poise in my life because He is so very faithful. He is the miracle of Joy, and praise, in the midst of sorrow, compounded with practical trials, and the sorrow of my little ones. That is the amazing God that I serve, and I do not count the cost (as Thess said) because I was nothing when He found me. He has restored a broken vessel, and made her useful...whatever strengthens me more, and enables me to become more useful to my Lord is welcome in my life. I dedicate all I have to Him, and wish I could give Him more because of His most excellent sacrifice for me. Had I never met Him my life, I would be numb, useless, and empty. But, because I know Him, even in my deepest pain there is comfort and joy, and even when God allows it, (for the purpose of stretching me, growing me, refining me, and strengthening me) He gives me the strength to endure it, and blesses me out of it, and draws me nearer...which is the one thing that makes it all worthwhile. I say that, though, knowing that if this is as close as He ever allows me to be...I'll take it like a dog waiting for crumbs at the Master's table. How much more does my soul sing knowing that He has made me His child, and has given me an inheritance of eternal life as a daughter of the King of Kings! I am a slave to my faith, and to my Love. My faith is me now, and I am not me without it anymore. I praise God that He found me, and loved me. The Lord bless all of you.

 

[Gabbylittleangel]

I know that I know that I know.
The God who was in control yesterday, is in control today, and will be in control tomorrow. And forever.
:lilangel:

 

[Vic C.]

True faith is treating others as God would.

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

For me, Faith is the road less traveled. Please remind me to venture down that road more often.

 

[penlost]

Faith for me is total trust and confidence in God. Not always easy !!!

I love the passage that tells us when Peter walks on water. It pretty sums up human nature and how our faith should be.

 

[stovebolts]

I can't believe I'm going to post this :

First of all, I want to thank everyone that has posted in this topic. Thank you.
What has prompted me to post today, came from a statement to another member that almost blind sided me within the manner and context it was used.

...You are absolutely right. God bless your father for raising you in a sound Christian home.

Faith to me has many dimensions but what I've grown to understand, is it's an utter trust in God. (Hebrews 11).
Faith for me is when under all odds, we put our lives and the lives around us in the hands of God. I don’t' believe this is a passive faith, I believe it is active.

I want to unpack my statement as the road less traveled, if I can borrow the term Vic.

I realize that I’m not perfect. Nothing about me is perfect, not even my walk with Christ. I have so many questions in my head and sometimes life just doesn’t make sense. At times, I yearn to leave the pain that this world has to offer and be with my heavenly father who has promised to wipe away every tear from my eye.
Moses said, God, who shall I say sent me? God’s reply was, I AM. God is who we need him to be when we need him to be. God is never late, he’s always right on time.
Poor Abraham, he was old and grey when God fulfilled his promise. I wonder what went through his mind. I’m sure it was a test of endurance as each passing year went by. And what does God do when Isaac is born? He tells Abraham to take him up to the mountain. Yes, God is I AM because he has always been and always will be. But Abraham endured. Abraham obeyed because Abraham knew that God was, is and always will be.

Faith for me is when your world gets rocked so hard, that you have nowhere else to turn because in the midst of the darkness that surrounds you, a glimmer of light shines off in the distance. For those that were raised in good, solid Christian homes, be thankful that the Lord has not tested your faith to the degree that others faith has been tested. God has a plan for you, just as he has a plan for the orphan, the widow and the oppressed.

I don’t believe in once saved always saved. For those that do, I’d say that your faith has never been rocked hard enough for you to actually come to the realization you could raise your fist to God and turn your back on him. Every man has his breaking point. Not every man has been tested to his breaking point, nor is there cause to and I would not wish that upon my worst enemy.

I did not choose the way I was raised. I did not say to God, “God, do not place me in a good solid Christian homeâ€Â. Furthermore, I did not say to God. “God, Take my first born childâ€Â. You see, God knew the faith that I placed in my first born child. God knew the emphasis and importance that I placed on marriage and family. God knew that I despised divorce and I knew that God hated divorce. I swore an oath at an early age that I would never divorce and my children would never go to be without the words, I love you spoken to them. I was in my late 20’s when I started to force my Dad to tell me those three little words, how then, does one come to grips that his wife played a horrific role in the death of our beloved child?

One comes to grip with this and so much more by saying, God, YOU ARE my God. In fear and trembling, I honor your name for in all the darkness, you are my light.

You see, I have three other daughters. My middle daughter I have not seen since she was three. Her poor innocent world was shattered as the state ripped her from her sister and our dysfunctional family was further dispersed. She is currently in foster care and I’ve been told that she is so doped up on psych drugs that she will never be able to take care of herself. My oldest daughter just turned 17 this month and has been bounced in the foster care system more than I was. We e-mail back and forth on rare occasion when she feels like it, though it’s been awhile. My youngest Mariah, she is a doll and lives with my cousin and is being raised in the Roman Catholic Church. God bless her little heart, I know that God has plans for her. She misses her Sisters so much.

What do you have left when everything around you that you treasured has been ripped away? You have choice. Resentment and anger; or faith. Does one give up, or does he endure? Paul says, I will boast in my weakness… I often ponder the depth of that statement for in that weakness, he speaks of a reality we call strength. That strength, I believe, is faith that is refined through endurance.

Abraham was willing to do what God told him to do. He obeyed, but he never lost focus on what was ahead of him, even when he couldn’t see it because he knew that God is the great I AM, that was everything that Abraham needed Him to be, when he needed him to be it.

“Faith for me is when under all odds, we put our lives and the lives around us in the hands of Godâ€Â

When I was younger, I broke up with this guy that I was living with. I remember taking his 357 and placing it up to my head as tears rolled down my face. As I was about to pull the trigger, a voice said, “wait, there is somehing you must see.†And so I continue to wait.

No doubt, some would consider me a nut job. I make no excuses.

May God bless all of you.

 

[lily of God]

My faith for God and Jesus is everything. Without it, I am nothing.

peace

 

[lovely]

Jeff,

Words to a simple song came to my mind after I read your post...

I'd rather sail life's stormy seas,
With Jesus in my boat,
Than to sail the calmest waters,
Without Him in my boat.

He is my Hope in this world,
He is my Lasting Joy untold,
He is my Strength in times of trouble and storm,
His love will keep me from harm.

Your testimony, and your willingness to share it, are a huge blessing to me, and many others here.

I may share something more a little later, the Lord bless you today.

 

[Vic C.]

I want to unpack my statement as the road less traveled, if I can borrow the term Vic.

No problem Jeff, you can borrow the whole poem.

The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

 

[stovebolts]

Thank you all for your replies.

Sometimes it's hard keeping it all together in faith. Other times it's not. Paul was given a thorn in his side... whatever it was... I believe we all have a thorn that reminds us that there is a God, and he truly does love us.

I suppose the toughest part of faith is the trusting and the lack of control that one has in a given situation where submitting isn't even an option. For me, it's the patience and restraint that causes tension for the percieved justiifed desires in a world that just shouldn't be the way it is.. It's that place where you have absolutly no say so other than a silent plea to the only one you know is listening... And off in the distance, a gleam of light breaks through, and we call that light hope for in hope, all things are made new, and the day just seems a bit brighter.

 

[destiny]

Then he said to me, "Write, 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Rev. 19:9

Jeff, may each of your girls be sitting right beside you at that glorious table on that awesome day. God is faithful to those who love Him; I believe He will be faithful to bring our families in to the kingdom, just like he was faithful to Noahs family when the whole world was flooded.

 

[stovebolts]

Thank you destiny. I appreciate your kindness more than you know.

Here's where it gets hard to hold it together...but it's the last remaining item still standing... it's the only thing that is left... faith. faith holding faith. Nothing more, nothing less... maybe this needs to go into Christian talk and advice huh?

What I mean is this. It saddens me (this is probably coming from my oldest daughters 17th b-day that just passed and I didn't even get a call from her) but she is such a rebel. She's been tossed here and there in the foster care system since she was 4 years old and I only got to meet her again almost two years ago. It doesn't help that she's in WA, and i'm in MI. I have many memories of being helpless while I watched her introvert and then explode in rage at the begining when they were fist taken and realized they weren't coming home soon. I remember the day that I was told that they were going to seperate her and her sister from each other because she was being agressive toward her younger sister. It was at our weekly supervised meeting that they seperated them... I remember holding her tight in my arms as she sobbed, "Daddy, I won't be mean to sis anymore, please don't take her away". Her little world was rocked hard that day... and I was helpless... Every thought, even the crazy ones came up empty... Every thing I did was wrong... and everything that held meaning, was being ripped away in the front of my very eyes.. I can't tell you how many foster homes she moved in and out of after that. She's cold when she needs to be. She won't attach She can't trust and if need be, she doesn't have to care. All this rings in my head because I understand it...

I have nothing but faith, because She is in God's hands. I Augustines Confessions, Augustines mother was bugging the priest in tears that she was afraid that he son would end up in hell... The priest replied something to the effect that Augustine would be just fine with a mother praying so hard for her son. Later, Augustine repented and is now known as one of the great theologians of the early church. To me, that is more inpiring than almost any other thing that I have read. I can't answer the big question of why... What is God's purpose in this all? I seek, and I search... but I'm left with faith.... Faith in the form of "I AM"... everything I need Him to be.

Does this make since?

 

[mutzrein]

I've posted this in other places so will repeat here for the edification of any who may read it.

One day a child of mine asked me, “Dad, why are we so poor?†I said, “What makes you think we are poor?†And he told me of all the things others he knew, did and had. So I said to him, “Son, when you go bed at night you don’t have to worry about whether you’ll be warm and safe in your bed. It’s already provided for you. When you wake up in the morning, you don’t have to worry about whether there will be breakfast for you. It’s already provided. The clothes you wear, your food, your schooling, the home you live in and the security of a father that loves you. They are all yours. You have everything you need. “And,†I said, “this is the same relationship I have with my heavenly father. As I walk in the provision of his love every day I know that all of my needs have already been met. And yours are too.â€Â

And this is what faith is. We don’t have to worry about anything because we know that while we walk in the provision of a loving heavenly Father, whatever the circumstance, He cares and will provide for His own. And so our lives become a walk of faith. We don’t have to strive. We don’t have to worry. We just need to dwell in Him. And this is the righteousness that we have in Christ. To those who are His son’s and daughters, His provision has already been made.

By Gods grace, through Christ alone, we have been born into His family as sons and heirs of the living God. And by reason of our relationship to Him, the gift of faith enables us to dwell in His provision day by day. We don’t have to strive. We don’t have to be anxious for anything because we know God will, rather, has already provided. And this is the inheritance we have through Christ. It is our confidence that even as the gospel was preached in advance to Abraham, the man of faith - to whom God credited righteousness because he believed God and trusted in His provision. This is the same righteousness imputed to us by faith that is inherent in any child who trusts in the provision of all things from his father.

So, faith is not an act of the will or even a state of mind. It is position of implicit trust. And when this is so, we walk as Jesus walked – doing the will of our Father in heaven.

Now tell me. Who has faith?

 

[destiny]

Jeff, I had a long post typed out about the things my husbands exwife put us through, but my electricity flashed off and back on and killed it.
It really wasn't anything but a personal tangent that probably wouldn't have glorified God in the least.
To make a looong story short, she used to withhold his kids for months at a time because she couldn't control our household.
We couldn't afford lawyers and pay child support too so we took whatever she dished out most of the time.
There was drug use, alcohol, and a constant influx of different men that those kids had to endure.
Things aren't as bad now because she finally married someone who is decent, but those kids aren't without scars.

All that we went through taught us that theres nowhere else to go except to God, you either get bitter the fleshly way, or you run to Him and get closer to His heart. It really is about trusting Him with your most precious possessions.
You really have no other alternative but to believe God can somehow redeem your situation with your daughters because thats a part of who he is, He's not a God of loose ends.
I really believe he will begin to heal hearts in His good timing, and faith is what moves Him faster than anything else.
You are in a very hard situation, I can't even imagine, but I know how big God is because i've watched him work in our situation so many times when things seemed hopeless.
You've already experienced His hand moving awesomely in your life, He's brought you through so much.
I know without a doubt that God can do for your teenage daughter in a moment what years of therapy can't begin to touch. (you know that)
Keep trusting, keep walking it out, keep waiting on God ...He'll move in His perfect timing.
You're right, all you've got left is faith, and thats the key ingredient. It's all you need.
All of this is shaping you into a compassionate, longsuffering, and understanding man of God. God always works things to the good of those who love Him.

 

[stovebolts]

Jeff, I had a long post typed out about the things my husbands exwife put us through, but my electricity flashed off and back on and killed it.

LOL, I think that's a God thing ;-)

I had to get away from this thread anyway. Ironically, I've been pretty darn busy and havn't had time to really respond. Again, I think it's a God thing :

Never less, Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I can relate.

Ya know what though? I was thinking yesterday morning that our faith is expressed through love. Sometimes we don't recognize what love really is because of our pre-concieved ideas of love tied so heavily to romantics in our western world.

It's kind of like, what is love? God is love.
Who is God? God is, "I AM".

Mutz,
I caught your post in the other thread. I thought that it was put together very well and serves as a great inspiration.
Thank you for taking the time to post it once again.

If either of you get to read this today (Friday), have a great weekend.

 

[mutzrein]

Thanks Stove - I didn't see your comment till the END of the weekend (for me) so now I will look forward to a great week.

Thanks & Bless you

 

[Gendou Ikari]

Faith is believing in something your mind believes is logical, yet never knowing for sure, because your mind is flawed, ergo, so is your logic.

However, Faith is worthless next to the most important aspect of life - Love.

1 Corinthians 13 (King James Version)

1Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

2And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

3And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

4Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

5Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

6Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

7Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

8Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

9For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

10But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

11When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

12For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

13And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

 

[Joudie]

Faith to me is knowing God will always be there no matter what.

Believing that He will always protect me, always love me and watch over me and the ones I love.

Believing that every trial and tribulation I go through is a test from God, and that He will be by me until the end.

Thessalonian put it really well too--my thoughts exactly...