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| Faith to move mountains |
Remember the Past
Chances are that this down time isn't the first that you've experienced and it is probably not the last. I remember the time that my wife and I were down to our last. Our credit cards were maxed and delinquent, savings gone and our checking accounts overdrawn, we had borrowed money from relatives, the church had helped us, and we were close to being on the street. We were in a new city, didn't know many people, and the company that moved us had run out of money and shut down. Out of the blue (we know that it was not really out of the blue, it was God), I got a telephone call from somebody that I hadn't talked to in at least five years, and I know he didn’t have my phone number, but he had somebody find me. To this day I don’t know how they knew where I was or my phone number. He needed some help on a big project and needed a consultant and adviser and he retained me that day. I look back on this experience when problems come and I feel my faith slipping and I say to myself remember that time……. This is just one example, and this isn't even the most dramatic one. I’m saving that one for a future post. With each experience my faith in God increases and I become stronger and my periods of doubt and fear become shorter and fewer. So when the down times come remember the times that God stepped in and handled it.
Look at other Believers
Someone reading this may be going through something similar or identical to the situation I just described. My testimony is an example for you that God will make a way for you too. Remember God is no respecter of persons. He doesn't love me more that He loves you. His solution for you may not be like the one He had for me but trust Him and don’t doubt. I’m sure that you know others who can tell you of their experience of holding fast to their faith and trust in God and although things looked dire they made it through and God did not forsake them. Churches don’t allow a time for people to give testimonies much anymore but it was at those were times we often heard from people who were going through or had gone through exactly what we are going through. God’s intervention in their lives example for us of God’s faithfulness. Remember God is not a respecter of persons.
Seven Promises From the Bible – The Word of God
Standing on the promises of God is a major ingredient in the formula for increasing and strengthening our faith here are seven:
1. Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
2. 2 Corinthians 12:9 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.
3. Romans 8:28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.
4. Isaiah 41:10 Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand.
5. Matthew 6:25-32 “This is why I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than they? Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Learn how the wildflowers of the field grow: they don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t He do much more for you—you of little faith? So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the idolaters eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
6. 1 John 5:14-15 Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.
7. Philippians 4:6-7 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
These are only seven of the promises of God to us. There are hundreds. The "Promises of God" page on my website FaithTheEvidence.com gives you 10 that will help you to stand no matter the situation or circumstance. If you have a concordance, your bible has a concordance, or if you have a book of promises of the bible, find the specific promise or promises that speak to your situation and include them in you time with God. He doesn’t need to be reminded of them but we do.
1 Peter 1:6-7 You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to struggle in various trials so that the genuineness of your faith—more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. James 1:2-3 Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
Trials will come to all of us but they come to make us strong and to increase and strengthen our faith.
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