In Phil. 1:21, Paul wrote to the church “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” To die to one’s self is to gain the glory of Christ. To die is to be righteous. When you chose to die to yourself, which is to live righteously in and through God, you gain blessings through Christ. So, to me, God is showing that when you choose to live righteously, which is to choose to follow Christ out of free-will, you will have a hedge of protection over you that no man, woman, or demon can penetrate. A heavenly shield per say. God wants and desires to give us blessings, but it is up to us to make the righteous decisions.
To me, Faith is a very difficult thing for me to grasp. For example, I have faith is what I can see, smell, touch, taste, hear, etc. Physical attributes that I can account for like a bed. I know it is in my room, because it barely fit in the first place. I can feel it when I get into it for a nights rest, and so on. It is truly difficult to deny my fleshly thinking and have faith in an unseen God. To not have seen, or touched, but maybe have heard, but not smelled is 1 of 4 feelings, which in a testing environment would be 25%. Not good.
When I think about it more, God is so faithful to me, which means to me that He has never forsaken me, even though I may have turn my back on Him. He may have distanced Himself from me but He believes I can make the right decisions and He still knocks on my hearts door once in awhile to say “Hey, I`m still hear.” In a way, I have seen God’s works in regards to the mission field, to providing me with blessings (a roof over my head), and feeling His presence in worship. Also, something that strengthens my faith is seeing how powerful God in storms, natural disasters, etc.
But one thing I know for sure that keeps my faith set on my belief that there is a God and that He is present is that God sent His Son to die on the cross for my sins. No man can deny that Christ didn’t exist; it’s historical and factual. Not every man will believe what we, as Christians, know that He is the Christ, the Living Son of the High God. Just as Simon Peter said after Christ asked him who he thought He was,” You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” So what God shows me is my faith can be strong in the facts that Christ did exist and died for all, and that it is up to us to have faith that He can change the world through us. I wish I would live by my words sometimes J God Bless all of you!
Awesome thoughts, Keenan! In this quotation drawn from Psalm 5, the English-language word "righteous" is derrived from the Hebrew-language transliteration "tsaddiyq (צַדִּיק)." Literally speaking, it may be construed to mean "those who are justified because they live correctly." They have exercised faith in Blood Atonement. Thanks for sharing what He showed you!
In Phil. 1:21, Paul wrote to the church “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” To die to one’s self is to gain the glory of Christ. To die is to be righteous. When you chose to die to yourself, which is to live righteously in and through God, you gain blessings through Christ. So, to me, God is showing that when you choose to live righteously, which is to choose to follow Christ out of free-will, you will have a hedge of protection over you that no man, woman, or demon can penetrate. A heavenly shield per say. God wants and desires to give us blessings, but it is up to us to make the righteous decisions.
ReplyDeleteWhat is “Faith”?
ReplyDeleteTo me, Faith is a very difficult thing for me to grasp. For example, I have faith is what I can see, smell, touch, taste, hear, etc. Physical attributes that I can account for like a bed. I know it is in my room, because it barely fit in the first place. I can feel it when I get into it for a nights rest, and so on. It is truly difficult to deny my fleshly thinking and have faith in an unseen God. To not have seen, or touched, but maybe have heard, but not smelled is 1 of 4 feelings, which in a testing environment would be 25%. Not good.
When I think about it more, God is so faithful to me, which means to me that He has never forsaken me, even though I may have turn my back on Him. He may have distanced Himself from me but He believes I can make the right decisions and He still knocks on my hearts door once in awhile to say “Hey, I`m still hear.” In a way, I have seen God’s works in regards to the mission field, to providing me with blessings (a roof over my head), and feeling His presence in worship. Also, something that strengthens my faith is seeing how powerful God in storms, natural disasters, etc.
But one thing I know for sure that keeps my faith set on my belief that there is a God and that He is present is that God sent His Son to die on the cross for my sins. No man can deny that Christ didn’t exist; it’s historical and factual. Not every man will believe what we, as Christians, know that He is the Christ, the Living Son of the High God. Just as Simon Peter said after Christ asked him who he thought He was,” You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” So what God shows me is my faith can be strong in the facts that Christ did exist and died for all, and that it is up to us to have faith that He can change the world through us. I wish I would live by my words sometimes J God Bless all of you!
Awesome thoughts, Keenan! In this quotation drawn from Psalm 5, the English-language word "righteous" is derrived from the Hebrew-language transliteration "tsaddiyq (צַדִּיק)." Literally speaking, it may be construed to mean "those who are justified because they live correctly." They have exercised faith in Blood Atonement. Thanks for sharing what He showed you!
ReplyDelete