A Stronger Faith

It came to me the other day (about 5 days ago) what I should do about my fears and worries. For some reason fears and worries over many things tend to be stronger and harder to handle now than they use to be. I think perhaps the devil if trying to shut me down in order to take away my influence. And that is in some ways an encouragement, knowing that he thinks I have some influence in the world.

But anyway, here is what I have been doing lately: since these fears of mine tend to work on me during the night, I have started—just before I go to bed—to record a very specific prayer to God asking Him to give me whatever it takes (wisdom) to wipe out my fears and help me. I use James 1:5-7 as a promise, that if I ask believing He will give it to me. This is my stronger faith. It is a faith that will without a doubt work every time—because it is built on the promise of God.

Now I sleep better knowing that God is working all through my night hours to deliver me and to set me up for the next day—to be a victorious conqueror like Joshua—not being afraid or discouraged, knowing that the LORD my God is with me wherever I go and whatever I do (Josh. 1:9).

Other things

The Timberwolves won in the 7th game last night. Very fun!

My small painting jobs are going so well—especially since I have been praying in faith over them. It has always been very important for me to do good work—working for the Lord.

The writing of my book on heaven is going well too. I even have some ideas on a book cover—the first thing people see.

I’ve been struggling lately with what is now a teaching topic in our Sunday School class: all about discipleship. It seems to me that some people put too much emphasis on it and it is making many feel guilty if they are not “making disciples.” Any thoughts?

The Gospel According To Jesus

The following is a very short summary, and my comments, of the book The Gospel According to Jesus, by John MacArthur, written in 1988.

I remember that the book made quite a stir. But MacArthur was absolutely correct in what he said. And it got a lot of people thinking—about how the gospel should be presented and about salvation.

For a long time, preachers and evangelists have had a wrong view of the gospel and how to present it. Some very well-known theologians (like Lewis Sperry Chafer and Charles C. Ryrie) were saying that we should not expect new converts to begin a life of obedience to Christ right away; that they at first should receive Him as Savior and then later, when they are more mature, receive Him as Lord. They were saying that to expect converts to be disciples of Christ right away was asking too much.

And there was also a theology (according to 1 Cor. 2:15-3:3, by Chafer) that there is two classes of Christians: carnal and Spiritual. But MacArthur strongly disagrees with that. He says that carnal always refers to a non-believer. I believe this is right (but I didn’t always believe this). I know that there are levels of maturity for a believer, but he can never be carnal—living in sin; that is what carnal means. A Christian is to be Spirit-filled and be obedient to Christ; and when he is not he can and will eventually (with the help of the Holy Spirit) repent and start over.

Now let me get right to it. When a person comes to Christ a miracle takes place. He is born again. He becomes a new person. At the moment of conversion, he receives Christ for all that He is: God, Sovereign, Savior, and Lord.  

Let me back up. At first, when a person is saved he sees that he is a sinner; and so, he comes under conviction of sin; and then he repents of that sin. And then at the same time He experiences Christ calling him to a life of faith and obedience. So, he receives Christ as his Savior from sin and as his Lord (because He is Lord). Hence, when someone is saved, he is giving up his old life of sin and is born again into a new life of obedience to Christ. This is the gospel according to Jesus.

8 Teachings of Jesus On Prayer — Teaching #7

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

Jesus taught that prayer must be with faith (Matthew 21:21-22; Mark 11:22-26) 

In theses verses I see three aspects of faith in prayer that Jesus teaches.  First of all…

(1) Faith must be in God.  Matthew 21:22 says, “Have faith in God.”  Prayer with faith, therefore, is prayer that believes in God and in the promises that He has given us.  Then it is prayer that expects God to answer based on those promises; it is prayer that has a continuing hope for the answer and a lasting energy to pray until the answer comes.  Secondly…

(2) Faith must be with obedience.  Prayer with faith is prayer that doesn’t just pray and then believe that God will do it by Himself without us; it is prayer that counts on God to help usdo it; it is prayer that stops praying and starts obeying.

In Mark 11:23 Jesus…

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How To Pray With Faith

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

Five Suggested Steps to Follow

 

1.  Live the life of faith.  Andrew Murray has stated, “Faith in the promise is the fruit of faith in the promiser.” I cannot have faith in what He has promised unless I have faith in Him as a person.  I must get to know Him and learn to trust Him.  Then I will grow to believe in what He says and promises.  Getting to know Him takes time, but perhaps not as much time as you think.   Eagerly pray and read your Bible every day.  Meditate on His Word every chance you get.  Then obey Him in everything He tells you.  Soon, sooner than you think, you will develop a close relationship with Him. You will love Him and trust Him.  This is the life of faith, and in this life there is much prayer.

 2.  Seek God’s will for every…

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Eight Ways to Increase Your Faith

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

In my last post I wrote a little on how to have great faith instead of little faith.  If you are still not sure how you can increase your faith (make your faith more complete or consistent) here are a few ideas—taken from my book Prayer A to Z. 

Eight Ways to Increase Your Faith

 

1.  Take your unbelief to God.  Ask Him to fill you with the Holy Spirit and with His desire.  Surrender yourself completely to Him.  Be humble before Him and confess your sins and helplessness.  Be like the man who said to Jesus, “I believe; help my unbelief” (Mk. 9:24)!  Always remember that faith is a gift from God.  None of us were born with it; none of us can create it in ourselves.  We have to humbly ask for faith.  Asking for faith in prayer is the way we received it when we were…

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Little Faith vs Great Faith

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

The apostle Peter, in 1 Peter 2:2, wrote, “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby.”  Here we see that spiritual growth is by the Word.  But what I want to point out is that since faith is the foundation of Christian life, when we grow spiritually, which is by the Word, our faith grows too.  Our spiritual growth is always a growth of faith.  And so we grow from faith to faith (Rom. 1:17).  Just as we were saved by faith, we live the Christian life by faith; and at every point we are to continue to live by faith—“from faith to faith.”           

Now the question is, why do some people have very little faith (their faith doesn’t seem to grow), while others have great faith (their faith grows and grows)? Here are…           

           

Four Reasons Why Some Remain In Their Little…

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Saving Faith and Christian Faith

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

As I see it, there are basically two different kinds, or categories, of faith: saving faith and Christian living faith; that is, faith to be saved and faith to live as a Christian.  These are found in my book Principles of Prayer.

1.  Saving faith.  In Ephesians 2:8-9 Paul said, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God…”  Here we see that our salvation is a gift from God.  It is totally a gift.  We did nothing.  That means that our faith was a gift too.  He gave us faith to believe, which resulted in our salvation.  What a great gift! 

2.  Faith to live the Christian life.  Every part of the Christian life, if you live as a Christian, is a life of faith.  As Paul said in Galatians 2:20, we live in the flesh, but we…

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Five Descriptions of Faith

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

In some respects the meaning of faith is so simple.  It means to just believe God, to trust and rely on Him.  But because we are human and sinful, faith becomes so hard for us.  Hence, we seem to need to dissect it and to look at it from different angles, in order to get the meaning of faith that pleases us or that helps us to understand it.  And I think that’s good.  We need to do that.          

In my reading on faith I have come across numerous descriptions.  Here are a few I have put together.  I hope these will help you understand faith.  Perhaps from these you will come up with your own description. 

 

1. Faith is a work of God’s Spirit in the heart. 

Andrew Murray wrote, “Faith is completely the work of God’s Spirit through His Word in the prepared heart of the…

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Three Foundation Stones of Faith

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

God has revealed Himself to us by His Word and through His Spirit; and by these He works in us to tell us who He is and what His will is; and He urges us and leads us according to His will.  Thus, these are, generally, the three foundation stones that we build our faith on: knowledge of His will, knowledge of His character, and whether we experience the urging of His Spirit.

 

Three Foundation Stones that we Build Our Faith On 

 

1.  Knowledge of God’s will 

The Bible tells us that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17).  Hence, the will of God (concerning a certain thing) that comes to us in our ears, by His Spirit, and through our diligent study of the Word, builds in us a basis for our faith (in obtaining that certain thing).  This…

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What is Faith?

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

Faith is the avenue through which every believer became a Christian; and it is the way every Christian should live.  I’m sure most believers would say that they desire to have a stronger faith.  I sure do.  Well I have 8 different blog posts ready to go on this subject, which are excerpts from my book Prayer A to Z.  This first one is most basic and what we need to know in order to begin this study.  I want to ask you right from the start if you would consider making some comments.  So, when you read this, think of that you want to contribute.

 

The Definition of Faith 

 Vines dictionary defines faith (pistis) as “firm persuasion, a conviction based on hearing.”  The verb of faith (pisteuo), translated as believe, is defined as: “to believe, to be persuaded of, to place confidence in, to…

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