Why do the heathen rage? On the fatalism of the non-believer.

Imagine how it could be without faith in God, or love the brethren.  No wonder some of the unbelievers are so angry and "fatalistic".

Thankfully, we have the promise, and we know every good thing comes from God.

I cannot know Jesus through another person's acquaintance with him. No, I must know him myself; I must know him on my own account. It will be an intelligent knowledge--I must know him, not as the visionary dreams of him, but as the Word reveals him.

 

-Charles Haddon #spurgeon

 

Pray for our brethren, of course, but also include those out of belief, that they may come to faith and know the mercy of our Lord.

the peak experience of faith.

What is we goin do?

God in the flesh, said "Oh you of little faith.  Do you not remember the loaves and fishes?"

"Why do I have to keep reminding you?"

"Why the heck does he keep reminding us?"

No miracle is too very far from our fingertips, even this, the princes of the power of the air, twenty pounds of fish and bread, and I mean, twenty pounds of foccacia is nothing to sneeze at, and the fish, he just "break the bread".

He has to keep reminding us, perhaps, to sustain the miraculous sense of wonder, the peak experience of faith, mayhap.  In that, we are truly "more than conquerors", and as is said, "nothing is close away from them".

And then she was constipated, and after what Juan Vivo did to her, set it to the sticking place, and all she had to do was drop a deuce to be happy again, to be "Shalom", "whole", drop a deuce.

All she needed was faith.

But not just any faith, but a peak experience of faith, such as near the end of a good sermon, when the feeling has built, when the faith is most prodigious, where she can let go and aim it at the drain, and just kind of Eminem that sin debt away.

"Lord take this burden away from me."

There was only one set of footprints after all, and he was there all along, if you only acknowledged Him.

 

Cartesian Doubt and the definition of faith.

In philosophy, there is something called "Cartesian Doubt", as Rene Descartes wrote once, that he was not convinced anything was real, and the probably he was the only real thing in the world, such that he could prove it.  "..if I've convinced myself of anything, it is that I am real."

Oh to live in such doubt!

Oh not to have the loving Father and Son helping us along!

In respect to this doubt, I am thankful so much for my faith, and its fruits of love, hope and mercy.  I love "them" and I love you all.

Paul writes that faith is "the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen."  It's antique language, but our faith is our evidence of God, and we need no "Cartesian" proofs or anything else; in our heart of hearts, we do not have to defend our faith to ourselves.

Something that bears love hope and mercy could never be in any way wrong; we are human, going through our season, and the Holy Spirit, as Christ promised, is there as a helper for God's children.

Faith!

Faith(noun):

-the substance of things hoped for.

-evidence of things unseen. 

-Paul's fervent hope for us all in respect to Christ.

-faith gives us proof of what we cannot see.(CEV)

-the fundamental fact of existence is trust in God(MSG)

 

"By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible." -(NIV)

"Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations--the City designed and built by God." -(MSG)

George MacDonald on Faith

To trust in spite of the look of being forsaken; to keep crying out into the vast, whence comes no returning voice, and where seems no hearing; to see the machinery of the world pauselessly grinding on as if self-moved, caring for no life, nor shifting a hair-breadth for all entreaty, and yet believe that God is awake and utterly loving; to desire nothing but what comes meant for us from His hand; to wait patiently, ready to die of hunger, fearing only lest faith should fail--such is the victory that overcometh the world, such is faith indeed.

-George MacDonald

On faith.

Faith is that God-given faculty which, when exercised, brings the unseen into plain view, and by which the impossible things are made possible. It deals with supernaturals. But it "grows amid storms"; that is, where there are disturbances in the spiritual atmosphere. Storms are caused by the conflicts of elements; and the storms of the spiritual world are conflicts with hostile elements. In such an atmosphere faith finds its most productive soil; in such an element it comes more quickly to full fruition.

Spurgeon on Noah.

Floods did but lift him heavenward, and winds did but waft him on his way. Outside of the ark all was ruin, but inside all was rest and peace. 

-Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Spurgeon on the rigors of the walk of faith.

Ah, LORD, Thou wast in Thy lowest state when before Thy persecutors Thou wast made to stand like a criminal! Yet the eyes of Thy faith could see beyond Thy present humiliation into Thy future glory. What words are these, "Nevertheless - hereafter!" I would imitate Thy holy foresight, and in the midst of poverty, or sickness, or slander, I also would say, "Nevertheless - hereafter." Instead of weakness, Thou hast all power; instead of shame, all glory; instead of derision, all worship, Thy cross has not dimmed the splendor of Thy crown, neither has the spittle marred the beauty of Thy face. Say, rather, Thou are the more exalted and honored because of Thy sufferings.

faith proved in troubled times.

Indeed it is extremely doubtful if a soul can really know the love of God in its richness and in its comforting, satisfying completeness until the skies are black and lowering. Light comes out of darkness, morning out of the womb of the night.

-Malcolm McLeod

Faith: everything hinging on belief.

"...faith means that we give up control, we let go and we allow His Holy Spirit to lead us. Everything from that point on becomes about our belief in Him, not about our works for Him."

Faith make rightful hope and love, and without faith, there are only shadows of either hope or love.

Cowman on faith.

 True faith drops its letter in the post office box, and lets it go. Distrust holds on to a corner of it, and wonders that the answer never comes. -LB Cowman.

new meme from the Weymouth Bible.

 

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for....."

"The substance of things hoped for..."

How often do we squander our hopes on fleeting, unimportant things.  But this is the truth of man's sin nature, that we fail in that way, among others.  However, through prayer, fellowship and the word of God, we may be renewed again and again.

An old prayer goes, "I thank You for rest and home and everything good."  We do not take stock that way in the modern world; maybe we take too much for granted, and only when we see some catastrophe in a third world nation do we nearly have a moment of clarity, getting a sense of how blessed we are.

Let us not forget.  Let us take heed and be thankful for how truly blessed we are.

a new and living way.

Hebrews 10:  "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, BY A NEW AND LIVING WAY, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having a high priest over the house of God;

let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water."

Honest faith availeth much, just as the leaven and the lump, such that so forth and so on, justified, content with such as is, when it is of love and faith, such that the love of God, and the faith in Christ is in the believer....

...made manifest.....

..."we have been awakened into a lively hope...."