Most people who purport to be Christians would answer in the affirmative.
Upon reflection, however, I wonder how accurate an affirmative response would be for many.
What I'm getting at is, those of us who claim to be believers have no trouble accepting our salvation, have no trouble believing that we shall have eternal life, and have no trouble believing most of what the Bible says.
Most? Not if you're a true believer!
We are not to have selective hearing of God's Holy Word. No!
Most of us accept, believe, and try to keep the Ten Commandments all right. But there are also other requirements that are not enumerated as distinctly as those.
Take the two additional commandments not even mentioned specifically in the original ten, to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and all thy mind, and to love thy neighbor as thyself. (Matthew 22:37-40) If everyone in this world kept just these two commandments, there would be no need for the others; that's why the Lord called them the greatest two.
How many Christians really believe and practice these two?
Frankly, most of us need to sit down and examine ourselves. And I haven't even gotten to the main point yet, which is belief-faith-trust-knowing.
The majority of Christians are somewhere in elementary school when it comes to their belief-faith-trust-knowing. I was going to say "kindergarten," but that would be untrue. Why? Because my eight-year-old grandson has more faith than most adults.
About a year ago he came home from school with perfect test results in a subject that doesn't come easily for him. His mother and I expressed some surprise, to which he replied, "Of course . . . God helped me!" His is a matter-of-fact kind of faith. He prays and expects results . . . and he gets them!
We have to become as little children. My husband had a revelation about faith a few years ago, and that is that F-A-I-T-H means "For-As-I-Trust-Him"! Isn't that neat?
When you have small problems, they require little faith. But the mountains require an extraordinary measure of belief. When you have huge financial problems, a loved one with what has been diagnosed as a terminal or debilitating illness, insurmountable marital problems, catastrophic personal illness, or any other mountain, your faith is strained, and your resolve is tested to the nth degree—to the breaking point.
It is at this point that most people fail; they start cursing God, asking "why me, Lord?" . . . crying, whining, murmuring, and complaining (which the Bible says is like witchcraft). It's a very human thing to do and fits our carnal nature.
It is at this do-or-die point that we need to keep on believing, keep on trusting, keep on holding onto our faith. Somehow we have to muster up the courage to cross over the belief threshhold. But how? It seems impossible and futile. And it's always the last thing we feel like doing. But we have to squelch our feelings and stop focussing on them. Instead, we need to focus on the Source of our delivery, our heavenly Father, our Lord Jesus.
But the evil one will attack you with everything he's got, and he uses your mind and emotions to drain you dry to the point that you just want to roll over and die. It is just at this point when you need to stand up, take a few deep breaths, and declare "Enough's enough! I can't fight you anymore on my own. I'm going to bring in the 'big guns'!"
And that's when you need to speak your victory over the situation. You need to make an out-loud verbal declaration of it. You need to stand on the promises of God; and if you don't have a little book iterating all of His promises, get yourself down to the local Christian bookstore and get one . . . or order one online. Get one that gives specific promises for specific situations.
Everything that our Lord created he spoke into existence. You have that same power! Everything is created in the spiritual before it is ever manifested in the physical. And make no mistake . . . you will get—sooner or later—exactly what you speak, especially when it is spoken with passion, positive or negative. So, as the old saying goes, "Be careful what you pray for . . . you just might get it." (And if there's no doubt about it, you certainly will!)
I'm finally getting around to the main point, which is you either believe the whole Bible, or you don't. Plain and simple. Make no mistake, however, simple does not mean easy. Moving your hand is simple, but if you're paralyzed, it is not easy. Easy, you say? Impossible is more like it . . . yes, but you're forgetting that the Bible says that "nothing is impossible with God."
Don't ever lose sight of the fact that it is our Lord who created us from the dust of the earth. Where else would common sense direct you to go to get repaired except to the Master Craftsman Himself?
Again, either you believe the Bible or you don't!
Love conquers all. The Bible says that God is Love.
"I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." Phillipians 4:13
If you've prayed and not seen results, there could be several reasons. It may be that you are asking for selfish reasons. — James 4:2 — Or it could be that your faith is being tried to teach you patience. — James 1:3-4 — Or it simply could be because you are double minded—asking one thing but believing another! — James 1:6-8 — In fact, it would behoove everyone to read the entire book of James through several times to get it rooted deep in your spirit.
Those of us who follow Jesus usually don't have to be concerned about committing sins; no, our problem is with sins of omission. And the Bible is rife with little ways we miss if we do not read and study the Word on a daily basis.
One of those "little" ways is that we are develop the habit of speaking to our problems, not about them. This seems a little silly at first glance, but if you analyze your problem you will usually find our age-old enemy at the source. And it is easy to speak to him and to rebuke him in the Holy Name of Jesus. You have power and authority to do so, and you need to start exercising that authority!
Recently, I heard this analogy. Consider a police officer directing traffic. Everything goes well as long as he is wearing his uniform (his suit of authority). But let him stand out there in the middle of the intersection wearing something other than his uniform, and he'll probably get creamed!
So it is with us exercising our spiritual authority. As long as we put on the whole armor of God—as Ephesians 6—speaks about, we have the God-given power and authority to direct our lives; without it, our lives careen out of control and come to a devastating crash.
It comes down to this: We must address the problem. We must not talk about the problem. We must squelch our feelings. We must hold onto our faith. We must not speak doubt. We must get the Word into us daily. We must remember that we are created in the image of God, that we are joint heirs with Jesus, and that we have been endued with power from on High by the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.
Finally, we must always remember that things are manifested in the spiritual dimension as soon as we speak them, although it might take some time before we see them in the physical. But—and this is a big but—we have to realize and remember that we can knock the things we desire right out of the spiritual water if we start speaking the opposite! Conversely, the things we have planted on the spiritual plane will be watered, nurtured, and cultured by a steady diet of reinforcement.
Jesus allowed Himself to be crucified, among other reasons, for an example to us of love. "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." — John 15:13 — If He did that, what reason would He have to deny us anything simpler?
