Category: faith

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How do you maintain your faith?

Question

 

Pastor Chris,

How do you maintain your faith? I ask god for answered prayer for a need not a want. It never seems to happen. That’s what i struggle with. How do I maintain faith whiLe waiting for a prayer that never seems to get answered? I lose faIth in the process. I know that the lord is not a Jeannie in a bottle. I know about his timiNg. It’s faith during the process I struggle with.

~ Dan

 

 

Answer

 

Dan, 

The Bible says, “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17, NIV). The New King James Version puts it this way, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The New American Standard reads, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” The English Standard Version translates it this way, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

I struggle with faith when I neglect the Bible. The teachings of the Bible and the stories within its pages ignite my faith.

For instance, the story of Hannah is a story about delayed answer to prayer. Hannah wanted a baby. Barrenness was a social stigma for a woman in the Old Testament days. The Bible says that God closed her womb and that “her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year” (1 Samuel 1:6-7, NIV). Hannah’s burden must have been heavy and she prayed fervently for a child. 1 Samuel 1:20, NIV, tells us that “the LORD remembered her. So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son.” My faith is strengthened when I read this. I realize that God is listening to my prayers and that He acts according to His timing which is always right.

Another example on the same theme is Daniel. In Daniel 10:12-14 we learn that an answer to his prayer was delayed twenty-one days. Again, reading the Bible gives me perspective and increases my faith. I learn from Daniel that sometimes I have to wait for answers.

God does not tell us when an answer to prayer will be coming. It may come soon. It may come after a period of waiting. The finest book I have read on this subject is When It Hurts Too Much to Wait: Understanding God’s Timing by Larry Richards. I highly recommend it.

Stay in the Word. Read it. Think about it. Dwell on it. Soak in it. Your faith will increase. 

~ Pastor Chris

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Why Doesn't God Speak To Us Audibly?

Dear Pastor Chris,

Sir, I often hear my Pastor and fellow brethren say they heard God speak to them. I have been a christian for almost two years but  have not heard this voice in my experience. Is it automatic to hear him once you become a Christian or does it take time to hear him so audibly?

~Andrew

 

Dear Andrew,
Yes, God definitely speaks to us. I am convinced that He is saying more to us than we usually hear.

Why don’t we hear God?

 1. Our lives are too busy. We get crowded in our schedules. We don’t make time for God.

2. We are not listening. When we do try to listen, we are easily distracted.

3. We are not sensitive to His “still small voice” His “gentle whisper” (1 Kings 19:2, KJV, NIV).

How do you listen to God? Set aside a place to meet with Him. Pray. Tell God that you are wanting to hear from Him. Tell Him that you are ready and available to do what He says. Open your Bible. Read a passage. Ask God to reveal the meaning of that passage to you. Compare that passage to other Bible verses on the same subject. Think about what you have just read. Meditate on it. Ask God to show you what these verses meant to the original hearers. Then ask Him what He wants you to do about what you just read. He will prompt your heart to take action on what He has shown you.

You asked about the audible voice of God. The Lord does not speak audibly to most people. He can of course, but it is not His usual way. He did speak audibly to some of the people we read about in the Bible; however, they were the exception. Most people in the days when the Bible was being written never heard the audible voice of God.

Do people sometimes hear the audible voice of God today? Yes. Sometimes.

Why doesn’t God speak audibly more often?

1. God doesn’t need to speak audibly for most of us because He has already done so in the writings of the Bible. The Bible is God’s Word. In the pages of the Bible we find the mind and heart of God. We meet Him there and His Spirit helps us understand what He wants us to know.

2. God doesn’t need to speak audibly because He has given us His best Word in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. The Bible says in
John 1:1-2, 14, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning…

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus is the living Word of God. To know Jesus is to know God. To walk with Jesus is to experience God. Therefore, to study the life of Jesus is to discover what God is like, how He relates to us, and how He acts in history.

Read the Bible. Study it. God speaks through it. Listen.

 

~Pastor Chris

 

 

 

 

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How Do I Handle My Weakening Faith In God?

Dear Pastor,

 I tried to enlist into the Marines seven months ago, and they had sent my medical records up to b-med. I’ve been waiting for an answer for seven months. I have prayed every night to God to give me an answer so I know what to do with my life. I feel like my life has been on pause for  seven months. I cant date new girls nor go to school without an answer. I’ve lost faith after a while because I felt like God didn’t care enough to give me an answer. Im 25 and my whole life depends on this. I cant afford school or improve my life in the position im in. I just don’t know what to do. I’ve wanted to join the military since I was 12. I got rejected when I was 18 and now got a second chance at joining. I just want to know what God has planned for me…or am I expecting too much? I just wish God would openly talk to me and tell me what I want to know. I’ve been in this pain for along time wondering and hoping that this will come through for me. I feel I have no other choice but not to join to better my life, even though I want nothing more to join. God hasn’t answered me in seven months and its been a real faith killer. I became a believer two years ago and was on fire for God, but now I feel alone and empty. I figured it was my last hope to talk to you and get some sort of answer, rather then loose all faith and be empty again. Thank you for your time on reading this. I have much more detail in my life that has gone wrong and didnt tell you about it, just been struggling with many  things and figured I would work on one thing at a time, starting with this since it will make or break me.

~Mike

 

 

Dear Mike,

God has not left you. He is not ignoring you either. Sometimes God tests our faith.

Think about it this way, when you went to school you took tests. The purpose of those tests was not to fail you but to reveal how much you had learned. It is the same way with God. The Bible says in James 1:2-4, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

God is developing your faith. In the meantime, attend church, read the Bible everyday, pray, and look for opportunities to serve others. Consider applying for other branches of the military. Maybe God wants you in the Coast Guard or the Army.

~Pastor Chris

 

 

 

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Why Doesn't God Draw All People To Him?

Pastor Chris,

People can’t save. Only God can. Why doesn’t He draw all of the people to Him? Doesn’t He love all of His creation? 

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”

 John 6:44

~ Christina

Dear Christina,

As to your question,in his commentary on John’s Gospel, Leon Morris writes, “The thought of the divine initiative in salvation is one of the great doctrines of this Gospel…” (p.371). In other words, God chooses to pursue us. By choosing to pursue us God is saying that He wants to have a personal relationship with each of us. Think about how Jesus went from town to town speaking to crowds and talking with individuals. He was pursuing them. He told them the Good News that everyone who comes to Him will be given eternal life.

How do you know that God is pursuing you? Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit comes, “…He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8). Let’s pick one of those three convictions for just a moment. Let’s pick sin. Jesus says that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin. That means everyone. Everyone feels the conviction of the Holy Spirit. We call that feeling “guilt.” It happens when we break one of God’s laws.

Have you ever felt guilty? Yes…so have I. That feeling of guilt is the work of the Holy Spirit. When guilt happens it is a good thing because you know that God is working in your life. Why is He doing that? He does that because He wants us to see our need for Christ. You see, we cannot get rid of sin by ourselves. We need someone to get rid of it for us. That Someone is Christ. He is the only one who can take away our sin and make us right with God.

God pursues everyone. The problem is that some respond and some do not. Jesus said, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12:32).

Remember, “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). The nature of love is that it must be expressed. It must be shared. God, who is love, wants to express His love and share it with His creation. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Also, never forget that God desires everyone to be saved.

1 Timothy 2:3-4, 6, “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth… 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men…”

2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

Hebrews 2:9, “But we see Jesus…now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

-Pastor Chris