Want Your Faith "Super-Sized"?

Want Your Faith "Super-Sized?"
                                       

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Important Scripture on Faith

Luke 17:5-6 NIV

5The apostles said to the LORD, "Increase our faith!"6He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.

Read Luke 17View in parallel

Romans12:2-3 NIV

2  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

3  For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

Ephesians 2:8-9

8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:9Not of works, lest any man should boast .

Read Ephesians 2View in parallel

Galatians 5:22-23  NIV

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness,goodness, faith,23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Read Galatians 5View in parallel

John 14:1  NIV

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in Goda; trust also in me.

Read in contextRead John 14View in parallel

All Christians at some time are like the disciples in Luke 17:5-6, "Oh I wish I had more faith."  Sometimes we think maybe we can conjure up more faith  by "praying hard", "believing more", or more often, working hard to convince God to give us more faith, or what ever false notion you may think of.  But, the fact of the matter is that when we accept "the Divine Persuasion" in reading or hearing about God's salvation, and accept that Salvation through Jesus dying on the cross, then in fact, by the Grace of God we are given all the grace and faith we need (Eph 2:8-9 & Gal 5:22-23).  Out of the God's Love, He begins the relationship with Him that we need and that relationship with Him is indeed what we call faith.  From the Divine Persuasion we receive Divine Salvation and from a Divine Loving Relationship with God.  God gives us that Relationship (Faith), we can do nothing to earn it, and that is the way He wants it..
In the Loving Personal Relationship with God we call Faith, we receive all the faith we need to do God's work on this earth.  Enough is enough, our faith need not be 'Super-sized', we must in faith know God will not withhold faith as to cause us to falter.  Our Job is to Trust!  Faith is a noun, a something that God gives us.  Trust is an action word, an imperative verb, a command Jesus gave us to do!  Our job is to Trust God and thereby Trust the Living Christ- Jesus.  Romans 12:1-2
We must know, absolutely embrace God's love for us and understand that in our relationship with Him, our Faith, just as a good parent will do, God will protect us and lift us up in all our circumstances.  We must simply and in humility Trust God.  Not trusting God is "our" problem.  Jesus in John 14:1 commanded us to Trust Him!
We are told not to worry in Matthew 6:25-34 because we do not because we do not fully, completely, and in humility trust and allow God to guide our live.  We worry because we want to be in control.
When the storms of life seem to overwhelm us and we think we are going to drown as the disciples did, we are fearful because we do not Trust God, Matthew 8:23-27.  Trust God and He will calm your inner raging storms.
People most often live in fear not depending on and trusting Jesus as we should, but in humility, trusting, and calling on Jesus, "Lord, Save me", He will save you, but we must trust in His will for our lives.  Jesus triumphed over evil BECAUSE He trusted God in His established, faithful, day to day Personal relationship with God  Matthew 14:22-33  and Matthew 26:36-46.(For my testimony to this read- "Self-Confidence")
The scenes go on from the Bible.  Even the disciples who saw Jesus were failing their Personal Relationship with Him and not trusting Him.  Jesus must have wanted to scream at them, but in love and patience, He continued to teach them.  It is our job to trust our God-given Faith, Trust God, and Trust Jesus.  We cannot feel God is in the job of Super-Sizing Faith.  There is no need to super-size as quantity of faith is not important,  what he already gives us can move mountains.  I ask you, "How much more faith do you really need?"  Again, our job is to Trust God and Trust Jesus.
Finally, The Bottom Line, The Main Point:  Faith is not something we touch, taste, or see, Faith is the Loving Relationship with God that we feel and is freely given to us by God.  A Personal Relationship that God out of Love for us desires with us.  Faith changes us but, we remember to that circumstances of and in our lives affects many things.  "Faith does not shield us from the pain and difficulties of life, it does not undo the past, and will not guarantee a particular future." *¹   Faith is our Personal Relationship with God.  When we accept Christ as our Savior, God starts it, God initiates it, and God activates it because  God truly desires That Relationship with us. 
Faith-Our Relationship with God, this most important thing in our lives, is the means through which we face life, life with all its joys and sorrows, its gains and loses, its failures and successes, its opportunities and possibilities.*¹ 
Trust, Our job is to Trust.   "Trust God, Trust Jesus".  
Thanks be to God.

© lonnie coggins

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*1)  "Supersize My Faith Please", Michael Marsh,
 http://interruptingthesilence.com/2010/10/03/supersize-my-faith-please-luke-175-10/

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ldcoggins@gmail.com

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lonnie

Publication  000

Walking in Circles

Walking in Circles

a facebook posting

So much to do today and don't know where to start. I will keep walking around in circles because that's getting things done right.... 

why we shold love God

Why We Should Love God!
                                       

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There are many reasons that we should love God.  
Here is but seven, and maybe this is enough.

1. God created us and as a good parent loves a child, God loves us because He created us.  We love what we create and do not like to see what we create get hurt, die, messed up, destroyed, etc; then, so as God created in us that love for our creation, He did so out of His identical Love for His creation.  Because He created us and as He created a universe designed specifically for us, He shows purpose in creating us. He gives us the sun, gives us each and every breath we take, grows the food we eat, and created this universe as it is, all for us.  In His Creative nature, God shows He loves us.
   
   As more discoveries are made by scientist about our universe, everything about creation points to the purpose of God creating a universe just for mankind!  Scientist have determined that the probability of the existence of another Earth like environment in the universe is so close to zero, we cannot even understand the odds! The probability for the existence of mankind is even less.  But, we do exist!  Since evolution is a myth, science leads us to the only explanation for creation is a super intelligent designer/creator, we call God.  The Bible tells He created us to love us and have a relationship with us, we in turn, should love God and Seek that Relationship He has for us (*1).
   ...
2. God loves us so much (John 3:16), 
        that
        He Sent Jesus to show us and teach us
              what is good for us (Matthew 4:17, 6:34),
              how to behave toward God (love him, Matthew 22:27),
              how to behave toward each other (love them, Matthew 38-40),
              to teach us how to communicate with God (prayer),
         and demonstrate
              the importance of obedience to God through
                 Jesus' horrible death as a criminal on a cross.
   ...
3. God puts Jesus and His promises, what we call faith, in our hearts.  Faith is a Gift of God's Love for us that comes when we confess that Jesus is Lord and Savior of our lives (Rom 12:3).  Jesus was Verified, Sanctified, Glorified, and Made Holy by God in raising Him from the death of His crucifixion. Since God has done this for us, it becomes our job to Trust Him. (*3)
   ...
4. God Gives us the Holy Spirit to guide us in our everyday thinking and living.  Again in the acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior, we are given the Holy Spirit.  In John's Gospel, we see the disciples transformed from scared little boys in the upperroom afraid of every little sound outside the door to courageous Disciples for Christ.  All because of the Holy Spirit.  As the Holy Spirit filled their lives so too in our relationship with God, the Holy Spirit will fill our lives. (Jesus Appears to His Disciples *4)
   ...
5. God is Patient with His Grace He provides us.  We are unworthy of His Grace but He never withdraws His grace for those who Believe in the Salvation of Jesus.  In providing His abundant grace, we learn we can never earn it and that is the way He wants it. (*5 for more on grace.)
   ...
6. Because of all the above,
        God shows He desires a relationship with us!
   
   Just imagine, the God of all creation that could have anything He wants to have.  But, He did three activities to show He desires a relationship with us.  First, God created this world in a manner to cause us, to drive us, and to encourage us to study His creation and learn from His creation.  Then, we learn from His creativity that He cares about us and in that caring wants us to know Him through Jesus Christ and as The Perfect Parent be in Relationship with Him.  Finally, He inspired many people beginning with Abraham to Trust Him and be an example to us that we can trust Him too.
   ...
7. Therefore, we should love God
         for all He has done, is doing, and will do for us
            all because He loves us.
   He has a track record of 13+ billion years of creating the perfect place for us to love Him,  Understand Him,
             Trust Him, and
          Have a Relationship With Him (*7).

In Summary, 
the supreme act of loving God is 
        Trusting Him in all we think, say, and do.
We Trust Him to supply our needs in His time
               while working and doing our part in our time
                         to achieve our needs,
we Trust the Unending Promises of Jesus
               as we seek to live obediently in God's will as Jesus did,
we Trust in God's Spirit, His Holy Spirit
               as we be in submission to His guidance
                         in our daily thinking and living.
we Trust in His Grace, His unmerited merciful Grace
               as we know we do not deserve it and
                         can do nothing to earn it.

If we truly Trust God, 
   and believe in The Promises of Jesus
then  we will desire to Know Him more
      in our Relationship with Him.

Just as with our good parents:
  To know Him provides us the desire
     To grow in Relationship with Him.

This then, in our growing, Trusting Relationship with Him,
    is the very reason, the absolute reason we should love Him.

Thanks be to God

lonnie

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REFERENCES
-------------------

(*1)  Click "In the Beginning God..." for more on the this:

The Earth, our Solar System, the Universe did not just happen by chance.  Scientist estimate the probability of an Earth like structure in the universe is somewhere between one chance in 10**100 (10 to the one-hundreth power) and 10 **200 (**).  One way to look at these numbers is the number of molecules in the universe is estimated to be 10**97. 

These are the same probabilities of another biological-Earth some place in the galaxy and that probability for all purposes is ZERO!  This means that we should not be here... but we are and it is not a streatch of the imagination that we are here by accident.  There is purpose by the 'Creative Designer' whom we call God in bringing this rock called Earth into being!

In the last 50 years, scientist have discovered elements of His creation that points to the fact that there is no other earth like our earth in the universe.
We are the unique (only) planet found in the universe
....A- with an environment that supports biological life,
....B- supported by a moon that stabalizes our planet,
....C- with a sun at just the right distance (not too hot or cold)
....D- with just the right balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide,
....E- with supporting planets that sucks up cosmic deibre  such that it does not hit us (example- In 1994, three comets were pulled in by the massive attraction force of Jupiter that could have hit earth),

....F-  the earth has tutonic plates that have helped create mountains, earthquakes, and trenches in the oceans, if not for these plates we would be a planet covered entirely with water,
....and a several hundred other factors that allow the biology of mankind to exist. 

From Lee Stroble, "The Case for Creator", Chapter 7, 2004, Zondervan

**

10**2=100
10**3=1000
10**100 is the number 10 with 100 zeroes after it or:
about a trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion
This is about the same probability of  you flipping a coin 333 times and it coming up heads each time.

Concerning evolution:  There is absolutely no evidence to evolution.

(*3)   A Thought on the Resurrection Of Jesus Christ

(*4)  Jesus Appears to His Disciples
19On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews,
               Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"20After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.21Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."

22And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.23If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

<< John 20:18John 20:19-23John 20:24 >>

Read John 20View in parallelCompare Translations

(*5)   Click for>>   Grace at 168 Miles Per Hour

(*7)  On Having a Personal Relationship with God, It is not about Religion.

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Sharing these messages

You are welcome to share these messages.  You can send the links to your friends,  copy and insert the link on FB or Christian.com or you can print the message and share it with your friends.

You can print the message including this sharing message only for your friends and for non-profit.  You will have to copy and paste the message to a word processing document.   After you copy and paste add the following at the end of the message:

© Lonnie Coggins
ldcoggins@gmail.com

If you desire to use any of these messages in a For-Profit manner you must contact me (email) for permission.  Typically, I will most likely give permission.

lonnie