Bible Study The Fountain of Love & Faith.

[Chopper]

There are two foundational acts that are very necessary for the advancement of every Christian in their growth to maturity and usefulness for Jesus the Son of God. One is LOVE and the second is FAITH. Neither of these come from us, we only exercise them when we go to the source....Lets look at the source, and praise the source.

The following comes from one of my morning devotions from Spurgeon....
“We love him because he first loved us.”

There is no light in the planet but that which proceedeth from the sun; and there is no true love to Jesus in the heart but that which cometh from the Lord Jesus himself. From this overflowing fountain of the infinite love of God, all our love to God must spring. This must ever be a great and certain truth, that we love him for no other reason than because he first loved us. Our love to him is the fair offspring of his love to us. Cold admiration, when studying the works of God, anyone may have, but the warmth of love can only be kindled in the heart by God’s Spirit. How great the wonder that such as we should ever have been brought to love Jesus at all! How marvellous that when we had rebelled against him, he should, by a display of such amazing love, seek to draw us back. No! never should we have had a grain of love towards God unless it had been sown in us by the sweet seed of his love to us. Love, then, has for its parent the love of God shed abroad in the heart: but after it is thus divinely born, it must be divinely nourished. Love is an exotic; it is not a plant which will flourish naturally in human soil, it must be watered from above. Love to Jesus is a flower of a delicate nature, and if it received no nourishment but that which could be drawn from the rock of our hearts it would soon wither. As love comes from heaven, so it must feed on heavenly bread. It cannot exist in the wilderness unless it be fed by manna from on high. Love must feed on love. The very soul and life of our love to God is his love to us.
“I love thee, Lord, but with no love of mine,
For I have none to give;
I love thee, Lord; but all the love is thine,
For by thy love I live.
I am as nothing, and rejoice to be
Emptied, and lost, and swallowed up in thee.” (from e-Sword)

I'm not sure if I ever really realized that it's impossible for me to love God and my neighbor the way God wants me to. This devotion from Spurgeon brought my mind to the realization that it must not be my feeble love that I must exercise, but the Love of Almighty Jehovah. We were introduced to this amazing love when He called us to be His child through the death of His Son in Salvation.

An amazing truth here is that He commands me to love Him with all my heart, and He then supplies to me the love necessary to accomplish this impossible exercise on my own.

Since the love that God expects me to exercise towards Him come from His fountain to me, what about this fleeting thing called FAITH? Jesus says that if we had the faith, the size of a mustard seed, we could move mountains. I've searched thru my whole heart and I haven't found that kind of faith. Can it be the same as LOVE? Lets look....

Galatians 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

Please notice a truth that most people pass by when they read this. "I live by THE FAITH of the Son of God." Most all other translations put it like the ESV...."I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."....

They leave out the little definite article thee. The modern translations want us to believe that we simply believe by faith in the Son of God which brings the exercise of our own faith into view. Hey folks, I don't really have any faith. What faith I do have comes from Jesus, He is the fountain source of faith....

Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" Therefore FAITH is a gift of God. I don't have any, it must come out of the fountain of God, just like love.

I have noticed that I can exercise something very similar to faith that is honored by God as I seek first His Kingdom, and that is "confidence" in God to supply a need. If my need goes beyond normal, and enters the realm of a miracle, then a great faith is necessary for that like healing of my body. it is then that I ask Jesus for the faith necessary for that healing. What God will honor is the fact that I came, in trust, to Him for the healing and not to some idol or human. Trust is our gift back to our God for being so kind to us.

I believe that it is necessary for fallen man to go directly to the Source of all that is supernatural. God instituted prayer as the means for us to receive what is impossible for us to obtain by our own energies. Love, the kind that God honor's, comes from His fountain of all that's good. Faith comes from the same fountain. We honor our God by trusting Him for what we don't have, and what He does possess. It's like wisdom.... James 1:5 "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him." (ESV)

May God bless us as we trust Him for what we are helpless in. By Grace He bestows such wonderful gifts so that we can please Him and make His Name known to those who have never heard. Amen.

 

[for_his_glory]

you get a Chopper home run

Two scriptures for love and faith came to mind while reading this.

Genesis 6:6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Even though it repented God that he created man His love was still there for them as He found favor in just one man named Noah that all generations after Noah would keep that love of God in their hearts. Even today His love is waiting in patience and longsuffering for those to turn back to Him until the end of days when Gods patience and longsuffering will come to an end.


Matthew 8:5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, 6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. 7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. 10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

Here you have a Roman centurion who is under Roman rule and given much authority over his servants, but yet humbled his heart for the compassion he had for his servant that laid sick. Surely he knew the fame of Jesus just as the disciples did that followed Him as He went about teaching and healing the sick and believed Jesus could also heal his servant even though he felt unworthy of Jesus coming to his house because he was a Roman centurion. It was by a mustard seed of faith that the centurion knew Jesus only had to speak healing upon his servant and he would be healed. This is why Jesus said no greater faith has ever been found in Israel as the Jews would have turned this man away for asking Jesus to heal his servant as he was a Roman soldier, but Jesus was showing them the love that God has for all men no matter who they are.

 

[Chopper]

you get a Chopper home run

Two scriptures for love and faith came to mind while reading this.

Genesis 6:6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Even though it repented God that he created man His love was still there for them as He found favor in just one man named Noah that all generations after Noah would keep that love of God in their hearts. Even today His love is waiting in patience and longsuffering for those to turn back to Him until the end of days when Gods patience and longsuffering will come to an end.


Matthew 8:5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, 6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. 7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. 10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

Here you have a Roman centurion who is under Roman rule and given much authority over his servants, but yet humbled his heart for the compassion he had for his servant that laid sick. Surely he knew the fame of Jesus just as the disciples did that followed Him as He went about teaching and healing the sick and believed Jesus could also heal his servant even though he felt unworthy of Jesus coming to his house because he was a Roman centurion. It was by a mustard seed of faith that the centurion knew Jesus only had to speak healing upon his servant and he would be healed. This is why Jesus said no greater faith has ever been found in Israel as the Jews would have turned this man away for asking Jesus to heal his servant as he was a Roman soldier, but Jesus was showing them the love that God has for all men no matter who they are.

Thank you Glory Girl for that "Home Run" and for your very good reply. O the love of Jesus, would to God that we could show that kind of love to those who are not considered worthy by the world's standards.

 

[Chopper]

Now, back to my OP....There are two foundational acts that are very necessary for the advancement of every Christian in their growth to maturity and usefulness for Jesus the Son of God. One is LOVE and the second is FAITH. Neither of these come from us, we only exercise them when we go to the source....Lets look at the source, and praise the source.

It wasn't long, in being a student at Bible College, that I ran into this verse of Scripture....Romans 10:17 "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."....AND that....Hebrews 11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please him:"

FAITH, O my, God places so much emphasis on this thing called Faith. I knew that if He was calling me to serve Him at home or on the mission field somewhere in the world, I'd better get a good grasp on what faith (His kind) really was. It wasn't until I purchased the English Standard Version of the Bible did the word faith become more real to my dirt bag mind....

Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (ESV)
Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (KJV)

These two verses say different messages to me. The words "assurance" and "conviction" somehow makes more sense than substance and evidence....That word assurance means to me, it's done!! If, my good friend Christ4Ever assures me that I've written something of value, I don't have to question it, he means it!! It's done!!

Then we have the word conviction which means to me a very solid belief that cannot, under any circumstances. be changed. Now, the things not seen is very important and takes me back to....Psalm 33:9 "For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast."....

Hebrews 11:3 "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."....Once we understand that God is not like man, in that man needs a substance to invent something worth while. God, on the other hand, creates, not invents, out of nothing. God simply speaks, and what He had in mind, happens.

Now, what do I place my faith in? God's promises. One thing I have learned in my walk with the Holy Spirit, and that is, God doesn't lie!! Nope, not even a little white lie, as they say.

I'm interested in how some of you have come to exercise faith? You must have an interesting story to tell.

I'll write about LOVE next, so stay tuned.

 

[for_his_glory]

God's word is life application. We can only understand what faith is when we apply God's word, especially His promises to all areas of our life as faith is our hope (Jesus) in things we can not see at the moment, but becomes evident to us in God's perfect timing.

Example: I'm from Pennsylvania, but I lived in Texas for awhile and married my second husband there. The marriage became very abusive physically and mentally and I had to trust God to find me a way out before my husband could kill me. I had no money, car, family, or friends that could help me escape so all I had was God. To make a long story short God provided me the money to purchase a plane ticket and fly home to PA. God actually worked through the wickedness of my husband to do this as he had just gotten a paycheck and we went to the bank to open a new account. Now, everything was always put in his name, but that day he put both our names on the account (God working). The next day we got into a hugh fight and he went to work and I called off work. While he was at work I called the airline and the price of the ticket was the exact same amount we had just deposited the day before. Needless to say while my then husband was at work that bank account was closed that day and I was on my way home with everything I could pack in a suitcase. God's timing is always better then our own for He always has a better way.

BTW, I now have a Godly man as I trusted and waited on the Lord to put my gift from God in my path and we have been married 18 years now.