TEN CHARACTERS OF FAITH It is VERY important to surround oneself with people who can impact your life for the good and not for the bad. 1. Noah was a man who took God seriously. Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him. Genesis 6:22 2.Nehemiah was a man who silenced the Nay Sayers and did what they said he couldn’t do. Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem. Nehemiah 2:20 3. Job was a man whose life and resolve was tested beyond imagination, yet did not curse God In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. Job 1:22 4. Joseph was a man who was completely devoted to the Lord even in times of injustice, betrayal, and temptation. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. Genesis 50:20 5. Ruth was a woman who left everything she had for something far more greater than anything she’d ever imagined. But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. Ruth 1:16-18 6. Esther was a woman who understood her times and seized the day not only for her people but also for God. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Esther 4:14 7. Daniel was a man whose integrity and prayer life Helped him to see unbelievable miracles and prophetic mysteries. He went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. Daniel 6:10 8. Elijah was a man who availed himself in such a way to God. As a result, he was used mightily by God. Then the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So he arose and went down with him to the king. 2 Kings 1:15 9. Paul was a man so passionate for the lost, that he literally would have walked upon broken glass just to reach the next person. A prophet named Agabus came down from Judea… took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles… For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. Acts 21:10-14 10. Phillip was a man who chose to live by the spirit; follow His promptings; and be used by the Spirit. Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place… And there was an Ethiopian. Acts 8:25-40 Now some people would classify these people and others like them as having DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR. The definition of Delusions of Grandeur is is the fixed, false belief that one possesses superior qualities such as genius, fame, omnipotence, or wealth. It is most often a symptom of schizophrenia, but can also be a symptom found in psychotic or bipolar disorders, as well as dementia (such as Alzheimer’s). People with a delusion of grandeur often have the conviction of having some great but unrecognized talent or insight. They may also believe they have made some important discovery that others don’t understand or appreciate. Grandiose delusions may have religious content, such as the person believes he or she has received a special message from God or another deity.Sometimes, in popular language, this disorder may be known as “megalomania,” but is more accurately referred to as narcissistic personality disorder if it is a core component of a person’s personality and identity. In such disorders, the person has a greatly out-of-proportion sense of their own worth and value in the world. People with this issue can also sometimes have a taste for the finer, more extravagant things in life. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE OF HAVING FAITH IN GOD AND DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR? “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:6 NLT)Anytime we demonstrate faith, we’re relying on something. When you sit in a chair, you’re relying on the chair’s manufacturer to produce something that will hold you up. When you’re on the freeway, you’re relying on every other driver around you. Faith in God means we rely on him and depend on his reliability. Having faith means realizing that God is bigger, greater, and better than me – and he loves me greatly.Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death” (NLT). Thats the problem with relying on yourself. We’re often wrong. Human intuition is not always reliable. In fact, it’s just good enough to make us think we’re right – even when we’re not.Genuine faith is relying on Gods direction and on who he is. God is reliable. He knows what you need, and he wants to meet those needs. Unfortunately, we think we know better. We think we have a better plan. We want to use our logic and get to the answer in a way that makes us look good – and doesn’t require risk. But God wants us to grow, so he takes us a different way. Many times in Scripture, God asks us to do what doesn’t make sense to our logic. For example, Mark 10:43 says, “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant” (NLT). To most people, that verse doesn’t make sense; you’d think great people would have others serving them. Jesus says it’s the other way around – the great people are the ones serving others. I need to trust what God says about greatness, not what I thinGod also says we’re to honor him by giving the first 10 percent of our income back to him. By our reason, that doesn’t make much sense to us. But we’re to lean on God’s understanding, not our own.Because we trust him, we obey what he says – even if it doesn’t make sense to us. When you are accused and ridiculed be encouraged that others before you have endured the same persecution. You are a man and woman of FAITH!! You STAND believing for those things you do not see knowing it is coming to pass!!
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 16:21:00 +0000