A solid bridge of faith

"Faith isn't faith until it is all that you have left to hold onto"

Faith is the core ingredient in our life that carries us safely through the troubles of life.  When troubled times come you need to know that your faith is sufficient to carry you through safely.

The levels of faith in people varies with some having little faith and others have great faith. The people of little faith are often washed away as soon as a problem arises, while those that have built a solid foundation in the word will stand forever no matter what problems may come their way.

The story of building faith

A young boy, Tom, was faced by a problem in his life.  His parents lived close to a large river but on the wrong side of the river. Everything he wanted in life was on the other side. Tom started to devise a way to cross the river.

Unfortunately the river was deep and even though Tom tried to wade across he would barely be a couple of feet into the river and the water would already be too high for him. In fear of drowning Tom had to return to safe land.

Soon Tom learnt how to swim and found that he could easily get across to the other side but only in the months of the year that the river was still.  As soon as the rains came and the river started to flow Tom knew that he could not risk the swim for fear of being swept away in the current.

Tom, being a creative young lad, soon came up with a bright idea.   When the river was still he swam across again but this time he was dragging a rope behind him. Tom secured the rope on either side of the river and decided that he could hold onto the rope and use the rope to stop him from being washed away when the river flowed fast.

While Tom's plan worked while the river was flowing slightly it was not long before he realised that as soon as the river started to flow a bit faster that he would not have the strength to hold onto the rope and he would be washed away.

Bright idea. If I could build a raft I could stand on the raft and use the rope to pull myself along and cross the river. That way I will also be able to carry things across the river with me and I will be dry when I get to the other side.

Tom's raft worked well but soon the river started to flow fast and just one storm was all that it took to wash the raft away forever.

There has to be a better way.

Tom was not the type to be easily beaten. He was determined to find a way to cross the river safely. Soon Tom had a wooden bridge constructed. He extended supporting poles into the river bed and even though it was a little rickety Tom could walk over the bridge safely even when the water was flowing fast.

One night a storm struck and the river raged. The next morning Tom was devastated to see that his work of art, the wooden bridge, had been washed away. The current had been too strong and had washed the wooden supports away causing the bridge to collapse.

The Final Solution

Tom went out and ordered bricks and cement. he started to build a bridge that could withstand any storm and any raging water. The foundation was solid cement set upon rocks.

The bridge was never washed away again and no matter what the storms brought on Tom could always cross the river without fear of being swept away.

The Bridge of faith in your life. 

Faith is the bridge that we have to cross the raging rivers of life. How strong is your faith? Will you be able to safely cross the river when the storm is raging or will your raft of faith be washed away in the storm?

Are you still trying to wade the river or perhaps you are at the raft stage or even the wooden bridge?

Faith is not given to you, it is not earned but rather it is something that you have to build personally.

Cement your faith into the rock of Jesus Christ and build a solid bridge that will carry you safely through even the strongest of storms.

When faith is all that you have left to hold onto you need to be assured that the faith is strong enough to be able to keep you safe.

Romans 12:2 "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed through the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

Programmed by the world.

I am very involved in the world of online marketing to supplement my income, and sell quite a range of products of which weight loss products are one of my specialities. I have a number of products that are extremely good which include Hoodia, Acai Berry and Proactol, but the top product does not consist of a pill, but rather a program that is followed. It involves no real diet, no major exercise system, and yet the people who do embark on this course lose weight easily and permanently. This course uses what I call the "X" factor to encourage people to lose weight. What is the "X" factor. It is simply the deprogramming of the world system that you have adopted and the renewing of the mind. The program is called Weight Loss God's Way and Romans 12:2 forms one of the core principles of the course.

What amazes me to no end is the fact that 9 out of ten people will rather buy a pill that may help them lose a little weight, or they will buy a strict diet that is going to make them so miserable that they will fall out of the diet and feel a total failure, before they are willing to trust in God and to use a system that is guaranteed to make them lose weight both easily and permanently.

Why? Simply put, people are programmed to trust a pill or a worldly system before they are prepared to trust in God, who created them, to fix their problems.

People who are sick, and I am talking about good solid faith filled christians, are more likely to trust in a pill prescribed by a doctor, than in a word from God that tells them to do something else that will cure their sickness. We are programmed to place our trust in places that do not belong to the Lord Jesus. Yes, I do know that Doctors are good and serve a great purpose, but do you know that God is far greater and far more knowledgeable than any Doctor! God says that when we are sick, we should call for the elders of the church to anoint us with oil in the name of the Lord, and to pray for us ( James 5:15).

Whether we choose to confess it or not, we have all become conformed (Moulded To) to this worlds standards and requirements of us. We are programmed to the worlds system.

Breaking Free from the world's programming.

The day that we accept the Lord Jesus into our lives as Lord and Saviour, we are filled with love for Jesus, and also given the power of the name of Jesus, so that we may break free from the worldly systems that have held us captive. The largest problem is that we have been given the love of Jesus and the power of Jesus as a gift, and for many people it is one of those gifts that are seldom used, but rather put aside and kept on show somewhere.

Someone I know had a son who was walking to work daily. The walk was a fair distance and this family got together and feeling sorry for the young man having to walk to and from work daily, decided to buy a small car for him to save him the long walk. The gift was well recieved and well looked after by the young man who was very proud of his new possesion, washing, cleaning and showing off his new gift to everyone, but alas, he never ever drove in the car because he just felt so much more comfortable walking to and from work.

Many Christians are the exact same as this young man. They  love Jesus, proudly show the love of Jesus to others, they know the power of the gift they have received in the name of Jesus, but they are more comfortable carrying on in their old wordly ways and therefore they fail to ever use the power of the name of Jesus to set themselves free from the situations that they find themselves in. 

You have to break free from the mould that the world has placed you in, and undergo change by renewing the way that you think and accepting the power that has been given to us in the name of Jesus, and start using it.

How Do I Renew My Mind.

One of the most frequent questions asked is, "How do I renew my Mind?" This is in fact so simple that it escapes most people. To each of us is given a measure of  faith when we accept Jesus as Lord of our lives. The faith that is given to us is the gift that we can choose to either use or place on show on the mantlepiece. When we start to choose to  use the gift instead of the wordly system, and our trust in the gift is greater than our trust in the wordly system, we have begun the renewing of our mind.

When we choose to rather use the faith that is given to us, we undergo an automatic renewing of our mind, that continues to manifest itself into a transformed being. "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind", implies that we will start to undergo physical change. When we place our trust in God's word to lose weight and we apply His systems into our lives, our bodies undergo a transformation and we become that  good and acceptable person that God created us to be. ( God actually says that we must test Him in this fact - "That you may prove.")

When we start to rather seek prayer and the annointing by oil of the elders when we are sick, and to follow what God tells us to do, instead of following what the doctors are telling us, the faith that we start to exhibit is a renewing of the mind and you will start to walk in the health and healing that Jesus has promised.

When you are in financial difficulties, start to give away what you have. The world's system says that you must take what you have and hide it away so that nobody can take it away from you. It is the worldly investment system. God's investment system is to take what you have, give some to the church in order to further His work, and give to the poor and needy, that they may be fed and clothed. When you do this, He will look after it for you and return it to you, a good measure, pressed down and running over! (Do you still want to renew your mind.) 

Start to renew your mind today through the forsaking of the worldly system and by placing your trust in the word of God.

Acts 4:12, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." If you wish to accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, you can never be saved unless you have the faith to believe that Jesus has the power to forgive your sins and set you free. When you call upon the name of Jesus, you are calling upon Him because you realise, and therefore have faith, that He is able to set you free. Therefore everyone who has already accepted Jesus into their lives already has a measure of faith.

Once you have accepted Jesus into your life, you begin to increase in faith and to walk in faith. Different people walk in differing amounts of faith according to what they believe and accept. Some believe in their hearts that Jesus only performed miracles when He was walking on the earth and that the miracle power of Jesus does not exist anymore. Others have huge faith in the power that lies in the name of Jesus and so are able to walk in faith and see massive and incredible miracles on a regular basis. Others only have faith in the name of Jesus for small things.

Faith is believing in things, the evidence of which have not been seen. In other words it is when you believe that something is going to happen when there is no other evidence that it will in fact happen. In Mathew 9:21, the lady with the flow of blood, followed Jesus and had faith that if she were only to touch the hem of His garment, that the blood flow would stop and she would be healed. She had no physical evidence that if she managed to touch his garment that she would be healed. ther was no previous medical research to prove the fact that she could be healed by merely touching His garment. All she had to go on was her faith that Jesus was indeed so powerful, that merely by touching His garment, even without His knowing, that she would be healed. She had faith for it to happen and so it happened.

Matthew 21:22, "if you have faith and do not doubt."  Faith and doubt do not go together. In many of the healings performed by Jesus, there are clear cut words that are repeated by Jesus, "Your faith has made you well."

When Jesus ascended to heaven He left behind something for us to use. We have the power in the name of Jesus. Jesus gave us His name, that not only can we be saved by His name, but we are also able to receive and witness the same miracles through the name of Jesus, that were performed by Jesus while He was on the earth, if we only have Faith.

Acts 3:16, "And his name, through Faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the prescence of you all." Jesus is the same Yesterday, today and tomorrow, and His word carries true. Jesus has already said in John 14:12, "Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father." Jesus states clearly in this scripture that the works that He did on earth such as healings, will be carried on and will even become greater, by those who believe and have the faith to walk  in the authority of the  name of Jesus.

Jesus is right here, right now, and if you merely have the faith to believe in the power in His name, then you can expect a miracle from Him. If you wish to be saved by Him, then merely ask Him to come into your life and accept Him as Lord and Saviour. If you are sick and in need of healing, then have faith in His name and you will be healed.

Above all walk in His name, trusting that He is watching over you and is guiding and leading you into everlasting life.

What is faith? Faith is the most difficult part of our Christain walk. It is learning to believe in Christ with all your heart and all your mind.

When you have other options open and other plans to fall back on - it is not faith.

When last did you see someone walking around a city like Jericho - 7 times, just believing in absolute and blind faith that the walls will fall down. Nowadays, the TV camera's and press will all be there to show the rest of the world just how crazy you have become. Of course the medics will also be there and you will be sent for physciatric evaluation.

Yet this is the type of faith that Jesus requires of us. Often the crazier it sounds, the more likely it is that Jesus is behind it.

I pray that your faith would rise and become greater than the size of a mustard seed. Remember that all things are possible to him who believes.

The answer to all three questions above is ,"Yes, the old Testament is as relevant to us today as it was thousands of years ago." Although we have been excluded from certain consequences and certain rituals of the old testament, through the works of Jesus and the blood of Jesus, the foundation of the new testament and our very lives was in the old testament. A christian who does not bother to read or know the contents of the old testament is one who has no foundation or strength!

When Jesus went out into the wilderness and was tempted by Satan, He was weak from hunger for He had not eaten for forty days. Satan came to Him in His weakest moment, but yet Jesus was able to resist and overcome satan. How did Jesus do this?

Jesus quoted scripture from the old testament and more importantly the scripture that He quoted to satan all came from the book known as the book of law - Deuteronomy.

 The first scripture was Deut 8:3 "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God".

The second scripture, Deut 6:16 "You shall not tempt the Lord your God".

The third scripture, Deut 6:13 " You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve."

Through the knowledge of these three scriptures from the old testament, Jesus overcame the tempter and he had to flee from before Him. Many of the old testament scriptures were used by the apostles in the book of Acts and in the letters thereafter.

The old testament is the foundation on which we stand, and therefore it is our strength. The foundation supplies strength to a building and a house built on a solid foundation will not fall. However a house that has no foundation is soon swept away when troubled times come. I have witnessed many a christian overcome and swept away as soon as a few hard times come, for there has been no solid foundation in their lives.

In order to build strength into your christian walk and to build a solid foundation into your life, one that will withstand all the wiles of satan, and against which no weapon shall prosper, entrench yourself in the knowledge of the old testament, for it is as relevant to you today as it was 2000 years ago.

The army of Joshua knew that Joshua was a leader sent by God, and so they never questioned Joshua. They never grumbled about how far it was around the city and how futile the instructions seemed. They simply placed their faith in what God had told Joshua to do and they obeyed. For six days they marched around the city once a day. You can just imagine the city dwellers all standing on the wall of Jericho and looking at these crazy people, the supposed mighty army being led by Joshua, and all they are doing is walking around the city.

On the seventh day, the army marched around the city again, but today there was something different. The army did not stop, but continued to march around, once , twice, three times, four times, five times, six times and finally seven times around the city. Suddenly the priests blew a trumpet and all the army shouted as they were commanded to do, and the walls of Jericho, the mighty city, fell down and the army of Joshua went in and destroyed all the people of the city, except for the harlot who had previously helped them.

What would happen in todays time if God were to give such a commandment to one of the church leaders? Would the church listen to the man of God? I can tell you now that there would be no army that would march around the city, for all the army would have complained about the stupidity of the commandment, the length of the wall, and the dirt track that they had to walk on, etc. Yet Joshua and his army trusted in the Lord and perservered with what God had told them to do.

We lack faith in God. We want God to do everything for us, but yet when God tells us to do something, we complain about the conditions attached. We want God to do all the work and we want to reap all the benefits.

God is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow, which means that God has not changed his methods of doing things. In this prime example, a man suffering from cancer, woke up and heard God telling him to start to eat the root of the dandelion weed. The man did not question God, but proceeded to obey God and started to eat the dandelion root. Everybody around him probably thought that he had gone senile, but he perservered in his faith in what God had told him to do and soon he was totally healed from cancer. I am not saying that you must run out and get dandelion root for your cancer or other specific problem, but that you must listen to what God is telling you to do in your specific case, obey and perservere in faith, and soon your walls will come falling down.

Another case is of a man who started to eat the haboneros chilli and was also healed. Yes, God can heal you outright and God can heal you instantly, but sometimes God issues you instructions to carry out, so that His glory may shine through and that your obedience to Him may also show. If Joshua and his army had replied back to God, "Lord, you are God of all and you can make these walls fall down without us having to go through the strain of marching around the city, so we are just going to sit here and wait for the walls to fall down", then Joshua and his army would still be camping outside of the city of Jericho to this very day. God is the God of miracles and is able to do things without you marching around the city, but God's ways are higher than our ways, and if God tells us to do something , then we need to be in obedience and do it without question.

Faith without works is dead and unless you step out in your faith, obey the instructions that God has issued to you , either directly or through a man of God, and perservere in what God has told you to do, then you will continue to stand outside the walls of Jericho and they will never fall down.

Step out in faith and obedience, that the walls of your problems may be totally destroyed.

I am a man of great faith. I have faith where most others fall away into doubt, and mostly my faith comes through for me and things that I am believing for happen. Why does God honour my faith? Simply because mostly my faith is accompanied by my works. If I am believing that God will speak to me, then I have to place myself into a position that makes it possible for God to actually speak to me, and I have to wait and listen for God's voice. To have the faith that God will speak to you, and to then never wait and listen or allow God the opportunity to talk to you, is having faith but without works.

If you are having faith and believing that God will use you to reach the sick and heal the sick, but never bother to go out and pray for the sick or even go to visit the sick, then that is unfounded faith without any works. Have faith that God will use you, then step out and go do what you believe in and then God will honour your faith. 

Faith   x     Works   =     Blessings

1000   x       0           =            0         If you have no works, then it does not matter how much faith that you may have, the end result will always be zero. Anything multiplied by zero will always be zero. However even the smallest amount of faith with a small amount of works will return results and the results of the above equation will be changed to this.

2           x       2            =             4      The minute that we have some faith combined with some works, we have results which can also be termed as blessings. God will bless your hand if you have both faith and works and the blessing returned to you will be the results of an equation similar to the above, where the amount of faith combined with the amount of works will determine the amount of blessings.

In short, if you wish to walk in the blessings of God, then you need to take the faith that you have, combine it with works and then the blessings shall be returned to you out of your faithfulness. If you are believing for God to bless you with a new job, then you need to take the faith that you have in God to supply a job, and combine it with applying for a new job and making yourself available to receive the new job. If you believe for that new job, but never bother to look for or make yourself available for a new job, then how can God ever give you that new job.

If you are believing for financial blessings from God, then you need to take the faith that you have, combined with works in the obedience of God's word in the area of giving, and then the blessings will start to rain down. Walk in a good combination of both faith and works,  and you will see change and blessings start to pour into your life.

Faith without works is dead. Works without faith is also dead. Faith with works results in blessings.

Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God?

Do you believe that Jesus died for you?

Do you believe that Jesus bore your sins and suffered for your sins when He died on the cross?

Do you believe that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father right at this moment, interceding for you?

Do you believe that all things are possible to Him who believes, through Christ Jesus?

Do you believe that Jesus redeemed you from the works of darkness?

Do you believe that Jesus bore your sicknesses and that by His stripes you are healed?

Do you believe that Jesus will supply to all of your needs according to His riches and glory?

Do you believe that you have the power within you through Jesus to lay hands on the sick and heal them?

Do you believe that the demons see you coming and begin to tremble and flee from before you?

Do you believe that there may just come the time that Jesus will call upon you to pray for a dead person to rise?

Do you believe that you have the power through Jesus to command the elements of the earth such as the winds and storms?

I could carry on with this list forever, but I pray that you have started to see my point that I am making. If you could not answer "yes" immediately to all of these questions, then you are not walking in the full power that Jesus has given to us.  Each of the above is scriptural, and each of the above is biblically possible for us as Christians to perform.

Why then do we not do these things on a daily basis? It is simply because many christians have a limited belief in themselves and their ability to carry the power of Jesus. This may be because of ignorance of the word of God, or perhaps low self esteem and lack of confidence.

Whatever the cause of your not rising up in the full power that Jesus has given to us, is it not time that you start to overcome that and start reaching out to the world around you in the mighty name of Jesus.

Matthew 17:20

So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'move from here to there', and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you".

John 14:12

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father".

Only believe and you will seee the full glory of Jesus in your life. Now go back to the list above and read the list again aloud, but this time replace the" Do you believe" with "I believe."  There is power in the spoken word and by confessing these things aloud, you bring the power of the confession into your life.

Many people who have great faith for many things, do still walk in unbelief as well, especially in certain area's of their lives pertaining to themselves. They are stricken with unbelief in area's such as "Well I know God can do mighty works and miracles, but I am not sure that God loves me enough to be able to heal me. God loves brother Peter and will heal him, but I am not really worthy of God and so God will not heal me". This is what I call self sabotaging unbelief and it ties the hands of Jesus and prevent Him from being able to work in your life. Self sabotaging unbelief's mostly come in the form of the belief that you are not personally worthy of the love of Jesus.

In order for you overcome your unbelief, you have to form a deep relationship with Jesus. Only by entering into a deeper relationship with Jesus and having quality fellowship with Him, will you come to realise the depth of His love for you. Jesus loves you with a far greater love than you can ever imagine or even begin to return to Him. Jesus is bonded to you in love and being bonded you can not be seperated from Him. Romans 8:38 explains that there is nothing that is capable of seperating us from the love of God through Christ Jesus. Nothing that we have done in the past is capable of destroying the love of  Jesus for us, and as long as we are true to repent, all of our sins are forgiven and we walk in the fullness of the love of Jesus.

One of the biggest factors that prevents a marriage between man and wife from going forward from strength to strength is doubt and unbelief that the other partner loves you. When a husband is unsure of the love of his wife, the marriage seems to become stagnant and does not grow stronger. When we are unsure of the love of Jesus, it prevents our marriage to Him from going from strength to strength. Once you come to the full realisation that nothing is in fact stronger than the love that Jesus has for you, then all things become possible and Jesus is able to start to perform the great and mighty miracles that you expect from Him.

Matthew 21:21 "If you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea, it will be done".

Matthew 17:20 "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly , I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you."

In performing many of the miracles of healing, Jesus turned to the people and said, "Your faith has made you well." If you truly believe that Jesus loves you, then you also believe that Jesus wants you to walk in the fullnes of life and to walk in total health, regardless of the circumstances that may have lead to you becoming sick. "Your sins are forgiven of you." Do not let your unbelief stand in the way of your future in Jesus, knowing that Jesus loved you enough to die for you over 2000 years ago, and that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, and that He still loves you the same as He did 2000 years ago.

 Rise up and stand proud in the name of Jesus.

2) You know that you were gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led.

3) Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is lord, except by the Holy Spirit.

4) Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

5) There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.

6) And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.

7) But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.

for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,

9) to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,

10) to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of Spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

11) But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

12) For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ .

13) For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free - and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

14) For in fact the body is not one member, but many.

15) If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body?

16) And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body?

17) If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing, where would be the smelling?

18) But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.

19) And if they were all one member, where would the body be?

20) But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.

21) And the eye cannot say to the hand, " I have no need of you"; nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."

22) No much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.

23) And those members of the body which we think to be less honourable, on those we bestow greater honour; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty,

24) but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honour to that part that lacks it,

25) That there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for for one another.

26) And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, or if one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

27) Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.

28) And God has appointed these in the church: First apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps administrations, varieties of tongues.

29) Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles?

30) Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?

31) But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.