Through faith

You're in line at the grocery store. You get into a conversation with someone next to you and find out about a sickness or infirmity they happen to be suffering from. "May I pray for you?" "Yes." You pray for them. You pay for your groceries. You leave. Next week, at the grocery store again, there they are! "How are you?" "I'm still sick. If it's God's Will, He'll heal me...."

There are so many people who have this mindset. So many people, Christian people, who walk around sick, thinking, "If it's God's Will, I'll be healed, but if not..."

It is God's Will! How do I know what God wants? Because His Word declares it! Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? (If the answer is no, see my other post, "Are you good enough?") Did Jesus save us partway? NO! The Bible says He died once for ALL! Is it God's Will for some to be saved, but not others? NO! The Bible says that God so loved the world. God so loved the world! That means everyone on the earth! It is not God's Will that any should perish.

Just as it is God's will for all to be saved, it is God's will for all to be healed! 2 Peter 2:24 says that by His stripes we were healed! Notice the word "were". That's past tense! How can that be, you ask? well, because when Jesus Christ bore our sins, He also bore our sicknesses! The Bible says you were already healed!

This is difficult for many people to understand, because they don't understand the operation or power of faith, so let's get on the same wavelength here.

Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." When you first heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached, and received the Word which you heard, faith was imparted to you to be saved. That faith is not your own faith, it is God's faith. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast."

So you know that you were saved through faith. You know that the Bible says that you were already healed. So why are there so many Christians who are sick? Because they don't have a revelation of the authority of the believer in Christ. In Luke 10:19, Jesus said, "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you."

Over all the power of the enemy! The devil is the author of sickness, not God. Jesus said you have power over the devil. If you have power over the devil, you have power over the tools of the devil, and one of those tools is sickness!

In Mark 5:34, Jesus was speaking to the woman with the issue of blood, who had just touched His robes and was healed. "And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague."

"Thy faith hath made thee whole;" Jesus said her faith was what healed her! Not her faith, but God's faith imparted to her when she believed! She knew that Jesus is who the Bible says He is, and put her faith into operation.

2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "For we walk by faith, not by sight"

Romans 1:17 says, "The just shall live by faith"

God created the heavens and the earth through faith. Hebrews 11:3 says, "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."

God spoke in faith, believing on the Word which He spoke, and through that faith created all things! THE SAME FAITH WAS GIVEN TO YOU! You have the same faith inside of you that God spoke all of creation into existence with! You were given that faith when you were born again, and the same faith will heal you, if you only believe! Jesus said, "Only believe". Believe the Word of God.

Until next time, Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

How do you know the Bible is true?

If you are a Christian and habitually share your faith with others, odds are you have been questioned as to how you know Jesus is real, or how you know that the Bible is true. As a Christian, you represent God's kingdom, and as an ambassador for Christ, you must know how to answer questions like this! So, how do we know the bible is true? How do we know that it isn't abunch of made-up nonsense? How do we know that Jesus is who He says He is?

First of all, the Bible is historically accurate. The events described in the bible are backed by ancient historians as well as archeological evidence. The historians of note include Cornelius Tacitus , Flavius Josephus, and Pliny the Younger.

Compared to other ancient writings, the New Testament is uniquely well-documented. Here are just two examples: the histories of Tacitus survive in only two manuscripts. There are 10 copies of the Caesarian wars. Both are considered valid, whereas there are over 5,000 manuscripts of the New Testament. Then there is the question of the preservation of the manuscripts over the years and how accurate they are in comparison to the originals. One example is Homer's 'Iliad'. Only 95% of 'Iliad' is considered to be preserved accurately. Over 99% of the New Testament is considered to have been preserved accurately!

Other than the Old Testament, the New Testament is the best-documented ancient book in history. A well-known archeologist, William Fullbright, has stated that every book of the New Testament was written by A.D. 75. For any who don't know, and to put that into proper perspective, Jesus was recorded to have died on the cross in A.D. 33.

Now that we've discussed the historical evidence of the reliability of the Bible, there is also Biblical prophecy. The Prophets of the Old testament prophesied of the coming Messiah hundreds of years before Jesus was born. I will list a few of these prophecies from the Old Testament, along with the fulfillment of the same prophecies in the New Testament.

From the tribe of Judah - Genesis 49:10
Fulfilled - Luke 3:33

Heir to the throne of David - Isaiah 9:7
Fulfilled - Luke 1:32-33

Born in Bethlehem - Micah 5:2
Fulfilled - Luke 2:4,5,7

Born of a virgin - Isaiah 7:14
Fulfilled - Luke 1:26-31

Preceded by a forerunner - Malichi 3:1
Fulfilled - Luke 7:24,27

A prophet - Deuteronomy 18:15
Fulfilled - Acts 3:20,22

Rejected by His own people - Isaiah 53:3
Fulfilled - John 1:11, Luke 23:18

These are only a few of over one hundred prophecies fulfilled of Jesus of Nazareth.

How else do we know the Bible is true? There is the fact that all of Jesus' disciples except for one were brutally martyred. The ways in which they died included crucifiction, upside-down crucifiction, beheading, fed to lions, stoning, stabbed to death, head smashed in with a club, death by hanging, and the list continues. Would these men have given their lives for something they knew wasn't true? These were the people who knew Jesus, lived with Him, ate with Him. If anyone were to know if the Bible was true, it would be them! But they didn't back down. They gave all for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Until next time! The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

wine in biblical times

Regarding the alcoholic content of wine and how we know today that throughout most of the bible the wine that was drunk was non-alcoholic; if you're unbelieving, or maybe you're offended, look into it! It's a historical as well as biblical fact. see www.learnthebible.org, www.biblicalperspectives.com, the christian response, tektonics.org. These websites provide more than ample information on the subject.

Thank you for coming to my blog! If you have questions about the topics I have posted, leave me your e-mail address and I will get back to you on it. This blog was not created for arguments, nor is it a chatroom. The bible says to avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. God bless you.