Hi again ... I made spelling mistakes in the last post and the edit facilities threw a wobbly. Sorry. Here it is again.

Hi.

The bible tells us that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. How come there's an old testament then?

The God that once told people to kill innocents, slaughter children and gouge out eyes, changes his mind and tells people to love their enemy and turn the other cheek.

Is he going to change his mind further down the road and dump me?

Dave

davec- 2/13/2008 4:02:01 PM

Welcome back, Dave. We've been missing you and wondering what you're up to. It's good to hear from you again.

One of the first questions you ever asked was about the brutality in the Old Testament, and that prompted me to write an article. You can find it here. I hope you can see that the contrast is not as drastic as it seems and the God of the NT is indeed the same as the God of the OT.

...Which leads me to a bigger point: Why do you assume God has changed just because His revelation to us has evolved over the years? To me, that suggests that we have changed more than God has. As we've evolved (or more specifically, as the Jews evolved), then God revealed different aspects of His nature and His plan to correspond with what they were ready to hear or needed to hear. (That is to say, different sides of a single nature, not a new or different nature). But He has never changed, nor has His plan changed - He has just shown different aspects of it over time.

I hope this helps! I look forward to your reply.

arsindelve- 2/13/2008 5:22:46 PM

LOL. I had this same question many years ago. Then, God spoke directly to me and told me He changed not. As soon as I heard the words, I turned and there was a snake behind me. In my kitchen!!

This happened before I was part of His family. Later, after salvation, I was lead to see that God does not change. He still wants the same thing He wanted from the onset, to love us and have us love Him. We, being selfish and self centered, which is the true "fallen state", couldn't get it right. So, He, in His divine wisdom and compassion, sent His Son, Jesus, to show us how to do it. Jesus was the example of how the Father wants us to love, trust and obey Him.
Our goal is to allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us. Changing us more each day until we are the image of Jesus. (That's being born again) We pray to communicate with God. We show Him our love when we obey His word. We show the world His love when we love each other.
God, the Father has appealed to us on our "fallen" level. Since we are so self-centered, He said, "forgive others as I have forgiven you." And "love others as I have loved you."
God did not change from the OT. He still required "blood of the unblemished lamb". Thus, He sent His Only to be the "unblemished lamb". He reconcilled with us. Since we couldn't do it. And even in our "saved" status, we are still unworthy. We yet are self-centered. We still debate Him and His word, hoping to get the understanding that suits us. He said what He said and He meant what He said and all those folks who died in the OT have had the chance to be saved when Jesus died on the cross. God is so awesomeand He loves us so much. He made peace with Himself for us. He is not a God of confusion, but of peace.

mrspiggy- 2/13/2008 6:47:32 PM

As for God "dumping you", keep questioning His character and find out if He dumps you. :)

mrspiggy- 2/13/2008 6:49:16 PM

Thanks for your replies ... arsindelve, you've got a better memory than me! Just goes to show how my unresolved questions come back to haunt me. Will I ever escape?!

I don't get the bit about the Jews evolving. Either the bible is God's word or it isn't. Are you saying stacks of things in the bible might not be exactly true because the Jews were evolving in their concept of God?

If the Jews didn't really understand God then, surely, ALL the old testament has to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Did people in the NEW testament REALLY understand God then .. or were they evolving too? How much for THEIR interpretation of him? There appears to be more shifting sand than solid rock if that's how we view the bible.

Oh ... and a part of God's nature IS to gouge out eyes and kill innocent children is it?

Dave

davec- 2/14/2008 3:41:55 AM

Did you have a chance to read the article? That is proabably the best I can hope to do in explaning what seems like "brutality" in the OT. When I wrote the article, the light went off in my head when I realized that we all die eventually and in a very real way, God is the one who decides how and when we die. If he takes us one at a time in middle age, or all at once in youth, what's the difference? If you want to get mad that God kills anyone, I understand that, but I don't think it makes sense to get upset at how or when He does it, especially when He is working to preserve the Jewish people from being wiped out.

The "evolving" is likely a little easier to explain.

There are two schools of thought on how to explain the "evoloution" of God's revelation over time. I am no expert on either of these, but I can present the basics and if you're interested, help you find some resources.

The first theory is called "Covenant Theology". The basic idea here is that God made covenants with man, and man always broke those covenants, so in His mercy, God made new ones each time. This explains why the Bible seems to evolve. Each change represents a new covenant. The drastic change between the Old and New Testament can be explained that we are now in the Covenant of Grace, whereas the OT was governed by a Covenant of Works.

The second theory is called "Dispensational Theology". If I understand it correctly, this theology claims that God revealed, over time, whatever the Jews were able to handle. Eventually, once they got a grip on one aspect of God's nature, he would reveal a little more. Eventually, through the arrival of Jesus Christ, everthing that we needed to know about God for the purpose of salvation and living according to His will was fully revealed.

The best analogy I can come up with (since I LOVE analogies) is that of a father explaining his job to a daughter. When she is very young, he might say that he fixes people who are sick. As she grows, he tells her he is a doctor. Eventually, he can explain that he is a cardiologist. The father's job does not change, but he tells her only what she is ready to understand for her age and maturity.

No matter which theory you buy, you can see that God does not (and did not) change. If anything, man changes and so God adapts his revelation accordingly.

What amazes most scholars, no matter which theology they prefer, is actually how consistent and coherent the Bible really is. Even very early on, there are glimpses and hints of what's to come. Now that we know how it ends, we can go back to the beginning and see how much the OT anticipates and predicts Christ. Taken together, the books of the Bible form a very complete and rich picture of who God is and what he desires from us. Even atheist scholars marvel at how much consistency there is in a book written by dozen of people of thousands of years. We know that it is because God worked through each and every author.

arsindelve- 2/15/2008 8:37:25 AM

My question is if we believe and trust God, do we need to "lean towards our own understanding? Theology is the study of religon, not God. We can not know God until we have a personal relationship with Him. This is why He has so many names. By His words, He is, "I AM".
If I AM is Lord, Savior, Eye-gouger, Baby killer, Love, Merciful One, or Father, is dependent on your relationship to Him. He does NOT have to justify His behavior to us.

mrspiggy- 2/15/2008 10:01:10 AM

Mrs Piggy,

I think this is an area where we have disagreed in the past, and it is because I so respect everything you've done and said that I really want to explain why I feel it is necessary to provide explanations to honest, seeking questions such as these.

In my own personal walk with God, I have the luxury of placing all my faith and trust in Him when I don't understand.

But as a someone in ministry whose primary goal is to lead others to Christ, I do not have that luxury. I have to defend and explain Christ to those who have questions. It is a rightous thing to do, and people have been doing this since Paul and Peter in the books of Acts. When someone such as Dave or others have difficult questions, it will do no good to tell them to have faith, because it is their very faith itself which is in jeopardy.

For someone who does not even believe there is a God, telling them to have faith is simply not enough. We are separated by a chasm of faith and belief, and I cannot help to save them by calling out to them to trust me and cross to my side. No, I love that person so much, and I want them to be saved so deeply, that I have to reach across the divide and appeal to them where they stand. I have to walk back across with them.

By providing solid, logical, biblically-based answers to questions such as these, I hope and pray that faith will be strengthened to the point that when future doubts or questions emerge, faith will be sufficient to handle them.

arsindelve- 2/15/2008 10:18:36 AM

Arsin,

I understand that you feel you have an obligation to explain things to others. My only obligation is to trust God as His word says. Do yo thang, man. I will keep my opinion, even Bible-based ones, to myself.

mrspiggy- 2/15/2008 11:50:32 AM

Surely we are not asked to disengage brain when becoming a Christian? Obviously our brains are a tad limited, but they ARE there!

davec- 2/15/2008 12:53:29 PM

Mrs Piggy,

Keeping your opinions to yourself is the LAST thing I want you to do. Your contributions to this site have been nothing less than amazing. The reason I wrote what I did was because I sometimes wonder if you are sitting around, shaking your head and wondering, "Why doesn't Arsin just have faith?! Why does he worry about such things?"

I hope I have not hurt your feeling or offended you in any way - I will be devastated if I have - and sincerely ask your forgiveness.

arsindelve- 2/15/2008 5:06:16 PM

Dave,

I don't think it's about turning your brain off, I think it's about turning off pride and ego. What I mean is that we live in a society where science has taught us to expect and demand explanations for everything. From that, we have become (as a people), arrogant in that we think we deserve explanations for everything. We don't accept that there are things which we cannot know or should not know. That makes it difficult to trust God, since He will not reveal everything. Some things are too complex for our finite mind, while some would be too hard to accept, and others may be on a need-to-know basis.

Once we have accepted Christ, we still need our minds to analyze what's going on around us and to enable us to make wise, God-centered decisions, but at the same time, we need the humility to still accept, love and worship God even when there are things that are hard or even impossible to understand.

arsindelve- 2/15/2008 5:13:33 PM

Arsin,

There is no need to feel devasted or speak of forgiveness. Elsewhere on this site, I admitted to holding a science degree. I also hold a law degree. So, I am the queen of questions. And very opinionated.

I really enjoy this site. I visit everyday. I have read almost everything available. Inquisitive mind, you think? Last month, I was given a form at church. There was a section that stated, "If you could ask God one question, what would it be?" I left it blank.

Years ago, I asked God a "why" question and He told me "none of your business."
I have not asked again. I just trust Him that it's all working together for the good of those who love Him and are called to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)
Reading is my passion. I read my Bible everyday. Research is my nature. I spend hours looking up verses that relate to the topics on this site.

Don't let offense enter your head. It's not about you and it's not about me. It's about Him. God led me to this site for His purpose. We often forget that we are knitted together through Christ Jesus. Offense is the worsts of sins, because it's a weapon of satan used to tear us apart. I love you in Christ Jesus, Arsin. You are my brother and you could never offend me. And I thank you for obeying the Holy Spirit in creating this site. May God continue to bless you in all you set your hand to.

mrspiggy- 2/15/2008 6:40:19 PM

davec!

I remember you; you are the guy who got me interested in this website back in Dec ' 07. At that time, I did not get out of my head much, so when I stumbled into this site, I was surprised to see you and others were writing about some of the same dilemmas which were puzzling me. I hope you don't find it cruel of God to allow me to hit upon some clarification while thinking about some of the topics with which you were struggling. I think that is how God and these discussions can work. I do agree with your comment on how we were given brains that are naturally inclined to consider the attributes and actions of God.

I've been interested, on and off, in all the odd happenings recorded in the OT since I was 13 years-old. My confusion on that stuff had provided some level of excuse for walking away from Christianity, while willingly remaining on an occasionally yanked tether. Back then I soothed myself with thoughts about how God must have a long range plan of evenhandedness to make it up to all the OT unfortunates who seemingly ended with a brutal and unjustified fate. A few years later, and I have no better explanation, except a deeper appreciation of the transitory nature of human life. And, while still questioing much, I have finally come to the point at which I'm content not to question everything. Believe it or not, that feels better than demanding to know - that surpised me. However, I realize one can't help stop questioning until you get some answers. I hope you, and I, find answers and faith.

As far as God being the same yesterday, today and forever; I have heard the explanation describing how God made a covenant with Israel which was all about love for His people. Non-covenant peoples (due to their lifestyles) represented the destructive force of sin, which would tempt and ultimately destroy the Israelites. So, in loving concern for the survival of the Israelites, they were instructed to annihilate other groups of people. Under the new covenant, all people are lovingly invited to be God's people. I believe all those ancients who had brief, albeit cruel-fated existences will be given the opportunity to get in on this action. So, I see room to believe God's attribute of love has remained constant. There has always been unfathomably grotesque dealings from the beginning of time until tomorrow's headlines. As has been previously stated, since we've read the end of the book, we can see reason to believe that God's love will always remain constant, and there will be an end to the violence. I can understand how not all active brains will come to the same conclusions and it will always be a topic worth consideration.

I think it is touching you are concerned about God dumping you. As far as I can see it has always been man doing the dumping. For all of us who've been in on the dumping, or close to it, do you think we've been given plentiful chances to change our minds?

Ryan- 2/15/2008 7:55:25 PM

I just heard this minister say, "God said He does not change, but His method can change."

I thought this was worth sharing as we know it to be true. Jesus healed many blind people, but He didn't heal them all the same way.

mrspiggy- 2/22/2008 1:18:30 PM

It was mentioned earlier that Theology was the study of religion, I think Theology means the Study of God, if I remember correctly. Theos is God and ology the study of. Just because it's a human current term, does not mean that scriptures does not speak of learning about God. The only thing we have to be careful is that the Theology we study is biblically based, which seems to be the case from most of the posts. Thank you for your work in this Arsin & Dave.

Iliana- 3/8/2008 3:46:02 PM

Hey, has anyone made a video for youtube.com. I was turned on to this website a while back, and I've been thinking about what kind of thought provoking subject I can talk about. Any ideas? there are a lot of Muslims that visit the site, so I've heard. Anyways, just an idea to through out there.

Iliana- 3/8/2008 3:56:02 PM

Okay, theology is suppose to be the study of the nature of God (which we know to be love), but in actuality is the study of religion.

Or as the dictionary puts it: The study of the nature of God and religious truth; rational inquiry into religious questions, esp. those posed by an organized religious community.
From The American Heritage Dictionary, 2nd college ed.

So, I guess this discussion could be classified as "theology". We are after all a "community" of Christians attempting to "rationally" question God's character (nature).

All I know is Jesus said, "You have not chosen me. I have chosen you." John 15:16

This leads me to think that we should be discussing why He chose us? Afterall, didn't pharaoh ask, "Who is the Lord?" (Ex. 5:2)

mrspiggy- 3/8/2008 8:30:10 PM

Iliana,

I've had friends, Christian friends, email me Youtube links. I find them uplifting and inspiring.

As the servant said to Jonathan, I say to you, "Do ALL that is in your heart."

mrspiggy- 3/8/2008 8:36:08 PM

Mrspiggy, I appreciate your response. When I explained the word Theology, I was explaining what the actual word means, not a definition. Theo means God and ology is the study of. One of the natures, I would rather call it the character of God is Love, but there's a lot more, there's the God of Wrath, Wisdom, Grace, Judge, Sovereign, and more. To dimiss Theology as just study of religion is a diservice to the Christian community. I find christian churches in particular are either all the way on one side, me and Jesus, individualistic, and have exciting worship, but no depth to their worship or any change in their lives. Then there's the other extreme that are all intellectual and no reality in worship or living. There has to be a middle ground where both can exist where the truths of scripture are reflected in the songs of worship that we sing, as well as studying God and scriptures and putting feet to the Word of God in our actions. Not that I have attained this, I am far away from this as a total way of life, but I'm better than I used to be by God's Grace.

It's interesting that you quoted the scripture of God chosing us. This can really open a can of worms for many believers.

In God chosing us, is our salvation, sanctification, and glorification dependent on us or God? We've been going through the book of Exodus in our church and God did tell Abraham that the Israelites would be in captivity for 400 years, I think back in Genesis, about 13 or 15th chapter. I can't remember. Wow, when I was reading that, and realized that God allows the hardships in our lives, then I came to the realization that I need to work on submitting to God's will, which could be hardships, for whatever His purpose may be. I don't think I am to know everything about the future, except because I have fear, and lack of trust in God's character of His goodness, and I want to be God and know everything, will it bother me that I'm in a particular hardship. But, if I know for sure that my God is Sovereign, Trustworthy, and Faithful to me, then I can go through anything, because He's not after my happiness as we tend to think (prosperity gospel), but after my Holiness, which will make me more like Christ.

Iliana- 3/9/2008 10:17:43 PM

As far as the youtube videos, I agree, that I have found some that are uplifting as well. My heart is deceitful above all things, so i would first bathe it in prayer to see what God wants. My sinful nature may want to do it just to be known and popular, which I am checking the motivations of my heart to do it and I want to do something that would be edifying and thought provoking to non believers. Most people, I find, don't think anything about God or Death. How many people around us are going straight to Hell and we just don't open our mouths. I know that God's Sovereignty cannot be thwarted, but what about my responsiblity with what I do with the Truth of the Scriptures. Has anyone had a good witnessing experience recently. I know that God puts people in my path that are very intellectual, so it's not a one time, share the gospel, but I find, I have to build a relationship over time, to be able to share God.

Iliana- 3/9/2008 10:28:11 PM

We are sanctified, purified and justfied through Christ on the cross, through His blood.(Romans 5:9) Those He called He also justfied and glorified. (Romans 8:30) We are justified through faith. (Romans 3:28 & Galatians 3:24) It is He who has made us and not we ourselves. If we could do it, there would have been no need for Jesus to come. We are made rigtheous through our faith in God. He gave each of us a measure of faith (Romans 12:3). It is up to us to grow the faith.

We know that faith comes by hearing the word of God. Ideally, we should hear (read) the word and meditate on it day and night. The word (seed) will grow in our hearts and bring forth a harvest (more faith). And we know that without faith it is impossible to please God.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2)

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons.(Hebrews 12:7)

As for "opening a can of worms", so sorry. Truth does not change.

Intellectual people? Okay. Then you have to be intellectual also in order to win them to Christ. This is noble. But remember:

"The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from th Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. 2:14)

As for witnessing, I find it eaier to "live" the message and let those without ask me the secret to my peace and joy.

mrspiggy- 3/10/2008 10:06:59 AM

What if jesus' Divinity was completely fabricated.

JesusWazzaZombi- 3/17/2008 3:50:20 PM

Excellent question; but, what if His divinity is genuine. Both of these angles should be investigated by all. Religion can be the opiate of the masses. However, all belief systems have the potential to be drugging. As long as one contemplates the tough questions and honestly searches for the answers, one won't be smoking off the zombie pipe.

Forgive the cliché, but some of us experience Jesus as the medicine, rather than the opiate, for all that is wrong in our lives and in the world. If you could prove to me that He was not divine, I would be greatly disappointed. However, I can't say I would have any regrets - Jesus has not asked me to do anything that has not worked out well for me. I don't think I would suddenly say, laden with expletives, that Jesus thing was just a myth; I need to get back to all the x, y, z Ive been missing. For me, x would feel great in the moment but then would have ugly complications, y is bound to really hurt those around me and z is just trouble that has lost all its appeal to me. If the benefits of following Jesus were only tied to this world, they would be more than enough for me.

Jesus is an invitation to a personal relationship that changes your life. I could not deny my life has changed even if you could show me Jesus is not divine. Real change seems unlikely if one mindlessly shoots up the opiate of mass deception. If Jesus is divine, and one doesnt investigate this possibility, there is a lot of good to be missed.

I am excited about all your questions posted here, and I enjoy the way you express your self. It is helpful for me to be challenged as to why I believe as I do. There is powerful potential in the questioning and in the responding. I hope you continue to challenge me and yourself!

Ryan- 3/18/2008 7:57:58 AM

JesusWazzaZombi

Truth cannot be fabricated. It either is or then it would be untruth (a lie). By using the word fabricated, you are insinuating that Jesus divinity can be a lie. Was George Washington our first president? You will say yes, of course, because you have historical evidence and eyewitnesses to the fact. Same thing with Jesus, you have historical evidence that he existed and eyewitnesses to what He said. You will have to conclude after you read what He said about Himself, if He is a liar, lunatic or Lord. There really is no other choice in the matter. Now if you are really serious about investigating Jesus, then I would suggest you read the gospel of John, but if you are not serious, don't even bother. God is real and He is able to make Himself known to you in whatever way He wants.

Iliana- 3/21/2008 2:25:04 PM

Let's get this matter straight.

JesusWazza, I would suggest you go directly to the Source. Ask God if Jesus is His Son.

Arsin, I'm sorry.

mrspiggy- 3/21/2008 3:09:47 PM

God is Perfect.
God is Wise.
God is Pure.
God is Holy.
God is Righteous.
God is Just.
God is Eternal.
His ways are higher than ours.

Ignited~Faith- 3/21/2008 9:01:17 PM

Mrs. Piggy,

No need to apologize at all. I have no qualms with whatever you write so long as it is true, kind and respectful. (And you have never, ever spoken otherwise).

You and I have disagreed from time to time on how best to answer people's questions, but there would never be any need to apologize for that! I will answer in my own way, and you can answer in your way, and God willing, one or both of us will be right!

I tend to focus on evidence, logic, reason, facts, etc. That is just one path to finding God, but there others. Each person comes to Christ through their own path. Your answer is extremely valid - if you want to know about Jesus, you can read about him in a book (Strobel, for example) or you can get down on your knees and pray to God to reveal Himself to you. The second way is by far the better way.

The reason I invite people to choose the first way is that from my experience, they will not pray or speak to Jesus until they are already convinced He exists. So, given that limitation, the next best thing is to use facts and evidence to show that He does. This is still a very legitimate path - Paul does this in Greece in the book of Acts (but He also does the other!)

However, I am learning that not everyone is like this. Some people who are seeking God need to be given the advice that He is right there and all you have to do is cry out. If they will do that, then praise God! I need to start having more faith that for some people, it's just that easy (or rather I should say, with God, it can be that easy - it's people who make it complicated). Thank you for your part in reminding me of that.

For what it's worth, this is the same approach Wisdom took, and I admire that, and just wish it could have been done with kindness and respect. I regret that whole situation got out of hand.

arsindelve- 3/22/2008 11:24:37 AM

I perceive JesusWazziZombi as being quite spiritual based on all I've read and re-read that he's written on this site. My understanding of his writing is that he knows that God is God and the creator, but he's questioning Jesus as The Son of God. He appears to be trying to "reason" out in his mind this very thing.

I've prayed and what came to me was Hebrews 13:2. We have to be careful how we treat people. Also, what if I went to a website and people were trying to convince me that Jesus IS NOT the Son of God. Wow. I would go to God in prayer and ask Him for myself.

We believe the Bible to be the Word of God and we spend time spewing these words out, but do we really believe them? The Bible says in Hosea 4:6, "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge." Then James 1:5 states, "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him."

JesusWazziZombie is not challenging our faith. He's trying to understand it. I commend him in his efforts. The Bible also says, "Seek and you will find." This is a spiritual principal. It will work for anyone, believer or not. Remember He causes it to rain on the just AND the unjust.

Ask and you will receive.

mrspiggy- 3/22/2008 2:21:11 PM

Mrs. Piggy - I like your suggestion to just ask God. There is no better outcome we could desire for a seeker than for God to directly speak answers to their questions. I do have faith God will answer these types of questions. I hope your type of response will be my front line of advice to others in the future. However, I remain fixated on feeling God does not always choose to quickly answer, or reply in the manner we request. I know God is true to His word to supply both faith and answers to those who seek. However, He is God and he sets the terms of the how and when His promises are fulfilled. I worry about those who ask for revelation, and then feel let down or decide their questions have been answered in the negative - because they don't immediately perceive answers. On the other hand I know God won't lose any He is calling to Him.

Perhaps my concerns only point to a huge lack of faith on my part - which must be overcome. I ask God for faith daily. Previously, I had begged God daily for two years, for answers to questions such as the ones mentioned above. He has answered my questions - my relief and thankfulness for those answers cause me to feel it would be inappropriate of me to demand or expect immediate answers to future questions. Due to no fault of yours, when I read some of your faith-filled comments, I question my self in regard to whether I was honestly seeking God with my whole heart during my long wait for answers. Maybe I am wrong, but after lengthy consideration, I believe I desperately pursued God with all I had. Yes, I lacked faith in everything I asked of God - faith is what I needed from Him. Currently, when I acknowledge all the blessings God has given me - especially the direct answers He has lovingly supplied - I'm embarrassed to admit I still have a faith deficit.

Your views, almost always supported by scriptures, are appreciated. Your faith is a wonderful witness. God desires the same for all of His children but, it appears to me that there are so many differing paths of experience we walk. At times, I wish seeking and finding were a very concise and immediate process to undergo and complete. The seeking should last our enire lives; so will the joy of finding. Thanks for reminding me that the best response I could give to others would be to ask God. When God answers, all of our reasonings are obsolete. Does a need for rationale to present to seekers, which encourages them to consider God and questions to ask Him, remain? As Arsin, mentioned above, we tend to respond to others based on our experiences. I hope my future responses are improved by the additon of faith to my experiences. Perhaps we could benefit from a new discussion topic regarding faith.

Ryan- 3/24/2008 11:07:07 AM

Brother Ryan,

It' ALL in the "believing". Jesus said, "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask in prayer." (Matthew 21:22)

Don't put yourself down about faith. God has given all of us "a measure" of faith. It is up to us to make it grow. Just like anything else that's planted, the seed of faith requires Son-shine and watering. I believe the Son-shine comes from the words that Jesus spoke and the watering is prayer. God is so faithful to His word. Quite often in the past I have prayed and like others, thought God had not answered my prayer or that the answer was negative. But, in studying the Bible I found that it I was not always praying God's word. He will answer yes to any prayer that lines up with His word.

Also, the answer really is immediate. It just takes us time to realize that the prayer has been answered. God does not procrastinate. The next time you pray, believe right then that you have received. Then, we your prayer is made manifest, get quiet and think back. You'll find that it was answered prior to your realization. Hind sight is 20-20. It's like knowing something, but forgetting you knew it until it's mentioned.

I find that most of what Jesus spoke on was faith. He continually told the disciples to have faith. I, too, feel this would be a good topic for discussion.

mrspiggy- 3/24/2008 12:27:35 PM

I meant WHEN your prayer is made manifest, not we. I tend to have problems with the edit botton. I guess if I could type, it wouldn't be an issue.:)

mrspiggy- 3/24/2008 12:33:49 PM

I was at the store the other day.
I found a penny on the ground. (I don't usually pick
them up.) This penny I did pick up, and I held it close and
read: "IN GOD WE TRUST." Then I asked myself; "Do I?
Do I really trust God with everything?" And I remembered
something I was worrying about, and not trusting God with...
And I asked Him to take this too. And He did!
I find in my own life that trials come so I can see my need for God's help. And God can teach me things as I lean on Him, and it helps to make my faith stronger. God is Faithful!

Ignited~Faith- 3/24/2008 12:44:32 PM