Question and answer Wednesday...
Serenity asked…
Explain the difference between hope and faith.
This is a whopper. I had a whole lot more wrote here but Iwent above and beyond her general question. However, this is a good one. I messed this one up for years. Granted I had some faith accidents, but I could never duplicate them.
I start of course with my little disclaimer--I am no expert…I am sharing not only what I have been taught but also what works in my life. There is so much to this question so I’ll do my best to highlight the most important things.
Faith is the law and process in which we operate in to cause the promises in the word of G-d to show up in our lives. They just don’t show up because we are in covenant with G-d. If that were true then all of us that are saved would all be living on the same level. However, most us live well below what G-d desired for us and promised to us. It's largely due to not klnowing what he promised and not knowing how to operate in faith.
Hope, to me, is thinking that something will happen without really doing anything for it to happen. It’s when we really haven’t planned or prepared or made adjustments in our life for things to take place. It’s commonly known as “Pipe-Dreaming”.
Believe it or not faith requires a great deal of work because it requires that you establish the word concerning what you are believing G-d for in your life. There is a scripture for every need in the word. Faith requires that you sow that word concerning your desire every day. I have been taught to sow that word in the morning and in the evening according to Ecclesiastes 11:6 because Mark 8:11 says that the seed is the word of G-d. It’s more than simply thinking that something will happen because it’s in the bible. It requires renewing the mind because we don’t simply believe something because we heard it one time. We have to sow that word over and over into our minds until it becomes pregnant in our spirits. That whole process changes the way we think, act and most importantly speak.
This is where most of us mess it up. We say we believe but we speak contrary to the word concerning things. If you are believing G-d for wealth, you can’t say “I’m broke” and expect faith to work for you. If you are without finances, you still confess being rich because that's what G-d says. You can't allow your circumstances to change the way you think or your confession. If you are believing G-d for healing you can’t say I’m sick--which we aren’t supposed say anyway according to Isaiah 33:24. Our words have to line up with what we are believing. Otherwise we slow up our manifestation when we fail to do so.
Faith causes us to move when we are scared to do anything other than what we have already been doing. It requires action on our part. Hope sits still. We hope it will change because G-d is in control. (Which is a misconception--but that's another post as well).
Now, I don’t want to get all deep into the message since I understand that we all operate differently. So I just gave you the basics. There is so much more to operating in faith. So many other things that determine whether you are just hoping instead of genuinely believing I.e. operating in faith.
I hope this was a good answer. If you need more, I have it. I just didn't post it all.
Be Blessed.
Chosen.
Thank you. That made it clearer to me. I'd like to read the rest of what you have. The reason I asked is b/c of the scripture that says "hope, faith and love," the greatest of these is love. I can't think of the correct scripture but you know what I'm referring to. So hope isn't really operating in biblical principles, it's just what you desire to see happen, while faith requires some action on your part to get it into your heart.
Posted by
Serenity3-0 |
9:15 PM
Yeah, i'll send you the rest.
Posted by
Chosen |
10:05 PM
Another (unrelated) question for a different day...
What do you think the role of numerology plays in spirituality? Over the past month, two noted pastors (both "legit" as far as I can tell) mentioned the significance of the number 7. One referenced someone going around Jerusalem seven times in the Bible. The other spoke of othe things. Anywho...there is something about numbers. I don't think one can do a full assessment of God, spirituality, life, etc. without including this...but I think it's that kind of thing you have to be careful with. Just wondering your take...
Posted by
Anonymous |
12:47 PM
Numbers are very important n the bible. As well as the study of the stars, names,and dreams all of those things were given to the people of of G-d to understad the times and to understand what G-d was saying to them. Things that were relatively used to hide thngs in a "mystery". 7 stands for completion. The fact that the world had polluted the numeric system with what they call numerology, and the study of the stars with astrology--doesn't mean they aren't biblical. The enemy always has a perversion. He does that so that God's people won't study those things and therefore be ignorant of things that we need to know. Search for the right tools to understand the numeric system.Biblical things. I have a list of what they mean. I also have dream stuff and titles of books that deal with them. I'm trying to write up the dream notes as we speak. Just e-mail if want them.
Posted by
Chosen |
1:52 PM
I appreciate that Chosen, and I will email you, but I feel compelled to share with you (and your readers) that I think it's too easy to dismiss what we may not understand as "evil." Not saying I fully believe in astrology, numerology, etc. But I've read a lot on the numerology front and it's not all "evil." Indeed, there is much spirituality to it. A website I suggest that demonstrates this is numerology.freesoul.com. Before I found this site, I like you and others, had a negative view of this kind of thing, looking at it as "evil" or something, but we can learn a lot when we become open to learning...just check it out, I think you'll find it interesting...or not lol
T
Posted by
Anonymous |
7:17 AM
Numerology is the world's system for the study of numbers. With God it was just his system. I'm not saying that it's evil, but it is polluted. They can't begin to understand the things that God only reveals to his people, those that acknowledge him as the one true living G-d. The number thing is deep. believe me, I know. We just finished a thing on the first things--it's powerful.Numerology is not what God calls it. I don't think the study of them is evil-far from it. But the way they do, it is polluetd because there is a far greater significance than you can even imagine. The whole reason why the enemy pollutes it (or really what he does is get him a carbon copy of it)--is so that we won't pursue the study of those things because it's noted by us under non-spiritual or demonic. Astrology is the name the wolrd gave tothe stars--Astronomy was what the church called it. It was given to us to understand the times and seasons for us to meet with G-d , when to pray or even get healed. The study of the stars is very important. We just have to know where to get the information from. I got caught up in all of this several years ago from polluted sources. I didn't know any better.
Once you get that mesed up information in your system,we you finally come into contact with the truth you have doubt and questions about which one really is the truth. Which is the whole reason that the enemy wants to pollute knowledge in the first place. So that when you are confronted with truth, you will doubt it and therefore you are unable to reap the blessing off of what G-d has given to us.
What I had to do was go back and made sure I had a good grip of the word first and then hearing the voice of G-d so that when I was confronted with error, I could recognize it because G-d will speak immediately. I was too worried about getting all of that right when I hadn't really gotten the relationship I needed with him first. I just thought if I could figure that out, the rest with him would be simpler. But, none of it ever worked for me.
He had to teach me some stuff like how you can become so in tune with him that he will have your body respond to liars, deception, theives, all of that.
I don't dismiss anything without first getting the word on it.Things have to line upo in order for me to go forward. I have suffered from reading a lot of stuff that had polluted my perception of the truth though, so you need to be careful as well.
Posted by
Chosen |
2:18 PM
Hmmm...I can dig that, lol. Good response. Thanks...
T
Posted by
Anonymous |
12:13 PM
It's Wednesday...I have a question (or two or more, lol)...
On your other blog, you mentioned you were grateful for your unanswered prayers. Well, I want to know, how do you know when you should be? Is it only when you've been blessed with a replacement (another job, mate, etc.) or is it when you just give up asking because it's been too long? Do you think God always has something better in store or does HE just not answer prayer just because? It's hard for me to believe we always want what's not good for us...what if we want something that IS good for us but HE just doesn't give it to us? Do we just stop wanting it just because we haven't gotten it? When's it time to throw in the towel on a prayer request? Kay, did that twist your mind enough? lol
Posted by
Anonymous |
7:57 AM