The Building Blocks of Faith–Part 3 June 27, 2008
Posted by stevensc in Growth, prayer.Tags: angel, faith, forgiveness, heaven, hell, Jesus, prayer, TBN
add a comment
 The final building block at the beginning stages of faith is something that is so vital that if we skip this building block, we won’t even make it to heaven. What could be so important? FORGIVENESS!
Mark 11:25 says, “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” If you think about it, unforgiveness sending someone to hell and hindering your prayers from being answered makes complete sense. Jesus forgave us when we didn’t deserve it. If anyone deserved punishment, it was you and me. But HE LOVED US SO MUCH that He was willing to offer us forgiveness before we even asked…heck, before we were even born! So if we are so undeserving of forgiveness, but it was given to us out of love, then shouldn’t we also forgive others?
I was watching a show on TBN last night called the Lazarus Phenomenon. It talked about near death experiences. I don’t know what you believe about them, BUT I TOTALLY BELIEVE IN THEM! Just look in your Bible for folks like Lazarus, a centurion’s servant, a man’s daughter, and ummmm….maybe even a man named Jesus of Nazareth! Anyways, one of the most interesting stories was that of a pastor in a country in Africa. He and his wife got into a fight the night before he was invovled in an automobile accident. He talked about the beauty of heaven and the torture of hell. The angel that was standing with him through this experience then turned to him as he was observing the torment of hell and told him that if the book of his life were to be closed that day, that this is where he would spend eternity.
The man quickly responded, “But I’m a pastor! I’ve preached all over this country!” The angel replied, “But today you asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins, but you would not grant your wife forgiveness. Because of this, your sins were not forgiven.”
WOW!!!!!! Nothing is worth missing heaven over…Especially unforgiveness. Who do you need to forgive today? |
The Building Blocks of Faith–Part 2 June 26, 2008
Posted by stevensc in Growth, prayer.Tags: believe, Christian, faith, God, Jesus, prayer, speak
add a comment
 |
Once you believe a word from the Lord, the second block to build your faith is speaking. Matthew 12:34 tells us taht when we become conviced in our heart, our mouth will reveal it. “…Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” You can tell what a person really believes by what’s coming out of their mouth.
Satan loves to attack this particular building block by speaking thoughts into your mind, “Don’t tell someone that you believe ____. They’ll think you’re crazy! What if it doesn’t happen? You’ll look like a fool!” But without speaking it, you’ll not receive what it is that you’re believing for. Mark 11:23-24 says,
“For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive thm, and ye shall have them.”
These are the first two keys to receiving what you’re praying for. 1) Believe the Word of God, and 2) Speak the Word of God. Check back tomorrow for the final building block of this series of faith. I guess you could call it FAITH #101!
