Faith FAQ

1. 1. Audible. Guidance from God as an audible voice is rare, but it does happen. The tricky part is to discern who is doing the speaking. In a room with many people, how do I know which one is my brother? The answer is — Familiarity. If I do not know his voice, I cannot recognize him for guidance. Audible guidance from God is an exception rather than a norm. It can only come with familiarity. Even with the familiar, we should test I ( God will never press us into something opposed to scripture).
   2. Scriptural. The Bible can teach, convince, rebuke, and guide. We need to follow it. I Timothy 3: says  ¹⁴ But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, ¹⁵ and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which can make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the servant of God^a]” may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
   3.  Trusted people. Sometimes we can be so close to an issue that we cannot see our way through it. Brothers and sisters in Christ can be the voice of God in these times.  See I Corinthians 12 ²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. ²⁸ And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. ²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? With patience, we can find the right people to provide guidance.
   4.  Prayerful.  It is a cliche expression – “Have you prayed about it?” It is still true.  We need to talk to God, honestly and regularly. In James 4 it says “² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.“
   5. Circumstantial.  In my early Christian life, I did not know scripture, I did not hear God’s voice, and I did not know who I could trust for guidance in the church. I leaned on the circumstance, and I advocated the position that God will open a window or a door when he wants to point me in the right direction.  A circumstance is an option for guidance, but it is a path with potholes. I can be so focused on the road immediately in front of me that I can miss the big picture.  If we lean on the circumstance, we need to be ready to switch to more solid guidance when the opportunity comes up.
      

Look at Romans 8  ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

• • On my own, I can never assure that my actions are ‘good enough’ –  Could I declare vanilla ice cream as ‘pure’ when it has impurities in it?   Only the Maker can purify the product (me) with His process, and declare it ready, but I cannot.
    
  • We are not saved from hell by the ‘goodness’ of activities. When we believe that Jesus died and was raised from the dead, we are sharing in his sufferings. Then, it becomes on-going participation in this awareness, with Christ living through me, that places me in the role of sharing in his sufferings.  It is this shared awareness with the Holy Spirit that provides the assurance.
    

1. I have talked about our relationship with God several times. If it is the case that you have not experienced this personally, This article will explain things in depth. I did not grow up as a Christian, but the church was a part of my life for many years before I came to understand this thing, also known as salvation. It is an important decision that we should all consider. 

A Biblical understanding

Rather than use my understanding, I want to approach this from the information provided in the Bible. It is the best source for a person exploring a relationship with God to get an understanding of what God intends. It was compiled and written over hundreds of years, and it is consistent in its perspective.

Here are some important truths:

1. 1. We are imperfect people, in that we have chosen an independent route that has separated us in our relationship from God. He is pure good. We are not. To be in a relationship with someone pure, we need to be pure also (otherwise we would corrupt the ‘other’). In the absence of a perfect score of pure-ness, we will not be able to measure up to a ‘perfect’ relationship.  There is no amount of goodness, rule-following, or amount of religiousness that will make me perfect enough to be in a relationship with perfect good  (I do not deserve it!).
   2. In our imperfection, we need to decide that this passive rebellion of doing life solely on our own terms will not allow a relationship with Him.  To put it plainly, this separation and rebellion is called sin.
   3. Sin prevents us from a relationship with God. Even worse, the cost of sin means that we will permanently be separated from God. Considering that God as creator means life, a separation from God means death (Romans 6:23).  I think of a dried-up plant in a desert: no care and feeding results in a sorry, dying plant. We need God to thrive.
   4. God loves us. He cares about us regardless of our failures, hurts, struggles, or excesses (John 3:16).
   5. Not only does God love us, He cares and wants to be active in our
      lives. As a result, if we call out to Him, and seek Him, He promises to
      make himself known to us.
   6. God provided a way to fix the relationship, by using a go-between — Jesus Christ. By accepting the relationship provided by Christ, we accept the relationship with God. Scripture says God is not willing for any single person to die but wants everyone to come to a knowledge of Christ.
   7. To know Christ, we have to accept Him on faith. Think of any subject you ever learned in school. If you start by saying “I am not going to learn this!”, you put yourself in a state of rejecting it.  The subject may be important and good, but if we do not accept it on faith that it is useful for us, we will never get it. John 3:16-18 says ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
   8. Accept Jesus with a simple prayer, and start the relationship. Your sins, once and for all, by the blood of Christ, have been paid for. But you need to receive Him by faith:   Lord Jesus, I have sinned against you. I need your forgiveness and I want you in my life, now. Cleanse me, make me your son /daughter. Amen.    When you pray that prayer, check out Romans 8:15: ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him, we cry, “Abba, Father.”

Note: Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. He loves you. He cares for you. You are at a crossroads in your life. It’s not just today or tomorrow that’ll make a difference. It’s all of eternity. He wants you to know at this moment on this day at this time that you can have eternal life. What will you do with the best gift ever offered to you? Will you trust Him and accept Him? Will you turn away? The decision is yours.