Believe GodBringing your life together

ReviewGoal of this Series

Developing active exhilarating faithexperiencing God's intervention in our daily

life.You can believe in God without believing GodFaith is believing God that God will do what

God has promised to doIt is time to synchronize what we say we

believe and what we truly believe.What we truly believe is evident in our reality

Review - ContinuesGod wants to bring us to paradise on earth

A place of abundance, peace and safety.We need to cooperate with God in order to

receive what He already desires to give us.God does not need us to protect Him

We should not give God an escape clause when we claim his promise.

The enemy (satan) is determined to stop you from entering God’s paradise.We are at warThere are giants in the Land

Review - ContinuesI relate with God based on how I see HimMany of us define who God is based on our

experience of Him or our culture. This is bad.Our definition of God must be base on what

God has said.God is bound to His principles, He always

keeps to them.His Character (good, love, merciful, justice)

God is a “Wild Thing”.We can never fully understand how He is going to

work.

Review ContinuesWhat God entrusts to us depends on how

much truth we know of who He is.

Class VGod can do what God says He can do

God is willing to do what He says He will doGod is committed to do what He says He will

doGod desires to do what He says He will do

NOTE: God is committed to do what He says NOT what we want

God can do what He says He can because He is who He says He is

Who we believe God to be and what we believe God can do, controls if we will believe that he will do what He is committed to do.

God’s names/titles reveal his ability and commitmentsJehovah Jireh – Provides for His ownJehovah Nissi – Protects His ownSaviour – Delivers His ownAlmighty – No one can stop Him from doing

what He wants.

Two ExtremesAll God does is perform miracles.

He is mean lean miracle working machineYou just push the right buttons and out come

miracles.Miracles are a thing of the past therefore

they are hardly happen today

Bible’s view of these extremesMatt 16:4

Those of us who want to make God out to be a miracle machine are considered to be “Wicked and adulterous”

Luke 9:41Those of us who deny the miracle workings of

God today are considered to be “Unbelieving and perverse”

Problems with these extremesThey both use our experience to determine

our expectation of GodOne insists that God must do what we want

simply because He has the abilityThe other kills hope, expectation, faith and so

destroys dependency upon God

Miracles come with GodThe song says:

God moves in a mysterious way He’s wonders to perform .....

God asked, “ Is anything too hard for me?”One of the reason we pray is to have God do

something the would be otherwise impossible. If this is not a definition of miracle what is.

To say miracles have stopped is to say God no longer answers prayer. 1 John 5:14, James 5:13 -16

Why do we have few miracles today?It may due to our expectations of God

In the 3rd world countries, we hear of many more miracles because they have no other place to turn to and so expect much from God

This indicates our expectation is based on our experience of God

We expect more as we see more or are exposed to more of God’s working

Our hope and expectation must be based solely on what God says.

Why do we have few miracles today?Many of us are cynicalWe would deny a miracle even if it hit us

right on the head.We need to expect God to keep true to this

previous deeds.Psalm 77:10-14, 44:1If church can not provide access to God and

His miracles, we must close our doors

Isaiah 61:1-3 The purpose of the Church

Habakkuk 3:2Should be the cry/prayer of the church

James 5:16bShould be our mode of operation

Colossians 3:17Should be our goal

Priority affects miraclesGive us this day our daily bread (food,

shelter, clothing, comfort, healing ....)It gives God glory that we depend on him to

give us our daily breadBefore “Give us this day ....” comes “Thy

kingdom come thy will be done”In order for God to answer “Thy kingdom come

....” He sometimes withholds the answer to “Give us this day ......”

The way priorities workThere is an A, B, C ....... ListThe things on the “C list” will be done if and

only if it does not hinder the things on the “A list” or “B list”

The things on the “B list” will be done if and only if it does not hinder the things on the “A list”

Priority ExampleThe priority list I have for Samuel is something like

this.A List : Love God, salvation, health, life, safetyB List : happy, have friends, be kind, be goodC List : cook, driveEvery time Samuel makes a request, I go through this

list before I answerHe asks

Can I drive the car ? Can I use the knife to cut up the chicken ? He already made these requests – He is only 31/2 years old I say NO. Even thought it meets “C List” it violates my “A List”

Priority Example ContSamuel will keep asking until He gets yes

He will get yes when the time is right and it will not violate my “A List” and “B List”

We must keep asking and waiting with expectation until God’s time is right.

We may suffer a little denial of less important things so that we do not lose out on the truly importantRomans 8:17, 1 Peter 1:7

The blessing of PriorityThe knowledge of God’s priority frees us from wrong

assumptions when we do not get what we want:Examples of wrong assumptions

God does not like meGod does not answer my prayer like he does for othersGod hardly knows I am aliveGod can not do itGod is not willing to do itI did not have enough faithI wavered for a split secondI have that sin in my pastI am a failureI have made a fool of myself

Things to avoidThings that kill faithArguing

It kills faith because you keep hearing words of why you are going to fail.

Don’t argue instead focus on where the person is coming from

Judging othersCondemning others who are not exercising faith

kills their faithEncouraging them will build their faith and

build yours.

It is time for your miraclesRelease yourself

Dare to have hopeDare to have faithDare to expect God to do the impossible

The glory of God is available for us if we will only believeJohn 11:40