You say, “I don’t have faith”… but how is faith measured?

Inspired by a text by Merlin Carothers

You assert, “I don’t have faith” ?

In your opinion you don’t have faith, because YOU DON’T FEEL you have faith. However, faith and feelings are two completely distinct domains. Faith does not come from your impressions or your emotions or your feelings or your sensations.

Faith is not measured by your feelings

In fact, the amount of faith is weighed neither by feelings nor impressions. Therefore, your feelings are a poor barometer of reality; it is the same with faith: everything is distorted if you use your impressions your emotions or your sensory perceptions to test your relationship with God. Belief is irrespective of what you feel. Faith is a matter of willpower. It is a voluntary act: You DECIDE TO ACCEPT AS TRUE what your senses cannot perceive. Faith perceives as real what our senses fail to grasp. (Heb. 11:1).

It’s a matter of deliberate choice

You are free to choose! Therefore, stop letting your feelings rule the roost and stop hiding behind them as an excuse for your unbelief. Jesus invites you to choose Him, that’s faith. According to the Bible, you can be saved by faith, justified by faith, protected and kept by faith; the Bible also says that you can walk by faith and not by sight, it also says that you can inherit God’s promises by faith and pray in faith, overcome the world by faith and praise God by faith!

THE EXPERIENCE OF SALVATION WILL BECOME A DONE DEAL WHEN YOU ACCEPT IT BY FAITH, BY DEMONSTRATING WILLPOWER. IT IS YOUR DECISION. You are FREE TO CHOOSE.

WHEN YOU SAY, “YES, I BELIEVE”, YOU HAVE FAITH, whether or not you feel the presence of God.

​Do not mistake your emotional experiences for proof of your salvation either, because otherwise you risk being tormented by doubt forever.

​We urge you to chose to believe and have faith! Jesus did His part. That’s the Gospel. It’s up to you to do yours by saying to Him: “Yes! I believe in you”. That’s all… it’s that too simple?

An invitation trough an allegory

Imagine a man who receives an invitation card on which it is written: “You are invited to dine in a prestigious restaurant, at a specific place, with Jesus of Nazareth, this evening, at 8 p.m”. The man thinks his collegues are pulling a friendly prank on him.

Is it a joke ?

Still, it spikes his curiosity; he goes to the indicated address, convinced that he will see familiar faces there. Welcomed by the butler, he stammers: “I am expected”. He is then led to a beautifully laid table, towards a man in his thirties, dressed according to the dress code of our time who welcomes him warmly by introducing himself: “Nice to meet you, (I’m) Jesus! Our man shakes his hand, stating his name; Jesus answers him with a smile: “I know”. Taken aback, the man looks around for his colleagues… nobody! Jesus begins to talk to him and talk about things about his life, even those he had tried to hide. A dialogue takes place…

God invites you to share a meal with Him

Today, Jesus wants to spend time talking with you. So He’s inviting you to come dine with Him! The table is set and there are excellent dishes to taste! That’s the Gospel!

Undoubtedly we often expect encouragement, compliments or responses from those around us. God wants to speak with us and provide for us, whether it is to guide us, to encourage us, whether we need recognition or some kind of inner healing. God is a wealthy King. Let us rejoice in advance, thank Him that all the answers to our needs are on the way; that’s faith. To have the assurance of things we hope for, the conviction of things we do not yet see.

In Psalm 23 it is said that God sets a table in front of our opponents: in the midst of a storm, while we are struggling to survive whatever is happening to us (job loss, illness, relationship problems, sorrow, etc.), God says, “Stop! I’ve set a table; stop and know that I am God”. Thus His table has a double function: to feed us and to serve as a shield. Thus a moment spent in the company of Jesus supplies us and also serves as our protection. In His presence we are honored and valued, and we also find rest.

How do you response to His invitation?

At the time, Jesus spoke using a parable where He referred to a king who had prepared a feast for his son’s wedding and said that the guests had declined the invitation providing bogus excuses. Even today it is possible not to realize the point in responding to His invitation: it is possible to live one’s life without God.

God loves every human being and wants everyone to taste His meal. Based on what Jesus has accomplished, everything is ready and within reach. That’s the Gospel. Do we ake excuses to avoid spending time with God? He invites you into His presence. Everything good and perfect for you comes from God. Jesus is calling you by saying, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and they with me” (Rev. 3:20). So accept His invitation and come and taste how good God is! In fact, by His Holy Spirit, He even comes to dwell in those who accept His invitation.

Once restored, you’ll be taking on a new mission. Indeed, He can not only reveal Himself in you, but also through you. What you receive from God, you can share with those around you. You, in turn, can lead people to discover that Jesus can be their friend!

These are our wishes for you, dear reader!

Prayer: “O Jesus, thank you for your invitation. I hear your voice, I’m opening the door and am inviting you to come and live in my house, in my heart. I want to know you.”

Two childhood friends reunite:

one is a judge, the other is a criminal

In the United States, on 30th June 2015, an anecdote surfaced:

A judge named Mrs. Glazer recognizes her former schoolmate A. Booth on trial for a burglary. The judge then asks him, “Mr. Booth, did you go to Nautilus College?”

The man who was appearing then widens his eyes and shouts: “Oh! My God!” Hey! Yes! Two childhood friends have just found eachother! Mr. Booth bursts into tears while the judge Mrs. Glazer is sorry to find him in front of her. “I always wondered what you had become!” she explains. She then says that he was an adorable child back then, the nicest in college. She reminisces about how they used to play football together and adds, “What have you become! I’m really sorry to see you here! Disappointed by this finding, she says she hopes her former classmate will be able to change! She concludes with, “Good luck to you! I hope you will be able to get out of this mess and live legally!” Indeed, Mr. Glazer seems ready to get himself together.

​According to some unverifiable sources, the judge was face with a dilemma: she would not have wanted to punish her former schoolmate, but as a judge, she had to be fair. She therefore sentenced him to pay a fine for his misdeed. But after the trial, she signed a check of the amount of the fine and gave it to him.

Similarly,

we ourselves were meant to be sentenced, but Jesus paid the price for us. Not with money, but with his own life! That’s the Gospel!

“You have been bought at a great price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which belong to God” (1 Cor. 6.10).