Week 84: Dangerously Low!

                                  Dangerously Low! 

                                For we walk by faith, not by sight. II Corinthians 5:7

• Almost Empty. . . .

• Almost Stripped. . .

• Wiped Out!

           When the phrase dangerously low is used to describe anything—it’s not good. Whether it’s describing your blood pressure, your fuel gauge, your bank account, or your faith; it’s not comforting to be in the dangerously low range.     

         Since life is unpredictable; we never know when we’ll need faith to get a prayer through. When problems hit, or when we want some great wonderful thing to happen; that’s not the time to waste mouthing some meaningless prayer.

There’s nothing wrong with having someone pray for you, or agree in prayer with you. The Bible tells us to do so, for instance: 1Thessalonians 5:11, and James 5:16. But, it’s not a good idea to put all the responsibility, all the time, on someone else to get all your prayers answered.

                                      

                           That person's faith gauge might be

                               leaning on empty—or empty.

           If you have more faith in other people's prayers, that’s a signal that your faith level is dangerously low. You have to have confidence that you can get prayers through for yourself. We can’t please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6).

You wouldn’t feel relaxed on a dark abandoned highway with your fuel gauge tilting on empty. You shouldn’t be relaxed living without one of the greatest weapons you have against the enemy—an effective prayer life.                                 

                         

 Even though we know God can, our faith gauge only starts to register when we believe: God has. . .

© 2015           

                          See You Next Week on Paulette Talks Faith          

                             

                          

Week 83: Faith Fertilizer

                                 Faith Fertilizer

                                                            Have faith in God. Mark 11:22

• Challenges. . .

• Troubles…

• Trials. . .

                

 Manure stinks! But, for our plants to grow and thrive—we have to bear the smell. And, in order for our faith to grow, we need stinky circumstances.

                                       

                                      Problems are Faith Fertilizer! 

In the middle of trouble, no one wants to hear—problems grow faith. Knowing this doesn’t make our problems any easier to go through. But if we think about it, it’s during these hard times that we focus more on the One who can bring about a change. This is when we find out about the stability of our faith, as it’s challenged to step higher. There’s no sense thinking if we had enough faith we wouldn’t have any problems. In John 16:33, Jesus said we will have tribulation.    

I haven’t met anyone with a problem free life. Can you imagine how arrogantly prideful some of us would be if we had a problem free life? It wouldn’t take too long before we would start taking things for granted, and becoming judgmental to those going through difficulties. We would probably think we can do fine without God.

Fertilizer is good for plants, but if given too much—they die. I’m so glad that God knows the exact amount of “fertilizer” that we can handle. It says in II Corinthians 10:13 (AMP)  we can trust God not to allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to endure.

Seeing our problems as faith fertilizer gives us a different outlook on the notorious question: Why me?

            

       

© 2015        

                                     See You Next Week on Paulette Talks Faith          

Week 82: Close the Screen Door!

                           

                                Close the Screen Door!

                  Beloved, do not put your faith in every spirit… I John 4:1 (AMP)

• Mosquitoes biting. . .

• Flies humming. . .

• Squirrels nesting. . .   

          If you don’t close the screen door, anything could fly or walk in. Once it gets inside—well, you might have a hard time getting rid of it.

                                             Shut that Screen Door!

 It would be great to have a screen door protecting our thoughts. True, we cannot always control our thinking, but the screen is a figurative symbol to remind us to identify what’s trying to get into our heads at the forefront. It’s a way for us to stop and think about what we’re thinking about. In other words:

                 

                   It might be crawling around on the screen, but

                  you don’t have to open the door, and let it fly in.

         

An unguarded mind is fertile ground for the devil to plant his evil ideas. Once his ideas take root, they can develop into strongholds. Once that happens, we now have a full-grown situation.

God said to cast down every imagination that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. (II Corinthians 10:3-5)  We have to use our faith and follow God’s instructions on how to get loose from this evil grip. We have to fight to get our thoughts back in line with God’s Word. The best way to do that is to actively counteract wrong thinking with what God says. We wouldn’t ignore unwanted  insects and animals in our house, the same is true with these festering thoughts. Things will only get worse if something isn’t done about it.

          That’s why I’m select-minded, not open-minded. I’m learning to select what I will open my mind to. On the other hand, we should not be so close-minded that new and different ideas can’t get in. However, if those new and different ideas are contrary to the Word of God—

                              Close that Screen Door!

    © 2015                      

                                       See You Next Week on Paulette Talks Faith