Many kind and sincere people believe their personal faith has no real impact or meaning. Expressing his belief faith is useless, one man said: "Whatever you and I believe can not do anything to cause real change in our world." With the escalating world problems, we can understand how he might feel that way. It is actually, however, very far from the truth! (Please be careful; thinking our faith has no value can be harmful. Thinking faith is useless can lead some people to justify violence as a way to produce results from their belief in what is right. Trying to adjust the thinking and faith of others through violence and terror is never the solution. [Matthew 5:38-48 ; Romans 12:17-21] Even so, many forms of religion have been guilty of that sin at some time. History has clearly shown violence only breeds contempt for the perpetrators and hatred for the God they serve as well.) To actually bring the end of wickedness will, of course, require the intervention of God. That is what mankind has awaited since even before God () promised Abraham his seed would bless all the nations of the earth. (Gen_22:18) That hope was made sure when Christ appeared as that promised seed. (Matthew 1:1 ; Mark_14:61-62 ; Mat_16:15-17 ; John_10:36 ; Matthew 6:9-10 ; 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 ; Psalms 94:1-15 - All who look to Abraham as an ancestor of their faith should look to Christ Jesus as a descendant of Abraham, as the son of God, [John 1:34] and should know Christ as their savior. - Romans 4:13-17) So while it will require action by God to end wickedness, because we have no ability to stop those who choose to do harm, our faith still does matter. God is taking action! (Acts 17:29‑31) Do you have faith in what God is doing? Most importantly, are you warning others? (Rom 10:9-15) God's activity to bring about needed change amounts to truth as defined by him in his Word. (2 Pet 3:8‑10) The outworking of God's purpose to bring an end to wickedness is right on track and can not be stopped by anyone. That does not mean, again, our personal faith doesn't matter. To benefit us and those will listen, our faith must be in what God is doing. If we learn the truth, if we learn what God has said, we can then tell others about what we have learned. (John 17:20 of 20‑22) Our act of telling them can, in turn, impact whether they exercise faith in truth [by believing in the ransom provision of God's son]. (Rom 10:11‑15) By choosing to follow Christ, they make the choice not to be wicked. (John 5:24) Their exercising faith in truth will impact their future more than any other thing in their life. YOU can be responsible for helping God make such change. Never be led to imagine your faith does not matter! Whether you influence thousands of people, or even one, if your expression of faith leads them to Jesus teachings, so they may express faith for life, that amounts to a very big change. What your faith can do for you, then, is to impact the things you are personally trying to accomplish in harmony with God's will. Our Father can apply his spirit to aid in all such faithful efforts. The most valuable use of our life's energy is in learning and sharing God's truth with others. (1 Peter 3:10-15)
What your faith (and prayers)will not be able to do for you, is impact things you attempt that are not our Father's will. It is important for us to understand what that means: There are things which are in God's will, things which are against his will, and there are things over which He chooses to exercise no control. In recognizing that, we realize those matters we must leave to God. wants every single person to repent and accept life. (2_Pet_3:9) Since he made us free moral agents, giving us the ability to choose to become his friends, it becomes our individual responsibility to wisely choose life. (Deu_30:19-20) He could not give us such glorious freedom, and at the same time force us to use that freedom to become good. (Rom_8:18-21) We must individually choose to become upright. It is the most wonderful arrangement, providing life to all who are willing to follow the perfect standards of our Father and God. What we can hope to accomplish through spirit, then, must be in harmony with God's will. You will likely not be able, for instance, to use your faith to influence the outcome of the lottery. That would require your winning the lottery be important enough to ask יהוה to intervene, and thus make the necessary changes to accomplish the thing you ask. To influence a lottery for example, God would have to interfere not with just you and your life, but with all the other people connected as well. He certainly can do that, if he chooses. (2 Kings 20:8-11 ; Mark_5:34 ; Acts_5:1-10 ; 2_Pet_1:21) If God decides it is important enough for him to take control of a lottery, He certainly doesn't need you [or I] to direct it by our prayers. He knows far more about what things need to be done than we do. If something is very important, [and it being important to the outworking of God's will is what defines anything as important,] He may choose to control what individuals are doing to protect them, or possibly to protect persons they are trying to harm. He is probably doing that very thing on a regular basis! Since none of us know the intimate details of God's choices of action, however, it would seem dangerous to find ourselves trying to give direction to God by means of our prayers. Think how bad it would be to attempt to use his spirit to accomplish something against his will. What we might think is good, and believe is God's will, may not be. (What your faith can do for you is, of course, a personal matter. - Remember however, the Bible is complete... The Bible is how God speaks to us; how He speaks to you. It is from the Bible we learn God's will. The Bible, and more specifically the words of Jesus Christ, is God's provision for communicating with us. (Mat 17:5; Mat 11:27) Be very careful of persons who imagine some personal relationship with God that grants them authority to set you outside that provision: Persons who imagine they can give you directions that do not come directly from the Bible will get you destroyed. - Mat 7:15; Mat 7:21‑23; Luke 13:26‑27)
Learn what the Bible teaches, and strive to be obedient to those teachings. Jesus came to teach us the Bible, (Gal 3:23‑26) and his teachings are recorded in the four short books penned by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Primarily, being obedient to God amounts to taking the affirmative action of showing love for our fellow man [and for God of course]. (John 13:34-35; Luke 10:25-28) God will be able to bless all such efforts to show love, without you needing to worry you might be asking He take some action contrary to his purposes. If, in your zeal, your love misdirects you to attempt to do something out of harmony with God's will (such as trying to help someone who refuses to learn truth), such loving efforts by you will simply fail; just as even God's own efforts to help such people fail. In such a scenario, however, the failed effort by you will not amount to your trying to direct God's spirit[by means of your prayers] to do something contrary to his will. (Luke 10:5-6) He desires everyone to live. (2 Pet 3:9) Any person you might think of trying to help, you must know, the LORD God is already trying to help; maybe using you. That is very important to understand. is discerning who among mankind will accept help, and who will force themselves to be destroyed. (2 Chron 16:9) We must recognize we have no ability to help those refusing God's help, and certainly no such authority. We must be doing what we believe from the Bible we should be doing, and God will bless all our efforts in harmony with his will. What our faith can do for us thus hinges on our caution to be acting in harmony with God's will!
From our study of the scriptures presented on the webpage "How Can Faith Help," we learn Christ is doing something wonderful by teaching us how to draw on his Father's spirit directly. (justbibletruth.com/Observations/HowCanFaithHelp.html) Having access to God's spirit by means of our faith in Christ is a gift nearly beyond comprehension! It should be plainly obvious, however, that can not be allowed unless we have proven we can be trusted to act as extensions of our Father's will. (Luke_1:46) To have such power, we must be people who have demonstrated beyond question we will always act in harmony with 's will: That we will use his spirit only to accomplish what he wants - doing so because we realize God is good. (Hebrews 11:6 ; Isaiah 48:17) We must remember eternally: יהוה 's way of doing things is PERFECT! It is always the very best way things can be done. Any deviation from his will is harming someone.
God created the angels as powerful spirit creatures, and as his friends and emissaries. They use his spirit to accomplish great and powerful works. (Isaiah 37:33-37) They station themselves in his very presence in the heavens. (Job_1:6 ; Job_38:7) They find joy in their free choice to make worship of the center of their life. (Rev_4:8-11) While they have powers and abilities we can't really comprehend, He created us as men and women to live on the earth. (Psalms_27:29 ; Ps_37:18-19 ; Isaiah_11:1-12 ; Job_33:24-30) As we move forward into our restored earthly paradise, living forever and enjoying life to the full by means of our faith in Christ, (Isaiah 11:1-12) it seems questionable whether we will ever use God's spirit to do things like move mountains. We will apparently have such power at our disposal (Matthew 21:21-22), but will there ever be such need? God may choose to use angels if he needs a mountain moved. The Bible does not really answer such questions so we have to wait and see. May we forever serve our Father, allowing ourselves to be drawn by the ropes of earthling man (and woman), by the cords of love. (Hosea 11:4) As we love , and all our brothers and sisters in Adam Christ, we will have power of holy spirit to accomplish all that we need; even as such power remains an umbrella of protection over us forever.
We certainly do not assert what powers the spirit provides you. We strive to be cautious to follow Christ Jesus in abiding by our Father's will in all things. (John 4:34) We can rest in the knowledge it will be as our Father, the Father of all life, intends it to be; and that it will be perfect. What we can safely use God's spirit to help us do right now, is to learn what the Bible teaches, and to share that knowledge with others. (John 17:20 of 20‑22) We can build our lives around our faith in Christ Jesus. God's peace to all!
How ever things are to be accomplished in our future in paradise, we must always think of יהוה as a God whose works are perfect. (Deuteronomy 32:4 ; 2 Samuel 22:31) If we build a machine, we have to check every day to be certain it is still running; and make repairs when it breaks. יהוה is not like that. All his creation is perfect, and is in complete harmony with itself. He doesn't need to go back and fix what breaks. It is self sustaining; As long as it's members function with the input of his spirit. [Sin was/is not a breakdown of creation, but a willful abuse of our Father's gift of free choice.] As we make the change to life in the paradise God is restoring, we want to be careful we are not asking our Father to change or modify his machine (his creation) so as to benefit us in some way. We need simply to learn what our Father is doing, through the teachings of his Son (Christ Jesus), and then do our best to fit in with that arrangement. God is making all things new! (Revelation 21:5 ; Psalm 110:1 ; Acts 2:33-36 ; Daniel 2:44)
To revisit one thing you must learn and remember your faith can never do: You can not make someone else righteous. The love you show them can influence them toward good, but the decision as to their righteousness rests with them, and with them alone; even as it does with you [and with each of us]. (Deuteronomy 30:19-20) The only real good we can do is to show love for them, and for God; by building our own faith in truth. It is sad for us all (including ) when someone chooses to throw their life away. (We must also avoid presenting ourselves as judges of who is righteous; we can't judge who is or is not throwing their life away. We hope for the best while realizing all we can know about that matter is what the Bible says. It does indicate some are choosing badness. [Luke_13:26-28 ; 2_Thes_2:10 & 12] We need only work that it not be us. [Philippians_2:12]) Even God himself can not fix someone's choice to throw away their life! (2 Peter 3:9) It is their choice to make... (Deuteronomy 30:19-20 ; Deuteronomy 32:5) It is your choice to make... It is my choice to make... Every intelligent member of creation must realize: To have peace we must all be lovers of our Perfect Creator. Our obedience to God demonstrates whether we love him. (1 John 5:3 ; Ecclesiastes 12:13) The history of mankind has very clearly demonstrated how bad it can get when his creation tries to go their own way. Soon, we would have destroyed ourselves completely if God didn't step in. (Mat 24:21‑22) We must also realize, the Bible as the only source of God's loving instructions. (Luke 8:20-21 ; Luke 11:27-28 ; 1 Thessalonians 2:13 ; Luke 10:27 ; Matthew 22:37-40) In summation we say, in harmony with 's spirit we believe, God's peace to all (who will allow it). (Luke 10:5-6)
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