Faith

Faith is in a nutshell one of those sometime hard to quantify intangible things described in scripture. In reality Faith is simple; faith simply put is the measurement of trust in the God which a person believes.

Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

2 Timothy 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

So when we study scripture we gain knowledge, this to a point is good, as also when we put this into practices these things building understanding and then wisdom. Those would be the building block of belief; faith however is the quantity of the strength of belief, and because of this is the most important factor in our service before God.

Matthew 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Luke 17:5 to 6 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

Faith in God here as spoken to the apostles is shown to be quite strong, and while some would attribute what is being said here to manifested supernatural power, which might be the case, it is also important to understand that faith is motivational drive as well and not only a quantity of trust. Both of these passages include things that are abnormal and labor intensive goals, but in the span of a man’s lifetime doable. The massive task of moving a mountain is indeed difficult to comprehend, and yet with enough determination is doable. What we can get from this is that a component of faith is determination.

Romans 1:16 to 17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

Hebrews 6:12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

This last verse expresses something about faith that is probably the most well known, but it essentially comes down to this. In order to receive the promise of everlasting life, we must have faith, and patience. Patience obviously isn’t faith, however in the case of the verse in Hebrews it is an expression of faith over time. It is by faith that we shall live for ever, and at the same time if we desire to live forever we must walk in faith as well.

1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

Selah Reflection

The fact is meditation is of course reflection of thought of the verses of Yah. This is very different than the eastern view of meditation. Looking out for evil intentions in thoughts is a considerate need. Confusion of thought in reflecting on the source of the problem, returns one to stability and right concise logic.

Joshua 1:5 to 8

 לא יתיצב אישׁ לפניך כל ימי חייך כאשׁר הייתי עם משׁה אהיה עמך לא ארפך ולא אעזבך חזק ואמץ כי אתה תנחיל את העם הזה את הארץ אשׁר נשׁבעתי לאבותם לתת להם רק חזק ואמץ מאד לשׁמר לעשׂות ככל התורה אשׁר צוך משׁה עבדי אל תסור ממנו ימין ושׂמאול למען תשׂכיל בכל אשׁר תלך לא ימושׁ ספר התורה הזה מפיך והגית בו יומם ולילה למען תשׁמר לעשׂות ככל הכתוב בו כי אז תצליח את דרכך ואז תשׂכיל

Psalms 1:1 to 6

 אשׁרי האישׁ אשׁר לא הלך בעצת רשׁעים ובדרך חטאים לא עמד ובמושׁב לצים לא ישׁב כי אם בתורת יהוה חפצו ובתורתו יהגה יומם ולילה והיה כעץ שׁתול על פלגי מים אשׁר פריו יתן בעתו ועלהו לא יבול וכל אשׁר יעשׂה יצליח לא כן הרשׁעים כי אם כמץ אשׁר תדפנו רוח על כן לא יקמו רשׁעים במשׁפט וחטאים בעדת צדיקים כי יודע יהוה דרך צדיקים ודרך רשׁעים תאבד 

Psalms 63:1 to 11 (title to 12)

מזמור לדוד בהיותו במדבר יהודה

 אלהים אלי אתה אשׁחרך צמאה לך נפשׁי כמה לך בשׂרי בארץ ציה ועיף בלי מים כן בקדשׁ חזיתיך לראות עזך וכבודך כי טוב חסדך מחיים שׂפתי ישׁבחונך כן אברכך בחיי בשׁמך אשׂא כפי כמו חלב ודשׁן תשׂבע נפשׁי ושׂפתי רננות יהלל פי אם זכרתיך על יצועי באשׁמרות אהגה בך כי היית עזרתה לי ובצל כנפיך ארנן דבקה נפשׁי אחריך בי תמכה ימינך והמה לשׁואה יבקשׁו נפשׁי יבאו בתחתיות הארץ יגירהו על ידי חרב מנת שׁעלים יהיו והמלך ישׂמח באלהים יתהלל כל הנשׁבע בו כי יסכר פי דוברי שׁקר

Phillipians 4:8 το λοιπον αδελφοι οσα εστιν αληθη οσα σεμνα οσα δικαια οσα αγνα οσα προσφιλη οσα ευφημα ει τις αρετη και ει τις επαινος ταυτα λογιζεσθε 

Our reflections ought to be automatic this is a good part of our obtaining of understanding.