Thursday, August 14, 2008

Faith That Endures ...

Dear Cell,Hope Michael is feeling better and that all of you are standing firm in faith.What Michael says is very true. Faith is a very mysterious word, and the more you want to have it, the more you must learn how to obey God. However, the more you learn how to obey, the more you are challenged and therefore may slip or feel that you have failed God. In fact, you may even sin. I always wondered and complained that Christians have the worst character and during these few months, realised that sometimes it can be because we are tried more than non-believers. After all, besides this terrible, imperfect world, we are against the dark spiritual forces, not to add the trials along the way. Therefore, I have determined in my heart to be more forgiving to others now than I have ever before.Faith is obeying both the Word and the Spirit. We cannot walk with only one, neither can it be swayed towards one direction. If we only have the Word (bible) then the worst fear is falling into legalism and self-righteousness. However, if we only obey the Spirit, and do not take into account the Word, goodness, we may stumble and fall out. Therefore, in obedience, balance the two and you get it right. It is like those Engineers who design a building--if they do their calculations wrongly, the building may crack in minor case, or even collapse in major case. Faith is also about standing up once again. While learning obedience, we may err. The Holy Spirit is there to warn us when something is not right, then will comfort us when we fall. Accept His help graciously and move on. Like what Michael says, God is most concerned about our character building. Don't let it cripple you and in doing so, give the devil a foothold to condemn you.In all things, 'trust and obey'. I thought that obedience means that once God asks you to open the door, you will get into the house. But not necessarily so. He may ask you to do something, and you may assume a certain outcome from it, but that is not always so. Remember what happened to Abraham? I never pondered much about his trial, but just this afternoon I was shown a vision of him standing there with Isaac all tied up and ready to kill his only son who is supposed to be his heir. How we must thank God to stop him from doing so! Also, obedience does not mean a straight road and trouble-free life. Michael has already covered that portion.

Stand firm, my brothers and sisters in Christ,
Zenn.

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