Journey Fortifies Faith in Others
An article I came across puts faith and belief into perspective: "Believing in God is not having faith in God. The Apostle James says so in James 2:19,"You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe - and tremble." Believing in God is great, but it wont change your life. Believing in God is great, but it will not save your soul. There are millions upon millions of people around the world that call themselves Christians because they believe in God and Jesus Christ. Believing is good but it is only the beginning!" 1
It's only a beginning to believe; continuing is to take faith into action. An example may be Jonah's success may have been in the story of how he got to Ninivah in the first place. The Lord conceived a rather stunning way for Job to begin his mission; a whale of a ride. Jesus said the only sign he would give to the Jewish leaders was that of Jonah, i.e. his 3 days was spent in the grave.
Another article explains this stage of faith like love saying; "Our limited, finite minds cannot directly perceive the All, or God. However, we can perceive "evidence of things unseen". We can use our minds to intuit the Presence of the Eternal Creative Power. Just as we "know" love by experiencing it - even though it is impossible to pick it up, or to perceive it with the physical senses - so we can "know" God. Since God must be the Essence of Every-thing, God is also my Essence. I can intuit that my relationship to God is akin to the relationship each individual cell has to my body as a whole: I am a microcosm within the Macrocosm." 2
The three days Jonah spent in the whale is part of the whole message to the Ninevites and may explain why 120,000 Ninivites believed so readily as a group. There can be hardship in carrying God's message to His children and plenty who would spoil it so it wouldn't get through. Jonah knew God spoke to him but something about it made him run the other way.
Similarly Paul could have avoided going to Rome by not appealing to Caesar. He could have avoided ship wreck if the centurion had believed his prophetic message not to sail. However the Lord revealed through an Angel that Paul must go before Caesar. An Angel also revealed that no life would be lost though the ship be wrecked. A snake bites him but he knows that he will live to be in Caesar's presence. (Acts 27-28) The people are astonished at all this confidence within hardship and count him a god, believing Paul for healing of every sort. Arriving in Rome Ceasar grants him the freedom to privately preach the good news of Jesus Christ.
Jesus once asked that far reaching question, "But when the Son of Man returns, how many will He find on the earth who have faith?" (Luke 18:8). Jonah had a seed of faith and even though he ran the other way, still through a strange journey the seed grew into that for which it was destined to produce; 120,000 souls learned to discern their left hand from their right. Paul had a seed of faith and through a strange journey his faith produced much fruit; millions of gentile souls were saved.
Jonah and Paul's journey's fortified faith in others.
1. http://blessedhill.hubpages.com/hub/Belief-vs-Faith
2. http://www.ancienttraditions.org/index.php?
It's only a beginning to believe; continuing is to take faith into action. An example may be Jonah's success may have been in the story of how he got to Ninivah in the first place. The Lord conceived a rather stunning way for Job to begin his mission; a whale of a ride. Jesus said the only sign he would give to the Jewish leaders was that of Jonah, i.e. his 3 days was spent in the grave.
Another article explains this stage of faith like love saying; "Our limited, finite minds cannot directly perceive the All, or God. However, we can perceive "evidence of things unseen". We can use our minds to intuit the Presence of the Eternal Creative Power. Just as we "know" love by experiencing it - even though it is impossible to pick it up, or to perceive it with the physical senses - so we can "know" God. Since God must be the Essence of Every-thing, God is also my Essence. I can intuit that my relationship to God is akin to the relationship each individual cell has to my body as a whole: I am a microcosm within the Macrocosm." 2
The three days Jonah spent in the whale is part of the whole message to the Ninevites and may explain why 120,000 Ninivites believed so readily as a group. There can be hardship in carrying God's message to His children and plenty who would spoil it so it wouldn't get through. Jonah knew God spoke to him but something about it made him run the other way.
Similarly Paul could have avoided going to Rome by not appealing to Caesar. He could have avoided ship wreck if the centurion had believed his prophetic message not to sail. However the Lord revealed through an Angel that Paul must go before Caesar. An Angel also revealed that no life would be lost though the ship be wrecked. A snake bites him but he knows that he will live to be in Caesar's presence. (Acts 27-28) The people are astonished at all this confidence within hardship and count him a god, believing Paul for healing of every sort. Arriving in Rome Ceasar grants him the freedom to privately preach the good news of Jesus Christ.
Jesus once asked that far reaching question, "But when the Son of Man returns, how many will He find on the earth who have faith?" (Luke 18:8). Jonah had a seed of faith and even though he ran the other way, still through a strange journey the seed grew into that for which it was destined to produce; 120,000 souls learned to discern their left hand from their right. Paul had a seed of faith and through a strange journey his faith produced much fruit; millions of gentile souls were saved.
Jonah and Paul's journey's fortified faith in others.
1. http://blessedhill.hubpages.com/hub/Belief-vs-Faith
2. http://www.ancienttraditions.org/index.php?
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