let’s pray…

some of you possibly have been struggling with doubts about whether you are a CHRISTian or not.  you say, “i don’t remember the time that i specifically asked the LORD to take over my life.  i’ve believed about CHRIST but maybe i’ve never really believed in HIM.  i want to settle it today.”

if you’re not sure, if you’ve got doubts, settle it right now.  just pray this, “LORD, i want to have real faith, not a phony faith.”

what does it mean to believe?  it means commitment.  would you say in your heart right now,

“JESUS CHRIST, i give every area of my life to as much of you as i understand and i want to learn more about you.  GOD, i give my past, all the things that have happened, the good and bad, achievements, the faults, the sins, the mistakes.  i ask you to take it all.  i admit that i’ve done my own way many times.  i haven’t consulted you.  i’ve made my own decisions without talking to you about them. i ask you to forgive me.  LORD, i not only give you my past, i want to give you my future.  i don’t know what it holds but i know you know it.  i want to follow you as best as i know how.  i want to be a real believer.  JESUS CHRIST, i give you my present, right now.  take my life and make me the person you want me to be.  help me to grow.  help me to know that i’m a CHRISTian and help me to show it in my life by obeying your word.  thank you for loving me.  thank you for dying for me on the cross.  help me to understand it more.  LORD, i want to get into the wheel barrow right now.  i want to commit all of it to you, the problems and the possibilities of my life.”

if you prayed that prayer in your heart and meant it i believe GOD heard you.  the bible says, whoever calls on the name of JESUS will be saved.  HE says, you do your part and I’ll do my part.

FATHER, i want to thank you for these who’ve made this decision in their heart and today they're settling it.  i pray that your HOLY SPIRIT will put a confirmation in their heart that today they’re giving themselves to you.  i know this isn’t a promise to be perfect but it is a promise to let you take control.  you said that you will come into our lives and make us new people.  thank you that it wipes out all the things we’ve done wrong in the past and gives us a new look on life.  thanks you for this word.  thank you that it’s so clear.  we can understand that real faith is not something we say or feel or believe but it is something we do.  we commit ourselves to you today.  in JESUS name, amen.

just a thought from the front porch…

it is something you do…

if real faith is not just something you say or think of feel or believe, then what is faith? well the answer is real faith is something you do.

here in james chapter 2 there are two illustrations of two very different people.  abraham and rahab – exact opposite extremes.

abraham is a man, rahab is a woman.  abraham is jewish, rahab is a gentile.  abraham is a patriarch, rahab is a prostitute.  abraham is a somebody, rahab is a nobody.  abraham is a major character in the bible, rahab is a minor character. 

now james uses these illustrations to say, it doesn’t matter who you are as long as you’ve got the important thing.  they only had one thing in common – their faith in GOD and their faith in GOD led them to an action.

verses 20-23 (nirv), you foolish man! do you want proof that faith without good works is useless? our father abraham offered his son isaac on the altar. wasn’t he considered to be right with GOD because of what he did? so you see that what he believed and what he did were working together. what he did made his faith complete. that is what scripture means where it says, “abraham believed GOD. GOD accepted abraham because he believed. so his faith made him right with GOD.” and that’s not all. GOD called abraham HIS friend.

do you know the story?  it’s the ultimate test where GOD asked abraham to give his own son.  this has nothing to do with salvation.  abraham was already a believer, twenty-five years earlier GOD has said, you’re righteous. 

he’s not talking about being saved by his works.  he is saying, this shows how much you believe.  abraham obeyed GOD, he was immediate.  he followed him.  he took his son up.  he cut the wood, built the altar and was ready to sacrifice his own son. 

abraham says to his son while walking up the mountain, “we (not i) will return.”  he knew that GOD would provide somehow even if it meant raising him from the dead.  the fact is GOD did raise him from the dead figuratively speaking. 

abraham was about to sacrifice him and GOD says, i was just testing you to see what’s most important in your life.  it was an action.  his works proved his faith.  he held nothing back from GOD.

just a thought from the front porch…