In Hebr 11:1, we read, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
The Bible says faith is essential to our relationship with Yehovah.
Hebr 11:6 says, if we do not have faith, then it is impossible to please Yehovah. James 1:6 says, without faith, you will not receive anything from Yehovah. In Deut 6:16, it says, If you dont have faith, you are guilty of testing Yehovah. As we have just learned, it is a sin to test Yehovah our God (Deut 6:16.)
Without question, we understand faith is essential. If you asked most mainstream Christians to describe faith, you would get about as many different answers as denominations in the world. Most Christians do not know what Biblical faith is.
What is Biblical faith?
This week, my wife and I got to see what Biblical faith can do for you.
Last week, our washing machine stopped working. If there is one thing we all need, it is an excellent working washing machine to have clean clothes. Washing machines are expensive, and repairing them can sometimes be as expensive as buying a new one.
My wife and I had to decide between buying a new one or having the old one repaired. We both work full-time jobs, but having to make the monthly installments on our mortgage, paying off old debt, and running a full-time ministry in our spare time does not leave much room for unexpected expenses such as a broken down washing machine. But we had no choice, and we could not afford a new washing machine, so we decided to fix the old one.
Even though it would be cheaper to fix the old than buy a brand new one, we did not have the money to pay for the repairs.
My wife and I obey the Shema (Deut 6, John 14.) The Shema is the first and most crucial commandment in the Torah, and it says :
- We believe and confess Yehovah is our God.
- Yehovah is one.
- We will love Yehovah with all our hearts, minds, and souls by obeying His Torah.
- If we love Yehovah, by following His Torah, He will bless us in return as written in Deut 28:1-13
We believe, if we follow the Shema, He will bless us in return. To follow and obey the Shema, you need to have learned the Torah, so you know how to love Yehovah.
One of the commandments in the Torah is to meditate on the Torah continually. As we have talked about earlier, remembering 613 commandments continually is sometimes impossible. Sometimes you have to focus on the task at hand, such as driving a car, when thinking of 613 commandments could be fatal. If you can remember the Shema, you are meditating on the Torah continually. If you should, at times, forget to say the Shema, because you need to focus on something, it is easy to return to.
We prayed and asked Yehovah what to do, believing in and obeying the Shema, and the only thing we got was Yehovah telling us to go ahead with the repairs. He never said how we would pay for it; He just told us to go ahead with the repairs.
We booked it in for yesterday, and it was, at times, kind of stressful, not knowing how we were going to pay for this. Every time we were tempted to fear or to worry, we fought back with the Shema, “Yehovah is our God, Yehovah is one.” We made a conscious decision to confront fear, stress, and worry with the Shema and reminding ourselves how the Shema promises Yehovahs help. Sometimes we were so stressed or worried; we did not even know how to pray correctly. But every time we focused our minds on the Shema, peace came, and trust filled our hearts. We never knew how it would turn out; we just had this supernatural peace and trust filling our hearts, reminding us Yehovah is in control and not worrying.
This was a conscious decision we had to make, to replace fear and worry with thoughts on the Shema. We had to decide to think of the Shema consciously to fight stress and worry. What we did is what the Bible calls a circumcised heart. In the Bible, every time you see it speaks of the heart is always referring to the mind. Another way to say this would be that we had to circumcise our mind by choosing to think of the Shema.
The day came, and I had to make the drive home to meet the repairman. I knew that I would not have to pay him there and then. He would send us an invoice to pay within 14 days. As I walk through the door to our apartment, my wife calls me from work, telling me an old friend of the family messaged her.
This old friend had heard from the Holy Spirit, telling her to give my wife and me 446 USD as a gift with no strings attached. This friend of the family knew nothing about our predicament; she did not know we could not pay for the repairs.
Of course, we accepted the gift, and now we can pay for the repairs and buy ourselves a new pair of shoes. My wife and I have used the same shoes for the last nine years, and they are slowly, but surely, starting to fall apart.
Now we can pay for the repairs; we can buy ourselves much-needed shoes, and we have seen the Shema come to life. Because the object of our faith is Yehovah, and not what He could do for us, He was faithful to His word and promises in Deut 28:1-13 and blessed us in return.
We had no idea He would inspire someone to give us such a gift; we only knew something good was about to happen as long as we obeyed the Shema. We never tried to tell Yehovah how to fix this for us; we only prayed and obeyed the Shema. We never knew what would happen or when it would happen; we only knew that if we followed the Shema Yehovah will take care of the rest. At times we were stressed, fearful, and worried about the situation, but by circumcising our minds with the Shema, we fought back, and peace, joy, and trust filled our minds again.
The Bible says, in Hebr 11:1, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
This is the kind of faith we have, we were confident and had the assurance that if we obeyed the Shema Yehovah would somehow fix this situation for us.
In Hebrew culture, faith is never passive; it is always active. We see this in John 3:16, 3:36, 1. John 2:6, James 2, Luke 6:46, if you believe in Yeshua, your faith has to show itself in obedience to the Torah. If there is no obedience to the Torah, you are not saved (James 2)
To be saved, you have to be confident and have the assurance that if you obey the Shema Yehovah will save you. A central part of following the Shema is obeying the Torah to know how to love Yehovah. A considerable part of the Torah is atonement for sin, something we now can only do by faith in the cross of Yeshua.
When the Bible speaks of faith in Hebr 11:1, it speaks of active faith, not a passive faith. Hebr 11:1 connects back to Deut 28:1-13, John 3:16, 3:36, 1.John 2:6, James 2, Luke 6:46, which all say the same thing: If you obey the Torah, you can have confidence and assurance of Yehovah’s help and salvation even if you do not see it yet.
This is why the Bible says, in 2.Cor 5:7, we are to walk by faith, not by sight. We are to walk in obedience to the Torah, believing Yehovah will deliver, heal, protect, and be our God, even if we dont see it yet. This is what my wife and I did; our sights told us we would never pay for the repairs. But we chose to believe Yehovah would come through for us if we obeyed the Shema.
What is the Shema?
The Torah has 613 commandments, and it promises us life and life abundantly if we obey it and keep thinking of it.
In our day and age, it is impossible sometimes to think mentally of 613 commandments. If we were to drive down the freeway, thinking of 613 commandments, we could kill someone because we would be a distracted driver.
Of all the commandments, the most important one is “Yehovah is our God, Yehovah is one.” (Deut 6, Mark 12:29) In most cases, we are well able to keep this one on our minds no matter what we are doing. And this is the easiest one to return to if we are forced to focus our minds on the task at hand, such as operating heavy machinery, driving a car, or performing surgery.
In Matt 6:25-34, Yeshua says that we will have no reason to worry about anything if we obey the Shema.
What is Biblical faith?
Biblical faith is being confident and have the assurance that if you obey the Shema, Yehovah will somehow fix your situation for you.
Some might argue there is a massive difference between having to fix a washing machine and being in a life and death situation. Will this work if you are facing a life and death situation right now?
In Deut 28, Yehovah promises to heal and save if we obey the Torah. Following the Shema requires you to follow the Torah, if you obey the Torah, Yehovah promises to heal and save you whatever your situation might be. So the answer to your question is yes, this works for broken down washing machines and life-threatening diseases or life and death situations. But it will only work if you circumcise your mind with the Shema, and sometimes, circumcision of the mind is an ongoing process depending on the stress and fear level of the situation you are in.
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Do you want to partner with this ministry, but you can’t afford it right now?
Partnering with this ministry brings with it a lot of benefits. I will pray for you, by name, each day. I will prophesy to you each month; you can request prophetic counseling without extra charge, and you will have access to all my e-books. It is also a great way to obey the Torah. The Torah says we have to support, with our finances, those who minister the Gospel to us.
Prayer is as important as financial support.
I know so many of you can not afford a partnership with this ministry, but you know how to pray.
If you would commit to praying each day for this ministry for one year, you can now become a prayer partner with us. Prayer partners will receive a monthly prophecy, prayer each day, access to my e-books, and request prophetic counseling free of charge.
Click on this link, and choose the option “Prayer partner.”
https://apostleernie.crossofchristlive.one/godspeakingprophecypartner/
It is free of charge.
This is first and foremost for those who are unable to give anything.
If you have the financial resources to partner with this ministry and pray, choose one of the other options. But if you can’t give anything, but you want to partner, select this option.
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