Quality of Faith

[ciicii]

(Sorry in advanced bc i am using my phone)

So i have beem going through a lot like not feeling like enough etc...
But recently my church has just started the book of james.
And my pastor saie something that stuck with me. God cares about the quality of our faith.

"Faith without works is dead" and also that we should be glad when we are tested and endure in our faith so we can be complete. (I am paraphrasing)

But how do we tell the difference between us knowing our faith is good vs dead. How do we know it is our faith beig tested vs us being tested personally or are bothbof those the same thing.

Thoughts?

 

[Suze]

(Sorry in advanced bc i am using my phone)

So i have beem going through a lot like not feeling like enough etc...
But recently my church has just started the book of james.
And my pastor saie something that stuck with me. God cares about the quality of our faith.

"Faith without works is dead" and also that we should be glad when we are tested and endure in our faith so we can be complete. (I am paraphrasing)

But how do we tell the difference between us knowing our faith is good vs dead. How do we know it is our faith beig tested vs us being tested personally or are bothbof those the same thing.

Thoughts?

Why do we need to know ? Personally I believe that our entire lives r a refining process , the dross is being purged out of us on a daily basis . God is with us always 24/7 , seeing us , hearing us , knowing b 4 we do , what we will do and say at any moment . He is guiding us through our troubles to Him and , He may allow us to suffer all kinds of things in this life in order to prepare us for life eternal in His Kingdom . All we really need to know is what is acceptable behaviour in His sight and what is not . Just try to do what u know is right , using Jesus as the ultimate example of obedience and faith .

 

[lrs68]

If you are not being tried you probably don't have very good faith because God won't put on us more than we can burden. And even though it seems like you're walking in quick sand you really are increasing your faith because you keep going forward and seeking God's help.

 

[ciicii]

Why do we need to know ? Personally I believe that our entire lives r a refining process , the dross is being purged out of us on a daily basis . God is with us always 24/7 , seeing us , hearing us , knowing b 4 we do , what we will do and say at any moment . He is guiding us through our troubles to Him and , He may allow us to suffer all kinds of things in this life in order to prepare us for life eternal in His Kingdom . All we really need to know is what is acceptable behaviour in His sight and what is not . Just try to do what u know is right , using Jesus as the ultimate example of obedience and faith .

i understand what you are saying, but we are also told to test ourselves, so I do think it is important to know the quality of our faith. your advice on how to do that i think is still valid and a result of good quality faith though

 

[Dino246]

(Sorry in advanced bc i am using my phone)

So i have beem going through a lot like not feeling like enough etc...
But recently my church has just started the book of james.
And my pastor saie something that stuck with me. God cares about the quality of our faith.

"Faith without works is dead" and also that we should be glad when we are tested and endure in our faith so we can be complete. (I am paraphrasing)

But how do we tell the difference between us knowing our faith is good vs dead. How do we know it is our faith beig tested vs us being tested personally or are bothbof those the same thing.

Thoughts?

Your faith is real if it results in a changed life and increasing Christlike character, holiness, ordered priorities, and fruit of the Spirit.

If it is not real, it will leave you unchanged.

As far as feeling like you are “enough”, relax; you aren’t and never will be.

But Jesus is.

 

[HeIsHere]

(Sorry in advanced bc i am using my phone)

So i have beem going through a lot like not feeling like enough etc...
But recently my church has just started the book of james.
And my pastor saie something that stuck with me. God cares about the quality of our faith.

"Faith without works is dead" and also that we should be glad when we are tested and endure in our faith so we can be complete. (I am paraphrasing)

But how do we tell the difference between us knowing our faith is good vs dead. How do we know it is our faith beig tested vs us being tested personally or are bothbof those the same thing.

Thoughts?

Dead faith is real faith.... but it is faith which is not being put to use.
The meaning to the word "dead" in his letters in "not in operation"

The book is written to believers, however, they were not living outwardly what they were inwardly and therefore men could not see the faith because it needed to be displayed outwardly like Abraham.
When displayed outwardly then we are justified by our faith before men.
That is the essence of Book of James.

 

[ciicii]

Dead faith is real faith.... but it is faith which is not being put to use.
The meaning to the word "dead" in his letters in "not in operation"

The book is written to believers, however, they were not living outwardly what they were inwardly and therefore men could not see the faith because it needed to be displayed outwardly like Abraham.
When displayed outwardly then we are justified by our faith before men.
That is the essence of Book of James.

thats a good point too. i alwasy think of it like "even demons beleive" so dead faith means you may believe but not saved. its good to differentiate i will look into that more thanks

 

[HeIsHere]

thats a good point too. i alwasy think of it like "even demons beleive" so dead faith means you may believe but not saved. its good to differentiate i will look into that more thanks

When reading James we need to also understand he is responding to another interlocutor who is raising objects.
And that line is from the interlocuter who is raising objections to James.

 

[Suze]

i understand what you are saying, but we are also told to test ourselves, so I do think it is important to know the quality of our faith. your advice on how to do that i think is still valid and a result of good quality faith though

Where does it say we should test ourselves ? I haven't heard that before , this life is one long test I think .

 

[HeIsHere]

raising objects.

"raising objections*

 

[ciicii]

Where does it say we should test ourselves ? I haven't heard that before , this life is one long test I think .

2 Corinthians 13:5​

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

 

[HeIsHere]

2 Corinthians 13:5​

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

I think "faith" here can also be viewed as being the doctrine of the true plan of salvation.
This church was having many problems.

 

[Suze]

2 Corinthians 13:5​

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

Oooh ok , mine is KJV so it doesn't use the word test , I shall look in my concordance and find out exactly what that word means .

 

[studentoftheword]

But how do we tell the difference between us knowing our faith is good vs dead. How do we know it is our faith beig tested vs us being tested personally or are bothbof those the same thing.

For starters it is not our Faith ----It is Christ's Faith inbirthed in us when we accept God the Fathers Drawing to change our Hardened heart to an acceptable heart to hear and accept the Gospel and have Christ's faith inbirthed in us through hearing the gospel ----

Christ's faith is powerful and will propel us to act -and obey ---the word is Jesus -----

 

[Suze]

2 Corinthians 13:5​

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

KJV says ; Examine yourselves ,wether ye be in the faith ; prove your own selves . Know he not your own selves , how that Jesus Christ is in you , except ye be reprobates ?

A bit different to your version .

 

[Watchman22]

(Sorry in advanced bc i am using my phone)

So i have beem going through a lot like not feeling like enough etc...
But recently my church has just started the book of james.
And my pastor saie something that stuck with me. God cares about the quality of our faith.

"Faith without works is dead" and also that we should be glad when we are tested and endure in our faith so we can be complete. (I am paraphrasing)

But how do we tell the difference between us knowing our faith is good vs dead. How do we know it is our faith beig tested vs us being tested personally or are bothbof those the same thing.

Thoughts?

There are two words for faith the Greek, pistis the noun used 245 times, and pisteuo the verb used 248 times.
Pisteuo is an action word, something we do. The definition in the Vines Greek dictionary is" A personal surrender to Him and a life inspired by such surrender. "
So how would I see the testing and the quality

Well , God is testing that surrendered life every time the opportunity to show Him we ready consider our lives to be His now and not ours. Mostly by putting other people's needs before our own. The more we put others before us, the better the quality of the surrendered life is.

Knowing what faith pistis, and faithing pisteuo are is one of the keys.

 

[Watchman22]

2 Corinthians 13:5​

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

When He says examine yourselves, "your faith " He means examine your surrendered life.

 

[God-fearing]

(Sorry in advanced bc i am using my phone)

So i have beem going through a lot like not feeling like enough etc...
But recently my church has just started the book of james.
And my pastor saie something that stuck with me. God cares about the quality of our faith.

"Faith without works is dead" and also that we should be glad when we are tested and endure in our faith so we can be complete. (I am paraphrasing)

But how do we tell the difference between us knowing our faith is good vs dead. How do we know it is our faith beig tested vs us being tested personally or are bothbof those the same thing.

Thoughts?

Personally I think you can test your faith on what you do or don't in your personally life. When your alone and no one's looking.
Do you give yourself freedoms that you refrain from while with others?
Do you pray with expectations or pray just to pray? Do you look for those expectations?
Are you as bold as you would want to be or should be sharing Christ with others.

Just a few examples.

 

[ciicii]

Personally I think you can test your faith on what you do or don't in your personally life. When your alone and no one's looking.
Do you give yourself freedoms that you refrain from while with others?
Do you pray with expectations or pray just to pray? Do you look for those expectations?
Are you as bold as you would want to be or should be sharing Christ with others.

Just a few examples.

That is true too, i guess for me my issue is that I see where i fail and ai see where i have imporved but i also know i will never need to stop improving and that frightens me at times.

 

[HeIsHere]

That is true too, i guess for me my issue is that I see where i fail and ai see where i have imporved but i also know i will never need to stop improving and that frightens me at times.

Looking to yourself will cause many problems, I would suggest to focus on Him.


This is called Lordship Salvation and becomes another form of legalism. Caution.


Our growth does not come from focusing on where we fail, that is like looking at the curb when you drive, that is where you will head, need to look forward.

So in this way, our focus is on the truth that we are a new creation we are in Christ, in this way we grow in Him.