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My Faith Is In
God!
I am surprised by the number of
people who have little or no concept of who God is! I talk with
people right here in Chattanooga who say they believe there is a
God but do not want a relationship with Him and they don't
believe the Bible is His Word. They say it's a great book and you
can learn some wonderful lessons about life from it but it's not
inspired by God.
Fact or Theory?
I wonder if we are not being
misled by the presentation of the theories of the scientific
world as to how we got here and where we are going. These
theories are presented as though they are facts. Watching the
explanation of the "big bang" theory on television I
never once heard them say if this theory is true such and
such happened. Instead they say that such and such happened just
as if they have facts that show it happened and we never seem to
question them. If we did we would find they have no facts but
only theory. I'm not here to debate the "big bang
theory" but to share with you that even if I were convinced
it were true it would offer no comfort to me in times of trial
and heartache. I need something that will ease the pain when I've
lost a loved one or when my uncle tells me he has cancer and only
a little time to live. I need someone I can turn to and get
relief. I need someone who can help me in my daily life at home
with my family and at work, wherever I go each day. That’s
where my Faith in God comes into play.
My Faith In God!
I don't just call upon God when
I'm having times of trouble but I try to walk with Him each day.
You see God is not some mystical spirit in some far off place but
He is one who seeks and desires fellowship with each of us. I am
persuaded that the Bible is His Word and that He speaks to us
through it. The Bible tells me that God is Love! He loves us and
wants only the best for us. He has the power to force us to love
Him and follow Him but His desire is for us to come to Him on our
own and He will not force us. From my own experiences I can tell
you that He does offer comfort and security when you trust Him
and try to follow him. I have experienced life without Him and
there is a peace and comfort in Him that I could never have
without Him. If you have read this far I assume you have some
interest in what I am sharing with you so I would like to tell
you more about what I believe about God and why I think He should
be an important part of each of our lives.
In The
Beginning.
I am persuaded that God is
Eternal… that is that He has always been and always will be!
In our minds, where time is so important and we never seem to
have enough of it, we cannot conceive of eternity, but God can
and He has a plan for us in eternity. In the beginning of
time God Created everything that is, excluding nothing. He
Created the heavens and the earth and everything in them and it
was good. But God had a master plan and it included us so He
created Adam… the first man and put him on Earth. As the
crown of His creation He gave him control over all the animals
and everything He had created. And God walked with Adam and they
had fellowship together in the Garden of Eden, where Adam lived.
As time passed Adam (who was a very intelligent man) noticed that
each of the animals had mates… they came in pairs, male and
female. So God decided that Adam needed a wife and He created Eve
from one of Adams ribs. They were very happy together and enjoyed
fellowship with God as He came and walked and talked with them.
If you will, try to picture what life was like on Earth at that
time….. there was no hunger, no sickness, no stress, no
hate, no aches or pain and no death! It was a perfect place and
full of peace and happiness. Adam had control over all the beast
and didn't have to plow the ground or plant anything or feed it
to get it to grow. The earth was rich and everything grew without
blemish and without any effort on Adam's part (Heaven on Earth?).
Sin and
Seperation!
There was however, one thing
God had commanded them not to do and that was not to eat the
fruit of one of the trees in the garden. As time went on
there was no problem with this until one day Eve was persuaded to
try this fruit and then Adam also tried it. Now God is not only
Eternal but He is also perfect. Up to this point I think Adam and
Eve had been perfect also but now they had done something for the
first time… they had disobeyed God, their Creator! And you
know something happened that changed everything in the garden and
that change has been passed down to all of us even to this day.
Adam and Eve had never felt guilt but now guilt was causing them
to feel very strange indeed and when God came to fellowship with
them that evening they did something else they had never done
before.... they hid from God. You know I think we all tend to do
that same thing today. Stop and think about it and people ae just
naturally afraid to come into God's presence. We are afraid
around people who are close to God. Our natural tendency is to
move away from God. Well this is what Adam and Eve did, they
tried to hide from God because now they had guilt because they
had disobeyed God… they had committed the first sin.
We now have that sin nature in us and maybe that is why we tend
to run from Him. God in His perfection cannot abide sin and what
Adam and Eve did broke the fellowship they had with God. Now if
they had not done this the Earth would still be the same as it
was then but when this sin came into the world everything
changed.
Heaven on Earth
No More?
God said because of this that
Adam would have to earn his food by the sweat of his brow and so
he had to work to get food to grow and he also lost his control
over the animals and then there was stress, pain and death. Yes
now God said that Adam and Eve would grow old and one day would
die! This sentence of death is still on us today. It is appointed
for man once to die… that is one appointment we will all
keep one day. This would be a sad story indeed if it ended here
but God still has a plan and that plan includes you and me. He
still wants us to have that fellowship with Him that Adam and Eve
had back in the garden and He has worked out a way for that to
happen. It's all part of His plan and I have accepted this plan
for my life and He is offering it to you.
Happiness Now
and Forever!
You know it seems to me that
even some of the most wealthy people with all their money and
homes and cars when you come right down to it are just not happy.
If you follow their lives many end up as they approach death
feeling that they never did find the one thing they thought their
wealth would give them and that is peace inside. There was a week of special nights on the Biography television show that was showing only the very rich and famous who in every case lived such lonely and sad lives even with everything money could buy. In the end they left such sad legacy for the world to see and many died all alone. It was so sad! It should also
be noted that many poor people go through life and when death
comes to their door they will say they never had peace in their
hearts. Sure money can provide good times and a lot of fun but in
the final days of life it has no value. What is needed at that
time cannot be bought or earned or bartered for but it can be
obtained as a gift from God to anyone who wants the same
fellowship with God that He wanted with Adam and Eve and that He
wants with us. We don't know exactly where that garden was but
God has promised that we can know a place even greater than Eden
if we really want it. This is what life is all about! This is where we find true happiness and fulfillment in our lives!
This is the best known secret in the world, that happiness comes when man and God are in fellowship which is the reason we were put here on Earth to begin with. If you want to know how a watch works who better to ask than the watchmaker. If you want to know what makes a man work who better to ask that the manmaker! God is the manmaker and He has told us what makes us work best! God's truth is that we work best when we have that fellowship with God and when we know that death does not end that fellowship but just enriches it beyond anything that our minds can imagine! Yes happiness is knowing that it just gets better after death if we can make everything right with Him!
If you are still interested, please follow
the link below and I will try to explain how He can make it
happen for you.
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