Building your Faith

Recently (well the past few years) I keep hearing how you must stock up on food and water because there are going to be catastrophes that will stop us from being able to go to the store and other issues.  I agree being prepared is good, but may I propose a different preparation?  As God's people, he has offered us supernatural ablities that are preformed by the Holy Spirit that resides in those who have accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior.  John 14:16-17 "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you."  When you recieve the Holy Spirit, you are then commissioned in Matthew 10:8 to "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give."  In Acts 14:3 it describes how the Holy Spirit helped Paul and Barnabas "3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders."

To explain that first is a foundation of what I am about to propose.  I agree that in the next few years we are going to have some struggles.  Revelation clearly states that we are going to have tough times ahead.  Especially for Christians.  I believe God will be there for us supernaturally, as he was for the children of Israel in the desert.  God supernaturally provided food, water and other provisions.  If he grafted the Gentiles into His family, why would He not do the same for us as he did for Israel.  Remember in Numbers 20 "7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” 9 So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him.10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank."  Christians will supernaturally be protected as long as they have faith.  Another old testament story about supernatural provision is in Kings 4:1-7 "4 A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.”2 So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”3 Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. 4 And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.”5 So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. 6 Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. 7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”

I believe that we should have a little stock of food and drink, but I believe that we should really 'stock up' on our faith.  Hebrews 11:6 states "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

How do we build our faith? You must read and study the bible.  Some find this hard to do, and they are not sure where to start.  I found that the SOAP (Scripture, Observation,Application, Prayer) bible study is very helpful.  I suggest creating a journal that is yours where you can write down what you are learning and finding.  You may even find that you hit the same scripture twice at different times in your life and it gives you different revelations.  God will speak to you and you will find the truths of the Bible.