Friday, November 18, 2016

Believing God: Verses on Belief in John #3

Osprey 

John 4:48
So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.”

In John there were 7 signs:

Changing water into wine at Cana in John 2:1-11 - "the first of the signs"
Healing the royal official's son in Capernaum in John 4:46-54
Healing the paralytic at Bethesda in John 5:1-15
Feeding the 5000 in John 6:5-14
Jesus walking on water in John 6:16-24
Healing the man blind from birth in John 9:1-7
The raising of Lazarus in John 11:1-45

People won't believe, if their heart is set against it. So let us soften our heart before God so we will be able to believe. We speak what is on our heart. Listen to what you are saying. Do you speak belief or unbelief?

John 5:24
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

Hearing the word of God brings belief. (Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”) and Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.”

 John 5:38
“You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent.

To believe is to accept what Jesus says. When we accept what Jesus says, we are then abiding in Jesus. This abiding allows us to get our prayers answered. John 15:7 If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. We can't accept what Jesus says and disregard what He says at the same time.

When we have God's word abiding in us, we will speak these words. Joshua 1:8 says that we are to have God's word in our mouth. Instead of questing God's word, think on it and speak it into your life.

 John 5:44
“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?

To believe Jesus is to be focused on Jesus and not yourself. When we receive glory we are focused on our wants. Jesus is the source and all we are able to do comes from Him. Speak of Jesus and His faithfulness. Deflect the praise others would give you by speaking of  Jesus.

 John 5:46
“For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.

The Pharisees thought they believed Moses. But they really were not believing in what Moses wrote but were instead using his writings as a way to maintain their power.

 John 5:47
“But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

In the end it is either all or nothing. We can't accept part of the Bible and reject other parts. For they all come from the same source.

 John 6:29
Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

It takes work to believe at times. Sometimes we have to overcome our pattern of thought. This is done by meditation on Scripture and as we renew our mind in the Bible our mind is changed from stinking thinking to life giving belief. Romans 12:1,2 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

We renew our mind in the Scriptures. What we believe we speak.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 is another passage that we can use to fight for belief. Reject doubt and decide to believe what God has said. Philippians 4:6-9 is another passage that will move us from fear to belief. Verse 8 shows we control our thoughts and speech.

This war in our mind is managed by speaking what we believe. If we don't speak it we don't believe it. 2 Corinthians 4:13 “But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, 'I believed, therefor I spoke,' we also believe, therefore we also speak.”

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