Just a Thought

I know it's been a while since I have posted, I've been writing a lot. But now I am going to try and get back into blogging more consistently.
Almost posted something yesterday, but I wasn't sure how exactly it would go. So I decided to just try and write it today.
I was thinking yesterday about faith. It always seems like everyone struggles with that forward step. The step that one must take into the darkness, and trust that God will give them a platform to stand on. But what about the backward step? We don't talk about that too much, do we?
We don't very often talk about how we have to let go, and letting God take over. Sometimes that can be even harder than taking a step of faith in a situation.
It's hard to let go of your loved ones who are headed to hell, it's hard to let go of your friends who are led astray. It's hard to let go and leave it all to God.
And when I say 'letting go', I don't mean you give up on a person or for what you are fighting for. But rather to do all that you can but in the end, realize that God is in control.

So many times we forget that God is Ruler of our lives, so many times we forget that we are powerless over the hearts of men. In and of ourselves, we can do nothing. So many times we forget that it is God who changes hearts. It is God who changes lives. It is God who is sovereign over all of creation. It is God who is sovereign over all the events in history. God is sovereign over all things, not man.
Perhaps, that is why it is so hard to let go. Because we have developed such a high view of man.
We are powerless, our works are tainted with sin. What good can we do in and of ourselves?
Letting go is letting go a pride of self. Letting go is the thing that will make you look weak to mankind. Letting go is the thing that will drive you to your knees in tears and prayer.
And after all that is said, I come to think that it is a bigger problem than we realize. The faith issue. On both ends. On one end we must have the faith to step into darkness and trust that God will give us a platform to stand on. And on the other hand, we must have the faith to step away from everything, and say, "God is sovereign."

God Bless,
  A.W.

Faith

Listened to a sermon last night on faith. It was a pretty good sermon.
The preacher mentioned something that I haven't thought of in a while. And that is that Christianity takes a lot of faith. The preacher asked how do we know that Christianity is real?
What if when we die we stand before God and realize that it wasn't Christianity that was the real thing, it was some other religion. How do you know that it's Christianity?
It takes a lot of faith to tell a Mormon or a Muslim that they are wrong, it takes a lot of faith for that. What if you were the one who was wrong in the end, and now you stand before a different God whose people you told were going to hell.
You would be condemned for that.

That takes a lot of faith, but you know what even takes more than that?
Telling a professing Christian that he is wrong.
It's hard to stand up against a heretic or a false teacher and say that what they believe, what they are standing for is all wrong. How do you know that you aren't just as off as they appear to be?
You must know your Bible. That's one of the reasons that you must value theology in your life. 
It takes a lot of faith to stand up in the Christian community and say that someone is wrong.
It takes a lot of faith to know that what you believe is what the Bible teaches, that what you believe is what Jesus Christ taught.
It takes a lot of faith to stand  when so many people are under a delusion of how wonderful that heretic may be. It takes so much faith.
And the question comes down to this: Do you have that faith? Do you have that faith that you can stand against the heretics in the Christian community and say 'no'? Even when no other human being is with you.
Do you really have that much faith to know that what you are saying is right, and what the other man is saying is wrong?
Is that the faith you have?

God Bless,
  A.W.