FAITH EXPLAINED

The Bible says: “And My righteous ones will live by faith.” Hebrews 10:38 NLT

Living by faith means to obey God’s will and not cherry picking only what we want as many preachers falsely teach, “name it and claim it.”

That is why it says that, “We are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him.  And since we know He hears us when we make our requests, we also know that He will give us what we ask for.” 1. John 5:14-15 NLT

In other words, God will give us anything He wants and not what we want! When God says it, we can have faith that it will happen! Therefore, to live by faith means having faith in what God wants, no matter how impossible it might seem. If God says it, you can have faith for it, confess it boldly, because IT WILL HAPPEN!

This is the way Jesus taught His disciples: “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.” Mark 11:22-24 NLT

Because, “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” Hebrews 11:1 NLT

For example, the scriptures say: “It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith.”Hebrews 11:8-9 NLT

And,

“It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.” Hebrews 11:17-19 NLT

Abraham exercised his faith by obediently doing what God told him! We can read in the book of James how it is further explained, when it says,

“Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God. So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.” James 2:21-24 NLT

Faith has always been about pleasing God and was never meant to please ourselves, giving us what we desire. Faith is about believing what God says and acting upon it! You need to remember that, “God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.” Philippians 2:13 NLT

So, you see, it is always about Him! It is for this very reason that the Bible says,

“It is impossible to please God without faith.” Hebrews 11:6 NLT

And therefore,

“Faith without works is dead.” James 2:26 NKJV

TITHING IS A UNIVERSAL SCAM! By Edwin Christiaan

Pastors, ministers, and televangelists all over the world tell you that, according to the Bible, you are obligated to give at least 10% of your money income to their churches or ministries in order for God to bless you and to avoid any curses! They pressure and guilt trip you by making up all sorts of lies to get hold of your tithe money! (See 2. Peter 2:3)

They use verses in the Old Testament that was only meant for the Jewish farmers, who according to the Law of Moses had to give 10% of their agriculture products from the land of Israel once a year to the Levite priests. (See Leviticus 27:30) They also like to use the passages where God admonishes the Israelites for failing to give their tithe of fruit and vegetables, so they can guilt trip you and pressure you to give!

“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed you?’
In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, 
for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. 

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing
 that there will not be room enough to receive it.

 “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”

Malachi 3:8-11 NKJV

These pastors, ministers, and televangelists also tell you that Jesus said that you must tithe, as they misuse the scriptures where Jesus was admonishing and condemning the Pharisees, who were living under the Old Covenant Law of Moses, for their hypocrisy!

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!” Matthew 23:23-24 NKJV

To top it all off, these false teachers tell you that Abraham tithed before the Law of Moses came, and therefore tithing is a principle, an act of faith that we must do in order to receive the promises of God!

But the Bible says in Genesis 14:18-24 that Abraham, in a one-time event gave King Melchizedek of Salem 10 percent of what he had captured in battle. In other words, Abraham gave a tithe of the spoil and not from his personal property! So, if this is the principle we should follow, we should only give a one-time 10 percent of the spoil we capture in battle or war!

Some of these pastors go so far to have you sign pledges of how much you will be tithing to their churches in order to be a member or even to be a regular visitor!

But it is the apostle Paul, not Benny Hinn, Bill Johnson, Rick Joyner, or many of these other false teachers, who in the New Testament teach that,

You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give in response to pressure! (See 2. Corinthians 9:7)

Give in proportion to what you have. Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. Your giving should not make life easy for others and hard for yourselves! (See 2. Corinthians 8:12-13)

On the first day of each week, you should each lay aside some of the money you have earned. (See 2. Corinthians 16:2)

As you can see, the Old Testament Law of Tithing, which by the way was not about money, was never meant for the New Testament church, because when Jesus Christ died on the cross, He ended the system of law with its commandments and regulations! (See Ephesians 2:15)

These pastors falsely teach you to depend on the law of tithing to make you right with God, but actually you are under God’s curse! (See Galatians 3:10)

So, to teach that you must pay tithes, is dangerous and nothing but a scam that often leads to financial ruin!

The apostle Paul warned those who teach such a thing:

“Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Gospel than the one we preached to you!” Galatians 1:8 NLT

“God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed!” 2. Peter 2:3 NLT

But God blesses those who cheerfully give whatever they are being led to give! He generously provides all what they need and they will always have everything they need and plenty left over to share with others! (See 2. Corinthians 9:7-8)