{"id":975,"date":"2015-10-21T13:00:11","date_gmt":"2015-10-21T13:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=975"},"modified":"2015-10-21T02:14:29","modified_gmt":"2015-10-21T02:14:29","slug":"the-muscles-of-our-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=975","title":{"rendered":"The Muscles of Our Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"08-02-15<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 Boy am I tired, I have been rock climbing all day long trying to get in shape.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 Well rock climbing is good exercise!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 I am ready to take a break now though.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 I can tell you some pointers on how to exercise your faith, if you like.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 Sure, I am open to that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Catherine Marshall in her book Beyond Our Selves shares ways to strengthen our faith.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

First, we cannot trust God until we know something about Him.\u00a0 The way to begin is by reading His word and thinking about it.\u00a0 The Bible acquaints us with the nature and character of God:\u00a0 His power; His unselfish, unchangeable love; His infinite wisdom.\u00a0 We read instance after instance in which God has exercised His power and wisdom in helping and delivering His people.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Second, faith is strengthened only as we ourselves exercise it.\u00a0 We have to apply it to our problems:\u00a0 poverty, bodily ills, bereavement, job trouble, tangled human relationships.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Third, faith has to be in the present tense–now.\u00a0 A vague prospect that what we want will transpire in the future is not faith, but hope.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fourth, absolute honesty is necessary.\u00a0 We cannot have faith and a guilty conscience at the same time.\u00a0 Every time faith will fade away.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fifth, the strengthening of faith comes through staying with it in the hour of trial.\u00a0 We should not shrink from tests of our faith.\u00a0 Only when we are depending on God alone are we in a position to see God’s help and deliverance, and thus have our faith strengthened for the next time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This means that we must let Him do the work.\u00a0 Almost always it takes longer than we think it should.\u00a0 When we grow impatient and try a deliverance of our own, through friends or circumstances, we are taking God’s work out of His hands.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You are tempted to listen to the voices of the world and not pay attention to Gods quiet voice telling you to just have faith at this hour.\u00a0 Turn to the quiet voice.\u00a0 Surrender desire to take things in your own hand.\u00a0 God is going to make a move.<\/p>\n

Psalm 104:24<\/p>\n

O Lord<\/span>, how manifold are your works!
\nIn wisdom have you made them all;
\nthe earth is full of your creatures.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jennifer Van Allen,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

www.theprodigalpig.com<\/p>\n

www.faithincounseling.org<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Prodigal:\u00a0 Boy am I tired, I have been rock climbing all day long trying to get in shape.   Me:\u00a0 Well rock climbing is good exercise!   Prodigal:\u00a0 I am ready to take a break now though.   Me:\u00a0 I can tell you some pointers on how to exercise your faith, if you like. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Muscles of Our Faith - The Prodigal Pig<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=975\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Muscles of Our Faith - 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