GREAT OBSTACLES TO FAITH.. 2

GREAT OBSTACLES TO FAITH.

The love of man's praise in preference to that of God. How many a man's faith is nipped by no other cause? To live agreeably to the gospel is not the way to gain man's praise. Man does not praise the poor in spirit, the meek, etc., but the proud, etc. He therefore who seeks to please the world puts on such qualities as these. But the true believer acts differently. He is not indeed indifferent to the good opinion of his fellow creatures, yet he values God's esteem above this, and to secure that is the great film of his life.  (A. Roberts, M. A.)


Great Obstacles to Faith

A. Roberts, M. A: GREAT OBSTACLES TO FAITH... 1

GREAT OBSTACLES TO FAITH.

The fear of man as withering now as then. "What will the world say?" often casts a damp on godly resolutions. Men cannot bear the thought of ridicule, and so lower the standard of religious conduct and conform to the world. But grace enables the true believer to say, "I will not be afraid," and he "rejoices that he is counted worthy to suffer shame."  A. Roberts, M. A

Obstacles to Faith

George Mueller: The Captain

Concerning George Mueller: 

Charles Inglis, the well-known evangelist, relates the following remarkable incident:

“When I first came to America thirty-one years ago, I crossed the Atlantic with the captain of a steamer who was one of the most devoted men I ever knew; and when we were off the banks of Newfoundland he said to me: ‘Mr. Inglis, the last time I crossed here, five weeks ago, one of the most extraordinary things happened that has completely revolutionized the whole of my Christian life. Up to that time I was one of your ordinary Christians. We had a man of God on board, George Müller, of  Bristol.  I had been on that bridge for twenty-two hours and never left it. I was startled by someone tapping me on the shoulder. It was George Müller.

“‘Captain,’ said he, ‘I have come to tell you that I must be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon.’ This was Wednesday.

“‘It is impossible,’ I said.

George Mueller: What is Faith

“First: What is faith? In the simplest manner in which I am able to express it, I answer:

Faith is the assurance that the thing which God has said in His Word is true, and that God will act according to what He has said in His Word. This assurance, this reliance on God’s Word, this confidence is faith.

No impressions are to be taken in connection with faith. Impressions have neither one thing nor the other to do with faith. Faith has to do with the Word of God. It is not impressions, strong or weak, which will make any difference. We have to do with the written Word and not ourselves or our impressions.

Probabilities are not to be taken into account. Many people are willing to believe regarding those things that seem probable to them. Faith has nothing to do with probabilities. The province of faith begins where probabilities cease and sight and sense fail.

A great many of God’s children are cast down and lament their want of faith. They write to me and say that they have no impressions, no feeling, they see no probability that the thing they wish will come to pass. Appearances are not to be taken into account. The question is—whether God has spoken it in His Word.

Mueller: How Faith is Increased

God delights to increase the faith of His children. Our faith, which is feeble at first, is developed and strengthened more and more by use. We ought, instead of wanting no trials before victory, no exercise for patience, to be willing to take them from God’s hand as a means. I say—and say it deliberately—trials, obstacles, difficulties, and sometimes defeats, are the very food of faith.

I get letters from so many of God’s dear children who say: “Dear Brother Müller: I’m writing this because I am so weak and feeble in faith.” Just so surely as we ask to have our faith strengthened, we must feel a willingness to take from God’s hand the means for strengthening it. We must allow Him to educate us through trials and bereavements and troubles. It is through trials that faith is exercised and developed more and more. God affectionately permits difficulties, that He may develop unceasingly that which He is willing to do for us, and to this end we should not shrink, but if He gives us sorrow and hindrances and losses and afflictions, we should take them out of His hands as evidences of His love and care for us in developing more and more that faith which He is seeking to strengthen in us.

~~

[Trials, yes...

Sicknesses , no ...

We walk through trials such as Jesus did, not sickness.]