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Faith and Positive Thinking in our day

Positive thinking and positive confession is equated with being the same as having faith in Christ by some church teachings in our day.  Positive thinking has its roots in the new age movement and philosophies.  Positive thinking means that if you persist in thinking and proclaiming something as true, that it will manifest itself and be a reality in your daily life. This philosophy and thinking says ‘if you want healing and health proclaim these faithfully to yourself and others, even if you are sick, and you will be well’.  Do this for whatever you need or desire.

Faith in Christ is something different.  Godly faith is trust in a person, trust in God’s Word. There is some aspects of faith in Christ that are similar in stance to positive confession, but it is not the same thing .  The Bible says that all men have a measure of faith with which to begin their journey with God.  This faith is then strengthened through trust that God’s Word is true as the believer reads the Bible and through the work of the Holy Spirit.  The believer puts what he understands in the Bible into daily practice in his or her life.  The Holy Spirit works with the believer to strengthen his or her faith.  The believer’s faith is tested to see what is lacking and work is begun by God to strengthen his or her faith as long as the believer is willing to be corrected.

So we see that positive confession is the work of men,  the works of the flesh, and faith is the work of God through his Holy Spirit and his Word in the heart and mind of the believer. Where confusion comes in is when men, meaning church leaders,  try to mix positive confession teachings with Bible scripture.   Using God’s word in positive confession is not faith in Christ unless the believer knows that what he is doing is looking to the mercy and compassion of a person.  He or she is not calling something into existence.

 

 

 

 

 


What God Requires

Micah 6:8
He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

What must we do to work the works of God?  We need to implement justice, morality, and rightness, today in our own lives.  God is clear in his Word.  What we do in our lives, and how we do it, matters to us, and to God.  He has requirements of us. We need to do certain things in order to prosper spiritually and physically in our lives. We are told repeatedly throughout scripture that judgment from the Lord is coming.  That God will judge the just and the unjust according to their works. He will judge the nations and peoples of the world.  He will judge his own people.

Immorality and corruption are increasing in the environment where we live.  We need to be looking to God for the ability to refuse temptations.  Western governments and nations are rejecting God and his commandments today.   Lying and deceit are everyday occurrences with those we deal with in business and everyday activities.  We see this in the news about our financial organizations defrauding and deceiving their banking customers.

What are we to do?  It’s not going to be ok for us to participate and do business the same way as the world around us.  God has given us his commandments.  They are laid out extensively in his Word.  The ten commandments being the scaffold of what he requires of people.  His Word is what we must follow.  God has not left us defenseless as his people.  We do not have the old nature that powerless against sin.  We have choices as God’s people to do what is right.  How do we do this?

Through  the Holy Spirit. We need to be asking God for his Holy Spirit to be given to us in a measure that is responsive to what is happening today in our world and what is happening where we are living.  This is individual, and also corporate, for us as God’s people.  We are in a struggle and we need to overcome through God.  Western Christians are  experiencing opposition from their government leaders, education institutions, judicial legislation, and popular culture.  What to do?

Stand with God, and do his will.  Keep his commandments. Ask him to help you to do this.  He will.  Guard your heart, your mind, and do what is right.  Avoid and rebuke temptations in the power of Jesus Christ.  You will be richly rewarded in this life and in the eternal life that you will enter.  ‘Well done thou good and faithful servant’.