Tag Archives: faith

Fear vs Faith!

Posted on by Olivia Mancini
24 Mar

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Faith- A strong trust or belief in something you cannot see
Fear- Unbelief, Doubt; To dread; to be afraid of; to be anxious.
These are the definitions of fear and faith! As you can see they are completely opposite. Fear and faith cannot occupy something at the same time. Except for when you fear someone out of respect. Like God says we are to fear Him, He doesn’t mean to be afraid of Him! He’s our Dad! He wants us to respect Him and love Him. Have a deep respect for the Father. So let’s talk about fear. FEAR is NOT given by God.
“ For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7

A sound mind! That’s something we should all have! That never-ending trust in the Father! The complete faith in Him, no fear, no worry, no anxiety, none of that. But, we are human! So this isn’t the case for us. We do worry, we do fear sometimes. But that’s okay! Just know that when you feel that way you have to stop what you’re doing and pray! Pray for it to leave you, pray for peace and a sound mind! He is our comforter! He will get us through. Nothing good comes out of fear. We can’t live our life being afraid of everything. We need to be positive! We need to live our lives boldly so that all can see God’s power working in your life! People will see you and in a stressful situation, you could be the calmest person and everyone is going to think you are crazy! And they will ask, “ Are you crazy? Why aren’t you freaking out right now?” And then you can say. “ Because God gives me peace. I know He’s in control.” And they will be amazed. That’s all you have to do. And you can be that person that they will go to for advice and they might even start to ask you some things about the Bible. So you can really change someone’s life by just making a small change in your thinking process.
So what happens when you walk into a room with no light? It’s overtaken by darkness. You start to get scared! It’s unfamiliar, you don’t know what’s in the room, if there is a hole somewhere, you know nothing! You are completely surrounded by darkness. So you just curl up in a ball, start to panic, cry, or whatever it is you would do in that situation. But then, you discover, there’s a light switch! That light switch is faith! And all you have to do is flip the switch and then what? What happens when you turn on a light in a dark room? Darkness HAS TO FLEE! It has no choice! It cannot stay! It cannot occupy that space anymore. Sure that light might create some shadows, because our lives aren’t perfect, but we know that God will always make the darkness go.
The Bible says a lot about faith!

“ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
“ But WITHOUT faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. ( And it continues on explaining the faith of Noah) By FAITH Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with Godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of righteousness which is according to FAITH.” Hebrews 11:6-7

You can also continue to read and it talks about the faith of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the harlot Rehab! And the writer of Hebrews keeps going on how things were done by FAITH! These people of God lived by faith! They believed and they overcame many things because they had faith! We can look to them for example! They were just ordinary people like you and me! But what made them go from ordinary to extraordinary? Having faith in God! They accomplished amazing things because our Father, who still does amazing things today, used them because they had faith! God is always working “behind the scenes” in our lives. He does things for us that we probably don’t even notice. So we must thank Him always and trust Him with our lives! He has already done so much for us that we take for granted! He gave us life! He breathes air into our lungs! He gives us power to heal the sick and to lead nations to Him! He gives us everything! He IS our provider. He gives us faith. How do we get faith?

“ So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the WORD of God.” Romans 10:17

We get faith by HEARING! Hearing worship music, by hearing a good teaching, by HEARING the Word of God! Not just reading it in your head, but declaring the words out loud so that you can hear every word! It gives you faith. Try it out and see! It really does work!
Spend time in prayer and worship in your secret place and establish your relationship with the King of Kings! Trust Him. We CAN lean on God! We can depend on Him and Him alone! Faith does not mature or strengthen without trial or persecution. We need to go through things to learn and to get a deeper faith! Going through trials is a stepping stone closer to God. You can either trip over it and curse God, or you can use it as a step UP! Use them as stairs to go up to the throne of God! He sustains us to keep us coming closer and closer to Him! If you fall, stand back up and keep going! When you’ve done all you can to stand, just stand.

What Does It Mean To Have Faith?

Posted on by Olivia Mancini
14 Dec

” Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ” Hebrews 11:1

I love this verse! It gives us a great picture of faith, it says its the substance of things not seen. So whats unseen? Air is an example of something not seen, so does that mean that the air doesn’t exist? No, the air exists! We need the air to live don’t we? Yes! But just because we don’t see the air, does that mean that the air doesn’t show evidence of its existence? Wind, the evidence. We see the affect of the air when the wind blows through the trees, we also don’t just see it we also feel it, right? Yes! So what is the evidence of things not seen when we have faith in YHWH (God)? The evidence is plenty of things! We can see the evidence when we walk outside, the birds, trees, sky, a lot of different animals, the ground,etc. We also see the evidence in ourselves. Go look in the mirror. You are the evidence of things not seen. He created you, you are His daughter/son.

I learned a lot of neat stuff in Chemistry and Biology, ( I’m not a expert by the way) but I do know some stuff really stuck out to me, like all the tiny little Atoms and the cells and all that stuff that is inside of you! Tiny little particles moving and recreating, filtering and so much stuff that’s going on in you to keep you alive, to keep your body working properly!

Isn’t that amazing? He designed all that! the tiny finger prints, the hair on your head, your senses, your soul, your heart, your everything! You are the evidence.

We can feel the evidence when we praise and worship Him! What’s the feeling? His presence! The Holy Spirit tugging and filling our hearts, when we pray for each other and with each other. We have His amazing healing power, we see that and feel that! You just can’t deny that there is a God! It’s just ridiculous when people cling so tightly to the idea of nothing turning into something and then exploded and then eats something, grows and then multiplies and turns into something else and bla, bla, bla, we are now here and that’s how our earth came to be, yeah we heard it all.  It takes a TON more faith to believe in evolution and all that other stuff then it does to believe in God! Seriously! There’s not the substance of things hoped for! Evolution doesn’t give me hope, God does! I would absolutely HATE to wake up everyday thinking that I was an accident, that I wasn’t created for a purpose, and that all I was here for was to live and then die… Can you imagine that? Not knowing that we have a savior? Thinking, that we are just living our days to the fullest and that we only get one shot at life? I love knowing that I was created for a purpose, I was created to live on earth for His glory and to spread His word all around and to show others who their Father is. My purpose is to be light in a dark world, that’s yours too!

We can wake up everyday knowing that even if something bad were to happen, that it’s in His hands, and that when we are done on earth, we have eternal life with Him! It’s hard for people to understand, because salvation is a FREE gift.

” For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. ” Ephesians 2:8-9

Recently, I was giving out thanksgiving bags to people on a Saturday after service. We drove around and knocked on doors asking people if they would like a thanksgiving bag, and I remember this one lady reached out for the bag and then paused and looked at me and said ” Is it really free? ” I smiled and said ” Yes, it really is ” and she was astonished that I was just giving it to her! She thanked me and I said ” God bless you ” and we left.

I say all that because people don’t know of this free gift, this Son of God who died on the cross for our sins, so that we can ask for forgiveness, and come to the Father through Yehsua (Jesus). It’s up to us to show them the way, What’s the way? Yeshua. He is the way! We have to walk with Him everyday! Meet Him in the cool of the day, read the word, meet the Father. He longs for us to just be with Him. Put Him first in your life! Have faith in the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Have faith, because we have this free gift, we have a free will, to choose to follow Him or not. But let me tell you, you won’t regret choosing to walk with Him! Because He is the creator of ALL! The Father of lights, God our healer, our peace, our everything! Have faith.

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Purity, Love, and Patience

Posted on by Olivia Mancini
08 Dec

I guess this topic might be a little awkward… But I will try my best to make it not so awkward. But I feel that this is a good subject to talk about since a lot of people struggle in keeping they’re relationships pure, especially the younger generation that doesn’t know a lot about purity, I know I didn’t.

What is love?

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

That is love. Paul gives a great definition of love. Sadly, our world today has a corrupt thinking on what true love really is. The first one he mentions is Patient. Is this true in your relationship? Are you patient? I’ve talked about this many times, but everything will happen in God’s timing, and sometimes that isn’t as fast as you would like it to be, but its His perfect will for your life at that time to wait. I know this is also a very good thing to have if you are in a long distance relationship. It takes patience and lots of prayer and quality time to make a long distance relationship work.

Maybe you’re in a long distance relationship?

Maybe you like someone but you’re afraid to tell that person?

Maybe you’re waiting for your ” Dream Boy” Or “Dream Girl” ?

Well, patience is a key in all those circumstances. Prayer is another key, have a time where you just go and have an encounter with the Father. I know that at Camp Yeshua they have a thing called “Encounter Time” and that was a fantastic thing to have! In camp there are lots of other distractions like hanging with friends and maybe a ” crush” or boyfriend or girlfriend. But the purpose of having an encounter time was to have you take a moment to sit down, think about what you’re doing and what you should be doing,  and praying to your Father and asking for guidance and reading His word. It was just a great time of the day to step out of chaos and be still and know.

We should have encounter time everyday! Not just at Camp, Synagogue, Church. You should have it at home, in your car or wherever you can. Just sit down and turn off the T.V or whatever is distracting you, and spend time with your Heavenly Father, He deserves that and more, so give it to Him.

So, now lets talk about the “Awkward stuff.”

I think one way to have a pure relationship, whether it be kissing, or beyond that, is to have boundaries. I know, I know… Boundaries? I love him/her, how can I show my love if I can’t kiss my partner? Or whatever it is that you think showing love means. To tell you the truth, I don’t think that shows love, maybe kissing, but it depends on how much you’re kissing, or your intention of the kiss. Was it the right thing to do? Did you really show a deeper love to that person? Or was it based on lust? I know that I don’t want to be stuck in a relationship that’s just based on lust, I want it to actually be real. I know I want to love him for who he is and not on what I can get from him. And I do, I love someone! And I know our intentions aren’t based on lust or anything like that at all. Love is patient, so don’t push your partner into something that you know will cause you both to be in sexual sin when you know you could’ve walked away, when you know that God gave you an out. He always opens a door to get you out of a situation that can cause you to sin, but its your choice. Are you going to turn your back on sin? Or are you going to do it and then make excuses later? No, it was your choice, God gave you an out. Maybe you shouldn’t of been alone in that room with your boyfriend or girlfriend. Maybe you should’ve listened to your parents when they told you not to go out alone. Maybe you really should’ve stayed with a group of friends that are there to look after you ( if they’re good friends) instead of going over somewhere alone.

You see the danger? Your hormones, teens, are raging. You, we, can’t help it. It is part of us and we can’t help feeling that way about the opposite sex. But does that mean we can’t control it? It all starts in your thoughts.  And yes you CAN change your thoughts, so don’t look at a woman lustfully or a man. The Bible says that if you do then you already committed adultery in your heart, and that’s the same as actually doing it. So guard your eyes, your thoughts, and your heart. The Bible says that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, so be careful.

Psalm 119:9 says “How can the young keep his way pure? By living according to Your word.”

We have to study and meditate on His word and be in His presence daily! We need His word to guide us and point to the solution, which is Yeshua Messiah.

So staying pure in your relationship is going to be SO worth it in the end! I’ve mentioned this before but please read the book Boy Meets Girl by Joshua Harris! It is an amazing guide for a pure and God-centered relationship.

I know this is a long read but bear with me, I have a lot on my heart that I feel the Father wants me to share.

Just think, all those times where you fought through temptation and being patient with your partner, and then to just throw it all away because you just couldn’t wait anymore or you just couldn’t control your emotion… That is all a lie, you can control it! It goes back to your prayer life! Are you being diligent to seek the Father and getting a deeper relationship with Him or are you focusing only on your relationship with your special guy or special girl? Trust me, it is absolutely NOT wrong to spend time with that person whether it be through texting or phone calls or actually being able to go out. But it absolutely is WRONG if you put that person before God. Don’t you think He deserves a little more time than that person? I know it’s hard! I’ve been through it before. I remember in the beginning of my relationship, I came downstairs from my bed room and my dad was making lunch and I took a deep breath and said ” Dad?”

He responded ” Yeah?”

Then I said “How do you balance a relationship with a boy and God?”

I remember he just kinda laughed a little but got serious after that and said “God comes first no matter what, there is no balancing.” And I think he said some other stuff too, I just can’t remember. But those words stuck with me. “How do I truly put God first over someone that I really love?” I thought about these words everyday…

Do you ever feel the same way?

I now understand what it means to put Him first. Get up everyday with a thankful heart!And pray. Be sure to talk about scripture and your faith with your significant other, it will encourage them. And iron sharpens iron right? Yes! So sharpen each other, encourage each other, pray for each other, and challenge each other. Have a God centered relationship. It is extremely important to have Him as the center of EVERYTHING! Stay pure, and be patient. Just flash forward to your wedding day: with your special person that God designed the perfect personality, quirks, and many other things, to compliment yours! He knows the desires of your heart. So, if you were able to stay pure through the relationships that didn’t work out then you wouldn’t have any regret. You would walk to the altar with no regret knowing you saved it all for him/her. And it’s even better knowing that that person also saved it all for you. Be patient guys, we CAN and WILL fight through temptation, save yourself for your Husband/Wife.

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