IS THE BIBLE LITERAL OR FIGURATIVE?
Our time is well spent in dealing with this kind of question because of the out and out lies that are being told concerning the truth of God's word in today's society. It is first important for us to realize that the answer to this question has to depend upon our faith in Christ. It is the strength of our faith in the word of God to us that allows us to have any power at all. In Mark 11:23-26 " For truly I say to you that whosoever shall say to this mountain, be removed, and be ye cast into the sea; and believes in his heart, but shall believe in his heart those things that he says will come true; he shall have whatsoever he says. Therefore I say to you what things so ever that you desire when you pray believe that you will receive them, and you will have them. And when you stand praying forgive, if you have anything against anyone that your Father also which is in Heaven may also forgive your trespasses, but if you do not forgive neither will your Father which is in Heaven forgive your trespasses."
This passage takes in a lot of material when we look closely at it. On one hand God tells us that if we stand in His presence in our heart and believe His word to us that if we believe that what we ask for will be done no matter how big it may be, it will be done. Then He also gives us a qualifier in the same thought. We must forgive anything that someone else has done against us in the same way that He has forgiven us; and without that forgiveness first He will not only not answer our prayers, but He will not forgive us our sins either. In other words before we can see any kind of physical power of God performed within our lives we must first take care of all of our spiritual needs.
When Jesus was on the cross even in the last moments of His life He asked forgiveness for those who had crucified Him; that the sin of what was done would not be held against them before He could proclaim " IT IS FINISHED". We tend to believe that we can come to Christ for our salvation and then merrily go our own way without having a life long commitment to that relationship. I believe with all of my heart that what God's word says is absolutely true, but I also know that unless I am right before God before I ask for anything it will be useless for me to expect it to be given to me until I take care of my own relationship with Him by forgiving and forgetting what goes on between myself and others within this world first. I don't think that most of us have ever real dealt with that in our lives; and that is also literal. The next time that we want to think about this I hope that we can remember that God's word is both literal and figurative depending upon our faith and trust.in the relationship which we say we have with God. We do have a great responsibility. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
This passage takes in a lot of material when we look closely at it. On one hand God tells us that if we stand in His presence in our heart and believe His word to us that if we believe that what we ask for will be done no matter how big it may be, it will be done. Then He also gives us a qualifier in the same thought. We must forgive anything that someone else has done against us in the same way that He has forgiven us; and without that forgiveness first He will not only not answer our prayers, but He will not forgive us our sins either. In other words before we can see any kind of physical power of God performed within our lives we must first take care of all of our spiritual needs.
When Jesus was on the cross even in the last moments of His life He asked forgiveness for those who had crucified Him; that the sin of what was done would not be held against them before He could proclaim " IT IS FINISHED". We tend to believe that we can come to Christ for our salvation and then merrily go our own way without having a life long commitment to that relationship. I believe with all of my heart that what God's word says is absolutely true, but I also know that unless I am right before God before I ask for anything it will be useless for me to expect it to be given to me until I take care of my own relationship with Him by forgiving and forgetting what goes on between myself and others within this world first. I don't think that most of us have ever real dealt with that in our lives; and that is also literal. The next time that we want to think about this I hope that we can remember that God's word is both literal and figurative depending upon our faith and trust.in the relationship which we say we have with God. We do have a great responsibility. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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