One night God woke me up with these words: Any issue that you face can be solved by listening, believing, and following. He showed me that this is what faith is, and He led me to Bible examples that illustrated this principle. A famous example of faith is the story of Joseph. Egypt survived famine because they listened, believed, and followed. So, now, that's how I live my life. God leads me, I follow (Albeit, far from perfectly, but I do my best.)

In my experience, knowing God is exactly like the Bible stories. The story of Joseph and the Pharoah shows that when we listen, believe, and follow, many times, miracles are unnecessary. In the story of God rescuing Egypt, God sent a dream to Pharoah along with an interpreter to interpret Pharoah's dream. When Joseph interpreted the dream, he told Pharoah to stock up on food because a terrible famine was coming. Pharaoh chose to follow the instructions and in doing so he saved all of Egypt.

The Jewish Passover is another example of faith. God's people painted their doorways so that the angel of death would pass over their houses. If they didn't follow God by painting their doorways, someone would have died. God's people had the same problem as everyone else, but following God meant a different outcome.

God works with each of His people in the same way. The Bible says that God's people will lack nothing, and it's all because they follow His direction.

The opposite of faith is not hearing from God, not listening, and not following. This kind of faith is the kind of faith that many people have. They believe any old thing without hearing from God, and many times they end up disappointed because this is not true faith.

Some people believe that we can speak anything that we want into existence and if we don't doubt it will happen. But there is a very important part of faith that is missing from this example: Jesus is our example in everything that we do. He is the example of life in God's kingdom, and he never did anything without following God. If God didn't tell him to do it, Jesus did not. When Jesus cursed the fig tree, it was because God told him to do so. So, the only time to speak to a mountain to tell it to jump into the sea is if God tells us to do so. When we follow God the results are always 100%.

Misplaced faith can mean disaster.

I often see people make bad choices and call it faith by saying, 'I have faith. God will protect me.' But this kind of faith is not Biblical. There is no example of faith that shows a person making bad choices, and it turned out well.

One day, I had a dream that someone drove out into a storm and it ended with a car crash. In that dream, God told me that the crash was the result of bad choices. Free will means we have the ability to make bad choices and with those choices come consequences.

Following God's Instructions Means Good Times

Much of the Old Testament laws were meant to keep God's people safe. He told them to throw out their pots and pans if a lizard or rodent touched them because they were unclean. We know now that lizards carry salmonella and rodents carry disease. Following God's laws kept God's people safe.

Gentiles didn't follow God's laws for cleanliness so diseases were rampant among them. God's people wouldn't touch gentiles because they were considered unclean. In Israel, when a person showed signs of sickness they were quarantined from the rest of the clan. Now we know that this process works. God didn't explain why people had to do these things, He just expected His people to follow, and by following God's instructions His people were protected.

Would Noah have survived if he didn't build the boat but instead said, I have faith?? No. He followed God and following God saved him. This is a perfect example of faith with works. The same can be said for Egypt. If God said to store grain for the coming famine but instead Egypt said, I have faith. Would they have been saved? Not likely.

Many people caught COVID because they "had faith" that God would protect them. But if we use the Bible as a great example of what to do in situations where God has not specifically said one way or the other, we would know to avoid people who were sick and/or places where sick people congregate.

So, faith means, if we know that a storm is forecasted to bring flooding and God didn't say it was safe, we would use wisdom and know not to drive in the storm.

Abiding under the shadow of His wings gives us a mental picture of following Him closely. When we do, nothing can harm us.

One day my father was on the way home from work when he said, "Something told me to stop at a green light."

So, he did.

Then, right about the time that he would have been going through the intersection if he hadn't stopped, a car came flying through the red light at a speed of at least 60 mph. If my dad had not stopped at a green light, the other car would have t-boned him and he would have been seriously injured or dead. Following the instructions that came from inside of him saved his life.

When We Are Warned of Disaster: Listen, Believe, and Follow

True Biblical faith knows and follows God. For example, God told me that a massive recession was coming and to prepare. I know some believers who would reject anything that isn't "faith". They refuse to believe that God will prophecy bad circumstances. But when God says to prepare for recession (which is basically a modern-day famine), I prepare.

August 2019

Six Months Later Massive Recession is Headline News

Within six months, MASSIVE RECESSION was headline news, and store shelves were bare. But! My shelves were full because God warned me. God showed me and my group to stock up so that we wouldn't be affected by the coming recession.

He led us the same way that He led Egypt. He told us to stock up and, because we did, we didn't lack anything. Stocking up on food when He says, 'Stock up' is 'faith with works.'

Egypt didn't starve because they followed God. Noah didn't drown because he followed God. God doesn't stop the storm or adversity. God doesn't take the problem away. Instead, he takes his people out of the way. This is how God's people can rise above the same problems that the rest of the world face.

When we are prepared in advance. for the same problems that the rest of the world faces, we can be a witness of God's greatness. We may go through the same storm as the rest of the world but because we built a boat in advance, we don't have a crisis.