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The Many Dimensions of "Believing" (Gen 15:5-7 KJV)
And he
brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven,
and tell the
stars, if thou be able to number them:
and he said unto
him, So shall thy seed be.
{6} And he believed[H=539] in the LORD;
and he counted it to him for righteousness.
{7} And he said
unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees,
to give thee
this land to inherit it.
(Rom 4:3-5 KJV)
For what saith
the scripture?
Abraham believed God,
and it was
counted unto him for righteousness.
{4} Now to
him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of
debt.
{5} But to
him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the
ungodly,
his faith
is counted for righteousness. (Gal 3:6-9 KJV)
Even as
Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to
him for righteousness.
{7} Know ye
therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of
Abraham.
{8} And
the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through
faith,
preached
before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be
blessed.
{9} So
then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful
Abraham.
-------------------------------------
Dear Friends in
Christ,
The Bible is at the same time a
very simple and understandable book, and yet one that has many hidden nuances of
truth that can only be discovered by study and deliberating over what is
presented. One example of this is the many dimensions of meaning of "believing"
in God. According to the verses above, Abraham believed in God and God accounted
to Abraham salvation ("righteousness") because of his belief. So if it is that
important, what is "believing" all about, and what does it all really mean to
believe in God?
The Hebrew word which is
translated "believe" in the Gen 15 passage, is "aman" ="to build up or
support" . Notice that this word is similar to "amen" , which we say when we
mean, "I agree, let it be so, this is a truthful saying, etc. Amen is also a
Hebrew word which is derived from aman, and would be almost indistinguishable
from it in Hebrew letters.
When we want to
the meaning of a word in a foreign language, it is always helpful to
find out how the word is used in other contexts in that language. For Biblical
words, we use a concordance to look up that word in other passages, notice the
context, and we may get some insight as to what God wants us to teach us
about this term. For this reason, we will look at various occurances of "aman"
in the Old Testament and examine the contexts in which they occur, and see
what God has imbedded in these veses to teach us.
To "believe" in God
means:
1) To accept
that God appeared to Moses. (Exo 4:5)
2) To pay
attention to the miraculous signs God has given (Exo
4:8-9)
3) To pay
attention to the voice of God (ie. also the "word" of God) (Exo
4:8-9)
4) To let the
doings of God affect you so that you will bow your head and worship Him. (Exo
4:31)
5) When you
examine what God has done, it allows you to fear the Lord
and believe you. (Exo 14:31 to 15:1-3)
6) To hear the Lord when He speaks with you,
and believe Him forever. (Exo 19:9)
7) To recieve the nurturing and loving
kindness of the Lord (Num 11:12)
8) To be faithful in all dealings with
God, (Num 12:7-8)
9) to behold the presence of the Lord
(Num 12:7-8) 10) To believe God
when He shows signs unto you (Num 14:11)
11) To sanctify
God in the eyes of the children of God (Num 20:12)
12) To believe
what the Lord God says (Deu 1:31-32)
13) To believe
that The Lord He is The Trustworthy God (Deu 7:9-11)
14) To listen and
obey the voice of the Lord (Deu 9:23)
15) To know that
God''s presence and power is of long continuing duration (Deu
28:59)
16) To
have assurance of your life (Deu
28:66)
17) To accept the
"mothering" love of the Lord for you (Ruth 4:16)
18) To do that
which is in the heart of God (1 Sam 2:35)
19) To walk in the
presence of Christ forever (1 Sam 2:35)
20) To be established as a
prophet of th Lord (a forth-teller of God's will) (1 Sam
3:20-21)
21) To have your house(family)
and your kingdom(dominion) established forever. (2 Sam
7:16)
22) To verify (to confirm,
especially the truth if a prediction) the Word of God (1 Ki
8:26-27)
23) To experience the certainty
of God's continuing presence and provision (1 Ki 11:38)
24) To bring up the children in
the faith (2 Ki 10:5)
25) To do everything that the
Lord commands of you. (2 Ki 10:5)
26) To NOT believe in God,
means: (2 Ki 17:14-16)
a) to not hear the voice of the
Lord
b) to
harden your neck against obeying God
c) to
reject the commandments of the Lord
d) to
reject the covenant of the Lord
e) reject the testimonies of the Lord against
you
f) to follow things of the world and go astray from the
Lord
g) to
follow the heathen and their pleasures
h) to
ignore the warnings and prohibitions of the Lord
i) to
leave off doing all the commandments of the Lord
J) to
make idols
k) to
make places for worshipping satan and his demons.
Note: This study includes
only the first 26 of the 104 verses in which this word is used in the Old
Testament. This is truly a rich topic, and an important one, judging by
the amount of verses given to it in the Word of God.
God Bless you as you ponder
these things.
In Christ..brother
bob....<><
(Heb 11:5-6 KJV)
By faith
Enoch was translated that he should not see death;
and was not
found, because God had translated him:
for before
his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased
God.
{6} But
without faith it is impossible to please him:
for he that cometh to God
must believe that he is,
and that he is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek him.
--------------------------------
Believe [H539]. aman,
aw-man'; to build up or support; to foster as a parent or nurse; fig. to
render (or be) firm or faithful, to trust or believe, to be permanent or quiet;
morally . to be true or certain; once to go to the right
hand:--
assurance, believe, bring up,
establish, be faithful (of long continuance, stedfast, sure, surely, trusty,
verified), nurse, (-ing father), (put), trust, turn to the right. {from Strong's
Hebrew Dictionary)
------------------------------------------
(Bible verses referred to in the
study above}
(Exo 4:5 KJV)
That they may
believe that the LORD God of their fathers,
the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
hath appeared
unto thee.
(Exo 4:8-9 KJV)
And it
shall come to pass, if they will not believe
thee,
neither
hearken to the voice of the first sign,
that they
will believe the voice of the latter sign.
{9} And it
shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two
signs,
neither
hearken unto thy voice,
that thou
shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land:
and the water
which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry
land.
(Exo 4:31 KJV)
And the people believed:
and when they
heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel,
and that he had
looked upon their affliction,
then they bowed their heads
and worshipped.
(Exo 14:31 to 15:1-3 KJV)
And Israel
saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians:
and the people feared the
LORD,
and believed the LORD,
and his servant
Moses.
{15:1} Then
sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD,
and spake,
saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed
gloriously:
the horse
and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
{2} The LORD is
my strength and song, and he is become my salvation:
he is my God,
and I will prepare him an habitation;
my
father's God, and I will exalt him.
{3} The
LORD is a man of war:
the LORD
is his name.
(Exo 19:9 KJV)
And the
LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick
cloud,
that the
people may hear when I speak with thee,
and believe thee for ever.
And Moses told
the words of the people unto the LORD.
(Num 11:12 KJV)
Have I
conceived all this people? have I begotten them,
that thou
shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy
bosom,
as a nursing father beareth the sucking
child,
unto the
land which thou swarest unto their fathers?
(Num 12:7-8 KJV)
My servant Moses is not so, who is
faithful in all mine house.
{8} With him will I speak mouth to mouth,
even apparently, and not in dark speeches;
and the similitude of the LORD shall he
behold:
wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my
servant Moses?
(Num 14:11 KJV)
And the
LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me?
and how long
will it be ere they believe me,
for all the
signs which I have showed among them?
(Num 20:12 KJV)
And the LORD
spake unto Moses and Aaron,
Because
ye believed me not, to
sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel,
therefore ye
shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given
them.
(Deu 1:31-32 KJV)
And in the
wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare
thee,
as a man
doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
{32} Yet in this
thing ye did not believe the LORD your
God,
(Deu 7:9-11 KJV)
Know therefore
that the LORD thy God, he is God,
the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy
with them that love him
and keep his
commandments to a thousand generations;
{10} And
repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them:
he will not be
slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.
{11} Thou shalt
therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the
judgments,
which I
command thee this day, to do them.
(Deu 9:23 KJV)
Likewise
when the LORD sent you from Kadeshbarnea, saying,
Go up and
possess the land which I have given you;
then ye rebelled
against the commandment of the LORD your God,
and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice.
(Deu 28:59 KJV)
Then the LORD
will make thy plagues wonderful,
and the plagues
of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long
continuance,
and sore
sicknesses, and of long continuance.
(Deu 28:66
KJV) And thy
life shall hang in doubt before thee;
and thou shalt
fear day and night,
and shalt
have none assurance of thy
life:
(Ruth 4:16 KJV)
And Naomi
took the child, and laid it in her bosom,
and became nurse unto it.
(1 Sam 2:35 KJV)
And I will
raise me up a faithful
priest,
that shall do according to that which is in mine heart
and in my mind:
and I will build
him a sure house;
and he shall walk before
mine anointed for ever.
(1 Sam 3:20-21 KJV)
And all
Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew
that Samuel was
established to be a prophet of the LORD.
{21} And the
LORD appeared again in Shiloh:
for the
LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh
by the word of
the LORD.
(2 Sam 7:16 KJV)
And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever
before thee:
thy throne shall
be established for ever.
(1 Ki 8:26-27 KJV)
And now, O
God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be
verified,
which thou
spakest unto thy servant David my father.
{27} But
will God indeed dwell on the earth?
behold,
the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee;
how much
less this house that I have builded?
(1 Ki 11:38
KJV) And it
shall be, if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command
thee,
and wilt
walk in my ways,
and do
that is right in my sight,
to keep my
statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did;
that I
will be with thee,
and build thee a sure house,
as I built for
David, and will give Israel unto thee.
(2 Ki 10:5 KJV)
And he that was
over the house,
and he that was
over the city, the elders also,
and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu,
saying,
We are thy servants, and
will do all that thou shalt bid us;
we will
not make any king: do thou that which is good in thine
eyes.
(2 Ki 17:14-16 KJV)
Notwithstanding
they would not hear, but hardened their necks,
like to the neck
of their fathers,
that did not believe in the LORD their God.
{15} And they
rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers,
and his
testimonies which he testified against them;
and they
followed vanity, and became vain,
and went after
the heathen that were round about them,
concerning whom
the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.
{16} And they
left all the commandments of the LORD their God,
and made them
molten images, even two calves,
and made a
grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
IXTHEUS CHRISTIAN GROWTH DEVOTIONALS
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God Bless
You
In Christ.....brother
bob.......<>< For more information, please visit our home page http://www.nazerene.com
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