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Faith Is A Choice

LUKE 22:67 NASB 67
 "If You are the Christ, tell us." But He said to them, "If I tell you, you will not believe; No one can force anyone to believe anything. Each one of us chooses whether we will believe something, based on our evaluation of the evidence presented to us. Faith and belief may have different English meanings, but in the New Testament they are different forms of the same Greek word. Believe is the verb and faith is the noun for the same word. (Like think and thought are in English.)

 JOHN 20:25 NASB 25 The other disciples therefore were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I shall see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." Note that Thomas said, "I WILL NOT believe." Many think seeing miracles would cause people to have faith. But the only ones who believe as a result of seeing miracles are those who choose to accept the miracle as sufficient evidence for them to believe. It is still a choice.

 JOHN 12:37 NET 37 Although Jesus had performed so many miraculous signs before them, they still refused to believe in him, I used to think faith was difficult to pin down with certainty -- something like a feeling or state of being. But now I understand that once we make the decision to believe, we are in faith, no matter how we may feel. At its heart, faith is always a decision. No one can force you to believe in anything. The choice is yours. However, we cannot believe or have faith in anything without evidence. We must have evidence that convinces us before we can believe something. The primary evidence God has given us so that we may have faith in Him is His Word. God is not a liar; He can be trusted. Whatever God says, always comes to pass. So if someone says they don't have much faith, the solution is for them to see the evidence from God's Word on that subject, then choose to accept what God said as true. Then they will have faith. At that point they may not feel anything, but they have faith. The primary action of faith toward God is speaking in agreement with God's Word. Jesus said if you had faith you would say. So we express what we believe by the words we speak. And then we stand in that position of faith, regardless of feelings or circumstances. SAY THIS: Nothing can force me to believe. I must choose to believe.

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