My Crazy Faith

  I've been meaning to do this forever, but here are the links to all the posts in my   "Understanding God's Will, with notes on Calvinism"   series (I finally got around to doing this while updating my   "Healing your soul from Calvinism's damage"   post, which I will repost next): Introduction  part 1  and  part 2 1.  Our Impact On God's Will   2.  Cause versus Allow 3.  God's Will Is A Verb 4.  Taking Our Responsibility Seriously 5.  Prayer Matters 6.  But God Can Read Minds 7.  But God Already Knows Our Needs 8.  Advice About Prayer 9a.  "Name It and Claim It" Nonsense 9b.  Help for the Journey 9c.  Considering Other Prayer Verses 9d.  Idolatrous Prayers 9e.  Unanswered Prayer 9f.  Maybe God's Not Listening 9g.  Other Convicting Verses 9h.  Summing Up Effective Prayer 9i.  Still Waiting For An Answer 10.  Why Do Bad Things Happen? 11.  Does Ever...

Understanding God's Will #22 (final post in series): So what is the Will of God, according to the Bible?    And how do I find the next step in His plan for me?                  Well, I’m glad you asked.    But do you really want to know?    Because once you know then you have a decision to make: obey or disobey.    And doing God's Will is not a simple, quick thing.    It’s a life-long, life-altering discipline.    And that’s part of the problem because we want simple jobs with quick and massive rewards.    We want to put in the least amount of effort and get the most benefits possible.    We want Him to open the doors, but we don’t want any responsibilities.    We want freedom, but no consequences.                But that is not God’s way.  ...

Understanding God's Will 19 - 21  (no Calvinism stuff added to this post):  #19.    What if what I’m praying for is not God’s Will or plan for me?    What do I do?    Like the Israelites begging for and getting meat ( Numbers 11 ), could I end up getting what I ask for as sort of a punishment?                 I wondered about this one, too.    If I was asking and asking for something that God didn’t want to give me, would He end up giving it to me because I begged so much, but then there would be a punishment attached to it?    That’s how I felt as I pleaded with God for a house.   Would He give us a bad house just to shut me up, as punishment for begging too much, for not "trusting" Him enough and not being happy with what I had?   I mean, that’s like what happened to the Israelites, right?    Or is it?       ...

Understanding God's Will #18   (no Calvinism stuff added to this post) : You keep saying that we have responsibilities in getting God’s Will done?    What kinds of responsibilities? I’ve already gone through many of them, but if you read the Bible, you’ll find lots more.   Because as I said before, His Will is a Verb.  It's more about the way we live in obedience to Him than it is about finding "His plan" for our life. He says to seek wisdom.    Do we?    He tells us things that He wants us to do in His Word, things that are always His Will for us, like loving our neighbor, tithing, not gossiping, etc.    Do we obey?    Are we guarding our tongues and building others up, instead of tearing them down?    Are we honoring our marriage vows, and putting up strong protective boundaries around our marriage?    Do we pray or do we think it’s good enough that He can read our minds?    Do we forgiv...

Understanding God's Will #16: #16:  Can we change God’s mind with our prayers?                Yes and No.    There are Old Testament examples of people who pleaded with God in prayer to not apply a punishment that He said He would do.    And as a consequence of their intercessory prayers, God relents and doesn’t do what He said He’d do.    It seems to me that the times that He has changed His mind in the Bible were almost all because of appeals to His merciful side, to spare the people the terrible consequences of their sins.   If Calvinism is true that God predestines everything that happens, then He would be lying if He said He was going to punish the people if they didn't repent.  Because He didn't end up punishing them which meant He was never going to punish them to begin with.  It was never part of His "predestined" plan.  Calvinism essentially negate...