How will you believe? Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: How will you believe? -------------------------- Date: 8/15/2002 Keywords: "belief” “faith” “trust" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: John 3:11-12* 11. [Jesus speaking] “Truly, truly, I say to you [Nicodemus], we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. 12. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” Questions 1. According to verse 12, what is the prerequisite for understanding deep spiritual truth (i.e. heavenly things)?   2. How is your ability to believe? What or who do you trust? How was this trust developed?   Practical help Viewing pornography is a spiritually faithless act. In essence, you are telling God you don’t trust Him to meet your needs in the area of sex, that your plans for yourself are better than His plans for you. Yesterday we began a study looking at the well-known passage containing the most famous verse in the New Testament, John 3:16. Jesus is speaking to a Bible scholar of His day by the name of Nicodemus. If you are a skeptic when it comes to trusting God’s love and willingness to help you with your life — including problems with porn — then this section of Scripture is for you. To learn to trust, you must open your heart to the idea that it begins with a relationship. This isn’t where the skeptic begins. He says, “I will not trust God until I understand him completely (like a subject in school) and approve of His plan.” The flaw to this approach is the same as enrolling in a calculus class before you even know what numbers are. Whatever you will know about God is what He first decides to reveal to you, nothing more. How will you believe heavenly things, Jesus asks, if you don’t first begin with believing basic things? The journey of faith begins by first believing God exists. Next, you need to understand His plan. Jesus says, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9). So get to know Jesus by reading about Him for yourself. Don’t simply listen to other educated skeptics. In time, as you get to know Him personally, your understanding — and your trust — will grow until the problems in your life, even though they seem like huge mountains, suddenly uproot and jump into the sea (Matthew 17:21). eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2002 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission." ---