Pisteuo

Did you know the word pisteuo, to believe in Greek, appears in Matthew and Mark ten times each, in Luke nine times, but in John ninety-nine times? NINETY-NINE, that's like almost a hundred. I have read before that John's purpose was evangelistic. He wrote to produce faith in Jesus Christ as the son of God.

So what does it mean to believe? The local high school cheerleaders chant, "We believe that we will win!" at games. I guess you can say that to believe means to hope against all odds. But I agree with the author of Deeper into the Word, Keri Wyatt Kent (my newest Kindle Fire download), that this is not the belief that John speaks of.

The author says;

To be a believer is not to consider yourself His biggest fan. Rather, it means you stake your life of his claims; his proclamation of divinity, his assertion that he can forgive sin, his radical statement about being "the way, the truth and the life." To believe is not just to give intellectual assent, but to stake your life on the premise that such truth will save you.
Pisteuo means not only to believe but to place your confidence in something, to rely upon it. It is often translated "commit to," or commit to one's trust."

Belief does not simply change our mind about God, it changes who we are. We are filled with life- not just for eternity but for now. Belief means we live differently, because we live fully.

I believe.

I participated in a Bible study awhile back with some awesome friends. (really miss you guys) It was a Beth Moore study called Believing God. We learned about Godstops. A "Godstop" is any means by which God goes out of His way during your day to make Himself known to you.

Recently I have been experiencing some of these Godstops. They have been real, consistent, and continue to strengthen my faith. I would like to share just a couple of them with you.

We got the news from the dentist that Maleah would need braces. We also got the estimate of what it would cost. I got scared. I prayed. I got a second opinion. It was still scary. I prayed about it. Then Ryan came home from work and told me about a year long contract he was thinking about signing. It would be a small raise. Guess how much? Almost exactly what the braces would cost. Godstop.

Gavin had been begging to shop at the mission Haiti store uptown. (A local business was having a thrift sale and all the proceeds went to Haiti.) So I grabbed the cash in my purse and a shopping we went. We spent about a half an hour looking at stuff, picking out things we couldn't live without, we got some new things, some new to us things and something for everyone. We got to the checkout and I pulled my cash out. I had exactly the amount that the total was, thirty-seven dollars. Kinda weird, but no big deal. So we came home to show our bargains. Gavin was showing his father the FCA New Testament Bible he got. They read a story and the Bible verse together. Later, Maleah wanted to go up and shop for a bit. Dad took her. When he came home he had the biggest grin on his face. "Do you know what verse I read out of Gavin's new Bible before I left?" It was Psalm 37. Cool, huh? Yes, I spent $37 and I Ryan read Psalm 37. Coincidence? Nope. Guess what? Ryan found a wall hanging with that verse on it at the sale. It stared him down and he just had to bring it home to me....Godstop! Do you know what Psalm 37:4 says?

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."

Which may mean nothing to you, but to our family, in our present situation. It means a lot. All of a sudden we looked at each other and just laughed. We have been crazy worried and stressed about "things" in our life and this verse just reminded us that as long as we keep the Lord in our life and believe and delight and trust in Him our life will change for the better. Whatever the Lord desires for us will be in our hearts and because He loves us, enough to sacrifice his one and only son, He will provide for us not only our needs, but our wants, too. Is not that AMAZING?

Ryan was snapping photos of things for Grandpa to sell and Nora had to get in on the action! Don't worry Grandma, we won't sell Santa!