Grace Thru Faith has been such a blessing to me and I gain so much information from your knowledge of the scriptures. I have a question that has been bothering me for some time now. There are several people close to where I live who have not had a job in years and live on SSI. I am retired and live on SS and have cut expenses as much as possible but I still tithe. From time to time, one of these people will come to me and ask to ‘borrow’ money. I’m not a stingy person but when these people come to me for money, I feel like they think I’m a soft touch and I feel like I’m being used. Getting the ‘loan’ paid back isn’t the issue. I realize that our Lord wants us to be generous but when does being generous become being used?

James 2: 1-13 appears to be an admonition primarily against showing partiality to the rich in any given church. Is there also an underlying principle implied not to show partiality or favoritism in any way, shape or form towards anyone in the Body for any reason (not just the wealthy)?

The leader of a Bible study I attend uses Listening Prayer exercises in our homework and in her presentations. I have had some major breakthroughs using this form of prayer and feel like I finally have a real two-way relationship with God by listening to Him at the end of my prayer. I ask Him to let me hear only His voice. I have tried to research Listening Prayer, but can’t find much about it. Is it a false teaching?

The Word says, “Be ye filled with the Spirit” and “walk in the Spirit.” So I’m not sure what it means in Matthew 5, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Can you enlighten me?

Matthew 5:3 says “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” This almost indicates those poor in spirit will go to Heaven while I have always believed to go to Heaven you must accept Christ as your savior which would indicate one must have spirit.

For the past 9 years my emotional, mental & physical health has been suffering from all of the stress & losses I have suffered. I stopped going to church & went cold toward God because of the pain, anguish & grief I have suffered for so long. My heart is broken. I have been having serious doubts that God even exists as I heard only silence when I reached out to God over & over for intervention & healing. I have thrown myself into the Word, reading many good Christian books & have sought counsel from friends & a Christian counselor for the past 6 months. I can’t even find a mustard seed of faith. I have doubts all day long about if God even exists. I don’t know what else to do. I don’t want to ever give up but it is such a difficult struggle. Is there anything you can suggest beyond what I am doing now? I have been filled with anger & rebellion toward God as to why he did not help me. Any help you can give me would be so appreciated. I am running out of hope!

I know that Jesus’ death on the cross paid the price for all of my past, present, and future sins. And I know that nothing I have done or ever can do could help me earn my salvation. It’s already been done by Jesus. My question though is this: Does God get angry or upset with us believers for things we do or times of doubt? I know all I need is to repent/ask forgiveness but I still wonder if we do things that make him mad and want to discipline us the way a loving dad would their own son?

My sister lost a baby girl through crib death over forty years ago, and still the pain persists. She has often asked me why God took her daughter. I have to admit that I don’t know, even though I know my niece is with our Father in Heaven. For all these years, my sister has been very angry with God about this. How do I answer her question without getting into an argument?

For the past twenty years I have worked in a factory. I have been wanting to change my career but I don’t know where to start. I decided to find out what my Spiritual gifts are and see if there is something professionally I can do with them. The results from online tests I took indicates showed me to be gifted as a teacher who also has the gift of discernment. What can I do with these gifts which God has given me to provide for my family at the same time glorifying God? I have been praying and am simply waiting for an answer; for a door to open. What wisdom can you give me in this situation?

I’m trying to help a friend who is having this issue – He and his dad have had a rocky relationship in the past, he has forgiven his dad for past events but his dad keeps talking about the past to sort of joke about the negative events. It seems that this is how his dad deals with the past but it hurts my friend very much having to relive these things.

He’s afraid to saying anything to his dad because he’s feels like it could re-injure their relationship, in fact, he is frightened of his own temper and is afraid that it could escalate into a huge fight. So he’s stuck in a place where he doesn’t want to lie but can’t bring himself to tell his dad that these discussions are hurting him, so he usually acts as though he can’t recall the event.

I told him to seek the Lord’s help through prayer and that I would pray for him too but he also asked if there were any scriptures I could point to for help. Any suggestions?