Hi davidt,
I'm going to answer only Qs1 and 3.
My perspective and experience on this was transformed by hearing a definition of faith: FAITH is believing what God has said to you.
Putting this into practise means two main things: listening for the word of God coming to you through the Spirit, AND, reading the written word of God after asking Him to clarify to your understanding, what you are about to read.
When reading, and the Lord speaks to you of what it means, stop and think about it; let it sink in; factor it into other things you know about His nature and mind. Above all, believe it. Let it tune you into the qualities of His whole Being, so that when a word comes via the Spirit, you can more easily recognise it as being from Him.
As far as stepping out in faith, this can ONLY be possible if God has given you a specific word. Sometimes this comes through reading the Bible, by a relevant application appearing to you as the solution to a matter already on your heart. Other times, the word which comes to you is only a part of what is going on in your relationship with God... He is inviting you to prove Him faithful.
One thing I'd add about obedience to such words, is that you may feel stressed or strained for trusting Him, but, the person who will be blessed, or the world [i]watching[/i], will see you obeying the high calling which you proclaim the rest of the time. God will never ask you to do something which does not further His glory somehow, or which undermines His testimony on earth.
As it happens, I had a revelation about this last night, because of the discussion in another thread (A Critical Spirit), which I find today has been locked for 24 hours. I've been open to the Lord to understand what has been going on there, and eventually, one of the main participants in the last 10 pages, suggested I'm a Calvinist. My being very hazy about the formal definition of what a 'Calvinist' believes, I asked a couple of brethren. Then I went to sleep.
When I woke up, with some relief, I [i]knew[/i] what has been happening....
It appears that if one is anti-Calvinist (and presumably, if one is anti-Arminian the same may apply), one is forced to find a solution for the words of Jesus which fall into that (or either) camp. This attitude does not acknowledge that whichever way one comes to understand God's heart, it is valid - depending on one's own [i]previous[/i] indoctrination or belief system.
Therefore, what I realised this morning, is that when Jesus is making a statement such as 'my sheep hear my voice', which could be interpreted as Calvinistic by an Arminian, he is forced to re-interpret those words by putting them through his anti-Calvinist seive, to make sure they disassociate Jesus with Calvinism.
To be perfectly candid, I think it's a bit disingenuous. I can say such a thing only because I've been steeped in a combination of Calivinist acceptance of God's sovreignty, and an Arminian acceptance of the free choice man makes to engage with Him, for many years now (by reading the word of God and hearing it expounded free from such verbal associations).
(Am I making sense?)
Incidentally, this is what happened with the Presbyterian church in Scotland, during the Reformation.... [i][b]anything[/i][/b] which could be interpreted as sympathetic to Roman Catholicism, was avoided - to the extent that even though Jesus told us to break bread every time we meet, the Presbyterians limited this act of rememberance to four times a year! That's extreme!
One [i]could[/i] say Jesus was both a Calvinist and an Arminian - but, that would be to reduce His word - the Rock on which we build our eternal dwelling - to the limited understanding of us mere humans. Rather, I would say that both Calvinists and Arminians have flagged up two major scriptural facts by which we are blessed to be in tune. And God in His infinite grace and mercy to all humans, knowing how the church would battle with doctrines over the centuries, littered His word with what can only appear to the unrenewed mind, as paradoxical statements - perhaps purely to save those who would be saved, from both Calvinism and Arminianism and [i]many another doctrinal error[/i]. Let's receive His word without filtering it through our fallen minds!
Are we not [i]all[/i] in a lot of trouble if God is not sovreign? One possible implication if He is not, is that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is [i]not[/i] sufficient for our salvation..... [i](Horrors!)[/i] - and that Jesus has not become King of kings..... [i](!!!)[/i] that we worship a limited God ---- limited by our choices.... ;-)
Well, of course that it also true, but, His nature is as it is. That's what it means that He was before all things and in Him all things consist. We choose to become part of those things, or, we deselect ourselves from falling into His arms of blessing. An Arminian cannot expect to be blessed outside of God.... that's why he must choose to do things God's way. However, the sovreignty of God does not mean God [i]forces[/i] His 'system' upon us - or, it would not be 'Freely you have received, freely give!', nor would His Son have a Bride who had [i]chosen[/i] to respond to His overtures of love.
Again, am I making sense?
What a believer [u]cannot safely do[/u], is resist and reject those scriptures which are entertained by the 'other side' in this 'argument'. Rather, [u]all[/u] scripture must be embraced (for obvious reasons), and in the same way as Paul resisted 'I am of Paul' and 'I am of Appollos', we should steadfastly resist being 'of Calvin' or of .... anything which is not wholly compatible with sound exposition of scripture, particularly of taking Jesus Christ - the Word made Flesh - at His word.
(Sorry if this is a bit long.... hope it helps to reduce the inclination to divide scripture into schools of thought. The 'school of thought' we need to be absorbing, is the renewing of our minds.... according to how God reveals His mind to us through the many tools He has given Himself, (from the written word and church life - the Body of Christ - to the many other types of relationship in which we engage as humans).)
