FAITH #2
(Everyone needs a FAITH-Lift.)
We trust God that with His Sword He will cut and do surgery on us – to give us a faith-lift – to remove that which is old and not so pretty anymore.
Our key scripture Hebrews 11:6 – “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Hebrews 11:3 (NIV) – By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what is visible.
1 Peter 1:3-8 – 3“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
Oswald Chambers wrote in “My utmost for His Highest”:
Before I can say “I saw the Lord” there must be something in my character that conforms to the likeness of God. What we need is God’s surgical procedure – His use of external circumstance to bring about internal purification.
Our Faith can re-write our future (allow Him to give you a Faith-lift)
Regret looks back – past possessed.
Worry looks around – seed among the thorns, Chokes your Faith.
FAITH looks UP.
Here’s the promise – plus side of:
Hebrews 11:6a – with faith we can please God (WHY)
Hebrews 11:6b – He is a rewarder of those who *earnestly and *diligently seek Him.
* Earnestly = showing intense feeling
*Diligently = hard-working, showing effort
Prophetic word God is calling for “Order in my house
Hebrews 6:11-12 (Amp). The Challenge “But we do [strongly and earnestly] desire for each of you to show the same diligence and sincerity [all the way through] in realizing and enjoying the full assurance and development of [your] hope until the end,
12 In order that you may not grow disinterested and become [spiritual] sluggards, but imitators, behaving as do those who through faith ([b]by their leaning of the entire personality on God in Christ in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness) and by practice of patient endurance and waiting are [now] inheriting the promises.
You must first be a believer if you want to be an achiever.
Without a “Faith”- driven life you will become disinterested, and a spiritual *sluggard.
*sluggard = lazy person
“Faith” is action – never a “passive” [not active] attitude.
“Faith” is not a pill you take, but a muscle you use.
You see – faith is when your hands, your heart and feet keep on working, when your head and others say it can’t be done, that the situation has become too BIG for me to handle.
The ones who get anything significant of eternal value done for God are:
Faith-filled,
Faith-focused,
Real faith will refuse to see anything that is contrary (opposite) to the Bible. It doesn’t look at circumstances or conditions, but it looks at the promises.
We must be moved by the “Word of God” not our feelings.
2 Corinthians 5:7 – We walk by faith and NOT by feelings
Smith Wigglesworth said:
“I’m not moved by what I feel.
I’m not moved by what I see.
I am only moved by what I believe.”
You must remember, when Adam and Eve fell, their emotions fell too.
Romans 14:23b – whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
Ever since that day, man kinds’ of emotions have been:
Inconsistent,
Misleading, and
Often plain WRONG
Do you know what I’m talking about?
One minute you’ll feel happy.
The next minute sad.
One minute calm.
The next you’re steaming angry.
One minute radically saved – the next not sure if you are a Christian.
Imagine a world in which all of our decisions were based on our feelings. Life run on emotions would be chaos!! That’s why we don’t feel the Holy Spirit – we sense Him. The difference between a born-again child of God and an unsaved person is – the One lives by faith, while the world runs on emotion. That’s what they should be seeing in US – active faith.
The good news is the more we walk in faith, the more our feelings start lining up with faith.
Ralph Wald Emerson said:
“All I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all I have not seen.”
Here’s a stern warning:
Hebrews 3:9 – Where your fathers tried (My patience) and tested (My forbearance) (tolerance) and found I stood their test, and they saw My works for 40 years.
Their faith-less life caused them to be “skape met bokneigings”. Sheep with Goat attitudes
Many times, we know and believe God has come through for us and still we chose to be “faithless”, negative, ungodly and disobedient and long to go back to the Egypt ways.
The real reason why Israel missed the promised land and God’s best for them. Only a faith-filled Joshua generation went in.
Romans 11:19-21 – 19They were pruned (broken) off so that we might be grafted in. 20That is true. But they were broken (pruned) off because of their unbelief (their lack of real faith), and you are established through Faith (because you believe). So do not become proud and conceited but rather stand in awe and be reverently afraid. 21For if God did not spare the natural branches (because of unbelief), neither will He spare you (if you are guilty of the same offense).
James 2:14 (Msg) -Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really, has it? (No!)
In closing:
How is your faith walk? Is your “Faith” showing itself through your daily actions?
– o O o –
