Posts Tagged ‘faith’

Living by faith

Living by faith means stepping out for God and leaving the results to him.

It is good to recall what soldiers are told before a battle begins: “You have to go. You don’t have to come back.” The same is true for the soldiers in the army of the Lord. When Christ calls, we have to go. We don’t have to come back. The only guarantee we have is that if we’re faithful to the end, we shall be with him in glory.

“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as an inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going” – Hebrews 11:8

Archaeologists tell us that in Abraham’s day perhaps 250,000 people lived in ‘Ur of the Chaldees’. It was a centre of math, astronomy, commerce and philosophy. People from outlying areas moved to Ur because they wanted to be part of that great city. It was a world-class city. No doubt many of Abraham’s friends thought he was crazy. Obeying God’s call meant giving up his friends, his career, his traditions, his home, his position, his influence, and his country. The life of faith means, “I am going to be the man or woman God wants me to be no matter where it leads.

“By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise” -Hebrews 11:9

Living by Faith means resisting the temptation to settle down on your journey in obedience to God. Within all of us, there is a natural desire to settle down. To have a comfortable degree of certainty for ourselves and those whom we love. Tents speak of impermanence, of the possibility of moving on at any moment – if you don’t own the land, you can’t build a permanent dwelling there.

‘’There was a famine in the land… Then the Lord appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you’’ – Gen26:1-2

Genuine faith will always be tested by circumstances, the devil, and our own inner sinful desires. Living by faith could also mean staying because God says to stay! We may have to bear with physical circumstances for a while, with our focus fixed on God’s promises. No wonder Abraham was looking for a city built and designed by God. Our challenge is to be like Abraham and cling to the promises of God no matter what happens. We may have to say at some point, “We would rather die with the Lord than live without him.” In God’s time every promise will be fulfilled. Meanwhile, we watch and wait and walk by faith.

The power of faith-filled words

For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

Jesus used the word ‘say’ three times in the above scripture. His emphasis was that the words we speak are not empty, words have power. But He also said to have faith in God. The words that have power are words that are filled with faith. He also made it very clear who qualified to use words in this way: He said, “Whosoever shall say…” this means there is no physical nor human qualification to access this realm of power apart from having the same faith that brought us to Christ!

Romans 12:3 says,

“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith”

The above scripture admonishes us that every believer has been given the same measure of Faith. No born-again believer has more faith than any other; some just do a better job of appropriating what they have been given. Luke 17:5-6 reads: And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. What the Lord was saying in the above scripture is that you don’t need more! The faith you’ve been give is enough to get you what you desire. The trouble is that too many of us surround our hearts with the sewage of unbelief flowing in the world thereby making our faith of none effect. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Luke6:45).

On the other hand, what happens when we take the faith-filled words of God and plant them in our hearts where they can take root and grow? Everything changes—no longer are we just saying “I believe that I’m healed” or “I am prosperous,” but we believe it and the faith of God is then released through those words.

Proverbs 18:21 reads,

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”

We pray that this series will completely change your attitude about the words you speak. More importantly, if you will get it in your heart, you will learn that words can change your life now as well as your future.

Forward by faith

Moving forward by Faith is a call to a life of selfless service. Faith is obeying when God calls to move on in service, but the world sees no reason to be committed to the cause.

This is because our lives are not about us. God has a master plan, and we fulfil little portion of that great plan. The eventual goal of that plan is that the nations are saved to the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord. In Gen 45:5b, Joseph put it this way… it was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives.

It’s remarkable to note that Joseph was thrown in the pit by his brothers, but the heavens recorded that his forward journey to preserve millions of lives had just begun. He was sold into slavery, but the heavens still recorded that he was advancing closer to God’s great plan. Joseph was betrayed and thrown into prison, but through the privilege of scriptures we now understand that it was God sending him ahead. Every time Joseph encountered a terrible challenge it seemed like life was getting tougher for him but he was actually moving closer and closer to his promised land. Through that tumultuous time, Joseph just kept serving obediently and selflessly throughout the process. In all of this, we see that his single-minded obedience was a key reflection of his faith in God’s promise which was revealed in his dreams. He advanced in life by serving his way forward:

Gen 39:4 And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him…

Gen 40:4 And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them…

In both scriptures above, it’s amazing to see that the bitterness of being sold to slavery wasn’t great enough to influence Joseph’s call to service when Potiphar purchased him from the Ishmaelites. While faithfully serving Potiphar, the bitterness of betrayal also did not stop him from serving Pharaoh’s Baker and Butler faithfully as he was charged. He served every man that was in his care with all his heart, soul and mind. Joseph understood the place of single-minded obedience in the call to service, and regardless of what the enemies threw his way, God used them all to take him closer to his glorious destiny. As we Enter 2020 with a renewed focus to serve our way to progression in life, May the Lord grant us a heart for single-minded obedience to him. Amen.

Keeping Faith

But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour (Matt 9:22)

Our God said behold I will be with you even to the ends of the earth (Matt 28:20). A promise God has kept with us even when things are gloomy and very sad. Jesus said I will be with you in that severe situation until there is a change in your situation to cause you to smile again. We can take consolation with example of Job, a man who lost everything. His friends and even including his wife encouraged him to curse God and die. However, he endured and the God of turning things around showed up and restored unto Job twice as much as he had before (Job 42:10).

We can ask Gideon in Judges 6 who had to endure oppression from the hands of the Midianites. By Judges 7, the Lord had turned Israels situation around and deliverance came by the Lord’s hand through Gideon. I dont know what you are going through that causes you to weep at night but all I know is that this is your season for turnaround and break through.