FAITH THAT OVERCOMES THE WORLD. (25 SEPT 2016)

I want to continue promoting the kind of faith that will defeat the World Order. Christ came to destroy the works of the devil.(A) What did he accomplish, and what did he leave for us?? “Looking unto Jesus the author & finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross…and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”(B) So he completed our faith. Hmmm, what does that mean? Faith was certainly an important thing for Christ, he was repeatedly chastising his disciples “ye of little faith” and he repeatedly taught them “have faith in God.”(C) We are taught “the just live by faith”(D) and we are told “we walk by faith”(E). But people will have reservations: “What if it doesn’t work? What if I’m left empty-handed? What if God isn’t faithful?” “Mary Sue [or whoever else’s name you want to use] is a Christian and struggling, and she says if you only believe hard enough, then what you want will happen…but she doesn’t have what she wants.” So you see my friend, there is still room for us to understand FAITH better. Faith is the ear thru which we hear God, if we are failing to hear him, we need to clean out the lack of faith between our ears.

WHEN FAITH OVERCAME THE WORLD. A distant relative of mine was a protestant minister in Germany. He was drafted into the German army and at the end of WW 2 was on the Eastern front where he had to escape the Russian army. It was well known that soldiers surrendering to the Russians were often shot, at times tortured to death, and survivors were shipped off to the Siberian gulags to die doing hard labor. He did escape being captured, but his gaining of his freedom cost; he ended up starving, sick & depressed. The German doctors gave him meds like opium & psychotherapy, all of which failed to solve his problem, they only temporarily masked things. An evangelist happened to see him & suggested Biblical solutions to his problems…but the war years had made him question all that and he declined even for the evangelist to pray for him. It took a lot of patience on the part of the evangelist to get him to allow the man to pray for him. The evangelist repeatedly had to break down to him the spiritual dynamics of what was happening. Slowly it sunk in…all of a sudden a break through occurred. The Spirit of God came in and wrapped him in a spirit of peace and joy like he had not had before. His life forever changed for the better, & when he went back to the doctors all his problems were miraculously healed. What had he lost and regained that made such a difference? Faith, which is an unquestioning belief in the goodness of God. The story of this minister restoring his faith & love in Christ is not the exception, many others have similar testimonies.

ONE MISTAKE ABOUT FAITH. It is popular for preachers to claim that if only we believe hard enough, we’ll make it somehow. This is a popular doctrine and is actually the witchcraft magical concept that “willpower” will find a way, which the Nazis strongly taught. People say, “What you believe is not important. Only believe…” What is overlooked in all this is that godly faith is good only when it engages truth; when it’s foundation is falsehood it can & often does lead to eternal tragedy. It is not enough that we believe; our belief should have the other attributes of God as part of it: love, truth, joy, and so forth. We want our beliefs to be the right thing about the right Savior. It says in God’s Word, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him…”(F) But do you seriously think that the faith that is spoken of there can be a faith that incorporates lies, heresies, prejudices and other things that are offensive to God? Such a faith is not going to please Him, just because it is “faith”. The rest of that verse continues “…that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”(F again) Now that is faith! How diligent are we talking here?

HOW DILIGENT?? “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”(G) “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.”(H) Interestingly, by continuing in his word, we gain more faith. For faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.(I) This is the kind of faith that is said to be “more precious than gold”. (J) This is the kind of faith that is called a gift of God–not of works, so that no one can boast.(K) God gives us this faith, it is not earned…but it is given to us when we commit our lives to Him and follow Him, and stay in His Word. This is why my distant relative had lost his faith…he was not abiding in Christ, but had been distracted by the difficulties of WW 2. So part of faith is the skill of holding onto what God has given you, in spite of your changing circumstance, in spite of your changing moods. This is why doing things to abide in Christ and follow him will help you overcome the World.

HEBREWS CHAPTER 11: the faith chapter. More experienced Christians know this chapter as “the faith chapter”. It has a lot to teach us about faith. Moses had to have faith to face many of the same things we are facing today. He gave up the life of a prince, which carried with it all the rewards of being part of the elite, good medical attention, good food, fame, & all the women he could want…for Christ. HEB 11:24-27 says in one of the newer translations (I encourage you to read it in KJV): “By faith… Moses… refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He preferred sharing the burden of God’s people to enjoying the temporary advantages of sin. He considered the ‘reproach of Christ’ more precious than all the wealth of Egypt, for he looked steadily at the ultimate reward. By faith he left Egypt; he defied the king’s anger with the strength that comes from obedience to the invisible King.”

FINAL THOUGHT. There is a close connection between our faith and our prayers of faith. MK 11:22-24 discusses it. The person who knows & trusts heavenly Father, will find it easy to trust His promises, for which we pray for. For instance, God told Abram, “Fear not, I am thy shield.” Likewise, he will be your shield in this time of evil. “Heavenly Father, we have faith that you are our Redeemer and our Life. We have faith that you will comfort & guide us. Come be with us in a deeper special way. Take full possession of our hearts. Fill us with even more faith, unquestioning faith. Give us your strength. In the matchless name of Yahshua the Messiah we pray, Amen.”

(A) 1 JN 3:8 (B) HEB 12:2 (C) MK 11:22 (D) ROM 1:17 (E) 2 COR 5:7 (F) HEB 11:6 (G) MT 16:24 (H) JN 8:31 (I) ROM 10:17 (J) 1 PTR 1:7-8 (K) EPH 2:8-9