“And Jesus, replying, said
to them, ‘Have faith in God constantly. Truly I tell you, whoever says to this
mountain, Be lifted up and thrown into the sea? And does not doubt at all in
his heart but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for
him. For this reason I am telling you,
whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is
granted to you, and you will get it. And
whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him
and let it drop-leave it, let it go, in order that your Father Who is in heaven
may also forgive you your own failings and shortcomings and let them drop.”
(Mark 11:22-25 AMP)
Belief = trust
Faith = loyalty,
belief in God
When
you believe, you trust that something
will happen. This does not sound
absolute does it? Even the demons
“believe” in God (James 2:19). There has
to be something more than just belief, something more that will “move
mountains”. Faith is that thing that
takes the next step. Mankind can believe
in God (and even demons believe in God) but when we have faith that He loves us
and will act on our behalf our belief becomes something solid. Faith is not belief but rather the catalyst
of belief. Faith puts moving feet to
belief. Faith is the wing that lifts
belief into actuality.
“Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the
things [we] hope for, being the proof
of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving
as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].”
-Hebrews 11:1 AMP
Many
Christians believe but they do not have faith.
The go to church, sing the songs, pay their tithes, listen to and thank
the preacher for the sermon but they never grow past that point. A man who taught Sunday School when I was a
teenager would walk out the door of the church right at 12 noon even if the
preacher was not finished with his sermon.
He taught exactly what was in the Sunday School curriculum but it tended
to be boring because what he was teaching was not real to him. He never grew beyond the point of going to
church and trying to be good. When I was
in Jamaica
I would see the same people come forward week after week at the altar call in
church and I asked our mission director why this was. He explained that these people would be moved
emotionally to come to Christ but then go out and spend their money and time at
the rum bars all week. When they came to
church they would feel guilty for what they did for the week and they would come
forward again to get rid of the feelings of guilt and regret. They were stuck in a rut: no growth.
A dear friend, who has since
gone home to be with the Lord, was heard to say of people like this, “They’re
getting in heaven by the skin of their teeth!”
Are
you stuck in a rut? Do you want more out
of life than what you have now? The only
way to get on with true living is to enact your faith. Jesus told his disciples to, “Have
faith in God CONSTANTLY” (Mark 11:22).
Stop and review what you do every week, every day, every hour and be
honest with yourself. Do you have faith
in God constantly? Impossible! Really?
God would not have told us to do it if He did not provide a way and
means to accomplish it.
“Therefore let us go on and
get past the elementary stage in the teachings and doctrine of Christ (the
Messiah), advancing steadily toward the completeness and perfection that belong
to spiritual maturity…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, in order that you may not grow disinterested and become [spiritual] sluggards, but imitators, behaving as do those who
through faith (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.” –Hebrews 6:1a, 11-12 AMP
Be
imitators. Imitate those who lean their
entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence. Practice what those people do. The one thing that I realized as I read about
such great men of God as Hudson Taylor and William Booth of old, and Leonard
Ravenhill and Billy Graham of later years, is that they were all men who spent
frequent and regular time reading God’s word and communicating with Him in
prayer. I do not want to be like one of
the members of the Laodicean church – lukewarm.
I want to be on fire for God! I
want to be a mountain mover, a fire starter, and an empire builder for
God. When people come across my path I
do not want them to have met an eloquent witness. If an eloquent witness had met Paul on the
road to Damascus
then he might never of been heard of again.
Paul met Christ the living God! Paul went on to be one of the greatest empire
builders for God of all ages. When
people cross my path may they meet the One Who changed and continues to change
my life, Jesus! May their lives be added
to the Kingdom as well!
Get
out of your rut. It really is easy, just
take one step out: read your Bible every
day this week for at least 15 minutes, listen to only Christian music for one whole month, ask everyone you see or
speak to today to give you at least one thing to pray about for them and then
pray every day for the next seven days for that request, or…well you get the
idea. You’ve heard the old adage, “How
does one eat an elephant? One bite at a
time.” The same goes for leaving “lukewarm”
behind. Get out of your rut, one step at
a time.
“Strip yourselves of your
former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized
your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that
spring from delusion; and be constantly
renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual
attitude], and put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s
image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness.” -Ephesians
4:22-24 AMP
