June 2015
Dear Friends
My letter today requires meditation … Please read it more than once and meditate on it until it makes sense to you.
There are many writings on the meaning of faith, but I’m going to share it with you in the way that works for me.
HOW I SEE GOD DETERMINES MY FAITH LEVELS
What we believe, becomes our belief-system, which leads to our ability to have faith in greater things than what we can think or dream. A belief-system can either be based on truth or falsity.
Believe > belief > faith
What do I believe about God ?
Faith is to have confidence that something good is going to happen, because you trust in that someone who IS going to make it happen, because he IS who he SAYS he is. That person is God (Yahweh).
Trust is to know you can rely on someone (God). When I have a good opinion of God, I can put my trust in Him having the sureness that He’s the One who makes all impossible things possible.
Faith is having a good opinion of God
I want to urge you, let’s take hands in maintaining a good opinion of God. You can only have a true opinion of a person if you get to know him. So, WHO is God ?
He is who He says He is. He is also a rewarder. He cares enough to bring His promises to pass (Heb 11 v 6).
BELIEVING BUT NOT HAVING FAITH
Did you know that it’s possible to believe in something but not to have faith in it ?
For instance, you believe and know that someone is a plumber but you don’t have faith (trust) in his ability to be a good plumber. I am prompted to ask myself, is this the way I look at God ?
You know, I’ve realized no matter how far you’ve climbed on the spiritual mountain, it takes one incident to trip a person’s fear levels. It creeps up on you when you least expect it. Then our faith is tested all over again.
FAITH the UNRESERVED OPENING of the MIND to the TRUTH
As I was meditating on the word ‘faith’, it came to me that faith and truth go together. Faith is the unreserved opening of the mind to the truth. I asked myself, what am I believing to be the truth about God ? I thought ‘truth’ surely has something to do with the word ‘trust’ and trust has to do with ‘faith’. If I then have the scriptural promise that “truth sets me free” (Jn 8 v 32) then I must seek the truth of Who God is ! Truth sets us free of disbelief. And where do I find the truth ? Yip, in the written Word !
Truth > Trust >Faith
TAKE ACTION: Let us purposefully search for scriptures describing His greatness and trustworthiness. Let us chew on these truths daily and especially during difficult times.
If I know the truth about God, I can trust Him and I can have faith in His ability to do anything beyond my small thinking. He always has the bigger picture in mind and sees the end-result which I cannot. When I’m wondering why He is taking so long for a promise to come through, I later realize He was protecting me, and that I wrongly believed that He had jilted me. Most times, experience and lessons first need to be learnt, before the promise can come to pass. Many times we are NOT ready to receive the promise, even when we think we are. God always knows better because He knows our heart. Faith and testimony go together. Another reason for having to wait, is to be a testimony of God’s greatness. It’s ALWAYS about Him at the end of the day!
Faith > Testimony
There are times that although I believe God can do it, I wonder if He WANTS to do it. Does He care enough for me ? I think many people wonder themselves. Other times I think He’s changed His mind about the promise He’s given me. Another wrong believing ! Would God change His mind about something good ? One thing I do know and have seen, God will remove that what He once gave (eg. financial richess) from those who forget or disobey Him. If I ‘m in an intimate loving relationship with Him, surely He will be a good Father (Matt 7 v 9-11) It’s just that we get impatient and then move into wrong believing. Why do you think estates often specify that financial inheritance are to be paid out only once the child is at a certain age eg. 21yrs ? Because it’s expected that he or she will be more responsible with that what is given unto him or her at a later stage. I believe it’s the same with our Father God.
WHERE ARE MY EYES ?
Where are my eyes? Are my eyes following my thoughts or my heart ?
When my heart is linked to His heart, and His passion and mine are one, I can look at life through the eyes of my heart (Eph 1 v 18) and I can know with certainty that He loves me enough. Our mind can cause wrong-believing.
What diverts my eyes from God and His Word ?
When I am Influenced by circumstances or people’s opinions around me ? Do I have wrong believing by thinking God has changed His mind ? Do I have preconceived ideas of how I think God’s plan will evolve? Do I have the slightest clue as to HOW great (big) our God is in terms of His bigger-picture thinking! Faith has no preconceptions. It is a plunge into the unknown…or so it seems…but is it really the unknown? To whom is it unknown? To me or to the all Mighty all-knowing God ? It makes God unhappy when we don’t have faith in Him (Heb 11 v 6).
Belief clings but faith lets go… It’s a problem when we have wrong believing. It can stay stuck for years until we decide ourselves to change it ! .
FAITH FITNESS PROGRAMME
Hannes, a trusted brother in Christ, shared this wonderful example. In the same way that we need to be fit physically, we need to be fit spiritually. It’s actually shocking how quickly a fit person can lose their peak of fitness in a very short period of time. It’s the same spiritually. The heated situations God allows in our lives can be compared to a ‘Faith Gym Programme’. He wants to get your spiritual muscles moving in order to be fit to be a more effective vessel for Him. Man moves into his comfort-zone so quickly, and where there is comfort, luke-warmness tends to creep in. God has to keep testing us if we still trust and love Him above all. If He doesn’t turn the heat on in our lives we tend to slack God down. Just as faith is a choice, fear and doubt is a choice. TAKE ACTION : What do you choose ?
Faith has to be exercised.
What type of exercise do I need to be faith-fit ? Yes, use your mouth muscles – SPEAK yourself into a fit state ! Faith comes when I HEAR what I speak. Speaking the written word of God is a powerful weapon against wrong-believing.
FAITH REQUIRES RIGHT BELIEVING. It contains two main ingredients :
1 that I believe who God says He is
2 that I believe that He rewards me if I diligent seek Him
I will do whatever you ask in My Name so that the Father may be glorified and extolled in the Son.” Jn 14 v 13.
What are you trusting God for ?
Love in Him
Rishon
