What Is Faith Really?

Hebrews 11:1 NIV says, "Now faith is the confidence in what we hope for, and the assurance of what we do not see." In the Amplified it says, "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].

If you have ever wondered about faith, then you are in good company. I wonder about faith all the time. Am I standing in faith, acting in faith or even truly in faith. Hebrews goes on to say that if we don't have faith, it is impossible for us to even please God. And that is because we have to believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who "diligently" seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6) Faith is probably one of the most important things that we will ever learn about. Because I want to please my Father, and it takes faith to do that.

Let's take Hebrews 11:1 apart a little bit and investigate it closer. Look at how it starts out, "Now faith is..." from this it would appear that faith is a right now thing, not a going to be thing. For us to truly be in faith, then it has to be something that is present with us, not something that we will wait to have. It is a present thing, not a future one.

So faith is a now thing, and it also says that it is the confidence of what we hope for. Faith is the confidence of what we hope for. The amplified calls it the "title deed" of the things that we hope for. The definition of the word hope is: the feeling that what is wanted can be had. So we could also say that faith is the feeling that what I want can be had. So faith tells me that what I hope for can be had.

It goes on to say that faith is 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]. Look at that last sentence, perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses. You know, the five senses; hearing, sight, touch, taste and feel. So regardless of what these five senses tell us, faith is the proof that we have what we've hoped for already.

So what I'm gathering this morning from this, is first off I have to be hoping for something. So many people are waiting on God to show up and bring changes to their lives, or bless them with things, when they actually have no hope or expectation for anything in the first place. A lot of times people are like this because they think they are being spiritual. "Well brother, you know if God wants me to have something, He'll give it to me." Why? Why will God give you something? From what I've seen here, in order for us to really be "in faith" we have to have hope for something. I love how it doesn't say, faith is the confidence of what "spiritual" things we hope for either, that tells me that faith will work in every area of our lives.

So we see that faith is a now thing, it is what we are hoping for (so we have to start hoping for things) and it is the title deed to those things. Now I know that some people are going to have a problem with the "things" portion of this blog. When I'm talking about things, I mean everything that you can imagine. There is one catch to this however, and that is that whatever you are using your faith for must be according to God's Word.

So find a promise in God's Word for you, and apply your faith to it, believe that you have it now, and thank God for it daily until it shows up. I remember a minister saying one time that faith is like calling for your dog. You walk out on the front porch and begin to holler for Fido saying, "Here Fido, here Fido!" Even though Fido is not on the porch, you're calling for him to get on the porch. You expect that when you call Fido, he'll come a running. If you didn't believe that, you wouldn't be out there in the first place. Well faith is just like that, you are expecting that those things that you are hoping for are going to show up when you call.

So let's get out there and please our Heavenly Father, by operating in faith today. The really cool thing is that He wants to bless us even more than we want to be blessed, and He has given us the avenue by which He can bless us. Thank You Jesus!

Why Don't We Ask God?

I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that when problems show up in my life, the first thing I do is to begin thinking of solutions to them. Now this is typical I think of most people, and it was the instruction that God gave to Adam in the Garden, “Take care of it.” (Dave’s paraphrase.) But how often do I run off fixing things, only after the fact realizing that I never once included God in on the process?

I do believe that as Christians we are called to be problem solvers, but as I look at Proverbs 3:5 – 6 I see that I am supposed to trust in the Lord with “ALL” my heart, lean not to my own understanding, acknowledge Him in all my ways and then He will direct my paths. That does not look to me like we should rush off to fix things until we've first consulted the Lord. This is something that I know I have been negligent about, and that concerns me greatly.

Trust in the Lord with all my heart. What exactly does that mean, to trust with all of your heart? Well first off to trust with all your heart is a spiritual thing, and not a mental one. Scripture doesn’t tell us to trust in the Lord with all of our reasoning; it says to trust with all our heart. The heart is the most central part of who we are, and don’t forget Scripture also states that out of it (The heart.) flow ALL the issues of life. (Proverbs 4:23)

The first thing to do so you can trust the Lord with all of your heart is to get your mind out of the way. Now I don’t mean to empty your mind like a lot of Eastern religions encourage, no that can lead to you being led by the enemy, what I’m talking about is putting your reasoning aside so that your heart (Which is the core part of who you are.) can do what it does, believe what God’s Word says.

Scripture tells us that in order to appropriate any of the things that God has for us, we have to first believe, second confess what we believe and then we’ll see the manifestation of it. (Romans 10:9 – 10 / Mark 11:23 – 24) This is how everything works in the Kingdom of God, and if we expect that we will see any of the promises of God come in any other way, then we are going to be disappointed in life.

God tells us that we have not, because we ask not. (James 4:2b) Basically that means that if we don’t ask, God can't work on our behalf. I know what you are thinking though, He’s God, and He can do anything that He wants to do. That’s not exactly true. He cannot do anything on planet Earth unless we ask Him. Once we’ve asked Him according to His Word, and this is the essential part here, He will move Heaven and Earth to see to it that we have what we’ve asked for. But don’t think if you just ask anything it will be answered, it has to be according to His Word and you have to ask in faith. Remember, He said that He watches over His Word to perform it, not our wishes.

If God was moved because we had needs in our lives, then there would never be any needs in the world. God is not moved because you or I have a need, He is moved by faith. We have to operate in faith in order for God to move on our behalf. This is not because He is unjust, mean or wants to teach us a lesson. It is a legal situation, plain and simple. If we never ask, He will never answer. My friend Joe McGee says it this way, “You stare at God, and He’ll stare right back at you. But if you draw near to Him, He’ll draw near to you.” (James 4:8)

It’s all in our perception of things. What are we looking at, what are we seeing? If our heart is the central thing, and we are instructed to trust God with our whole heart, then perhaps we aren’t seeing things correctly when we look through the eyes of reason. After all the realm of reason is where the enemy lurks. We are instructed to take every thought captive, (2 Corinthians 10:5) thoughts happen in your own understanding. Remember God speaks to us through our hearts, not our heads.

So when things show up in your life, instead of just rushing off to figure out the solutions, let's take a few minutes, bow our heads and talk to the Father of all creation and get His idea for how to handle things. This is something that I am getting to learn daily right now, and while it at times seems overwhelming to me, I know that God has my best interest at heart, as long as I take the time to find out what that is.

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

How Sharp Are You?

Hebrews 6:11 - 12 "Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent."

There is one thing that God thinks is more important than anything else, besides loving Him with all your heart, and that is to love your fellow man. Paul states it in this passage that we are to keep on loving others as long as life lasts. Well seeing that we are spiritual beings, that is a very long time huh?

The thing that I found interesting in this passage today however, was that while he is admonishing us to keep on loving others, he explains that if we will do that, then we won't becoming spiritually dull and indifferent. Spiritually dull? I don't know about you, but that doesn't seem like the thing that I want to be known for.

If we stop loving people, then we are in danger of becoming spiritually dull and indifferent to the things of God. This is a dangerous place to be because once you become dull to something, it ceases to amaze and stir your heart. I don't know about you, but I don't want to get to the place in my life where I am not amazed at the things of God anymore.

So what I saw here this morning is that if I want to stay sharp spiritually, I'm going to have to continue loving others as long as my life lasts. It's like loving people is the wet stone to sharpen your spirit, and keep it from getting dull.

Let's keep loving people, and never stop so that we can stay spiritually sharp towards the things of God and not grow dull and indifferent, what's say?

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Do I Believe, Really?

In the past couple of weeks I have found myself in a position to ask this question of myself. Do I believe, really? Not that Jesus is my Lord, that question was answered nearly twenty-five years ago, and has no need to be questioned at this point in my life. No, what I'm talking about is do I believe what I've been telling people for years?

I think we all come to a point in life where we are faced with situations that call for us to reevaluate what we are believing. To ask that all important question, "Do I really believe what God's Word says is true?" Now understand me, I'm not doubting God at all, but some times we can find ourselves in a comfortable place with God, and just be coasting in our walk with Him. We're not in sin, but we're also not in a truly active pursuit of Him either.

I was talking with a friend recently, and I made the comment that I felt as if I was full of crap. He asked me why I felt that way, and my response was that I have been for years helping men to realize their potential in Christ, and now I am in a position to have to not only talk the talk, but to walk the walk myself in a greater way. He quickly told me that I wasn't full of crap. And I actually know that, it was the enemy trying to get me down on myself. (Something that he is really good at too.)

While I might not like being in the position that I am in right now, it is a good thing for all of us to rethink why we believe what we believe from time to time. If nothing else, it helps us to stop coasting and to get a little bit more real with God, and that is never a bad thing I think. So ask yourself, what do I believe, really? And why do I believe that? Then make any corrections that you need to, and see what more the Lord has for you. That's what I'm doing!

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

God's Got Your Back

I was reading in the book of Esther this morning about how Haman decides that he has got to kill Mordecai the Jew. He builds a gallows in the front yard of his home to hang him on. Okay, can I say that if one of my neighbors builds a weapon to kill people on their front lawn, I might have to scratch my head and wonder about that.

So the king decides that he is going to bless Mordecai because he had foiled a plot to kill the king earlier, and it just so happens that Haman is in the court coming to see Xerxes about having Mordecai hung on the gallows, when the king calls for Haman and asks his opinion on how the king should bless "the one who has the king's favor".

Haman, full of himself, obviously thinks that the king is talking about him, so he devises an elaborate plan to show off how much the king admires this man that he wants to bless. It's hilarious, Haman says, dress the man in the king's robes, put him on the king's horse and have one of the nobles lead this man throughout the entire city proclaiming how much the king favors him.

Can you imagine the look on Haman's face, when the king tells him that he has come up with an excellent plan, now go and do what you have devised for Mordecai the Jew? Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. Makes me laugh just to think about it. Of course you know that Mordecai knew that Haman hated him, so I've got to think that while he was being paraded around with Haman saying such nice things about him, he had to have seen the irony.

I think of a couple of Scriptures here, "No weapon formed against you shall prosper." and "Pride goes before a fall." Do you think Mordecai was thinking of these as he was lead around by Haman? What about Mordecai? Do you think he was thinking that he was about to be honored when Haman came and got him from the king's gate? He knew that Haman was the man who had tricked the king into decreeing that the Jews were to be destroyed in the coming days.

I love how God shows up for Mordecai in this story, probably when he least expected it I'm sure. I know that seems to be how it is in my life, God has always showed up for me and my family, it just hasn't always been at the outset of whatever challenge we've found ourselves in, but towards the end. God's not vicious or mean to us, I think that He likes the dramatic rescue. I mean after all don't we like it when the hero swoops in at the last possible second to save the day? I know that I do, and if we like that then surely God does too huh?

Life on this planet is interesting and exciting if we will stop long enough to realize that even though to us it may look like our world is ending God is there with us every step of the way, and He has got our backs no matter what. I'm reminded of one more Scripture that says, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you, so that you may boldly say the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man can do to me." (Hebrews 13:5-6)

Strength and honor!

Are You Watching Life, Or Participating?

Has this ever happened to you as you watched a movie or television show? You're sitting there enjoying the entertainment, when you see the main character about to get into trouble and getting caught up in the moment you start to holler at the screen for the character to watch out?

We've all done that I'm sure. Why do we do that exactly? It's because we can see what is about to happen to the people in those stories we're watching. We can see the man with the gun hiding behind the door, where the hero of the story can't. It's part of what makes story telling good, but it also makes us a spectator to those people's lives.

Wouldn't it be nice to know what was about to happen next in any given moment? I mean to have clarity in knowing that the decisions that you are making right now are the correct ones. What a wonderful gift that would be huh? Absolutely not! I mean part of me does wish for that, but if we knew everything all the time how boring would our lives become? It would be like eating the same meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner, every day for your entire life. Yes it would nourish your body, but don't you think you would begin to detest meal times? I know that I would.

This life we are living is called by the Apostle Paul a race. But it is not a sprint, no it is more like a marathon, one that we run at a constant pace until we win. In Hebrews chapter eleven he talks

about the great cloud of witnesses that we have set as an example of what our race should look like. These heroes of faith are there to spur us on to continue our race no matter what. Paul says in Hebrews chapter twelve, verse two that we should fix our eyes on Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith.

There's a couple of thoughts here, first off the great cloud of witnesses were all men and women of faith that were before Jesus completed the thing that God had for us all. So therefore these people are our examples of how to have faith in God, even though we are partakers of the better covenant.

The second thing is that we are to fix our eyes on Jesus. I heard a minister speaking this year and he talked about how he was a track runner in high school. He told us the story about one of his meets, where he was way out in front of everyone else. He recalled that he could not hear the sound of anyone else's feet around him, so he turned his head to see how far ahead of everyone he was, and lost the race by one-tenth of a second.

There was another runner right beside him, and when he took his eyes off of his goal, the finish line, it caused him to slow up in his running just enough that the man beside him took the prize. He went on to say that the coach always told them to never take their eyes off of the goal, but to press on towards the finish line until the race was over. And had he done that on that day, he would have won the race.

If we do not keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, we will begin to get distracted from the goal of our race and slow up too. We cannot spend our time looking at what is around us, but must continue to strain forward towards the prize. We must pray, listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit, then step out in faith believing that we are making the best and right decisions that we can.

We must press on with that decision until we either win or realize that we missed it. And when we miss it, which we will from time to time, we need to stop, ask God to forgive us for missing it, then pray again, listen for God and then run our race. Life is not about getting it right every time, it is about getting out there and living that full, abundant life that Jesus talked about in John 10:10. Yes, we'll make mistakes, and miss what God is saying from time to time, but if we play it safe all of our lives, we will miss out on things that will make our lives more interesting for sure.

A good friend of mine said to me today, "Do what God is calling you to do, even if you have to do it afraid." Good advice for sure, the unknown can be scary, but even if we are afraid, we know we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us because God is right there with us. So take a chance today, live life fully keeping your eyes on the prize, Jesus.

Doing What Makes Me Come Alive

If there is one thing that I've learned in the last few years, it is that to truly be happy and content with oneself you have to do what makes you come alive inside. For me, that is helping people to find out some truth that maybe they haven't seen before. And the avenue that I get to do that is through writing.

Writing has always been something that I love to do. To take a thought and craft it in such a way that people can read it and understand a little bit more about you is truly fun for me. I can remember once back in the second grade when my teacher Mrs. Smart asked us to write a short story around if we could be anything, what would that be. I wrote that if I could be anything, I'd be a G.I. Joe.

Now the G.I. Joe I was talking about wasn't the military man version, but the twelve-inch action figures that I used to play with. I had what to a small boy seemed like a bazillion of them, and I could entertain myself in my bedroom for hours setting up daring rescue mission or attacks on the evil enemy soldiers. So it was a no-brainer for me to write that I would want to be a G.I. Joe.

As I recall, I wrote that I would like to be a G.I. Joe because I could be drug around through the mud, made to fight bad guys and cause the little boy that owned me so much fun in his life. That was written 40 some years ago, but I still remember it with fondness, and it shows a little bit of my heart as it was way back then. Something that I am recapturing with each and every blog I write.

Because that is what makes me come alive. And as Howard Thurman said, "Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." That truly is what we need more of in this world, people who have come alive!

David Encouraged Himself In The Lord

I find myself in a similar situation to King David in the Bible. Not to bore you with the details, suffice it to say that I find myself in a place that is not very comfortable at all. Now my story is unlike David's in that I have not had my home attacked, and my wife and children carried off by Amalekites. But I do seem to be being pressed on every side right now, and like David and his men, at this point I want to just sit down and cry.

As I thought on my predicament today, these words came up from my heart, "David encouraged himself in the Lord..." I went to the online Bible I use, and looked up the story which is found in 1 Samuel 30:1 - 8. As I read it, this is what I found in it. Let me list it out for you in bullet points:

• David realized that there was trouble. (1 Samuel 30:1 - 3)
• David wept for his loss. (1 Samuel 30:4)
• David came to realize that he was really in serious trouble. (1 Samuel 30:6)
• David encouraged himself in the Lord. He put his trust in God. (1 Samuel 30:6b)
• David prayed to God, asking His direction. (1 Samuel 30:7 - 8)
• God answered David. (1 Samuel 30:8b)

So like David, this morning I realized that there was some trouble, and truthfully I was at a loss for what to do. While tears didn't actually fall from my eyes, they were there. So yes, in a way I actually wept over the trouble I found myself to be in. It wasn't until later in the day that I would come to realize that the trouble I had thought myself to be in earlier was nothing compared to what I now found myself in.

Like David, I have encouraged myself in the Lord a little bit. I've decided that tonight I will do more of that, putting my trust in the Lord above. I will also be asking God for His direction, and according to what I learned in 1 Samuel 30, I will expect that He will answer me just as He did David, because God is no respecter of persons.

Jesus said that in this life we would have trouble, but to be of good cheer, because He has overcome the world. And if my life is found in His life, then I too have overcome the world. The enemy likes to make us think that we are about to see the end, and that we will fail. The only thing is, he keeps forgetting that we win. If we are in Christ, then we win.

Today is just another day to prove to the enemy that God still reigns, and that this David can and does encourage himself in the Lord just as my namesake did. And because of that, we both can say, the Lord is my helper, in whom will I be afraid?