Where Is Your Faith?

Where Is Your Faith?

1/29/17

Faith is usually deemed as an entity that applies to religion or some type of religious organization and on occasion, this word refers to God Himself.  But it is important to understand that there are two kinds of faith and all of us possess both of these types in our lives.  What we fail to understand is that one faith represents life and the other faith represents death.  In other words, each type of faith represents a kingdom and which kingdom a person accepts into their lives is the one that they recognize.  Which is where the title of this message originates and it is a vital question that will define our eternal positioning and one that should be understood on all angles.  For if we do not we shall have no faith in true life and only in a representation of doom.

It is common to support some kind of team or cause during our time on earth.  There is nothing wrong with this and most people around the world share this action of humanity.  Ever since I was a kid I have enjoyed soccer, American football, basketball, etc and while doing so I developed a favorite team in each of these sports.  When a person finds a team to support we have a tendency to place all faith in that team and expect them to overcome all obstacles to beat their opponent.  If we did not have this type of faith in a favorite team we could not truthfully acknowledge that we supported said, team.  A person who has complete faith in a team or organization will endure bad years just as faithful ass they will during good years and take on any other opinion that differs from theirs.  But what type of faith is this and will it have any overall life bearing qualities that will last?  The answer to that is easy to retain, yet it seems like more and more our world demands that we keep this type of finite faith in tow and throw out all other long lasting holdings.

When I was a kid the football team that I liked the most was the Miami Dolphins.  I had never lived in Miami nor had I ever been to that city but for whatever reason, I liked and supported that team.  My parents bought me Dolphins jackets, hats, and shirts when they could and I wore them proudly as often as I could.  But at some point in my young life, my loyalties changed from the Dolphins to the Dallas Cowboys and that team I stayed loyal to for decades and did not waiver any longer.  As my heart continued to beat over the years I found myself falling away from professional American football altogether and began to embrace soccer.  Did this change in my worldly faith in sports or teams serve any eternal purpose in my life? The quick and easy answer to this question would be “no” for it has no bearing on my eternal life according to what God has given me – life, but it defines the type of faith that comes from the world and not the type of faith that represents life itself which is what God sees as faith that lives within us.

There are a number of examples in the Bible that give us what it means to have a living faith and one that God recognizes.  As we have noticed over the past few years in the messages that God has shared with us He uses Adam and Eve from the beginning as examples of those who have lost their true living faith in God (living) and placed it on the worldly issues and ideas instead.  That was followed by one of their sons (Cain) and he ended up murdering his brother due to the conflicting faith issues when it came time for sacrifices.  Did the children of Israel not learn of why they roamed the desert for 40 years?  The children of Israel provide us with ample amounts of examples of this type of worldly faith and they had direct communication with God and witnessed miracle after miracle during these times.  It was through the choices of secularism and not godly relationship as the sole reason God allowed such travesties to occur and since God is a consistent God and cannot change His Ways in any shape or form, we really need to watch our steps.

Their worldly faith became so prevalent in their lives that it eventually cost them their freedom because their eyes had become focused on earthly ideas and deemed them more important that God and His Ways, and at a specific time in their lives they were taken captive into Babylon after their temple was completely destroyed.  God allowed these horrific events to occur due to the choices that each individual or group made and trough these choices that were made defined which type of faith each setting had at that time.  Of course, there are many other instances in the Bible where people trusted fully in God and had complete faith in God and it was through this type of living faith of the living God that their lives took a different path.  That does not mean that their ways and steps were easy, but their stories tell a different ending; just ask Job.

In Matthew 14:22-33 we have a perfect example of the living faith that God recognizes as life and this type of faith is demonstrated when Jesus asks Peter to get out of the boat and come to Him on the waters.  Jesus was giving the perfect example of faith when He asked Peter to step out because Peter understood that if Jesus could walk on water so could he for Peter asked Jesus to allow him to do the same.  When Peter asked Jesus this question Peter had to be looking at Jesus which meant his eyes were strictly on Jesus and not on others or the conditions around him.  It is written that as long as Peter kept His full attention on Jesus he was doing the physically impossible and the laws of gravity did not apply to him at that moment.

But there is a huge example here of what will occur if we take our eyes off of Jesus (God) and begin to notice our surroundings.  See, as long as we are looking at God then our attention is not on us or the world but the moment we turn away and notice our surroundings, we shall not be in the same living faith as God.  As soon as Peter looked around and took his eyes off of Jesus he sank like a rock and was automatically reunited with the physical laws of gravity, in other words when you take your eyes off of God and focus them on the world we are immediately subject to every worldly condition that surrounds us.  This is why it is important that we hide the Word of God in our hearts and to know His Word as much as possible for if we do not our eyes will focus on other things.

Matthew 17:20 also provides us with another great example of living faith through the talk that Jesus was giving to His disciples about them not being able to cast out a demon from a man.  It was obvious that the disciples had no real faith in what Jesus had taught them for the faith that they had was not alive for anything that the devil occupies cannot represent life and the Kingdom which Jesus represents cannot offer anything but life.  Jesus uses the example of a mustard seed and when a seed is planted into the correct soil it shall grow into the plant or tree from which it originally came.  God created us in His image which means that we are a part of Him, more intimately since God breathed into us His spirit and we became a living soul.  We represent life and so we have a living faith that is a part of us but if we do not believe in this faith (God) it becomes a dormant faith and cannot be a part of God.

One of the major projects of restoration from God is the restoration of living faith.  There is no question that each disciple witnessed countless miracles when Jesus walked the earth and no doubt they heard endless teaching sessions about why He was here on earth and how important it was for them and their futures to tell of such faith origins.  It is also known that all of Jesus’ disciples had doubts from time to time and one disciple never understood living faith.  So if the ones who walked, talked and ate with Jesus had problems with living faith how much more difficult is it for those of us who did not have the opportunity to live during Jesus’ earthly years to harbor living faith?  Could we be just as the Israelites were in their captivity and begin to write their own individual Torahs and thus create their own religious beliefs instead of fulfilling the truth about having the Word of God hidden in their hearts?  In their captivity, they even created another ethnic group which Jesus dealt with and mended centuries later.

We must also never forget that there are two kingdoms that are vying for our eternal placement and through this truth, we must accept that there are two types of faith that we can populate and we cannot mistake the one from this world as the true faith.  If we continue to harbor the wrong faith we will end up in the same setting as Judas and see no opportunity to seek restoration, which is a complete lie from Satan and his defeated kingdom.  Judas came to the point in his dead faith that he could no longer recognize Jesus for who He was and why He was on the earth even though he was with Jesus almost every day.  It is this dead faith that the world feeds us and it is this dead faith that if we as a nation continue to invite in our hearts shall force God to do the unthinkable to this land.

So far the greatest disaster that this planet has witnessed occurred when water completely covered the earth as a source of restoration process due to the wickedness of dead faith that humanity had chosen.  We have accounts of similar tragedies in the Bible and in secular history of these phenomenon occurring without seemingly provocation, but there was an underlying dead faith in the hearts of those nations that gave nothing in defense when trials arrived.  This nation has adopted the same dead faith today and if we do not stop and allow God to change our faith into a Job-like faith that continually lives inside us, this nation shall reap the dead as it indwells dead faith.  Why does it take such travesties for humanity to understand that they are not in control over their existence, then at some point down the road turn away from our Creator again; the cycle does not end unless they choose to continue to have living faith instead of dead faith.

The point that God is making here is that in order for us to understand what He is saying to His people relies on the fact that the faith that He authorizes should be one that is alive and will have nothing in common with dormancy.  In every example that the Bible gives concerning faith, it places a person’s desires and motives in the forefront and is eventually called out when the time arises for faith to be shown.  It is easy for us to lose sight of God’s faith in our lives, and while this is a dangerous opportunity that many take it is a common one.  I have to include myself in this equation because at times my faith diminishes enough that I doubt what god has called me to do.  Then when things come together and another message is delivered, I spend a specific amount of time kicking myself for lacking the faith in what God is saying to me to help others.  I pray that one day my faith shall be consistent and strong enough to never question or doubt God and His words, for it is His Life that all of us need in order live eternally.

As the children of Israel found out many times in the Old Testament, when faith in God dwindles enough to have eyes shift to the world it is not just a single group that is affected, it is the entire nation that eventually is included in the disobedience.  While it is tough for us to understand why God does such things in this manner we must understand that if He does not include all, then He would be considered biased and therefore not just.  It is this pattern that this nation faces if we do not change our hearts and return to Him.  It does not matter who is in charge of this nation because when our hearts rely on earthly faith we shall ignore God and His ways and then we have to feel the consequences of this choice of ours.  Now is the time that we repent and return God to our hearts and then we can once again understand and know the correct security that shall bring true protection and eternal covering to this nation, both individually and nationally.

For quite a while now it has been made clear that the majority of the people in this country have chosen to ignore God and to keep their faith based solely on ourselves.  God beckons us to drop this limited knowledge and return to the One who can give us extraordinary faith when tough times occur.  It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that this nation is going through a continuous stress period and from all indications, it does not look like it shall end anytime soon.  This can only mean one thing, that our faith has been placed on mankind and not God.  As stated above about faith and how is it does not matter who is in charge of the country because if we do not choose God first and place His living faith in our hearts at all times it shall not matter who is in charge for all shall fail and a deepening division shall soon follow.  God is the ONLY answer and His Ways are the true ways that we need to have in our hearts.  What will be your legacy of faith?  Will it be a living one or one that is limited to selfish means?

DLB