Speed Bumps

Exodus 4:11 Then the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?

Faith is a substance so foreign to the carnal nature that it eludes most of the Christian masses. I know that this is now a very volatile subject as so many apparent churches have run a mock claiming so many lying signs and wonders that fall under the banner of faith! Nevertheless that does not mean that we must shy away from what God teaches us in and through His Word! We are not totally in the dark when it comes to the wiles of the devil; he would love us to live outside of the realm of faith, but it is imperative that we look to understand faith as we ort and then seek God’s face with sincerity to live by FAITH! Without faith we would never have been saved; “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” (Ephesians 2:8) - Faith is added to our understanding by God, which enables us to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sin and that God raised him from the dead to accomplish this miraculous intervention. Faith feeds our hope!

We do not choose God, He chooses us and the more you explore this reality the more it will hit home; how can someone dead in their trespasses and sin ever choose God unless God gives them the faith to do it? “Not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:9)  - When we use words like; “I can’t believe that man is like that”, it is a result of our lack of understanding, it is a form of boasting! We owe everything to God our Father and Jesus Christ our Saviour; it is a work of God not a work of man! When family and friends resist the gospel it is our responsibility to plead with God our Father to save them with a perseverance for His mercy, not because they deserve salvation but rather because God has it in His power to save them and because He most certainly hears the prayers of His children; our petitions do not fall on deaf ears! Prior to salvation we are all dead in our trespasses and our sins!

Can a dead man do anything? It is but a corpse; it will never be capable of life and even our apparent good works will only ever feed the worms. It is the most basic of all principles and yet so many argue this point! However once we are “born again” our childhood as new creatures in Christ begins! It is “super grace” that has been imparted to an individual and it is through faith that this miraculous event takes place. Faith is a facilitator that operates outside the realm of the natural! The Bible is very clear that once we have begun in the spirit we must continue in the spirit; considering this, all that means is that we must not now claim salvation as a work of our own doing. It isn’t a required standard that we meet which qualifies us for God’s kingdom; Christ has already met that requirement! We should never claim obedience by the works of the flesh! This is what is known as “dead works” or “dead religion”. However, it is possible to get confused! Two people may do the exact same thing in their service to God; one will be received and the other rejected, why? We understand this when we consider the very first sacrifice we see recorded in scripture; “In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard..." (Genesis 4:3-5) -We must learn to align ourselves with the good works He has foreordained for us to find and carry out but we will only ever be capable of achieving this once our spiritual journeys have begun! Our sacrifices to God must be through the realm of faith! – “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.” (Hebrews 11:4)   

Coming to grips with this is one of the first “speed bumps” we face on our Christian pilgrimage! We tend to want to take over the reigns as it were! Education, degrees, bigger house, more money, self-sufficiency and the like are all goals we set to accomplish our existence. I have heard people say, “God helps those who help themselves!” This is a lie! God requires us to depend upon Him it is not the other way around. We are not accepted because of what we find ourselves doing but rather because of what He has chosen to do! Most of what we do is all about getting ahead in this life with very little thought on the life to come, eternity! We get it the wrong way around; faith teaches us to change our priorities!

Misguided faith also leads us down the wrong road! If our goal and application to faith is all about this life it is erroneous; faith teaches us to trust in our God come what may! The test is, will we learn to trust our God and depend upon His provision in every area of our lives? Not only the ranges we think we need help in!

Let us not view the hardships we face in life as a judgment but rather learn to understand that the greater our need the more dependent we will become upon our God and the wiser our understanding will be. Let us learn to lean on the “crutch of faith” and not on the systems of this world.

Signing off

Tyrone