- araratchurch
- May 13, 2023
- 3 min read
“The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves. Suddenly the storm stopped and all was calm. Then he asked them, “Where is your faith?” The disciples were terrified and amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “When he gives a command, even the wind and waves obey him!””
Luke 8:24-25 NLT
As we have recently discussed, some people fail to walk in faith because they misunderstand what faith is.
Let us look for a moment at what faith is not.
Faith is not self-confidence. And, faith is not a nebulous feeling.
A woman—having been told by her little girl that they studied faith in Sunday school—asked the next logical question: “Well, what is Faith?” The little girl replied, “It is believing something that you know down deep in your heart is not true.”
So, I guess we need to add that faith is not trying to believe something we know is not true.
Now, of course, that answer is laughable. But isn’t it how many Christians approach the concept of faith? You see, if we find it difficult to have faith in general, then we have not developed a true relationship with the Lord. It is in coming to know Him personally that we no longer struggle with trusting Him.
For some Christians, they can have faith for some things, yet not for others. It would seem that this inconsistent level of faith is generally associated with areas in our lives we have not totally submitted to the Lord. That is to say, sometimes we are still micromanaging for the Lord in areas of our greatest concern. Ironically—and sadly—that limits the power of God in the very areas we may need help the most.
Jesus’ friend Lazarus had died. When He went to Bethany and encountered Lazarus’ sister, Martha, He stated that Lazarus would rise again.
Now, Martha had seen Jesus do many great things. But, now it was her brother that was dead. Being caught up in the gravity of the situation, she couldn’t grasp that our idea of “degrees” of severity (and therefore, difficulty) in terms of whatever is wrong, is not a consideration for the Lord. With Him, all things are possible.
“Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?””
John 11:25-26 NLT
Jesus, in instructing Martha of the fact that He was the resurrection, was letting her know that He is not just the One Who can bring a solution, in this case, life; He IS the solution, again, in this case, life for Lazarus.
Once, when confronted by two blind men desiring to be healed, the Lord asked the question that we must ask ourselves: Do we believe?
As well, we must know what we are believing: Do we believe what the Lord has said about Himself? Do we believe that He has all power and authority? And, do we believe He can and will act for us?
“As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, screaming loudly, “Have mercy and compassion on us, Son of David (Messiah)!” When He went into the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe [with a deep, abiding trust] that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith [your trust and confidence in My power and My ability to heal] it will be done to you.” And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them: “See that no one knows this!””
Matthew 9:27-30 AMP
In our opening scripture we see the Lord asking His disciples, “Where is your faith?”
Now, bear in mind, He was not asking them about whether they had some “positive” emotion or free-floating belief; He was asking them where was their faith in Him!
Again, the disciples had already seen the Lord perform many great and mighty miracles. But now, they were the ones in trouble; it was their lives on the line. So now, they were fixated on the threat rather than on the Lord.
This is exactly the problem: We may believe that the Lord can heal somebody else, but when we become sick, we can’t grasp faith for it because of our pain and/or fear.
Indeed, it’s the same with anything that comes against us personally. We must make sure that fear, insecurity, confusion, etc., do not become our focus rather than our focus being on our wonderful, almighty, ever-present, all powerful, Lord.
We cannot walk in faith if our eyes are on fear. Indeed, we cannot walk in faith if our eyes are on anything other than our Lord!
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- May 13, 2023
- 3 min read
“Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness. Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions: “Don’t go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, but only to the people of Israel—God’s lost sheep. Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!”
Matthew 10:1, 5-8 NLT
Jesus told a compelling parable about a servant who was forgiven a large amount of debt by a king. The king was going to lock him up until the debt could be paid, but the servant begged him to have mercy on him, which he did.
The thing is, when that forgiven servant went out from there he found someone who owed him money; and, although that person begged for mercy, he had him thrown in jail.
Unfortunately for the servant who had been forgiven, some of the other servants—seeing this—went and told the king what the forgiven servant had done to his fellow servant. And, That didn’t turn out well for him.
“Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.””
Matthew 18:32-35 NLT
Obviously, our Lord was not trying to veil the meaning He intended: If you don’t forgive, you won’t be forgiven.
Actually, the principle of reciprocity is easily extended to other areas: Whatever we’ve been given by the Lord, if we don’t do the same for our brothers and sisters, we will pay the price.
Additionally, once at a banquet, the Lord spoke of the importance of doing for those who cannot do anything for you in return.
“Then he turned to his host. “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.””
Luke 14:12-14 NLT
The bottom line is, we have not earned anything the Lord has given us. Therefore, we have no right to pick and choose to whom (or whether or not) we will dispense the gifts given to us by the Lord.
In our opening scripture we see the Lord explicitly commanding that because we have received freely from the Lord, we should also give freely to those (in the household of faith) who are in need in some way or another.
It’s sad to say, but there are people—having been forgiven by God of great offenses—who will hold much lesser offenses against others.
As well, there are people who would never pray for the healing, deliverance, and salvation of their enemies. In fact, they may express their sentiment toward those they abhor by relegating them to hell!
Yesterday we discussed the fact that what we give is what has first been given to us by the Lord. Therefore, we can be confident of being able to minister those things to others as it’s not coming out of our own storehouse, separate and apart from the Lord.
With that, let us remember: If you want to keep the flow of good things coming from your Heavenly Father, they must flow through you as a spring, and not stop with you, like a dam!
“Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything. The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. People curse those who hoard their grain, but they bless the one who sells in time of need.”
Proverbs 11:24-26 NLT
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- May 10, 2023
- 2 min read
“Now the day was ending, and the twelve [disciples] came and said to Him, “Send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging, and get provisions; because here we are in an isolated place.” But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people.””
Luke 9:12-13 AMP
When Jesus offered the invitation for us to come under His yoke (Matthew 11:28-30), He didn’t intend for that to be a transient situation. In other words, He didn’t intend that we come under His yoke for instruction and relief and then go out from underneath it for everything else. Then—when we’re so tired we can’t go another step—we come back under His yoke to be refreshed before going back out again.
No! When the Lord bids us to come under His yoke with Him, it is meant to be our permanent orientation, our place of operation.
You see, the yoke of Jesus Christ is the Holy Spirit. Indeed, it is through the Holy Spirit that we are taught and guided, while at the same time, continuing in the rest coming through Him bearing most of the load.
In fact, the only “weight” we should be carrying is our obedience to the Lord’s leading (our cross).
Sadly, many Christians approach life as if they receive instruction under the yoke, but then go out on their own, in their own power, to perform.
Now, many who operate this way would not see what they are doing as coming out from underneath the yoke of Jesus.
However, when we are stressed or fearful about what we need to do, or in following the Lord’s commands, that indicates that we have taken it on ourselves to be able to perform.
Our imperative is simply to give out what we have been given, nothing more, nothing less. And, in so doing, we will also continue on in the rest He gives us from trying to carry the load alone!
In our opening scripture we see that Jesus puts the disciples on the spot in terms of how the multitude was going to be fed. But—as we learn in another telling of this story—Jesus already knew what He was going to do and was actually seeing whether or not they “got it” yet.
“Jesus looked up and saw that a large crowd was coming toward Him, and He said to Philip, “Where will we buy bread for these people to eat?” But He said this to test Philip, because He knew what He was about to do.”
John 6:5-6 AMP
Do you “get it” yet? Do you understand how the Lord will operate in and through you?
Remember, you can only give out what Jesus gives to you to serve, just as the disciples fed the multitude with the bread and fish Jesus had multiplied in His hands.
If we can come to see everything we do as being sourced from the Lord, everything we give as being first received from Him, we will be able to live, move, and have our being, as well as operating in the miraculous, without stress and without fear.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!