The Prophetic Word - Day 26: The Lord is the object of our faith.

“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!

#ThePropheticWord