The Faith Factor in Life – Part Three
Read John 14: 1 – 7
Doubtless few challenges confront us that are as great as the death of a loved one. When grief comes as a result of the death of a loved one we can entrust them into the care of the Lord also.
It is like standing on a pier next to a vast sailing ship. Its great mast supports the unfolding massive white sails. The breeze catches the sails and the vessel moves out. We watch it intently as it slowly moves out to sea. Each moment it moves further away and gradually its size diminishes in our gaze. It appears smaller and smaller. Finally, it reaches the horizon and as it sails beyond, out of sight, we say, “It is gone!”
Gone? Gone, where? Gone from our sight, that’s all. The ship is just as large in mast and hull as ever. The diminished size of the vessel in our sight lies not in you or it. At the very moment someone at your side says, “She is gone!” There are others in the port to which she sails just over the horizon who are saying, “Look, she is coming home!”
Jesus has gone before us to prepare a place and He awaits us.
Faith is even more rewarding by the fact Jesus said, “I will come again.”
Present tense – – – to take them to myself, in time and for eternity. The resurrection of Jesus gives us such hope and inspires our faith. It did it for the first century believers and it will do it for us.
Often we think we have it difficult standing for Jesus, and it often is. Many of those first century Christians were thrown to the lions or forced to face gladiators. Nero once watched with wicked fascination as Christians knelt and prayed in the arena. He was astonished as they looked heavenward and their faces seemed to glow with a heavenly radiance. He asked one of his aids, “What are they looking at? What do they see?” His advisor was secretly sympathetic to these faithful beliefs and replied almost reverently, “The resurrected Jesus!”
They had confident faith in Him. They heard Him when He said, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11, 12). Will you be as faithful in your arena of trial as they and even rejoice?
Martin Niemoller, a Jewish Christian, was one of the few to survive Hitler’s Dachau Prison in World War II. To his last day he was tormented by the sight of men and women trudging to their deaths and the smell of burning flesh. Years later in a radio interview in Chicago he was asked how he kept his sanity during that time. He said, “You are much stronger than you think you are if God is dwelling in your life.”
You can stand far more than you think if you know Jesus is with you and you look at your circumstances through the eyes of faith.
The Faith Factor in Life – Part Two
Read John 14: 1 – 7
In Numbers 13 there is a classic example of the faith/action factor. Two groups came back from spying out the land of promise. One group brought the majority report, “there are giants in the land that make us look like grasshoppers.”
Joshua and Caleb had been with these men and had seen the same things they had. They didn’t mention the giants, they simply said “it is a good and prosperous land — let’s possess it.”
Were they blind? No! They had twenty-twenty vision just like the others. The only difference was they were looking through the lens of faith.
Are you looking at the giants or the marvelous opportunity of possessing the potential property you are confronting for the Lord?
Another example of looking at things through the eye of faith is the experience of Elisha at Dothan. Some months ago I stood on that same hillside and reflected on His frightful moment. The Syrian army had surrounded the city. Elisha’s servant saw the Syrians and panicked. Elisha encouraged him and assured him victory was theirs. Oh, come on Elisha, be real! You are outnumbered, cut-off, and surrounded. Why was he so calm and confident? Had he not read the “Dothan Daily News” and comprehended his helpless plight? Yes, he knew all of that. He had probably seen it on the six o’clock news. However, he viewed the situation through the eyes of faith and saw what the Lord had in store.
Faith is confidence in God.
Is there any area of your life in which Jesus is not trusted with absolute control?
It is possible, though always improper, for Him to be present in your life without being President of your life.
He is not to be dormant in your life, but dominant. Repeat, dominant, not dormant.
Do you want Him merely as your savior Lord or as your sovereign Lord?
“This is the victory that overcomes the world, even your faith.” Be mindful
Jesus said, “I go (before) to prepare a place for you.”
“Go” translates to “prodromos” meaning, forerunner.
When an ocean vessel comes into port a pilot ship goes out to meet it and guide it safely in.The pilot of the pilot ship knows the harbor and how to guide the vessel to safe harbor. Hebrews 6:20 describes Jesus as our prodromos.
Having provided the ultimate, heaven, He will provide all else that is needed. Heaven is described as a prepared place. He never takes us to an unprepared place. We can entrust ourselves into His care in time and for eternity.
The Faith Factor in Life – Part One
Read John 14: 1 – 7
Jesus gathered with the disciples in the upper room the night before His execution. The world of the disciples is about to go into eclipse at midday. Their world is about to fall apart. They were understandably distressed.
Jesus has always told His followers of the glory and the pain involved in following Him. Every believer must realize you can’t expect to eat the honey unless you are willing to take the stings.
In comforting His disciples that night He shared principles that can give us stability in our crisis.
Jesus’ time of sharing in the upper room on His last night had been repetitiously interrupted by Peter. Peter blurted out a question all of us who follow Christ want to ask at times: “Lord, where are you going?” (John 13: 36). In His answer Christ revealed the supernatural antihistamine for the sting of life. It is distress that can be doverted if we realize He is reliable. At our best we often aren’t. At His worst He always is.
Jesus said, “”…you believe in God, believe also in Me.” Jesus’ statement is actually a double-plus imperative: “Have faith in God, and in Me have faith.”
That is the point at which sin entered the world. Adam and Eve didn’t have enough faith to believe God’s Word. They wanted to do things their way.
Faith is merely confidence in God’s character.
Hear this: “Faith is the submission of our reasoning and worry to all that is revealed (in God’s Word).”
Faith does not ignore facts, it introduces facts, the facts of revelation.
Faith is not irrational; it is supernatural.
The Greek word for faith, “pistis,” comes from the word, “pisteuo,” meaning to obey. When you say you have faith in God you are saying I am willing to obey God.
The old western movie star, Dale Evans, observed: “I sought the pot of gold at the foot of the rainbow. It eluded me. By simple faith, I found it at the foot of the cross.”
Perhaps you have been looking for your “pot of gold” without success. All that the heart longs for can be found in Jesus.
When we look at things through our natural eyes they may well appear to be foreboding and frightening. When we look at them through the eyes of faith they are seen differently. Check your optics. What lens are you using?
The Devil Made Me Do It
I have been reading a fantastic book by Bill O’Reilly entitled “Killing the Witches” which primarily deals with the killing of the witches in Salem. The part I found most interesting dealt with the framing of our Constitution and what was going on in churches of all faiths at the time. Pulpits were regularly dealing with the Devil versus God. Both were openly spoken of and the influence of each believed in. The Devil and demon possession had advocates. The Founders were aware of this. Most of the Founders were religious and well aware of the conflict. Even after a rowdy night in a pub most of them were in church the next morning.
Today, as then, the Devil and demons, in our community and across America have advocates. Though I have studied the subjects and written two books on it I will not pretend to describe how covens today most often operate. That is not the purpose of this writing. This is not about Satanism as an organization, but as an influence about and beyond the coven.
One of the Devil’s most popular ploys is to lead people to believe he doesn’t exist and that those who do believe he does are extremists. I risk that appellation.
My purpose is to say the Devil is real, alive, and well, but rarely openly acknowledged and even more rarely spoken of in pulpits. All the while the Devil goes on carrying out his devious deeds. Primarily among his deeds is the destruction of America. Why?
Consider what is happening in our country now. Do you see things that are contributing to the potential destruction of America? Are some of the issues that are contrary to Constitutional government at play chipping away at our foundation? Most agree they are. They are passed off as being political, and they are, but there are spiritual issues at play.
The following is so out of sync with the public climate today it sounds like hierarchy itself. The cause is not politics. That is the effect. The cause is the Devil.
Consider, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6: 12).
If America along with its constitutional form of government is destroyed that will open the door for the fulfillment of a Bible prophecy. Scripture reveals a time when there is to be a one world government. As long as there is a strong America that will never happen. Destroy America and its Constitution and the world is ripe for a one world government. It won’t be a good one.
A strong Constitution and its Bill of Rights contain principles that came out of the open acknowledgment of the Devil and his influence on society. The few pulpits that acknowledge this are occupied by ministers who are often considered fringe extremists. However, if more do not join the fray as opponents the Devil has an advantage.
If ministers are reluctant to join the debate they can still have a positive influence by calling for and creating an atmosphere conducive for a great spiritual awakening. That, after all, is what followed our national founding and resulted in God blessing America. Pray for it.
A Question Deserving an Answer
Follow this intriguing story and the question is posed.
The artist, Alexander Sternburg, who lived in Dusseldorf in Prussia, was commissioned to paint the crucifixion. He knew the story of the crucifixion by heart, but did not believe in Christ. One day he was walking in the forest near his city when he met a gypsy girl making straw baskets. She was lovely. He enlisted her to be a model for another painting he was doing of a dancing girl. She was enlisted to come three times a week. As she posed, her searching eyes found the painting of the crucifixion. “Who is that?” she asked. Sternburg: “The Christ.” “What is being done to Him?” Sternburg, “They are crucifying Him.” “Who are those people with angry faces?” Sternburg, “Now look here! I cannot talk. You have nothing to do but stand as I tell you.” Days later she asked, “Why did they crucify Him? Was he bad, very bad?” Sternburg, “Listen, and I will tell you once and for all. Then no more questions.” He told her the story of the cross. It moved her to tears.
Finally, her last day came. She stood motionless, but emotionally, before the painting and said to Sternburg, “You must love Him very much when He has done all that for you?” “All that for you,” rang through his mind for days. He knew he did not love Christ. Sometime later he was saved. Out of gratitude he sought to express his love through finishing the painting of the crucifixion. It was soon hung in the great museum in Dusseldorf. Underneath the inscription: “All this I did for thee; What hast thou done for Me?”
One day Sternburg visited the gallery and saw a lovely girl standing before the painting weeping. It was Pepita. They greeted and she said, “O Master! If he had but loved me so!” The new Sternburg told her of Christ’s love for her. In near unbelief and with deep gratitude she accepted Christ as Savior.
Some years later the painting was visited by the wealthy young nobleman, Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf. This young aristocrat was trained for a diplomatic career in the Court of Dresden. On a trip to Paris he stopped in Dusseldorf to rest his horses. While there he visited the art gallery. He noted the painting of Sternburg and was struck by it. He stood paused to read the inscription: “All this I did for thee; What has thou done for me?” His eyes met those of the thorn-crowned Christ. He could find no answer to that question that satisfied his mind. Hours passed, the light faded; time came for the gallery to close. It was night when he left the gallery, but a new day had dawned in his experience. From that day all that he had was placed at the cross of Christ – his wealth, fame, heart and life. He declared, “I have but one passion. It is Jesus, Jesus only.” He became a major figure in 18th Century Protestantism.
Now, consider the question as posed for you by Jesus: “All this I did for thee; What has thou done for me?”