Oct. 30, 2022

Living by Faith I (30 October 2022)

Introduction - When you got saved, you were destined to live a new life, one that is lived by faith in God.  It is His desire to give you skills so that you can be a citizen in an entirely unseen world, not just item natural world we live in.  The ability to see into this unseen world is called faith.  It is absolutely essential that we learn to live using this skill, or sense, because without it, we cannot please God.  Faith gets us in touch with the rest of God’s universe.  We think it is a great achievement to build a telescope which can see new aspects of the cosmos.  The new James Webb Space Telescope is a vast improvement over previous space telescopes, but it still only enables us to understand the world we can see.  God’s creation includes an incomprehensible universe of unseen people, places, and things in addition to what we can see.  

Hebrews 11:5,6  It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—“he disappeared, because God took him.” For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God. 6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. NLT

Most of us would like to live as long as possible and especially never die a physical death.  Notice that Enoch achieved that seemingly impossible goal!  Notice also that Enoch pleased God and that a big part of pleasing God is to live in faith.  

2 Corinthians 5:6-9 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord - 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight - 8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.- Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.  NLT

The common dream that is in most Christians at the moment we get saved, is that we hope to encounter no real problems or challenges, that we will have all of our needs met, and that we will never have an anxious or emotionally uncomfortable moment ever again as long as we live.  God actually does better than this, giving us “peace that passes understanding.” This does not come in the manner we think, but in a gradual, deliberate manner overseen by God Himself in each of us individually.  He does this by carefully exposing us to things which are fearful to us, and teaches us, in a controlled setting, to dominate each oppressive situation.  We really learn to permanently overcome fear by being trained like this.  

1 Corinthians 10:13 We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously.  TPT

The temptation referred to in the KJV of this verse is probably better understood as the Passion Translation reads, i.e., testing.  So, our Christian lives are infused with a cradle-to-grave program of training, including testing.  This training method is similar to the school systems we all grew up in, whether they were parochial, secular, collegiate, or vocational.  We learned from a teacher and then got tested on what you just learned.  God trains us in the same way.  Our Christian lives, then, are a continuous sequence something like this: 1) peace which passes understanding, interrupted occasionally by 2)  a fear-inspiring challenge, which we meet by 3) not giving in to fear, but learning what God says to do, 4) doing it (passing the test) and 5) teaching others what we learned.  

2 Kings 6:13-17 …“Go and find out where he is,” the king commanded, “so I can send troops to seize him.” And the report came back: “Elisha is at Dothan.” 14 So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city. 15 When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha. 16 “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” 17 Then Elisha prayed, “O. LORD, open his eyes and let him see!” The LORD opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire. NLT

Elisha’s instruction to his young assistant is a great lesson in how to grow in faith.  The first step is always “Don’t be afraid!”  With the probable exception of the initial faith we employ to get saved, which is a free gift from God, this is the only way faith grows.  We can ask for it, but it always comes through some kind of testing.  It is not coincidence that the Bible says,“Fear not” in 144 Scriptures.  In 16 more it says, ”Be strong and of good courage.”  Let me say again — you will not grow unless you face some situations which are not comfortable for you!  Here are some common ones and what fear and faith will say about each:

• Talking in front of people (can be as simple as saying your name to a group or talking to a stadium full of people or anything in between) — FEAR says, “You’ll sound stupid” FAITH says, “Wise words satisfy like a good meal; the right words bring satisfaction.”  Your words will give life.  A simple idea like “for God so loved the world…” is the most profound thing anyone could ever say!

• Praying in a group — FEAR says, “You won’t know what to say. It won’t work anyway. “ FAITH says, 'The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” Your prayer offered in faith, no matter how simple it sounds to you, is needed so that others can agree with it.  It is the agreement in prayer that God honors.  Eloquence doesn’t count for anything with God.  

• Praying in a tongue — FEAR says, “It’s from the devil”  FAITH says, “Your Father will give the Holy Spirit to whoever asks.“ Tongues are the evidence of a profound experience with the Holy Spirit.  It is the “earnest money” concerning a massive investment by God in the believer, giving him supernatural abilities of many kinds.  Praying in a tongue is absolutely necessary, because we don’t know completely what we should pray for.  

• Getting water baptized/baptizing someone — FEAR says, “You’ll / they’ll choke. It’s inconvenient and uncomfortable.” FAITH says, “Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved.” Baptism doesn’t justify a person, but it is absolutely necessary for the rest of our Christian life to work out.  Provision, protection, guidance, preparation for ministry all have to do with being water baptized.  

• Casting out a demon — FEAR says, “You can’t do it”  FAITH says, “These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name” Demons can do nothing to us.  There is not one biblical instance of a Christian being accosted by a demon.  The opposite is the case.  We have been given power to expel them from humans.  

• Teaching a lesson to anyone (kids, adults, a small group, the congregation, a group of congregations) — FEAR says, “You have nothing to say; if you do, it won’t be as good as______’s teaching.”  FAITH says, “Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  If we are supposed to make disciples and teach them, when do we learn to do that? Teaching is not forced on anyone, it is presented as an opportunity in the life of a small group.  Not much pressure, lots of friendly face, lots of affirmation for anyone’s attempts.  We must learn to share the basics of our faith with others!

• Laying hands on the sick / Having hands laid on you for healing — FEAR says, “Everyone has demons in them.  They will jump into you and make you sick.”  FAITH says, “These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed,”  1 Tim 5:22 (“lay hands on no man suddenly”) is the oft-quoted verse used to convey the idea that demons can jump from pray-er to pray-ee or vice-versa.  The passage actually talks about ordaining elders, as rightly translated in the NLT, not demons jumping from one person to another.   No Scripture of the Bible supports that false notion.   Every believer has some kind of ability to heal.  No one has all the individual healing abilities needed to heal all of our sick people, therefore, everyone is needed to pray. Really, just laying hands on a person is sufficient for healing.    

Conclusion — Overcoming fear is the first step in the walk of faith. Most of the above mentioned common fears involve the use of our ability to speak.  Most of the reluctance concerning speaking is our fear of what people will think when we talk around them.  This is not the place to use Proverbs 17:28 as a guide: “Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent.”  This wonderful scripture is a candid observation of how we perceive each other, not a command to squelch your speech.  

Aren’t we supposed to grow in humility? Then we should be opening our mouths, sharing and teaching, asking questions, giving answers and gaining, in the process, faith.