Halloween is the time of the year when we, dress our kids up in neat little costumes; decorate our houses in spooky decor; buy a boat load if candy to pass out. Or maybe you’re the socialite of your neighborhood. So you throw a Halloween party. A night filled with innocent fun and laughter. But it's not as innocent as you think. Halloween is filled with evil practices.
Wait, before you click the X and walk off saying I am over exaggerating and overreacting. Let me explain a few things and give you a few facts.
As innocent as it may seem, Halloween is filled with evil practices like idolatry, witchcraft and satanism. All of which, God has commanded; us (The Christian); not to take part in these activities.
God say idolatry is the same as hating Him. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, Exodus 20:5
Witchcraft, sorcery, psychics, fortune-telling, etc… all of these things are detestable to God. And anyone who does them is detestable to God. When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. Deuteronomy 18:9-12
Jeremiah 10:2 This is what the LORD says: "Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. God does not want us behaving like the world does. He tells us not to learn and take up the ways of the world around us.
We cannot get entangled with the practices and activates and things of this world. 2 Corinthians 6:14-16 (MSG) Don't become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That's not partnership; that's war. Is light best friends with dark? Does Christ go strolling with the Devil? Do trust and mistrust hold hands? Who would think of setting up pagan idols in God's holy Temple? But that is exactly what we are, each of us a temple in whom God lives. God himself put it this way: "I'll live in them, move into them; I'll be their God and they'll be my people.
God doesn't want us to copy the world. We are to be the a light in darkness, not copiers of dark things. 3 John 1:11(NIV) Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.
Halloween is not the innocent, American Pie, Valentine’s Day, Department store sales tactic holiday you think it is. And it is not a new concept. The retailers did not create Halloween, although they have taken advantage of it to make more money. Halloween has been around for thousands of years. During Old Testament times, the Druids of Western Europe practiced idolatry by offering prayers and sacrifices and gifts to their false god of the dead. Hoping to appease him and buy a lightened or exonerate the punishment of those who died during the currently ending year. They would offer their prayers, sacrifices and gifts on the night before their new year’s day, which happens to be; October 31 on our calendar (Halloween day). During the middle ages the Catholic Church instead acknowledging it for the evil it is; embraced it by adding its own wrinkle. Changing the name to All Saints day and renaming the practice of offering prayers, sacrifices and gifts to relieve the suffering of the dead, calling them penances. And today, all of the all of the idolatry, witchcraft and satanic practices of Halloween are still being unknowingly practiced and have been almost completely adopted into our culture. It's been publicized, mediatized and politicized into correctness and acceptability. Halloween my seem innocent enough to you on the surface, but it is against everything that Christianity stands for. But, maybe you’re thinking; "Well I don't believe in all that ghost and goblins stuffy anyways. I just want to have fun or I just want my kids to have fun." Sometime just wanting to have fun can have serious consequences. Or maybe you’re thinking, but everybody is doing it. There may even be some churches you know of, who have decided to participate by having parties. But the truth of the matter is; God says we are to stay away from and not take part in such things as: first and foremost idolatry, worshiping other false gods; secondly witchcraft and sorcery; and we are absolutely not to be associating with demonic and satanic activities. Yes, everyone maybe doing, but there is a minority and small group who remain loyal to God Romans 11:4-5. Instead of saying everyone is doing it, Get on the minority board and say everybody else is doing it.
Joshua 24:15 (NIV) But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Describing Faith III
The Facets of Faith
Today I would like to continue our exploration of faith and its many facets. But first let’s have a quick recap of the first three facets of faith. In part two of "How to describe faith" we discovered that the first three facets of faith are: 1) it stretches your imagination. It causes us to look beyond our current circumstances and mentally picture the future. 2) It taking the initiative. It causes us to move and take action. 3) Faith is taking risk. By faith we take big risks and step into what we cannot see, into the unknown.
Remember, when we talk about faith it's impossible to really describe it in just one word or sentence. So, now let’s continue to explore faith and its many facets.
Beginning with the fourth facet of faith; Faith is expecting the best. Let’s go back to the women with the issue of blood in Mark 5:25-29. The woman after hearing of Jesus followed behind the crowd of people surrounding Him as he traveled down the round. In verse 28 she thought to herself. "If I can put a finger on his robe, I can get well." Mark 5:28 (MSG). The woman had an expectation. She expected to be healed when she touched Jesus' robe. And the minute she touched His robe, she was healed. Expectation is an essential part of faith. Think about this: how many times have you gotten a craving in the middle of the night; jumped out of bed; Got dressed and jumped into your car; and drove to the fast food restaurant knowing it was closed? Never, the reason you drove to the restaurant is because you expected it to be open and still serving food. What caused you to get out of bed that late and drive to that restaurant? Your craving for food caused you to think to yourself, "Hmmm, Wendy's is open" at that moment you expected Wendy's to be open and still serving food. This woman heard about Jesus and no doubt about how He healed the sick. And here Faith kicked in. Romans 10:17 say's Faith comes by hearing. The moment she heard about Jesus, she developed a faith for healing. And her faith caused her to think of the best outcome for her current situation. She thought the best thing that can happen to me if I touch Jesus' robe is, I will be healed. I have heard many people say in difficult situations “What's the worst that could happen". Stop asking that question. Start using your faith, and ask "What's the best that can happen." Faith is expecting the best.
The fifth facet of faith is: Faith is following instruction. Hebrews 11:8-9 Abraham by faith left his family and home and traveled to a placed that he didn't even know how to get to. Genesis 12:1-4 God spoke to Abraham (then named Abram) and told him to get his family and things and leave. But to where? God simply told Abraham, "To a place I will show you how to get to." So, God has told Abraham to go to a place and doesn't tell him where the place is. What the name of the place is. Or even give him the coordinates to punch into to his GPS. But yet in Genesis 12:4 Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. By faith, Abraham followed Gods instruction. Faith is going without knowing, where you are going. You’re just following Gods instruction. Another key aspect to following God instructions is to make sure your faith is strong enough for the level you are seeking Gods instructions for. It's impossible to follow Gods instructions for a Mercedes with Ford level faith. When you listen to God, you will experience decrease before you experience the increase. Judges 7:1-18. In the book of the Judges, God spoke to Gideon and told him that he was to gather the men of his tribe and take them into battle against the Midianite army who had come in to take their land. And in chapter 7 God begins to do something a little different than what would be considered normal for an army going into battle. Gideon had assembled all the troops’ together 30 thousand men ready to go and fight against the Midian army. Then God tells Gideon to send 20 thousand of the men home; Two thirds of the army. Then God tells Gideon, you still have too many men, send more home. I will tell you which ones. He then tells Gideon to send another nine thousand seven hundred soldiers home; leaving them with only three hundred to fight the Midianite army. Why was God sending soldiers back home, instead of adding more to the assembly? God was building Gideon’s faith. It took a tremendous amount of trust and faith to follow the directions God was giving him. Going against all of the normal procedures of war; go into battle with only three hundred men; against over fifteen thousand men. That’s kind of like saying something crazy like, ohh I don’t know; Love you enemy; repay evil with good; bless them that curse you. That’s just not normal stuff to do...unless you have faith in God; who told you to do it. The fifth facet of faith is, follow Gods instructions.
The sixth facet of faith: Faith is being persistent. People of faith don't know how to quit. They keep on keeping on. Things will always come up when God calls you to do something. There will always be something for you to use as an excuse. Genesis 6:14-17 God commanded Noah to build and ark. Then in Genesis 7:4 God tells Noah He is going to cause it to rain and flood the whole earth. So, here is Noah’s first chance to give an excuse. God says "Noah build an ark; I am going to make it rain for forty days and forty nights." Noah’s response is, "Ok God, but what’s an ark. And what in the world is rain." See, up to this point it had never rained on the earth. The water currently on the earth was coming up from the ground. Genesis 2:5-6 so if Noah wanted an excuse; being told to build an unknown object called an ark to float on this unknown rain stuff was a good one. How do you do something that has not yet been defined? No doubt Noah was talked about and ridiculed for this ridiculous ark thing he was building. And then when friends questioned him about why he was building it. And he explained the water in the sky was going to fall to earth. They must have thought he was nuts. But Noah remained persistent. After God gives you something to do, you have to endure being accused and ridiculed. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9 (NIV) how do you stay strong. You keep on praying and keep on believing. Faith is being persistent.
The seventh facet: faith is rebuilding and rebounding from failure. Everybody fails and most of our hurts come from our attempts to succeed at something and fail at it. But the thing about failure is not the failure it's rebounding from the failure. This is the hard part, because being a person of faith means being persistent. So that means getting up, dusting yourself off and getting back up on that bull. This is when the ridicule and persecution happens. People don't really talk about you when you fail. But when you keep on moving; Keep on persisting. When you jump back up on that same bull for another attempt; that’s when they talk about you. Why would you operate by faith, fail and still have faith; because faith is rebuilding and rebounding from failure. Faith sees productivity where there was bareness. Success where there was failure. Fulfillment where there has been frustration. Faith sees a useless life; turned into a successful life. Faith says, “I will not dwell on the past, but what I can become.” Faith is rebuilding and rebounding from failure.
As you can see from this lesson faith is multi-faceted. It has some many valuable aspects to it. But one thing that can be summed up in one word, Is the focal point of our faith. God is the focus of our faith. He is the object of our faith. What God does in and through our lives by faith is for His and only His glory. Adam was created to glorify God, Jesus gloried his father. From the first man, to the only begotten son, faith glorifies God. The seven facets given in this lesson, build us up in faith so that we can bring our heavenly father glory.
13 "Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.14 "Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill.15 If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand.16 Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. Matthew 5:13-16 (MSG)
Today I would like to continue our exploration of faith and its many facets. But first let’s have a quick recap of the first three facets of faith. In part two of "How to describe faith" we discovered that the first three facets of faith are: 1) it stretches your imagination. It causes us to look beyond our current circumstances and mentally picture the future. 2) It taking the initiative. It causes us to move and take action. 3) Faith is taking risk. By faith we take big risks and step into what we cannot see, into the unknown.
Remember, when we talk about faith it's impossible to really describe it in just one word or sentence. So, now let’s continue to explore faith and its many facets.
Beginning with the fourth facet of faith; Faith is expecting the best. Let’s go back to the women with the issue of blood in Mark 5:25-29. The woman after hearing of Jesus followed behind the crowd of people surrounding Him as he traveled down the round. In verse 28 she thought to herself. "If I can put a finger on his robe, I can get well." Mark 5:28 (MSG). The woman had an expectation. She expected to be healed when she touched Jesus' robe. And the minute she touched His robe, she was healed. Expectation is an essential part of faith. Think about this: how many times have you gotten a craving in the middle of the night; jumped out of bed; Got dressed and jumped into your car; and drove to the fast food restaurant knowing it was closed? Never, the reason you drove to the restaurant is because you expected it to be open and still serving food. What caused you to get out of bed that late and drive to that restaurant? Your craving for food caused you to think to yourself, "Hmmm, Wendy's is open" at that moment you expected Wendy's to be open and still serving food. This woman heard about Jesus and no doubt about how He healed the sick. And here Faith kicked in. Romans 10:17 say's Faith comes by hearing. The moment she heard about Jesus, she developed a faith for healing. And her faith caused her to think of the best outcome for her current situation. She thought the best thing that can happen to me if I touch Jesus' robe is, I will be healed. I have heard many people say in difficult situations “What's the worst that could happen". Stop asking that question. Start using your faith, and ask "What's the best that can happen." Faith is expecting the best.
The fifth facet of faith is: Faith is following instruction. Hebrews 11:8-9 Abraham by faith left his family and home and traveled to a placed that he didn't even know how to get to. Genesis 12:1-4 God spoke to Abraham (then named Abram) and told him to get his family and things and leave. But to where? God simply told Abraham, "To a place I will show you how to get to." So, God has told Abraham to go to a place and doesn't tell him where the place is. What the name of the place is. Or even give him the coordinates to punch into to his GPS. But yet in Genesis 12:4 Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. By faith, Abraham followed Gods instruction. Faith is going without knowing, where you are going. You’re just following Gods instruction. Another key aspect to following God instructions is to make sure your faith is strong enough for the level you are seeking Gods instructions for. It's impossible to follow Gods instructions for a Mercedes with Ford level faith. When you listen to God, you will experience decrease before you experience the increase. Judges 7:1-18. In the book of the Judges, God spoke to Gideon and told him that he was to gather the men of his tribe and take them into battle against the Midianite army who had come in to take their land. And in chapter 7 God begins to do something a little different than what would be considered normal for an army going into battle. Gideon had assembled all the troops’ together 30 thousand men ready to go and fight against the Midian army. Then God tells Gideon to send 20 thousand of the men home; Two thirds of the army. Then God tells Gideon, you still have too many men, send more home. I will tell you which ones. He then tells Gideon to send another nine thousand seven hundred soldiers home; leaving them with only three hundred to fight the Midianite army. Why was God sending soldiers back home, instead of adding more to the assembly? God was building Gideon’s faith. It took a tremendous amount of trust and faith to follow the directions God was giving him. Going against all of the normal procedures of war; go into battle with only three hundred men; against over fifteen thousand men. That’s kind of like saying something crazy like, ohh I don’t know; Love you enemy; repay evil with good; bless them that curse you. That’s just not normal stuff to do...unless you have faith in God; who told you to do it. The fifth facet of faith is, follow Gods instructions.
The sixth facet of faith: Faith is being persistent. People of faith don't know how to quit. They keep on keeping on. Things will always come up when God calls you to do something. There will always be something for you to use as an excuse. Genesis 6:14-17 God commanded Noah to build and ark. Then in Genesis 7:4 God tells Noah He is going to cause it to rain and flood the whole earth. So, here is Noah’s first chance to give an excuse. God says "Noah build an ark; I am going to make it rain for forty days and forty nights." Noah’s response is, "Ok God, but what’s an ark. And what in the world is rain." See, up to this point it had never rained on the earth. The water currently on the earth was coming up from the ground. Genesis 2:5-6 so if Noah wanted an excuse; being told to build an unknown object called an ark to float on this unknown rain stuff was a good one. How do you do something that has not yet been defined? No doubt Noah was talked about and ridiculed for this ridiculous ark thing he was building. And then when friends questioned him about why he was building it. And he explained the water in the sky was going to fall to earth. They must have thought he was nuts. But Noah remained persistent. After God gives you something to do, you have to endure being accused and ridiculed. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9 (NIV) how do you stay strong. You keep on praying and keep on believing. Faith is being persistent.
The seventh facet: faith is rebuilding and rebounding from failure. Everybody fails and most of our hurts come from our attempts to succeed at something and fail at it. But the thing about failure is not the failure it's rebounding from the failure. This is the hard part, because being a person of faith means being persistent. So that means getting up, dusting yourself off and getting back up on that bull. This is when the ridicule and persecution happens. People don't really talk about you when you fail. But when you keep on moving; Keep on persisting. When you jump back up on that same bull for another attempt; that’s when they talk about you. Why would you operate by faith, fail and still have faith; because faith is rebuilding and rebounding from failure. Faith sees productivity where there was bareness. Success where there was failure. Fulfillment where there has been frustration. Faith sees a useless life; turned into a successful life. Faith says, “I will not dwell on the past, but what I can become.” Faith is rebuilding and rebounding from failure.
As you can see from this lesson faith is multi-faceted. It has some many valuable aspects to it. But one thing that can be summed up in one word, Is the focal point of our faith. God is the focus of our faith. He is the object of our faith. What God does in and through our lives by faith is for His and only His glory. Adam was created to glorify God, Jesus gloried his father. From the first man, to the only begotten son, faith glorifies God. The seven facets given in this lesson, build us up in faith so that we can bring our heavenly father glory.
13 "Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.14 "Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill.15 If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand.16 Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. Matthew 5:13-16 (MSG)
Describing Faith II
The Facets of Faith
In part one of How to describe your faith; we talk about the benefits of faith. Knowing what the benefits of your faith are important. But now it’s time for us to move into describing what faith is. As I said in part one, faith is not something you can sum up in one word or even one sentence. It just has to much depth; to many facets to it. We could try to say it’s trusting in God, but then that leave us trying to describe trust. The point is we cannot just deal with surface level descriptions of faith; unless you just don’t want to continue maturing in your faith. So let’s begin looking at and describing faith.
The first aspect of faith is it stretches your imagination. Ephesians 3:20 God is able to do exceeding more than we can think or imagine. Faith always begins with a mental picture, a dream or an idea. God starts by stretching our imagination. In Genesis 15:1-4, When God wanted to use Abraham, named Abram at the time. He began by placing an image in his mind. God was going to use Abraham to bring forth the nation of Israel. But before He could do so, God had to get Abraham to look beyond his current circumstances. God needed to stretch his imagination. Faith is visualizing the future in the present. It is impossible for us to imagine all the possibilities that God can do through our faith. Whatever you can imagine God says, “I can do more than that!” If your imagination is not out of this world, it’s not faith, because faith stretches your imagination.
Secondly, faith is taking the initiative. Mark 5:25-28 A woman had an issue of blood for twelve years. But she took the initiative; a risk, because she believed if she could just touch the fringe of Jesus’ cloths, she would be healed. To understand just how much of a leap of faith this woman took, you have to understand the time she lived in and what the risk involved in what she did was. In Jesus’ time one of the biblical laws was that when a woman had an issue of blood, what we call today the menstrual cycle. When they would have their cycle, they would be considered ceremonially unclean. Anyone deemed ceremonially unclean could not enter the temple. This was a big deal during that period. The temple was where the presence of God was. So to them it wasn’t as simple as not being able to go to church. Hear a few praise and worship songs and the preacher hoop it up. For them it was being shut-off, from God. Another aspect of the law was anyone who touched a woman experiencing a flow of blood or even sitting on the same seat or bed as the woman, was also considered unclean. So to prevent this from happening, a woman during the time of her cycle would have to go to a building that was designated for women to stay at during their cycle. And they had to stay there all the way up to seven days after their cycle ended. (Leviticus 15:25-29) This was to insure that no one would accidentally touch a menstruating woman and become unclean. Now this woman had been having her issue or cycle abnormally for twelve years. So, hearing of Jesus and that he was in her town. She knowing the risk associated with it, decided, not only to leave the designated area. But set out to intentionally touch Jesus. She said to herself “If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.” and then took the initiative. Faith is taking the initiative.
The third facet, faith is risking failure. Acts 3:1-7 Peter, takes a big risk in this chapter. On their way into the temple for afternoon prayer, Peter steps out on faith, during what we could call, rush hour for the temple. It is three o’clock in the afternoon at the temple. The much of the town would be also making their way to the temple as well. So, what Peter was about to do was not something that would occur in the shadows. Not only that but the man whom we are looking at would have been very well know at least in the sense that he was brought to the temple everyday and sat at the entrance. So most of the towns people would have known that he was crippled. What Peter, was about to do was risky. If Peter told this man to get up and walk, and he didn’t everyone would see it. But, because he had faith, Peter takes the risk and speaks healing into this man’s life. There is no such thing as faith without risk. There is always a risk when you step out on faith. Faith is stepping out into the unknown. It’s looking at all things from God point of view. You take a risk standing up for righteousness. You take a risk speak up for what you believe in. You take a risk when you share the gospel with the lost. But, you do it because faith is risking failure.
So the first three aspects of faith are: It stretches your imaginations. When it comes to faith, your imagination should be out of this world. Faith is also taking the initiative. It’s leaving the designated area of complacency and moving intentionally toward what is hoped for. And faith is risking failure. It is sticking your neck out to do what seems impossible for you, but what God can do with you. These are just the first three facets. We will continue our look at faith in part 3 of how to describing faith. Until then Enjoy God’s Blessing!
In part one of How to describe your faith; we talk about the benefits of faith. Knowing what the benefits of your faith are important. But now it’s time for us to move into describing what faith is. As I said in part one, faith is not something you can sum up in one word or even one sentence. It just has to much depth; to many facets to it. We could try to say it’s trusting in God, but then that leave us trying to describe trust. The point is we cannot just deal with surface level descriptions of faith; unless you just don’t want to continue maturing in your faith. So let’s begin looking at and describing faith.
The first aspect of faith is it stretches your imagination. Ephesians 3:20 God is able to do exceeding more than we can think or imagine. Faith always begins with a mental picture, a dream or an idea. God starts by stretching our imagination. In Genesis 15:1-4, When God wanted to use Abraham, named Abram at the time. He began by placing an image in his mind. God was going to use Abraham to bring forth the nation of Israel. But before He could do so, God had to get Abraham to look beyond his current circumstances. God needed to stretch his imagination. Faith is visualizing the future in the present. It is impossible for us to imagine all the possibilities that God can do through our faith. Whatever you can imagine God says, “I can do more than that!” If your imagination is not out of this world, it’s not faith, because faith stretches your imagination.
Secondly, faith is taking the initiative. Mark 5:25-28 A woman had an issue of blood for twelve years. But she took the initiative; a risk, because she believed if she could just touch the fringe of Jesus’ cloths, she would be healed. To understand just how much of a leap of faith this woman took, you have to understand the time she lived in and what the risk involved in what she did was. In Jesus’ time one of the biblical laws was that when a woman had an issue of blood, what we call today the menstrual cycle. When they would have their cycle, they would be considered ceremonially unclean. Anyone deemed ceremonially unclean could not enter the temple. This was a big deal during that period. The temple was where the presence of God was. So to them it wasn’t as simple as not being able to go to church. Hear a few praise and worship songs and the preacher hoop it up. For them it was being shut-off, from God. Another aspect of the law was anyone who touched a woman experiencing a flow of blood or even sitting on the same seat or bed as the woman, was also considered unclean. So to prevent this from happening, a woman during the time of her cycle would have to go to a building that was designated for women to stay at during their cycle. And they had to stay there all the way up to seven days after their cycle ended. (Leviticus 15:25-29) This was to insure that no one would accidentally touch a menstruating woman and become unclean. Now this woman had been having her issue or cycle abnormally for twelve years. So, hearing of Jesus and that he was in her town. She knowing the risk associated with it, decided, not only to leave the designated area. But set out to intentionally touch Jesus. She said to herself “If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.” and then took the initiative. Faith is taking the initiative.
The third facet, faith is risking failure. Acts 3:1-7 Peter, takes a big risk in this chapter. On their way into the temple for afternoon prayer, Peter steps out on faith, during what we could call, rush hour for the temple. It is three o’clock in the afternoon at the temple. The much of the town would be also making their way to the temple as well. So, what Peter was about to do was not something that would occur in the shadows. Not only that but the man whom we are looking at would have been very well know at least in the sense that he was brought to the temple everyday and sat at the entrance. So most of the towns people would have known that he was crippled. What Peter, was about to do was risky. If Peter told this man to get up and walk, and he didn’t everyone would see it. But, because he had faith, Peter takes the risk and speaks healing into this man’s life. There is no such thing as faith without risk. There is always a risk when you step out on faith. Faith is stepping out into the unknown. It’s looking at all things from God point of view. You take a risk standing up for righteousness. You take a risk speak up for what you believe in. You take a risk when you share the gospel with the lost. But, you do it because faith is risking failure.
So the first three aspects of faith are: It stretches your imaginations. When it comes to faith, your imagination should be out of this world. Faith is also taking the initiative. It’s leaving the designated area of complacency and moving intentionally toward what is hoped for. And faith is risking failure. It is sticking your neck out to do what seems impossible for you, but what God can do with you. These are just the first three facets. We will continue our look at faith in part 3 of how to describing faith. Until then Enjoy God’s Blessing!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)