Faith Building

We are looking at 3 keys to God’s provision. We’ve looked at 2: Made Worthy & Made Holy. Let’s look at the 3rd: FAITH.

Believe it or not, I want us to downgrade, ‘faith’. I want us to lower the bar! Why? Most of us have read books by or about, Smith Wigglesworth, Rees Howells, John. G. Lake. etc. These were great men of God who moved in a remarkable degree of faith. Such faith can make us feel as if we have insignificant, insubstantial and minimal faith because we have not achieved anything like the results of these men.

Let me reassure you. Smith Wiggelsworth was a plumber, Rees Howells was a coal miner. Both these men started with the same degree of faith as you and I. They built on that faith and received the revelation knowledge that enabled them to move into ‘great faith’.

You and I are also, men & women of faith. When we became born again, God deposited in our spirit, ‘the measure or degree of faith’.

Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. (KJV)

Did you notice, it was,the measure of faith not, a measure of faith. A measure specifies a quantity, whereas the measure is endless.

God deposited His faith within us so we could believe His Word and receive from Him what we want and need. So  how do I grow my faith. Start small. The next time worry, fear or anxiety come calling, take a promise of God such as:

Prov 3:5,6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;  In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.  (NKJV)

Now, give your worry to God and receive from Him the promise that He will direct your paths. The word, ‘direct’ means to make prosperous, pleasant and upright. Now meditate on Jesus and His word.

You may take those thoughts of worry back into your mind. Choose to give them back to God again and practice leaving them there. Eventually you will win through and be at peace in your heart and mind.

You will see God deliver you and deal with that worried situation. Now you can rejoice in the Lord for His goodness. But what’s happened?  You’ve now grown in your faith in God.

Once we’ve proved God and His word, we can prove Him again, and again, and again, and we find our faith developing beyond what we thought possible.

Now: let’s put these 3 keys together.

1) We now know we are worthy to receive God’s provision.

2) We now know we are holy enough to receive God’s provision.

3) We now know we have the faith to receive God’s provision.

If we work on these 3 keys, we will see God become Jehovah Jireh to us.

Meditation point: I am well equipped in Christ to receive everything I need from my heavenly Father.

NKJV

Col 1:21-22.  You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.  (NLT)

We’ve been looking at the 3 keys that qualify us to receive the fullness of God’s provision. Key No1 was: Made Worthy. Today we’ll look at:

Key No 2 – Made Holy – Under the O.C. (Old Covenant), Israel were made holy by God if they kept His law.

Deut 28:9 The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. (NIV)

What follows (Deut 238:11-13) is a list of the blessings that will come upon Israel if they keep His law. However, this is followed by a list of curses (v15-45) if Israel fails to keep His law.

It’s easy to deduce that OBEDIENCE = HOLY = BLESSING (provision).

Whereas: DISOBEDIENCE = UNHOLY = CURSE (non-provision).

The Church,  many times,  has taught an O.C. approach to God instead of the N.C. That puts the onus on man’s behaviour. If you obey God, if you keep holy and pure, if you do this and if you do that, if, if, if, if, if, if …………………………………… !!!!!!

Thus, buried deep in our psyche is a mindset that produces the speech and actions of self-righteousness, holiness, legalism and law-keeping. Hence when we fail to live up to the required standards, we are taught that we have broken fellowship or even relationship with God, that there is sin in our life, that we are carnal and unholy and undeserving of God’s blessing and provision.

This kind of thinking leads Christians into a continual cycle of condemnation, guilt, shame, rejection and the repeated accusations of satan and his demonic host.

Our faith, acceptance and confidence to receive from God is now destroyed and we are condemned to a lifestyle of hopelessness, defeat and poverty.

In our next Blog we’ll look at the N.C. approach to God’s holiness and provision.

Meditation Point: When I fail, sin or exhibit weakness, am I able to confidently approach God and receive from Him or does my guilt and condemnation assign me to a place in the outer courts of God’s presence, longing and hoping that one day it will all change?

Military Medals.

The soldier above has fought for his country in a time of war. His fellow countryman have rightly honoured him with many medals for his courage and bravery.

In my last Blog I looked at how many Christians feel unworthy. Today, I want to show you how Christ has made us worthy and given us special honour.

If we look at ourselves, we will always see weakness, failure, inadequacy and unworthiness because looking inward always makes us sin conscious. The answer is not to look inward, but look outward to the cross and to see ourselves in Christ.

Christ is our representative man before God, and God found Him to be perfect, holy, righteous and complete. He therefore raised Him up, crowned Him as King and set Him at His own right hand.

The right hand in Hebrew culture is the place of blessing, honour and favour. When invited to a Hebrew home for a meal, the host would always seat the people in order of importance. Everybody knew that the person seated at the right hand of the host, was the special guest seated in the place of honour. (Lk 14:8-10)

This is why the mother of James and John lobbied Jesus on their behalf, that they might but sit at His left and right hand in the Kingdom. (Mt 20:20,21)

As Christians, you and I are new creations (2 Cor 5:17), we have been made righteous (2 Cor 5:21), holy (Eph 1:4), perfect & complete (Col 4:12), Kings and priests (1 Pet 2:9) and have been raised up and seated together in Christ at the Father’s right hand. (Eph 2:5,6)

This is why Paul says in Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. (NKJV).

The word, ‘accepted’ in the Greek , means ‘to grace someone’ and is expressed in 3 ways:

1) ACCEPTED: Because Christ is accepted, we too are totally accepted of the Father.

2) SPECIAL HONOUR: Because Christ is honoured we too have been given special honour.

3) HIGHLY FAVOURED: Because Christ is favoured, we too are highly favoured.

We have been graced by acceptance, special honour and are highly favoured in the sight of the Father; And because we have been graced, non of these things are dependant on what we have or have not done, they are dependant on who we are in Christ.

Therefore, if we fail, struggle with weaknesses and besetting sins etc – we never stop being accepted, honoured and highly favoured in the eyes of the Father. We should confess these words many times until they become revelation and change the way we see ourselves.

Now, speak this out loud to yourself: I am totally accepted at all times by my Father, He has given me special honour and seated me at His own right hand. He has highly favoured me, therefore, I expect good things to happen to me, not because I am worthy, but because He has made me worthy.

Take a long hard look at the words above. Read them very slowly, Meditate on them, let them sink in, ponder them, speak them out loud to yourself a dozen times. Why do I say this?  It’s because many of God’s people do not, I repeat, do not feel worthy of God’s provision.

The teaching they’ve received has made them feel unworthy. So let’s look at 3 keys, that if we change them, will make us feel worthy of God’s provision.

These keys will unlock the doors that have kept us in a prison of unworthiness and slavery, and we will walk out into freedom and the abundance of God’s provision.

Key No 1 – Made Worthy: Living under a law mentality of the O.C. (Old Covenant) will naturally produce in us a mind set of unworthiness. Why is this? Because the role of the law is to point out our sins, weaknesses and failures.

Rom 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.  (NKJV)

Rom 7:7-8 No, the law is not sinful, but it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known the sin in my heart-the evil desires that are hidden there-if the law had not said, “You must not have evil desires in your heart.”   (TLB)

Under law, whenever we sin or fail, the law points to it immediately. This triggers guilt and condemnation. satan (small s) uses the law against us to accuse us of sin. The name, ‘satan’ means, ‘the accuser’. The breaking of the law is the only thing he can accuse us of.

Rev 12:10 Then I heard a  voice saying in heaven, ” The kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. (NKJV)

We break the law numerous times every day. The law is perfect, a representation of God’s perfect character. There’s only one problem. We can’t keep it. We can’t live up to it’s standards.

Over time, this repeated breaking of law develops a mindset of unworthiness,  hopelessness and defeat. It is furthered strengthened by the teaching we receive. Such things as: We must lead a holy life. if Jesus isn’t Lord of all, He isn’t Lord at all. Unconfessed sin breaks our fellowship with God. Problems, besetting sins and weaknesses disqualify us from God’s provision.

These and other such sayings, proclaim loudly to us, ‘You are unworthy’. Our prayers reflect this. ‘Lord, we are not worthyof you. We are but sinners. We are worms, grasshoppers in your sight. We are weak,  not able to lift our heads in your presence, etc, etc.

In my next Blog we’ll see how Jesus Christ has made us totally worthy. Not because of what we have or have not done, but because of what He did on the cross.

Meditation Point: Do I struggle repeatedly with any of these symptoms:  guilt, condemnation, shame, rejection, failure, hopelessness etc. All these symptoms will make me feel unworthy.

Rom 7:24-25  I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?  The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. (THE MESSAGE)