Tags
believing, discipline, experience, fear, following Jesus, healing power, Jesus Christ, knowing God, maturity, Oswald Chambers, pain, small faith, spiritual power, true faith
Blank mind, blank heart, blank sheet – aka FAITH. 😉 Or in other words, our faith may have no other basis than……….the power of God, as our friend and brother Paul said here,
“And I, when I came to you, brothers,1 did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Cor 2:1-5 ESV)
How do we get there?
To be honest, simply by being stripped off from everything which is not from God. Indeed, a painful experience for the flesh that suffers when God’s Spirit cuts away any effort of the Old Adam and Eve to DO something for God or at least to HAVE something in themselves to get in touch with God. His divine fire burns incessantly in the hearts of those who should learn to primarily trust in God and not in themselves, until all self-will and false (spiritual) strength of fallen human nature has died.
Jesus’ disciples faced the same problems we face today when we wonder whether we have true faith or not. Yet our Lord made it clear where our faith should come from, for it is written,
“One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”” (Lk 8:22-25 ESV)
Why asked Jesus where their faith was? Not that He really wanted to hear a response, I guess. Instead, it seems that He wanted to make them aware of the fact that there was a lack of faith inside them and thus He displayed where the power to believe springs from……….only from Him who calmed the wind and the water!
We might also think of the situation where Jesus simply said to the worried ruler of the synagogue,
“Do not fear, only believe.” (Mk 5:36)
Beforehand that man had to realize that his daughter had died. However, there might have been a tiny mustard seed of hope in the midst of his pain and struggles that caused him to further “trouble” Jesus until Jesus saw his need, spoke, and acted. And THEN, the miracle happened. Not before. Actually, what would have happened if the ruler of the synagogue had not left his house and bothered Jesus? Although the ruler’s daughter had been dead, her body could not resist the resurrection power of Jesus’ touch and words because her father had left his house, the center of his former old life, and had been searching for the only ONE who could help him. Don’t we all admire the power of God in Jesus?
“Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement.” (Mk 5:41-42 ESV)
We should go and seek Him who gives us genuine faith instead of “sitting at home” and watching all things perish that are visible to the eye. We ought to leave our old life and human thought patterns behind and trust in Him whose paths are not yet known to us. May God help us all to do so.
In closing, I’d like to add another quote from one of Oswald Chambers’s daily devotionals that offers a short glance at the things that eventually spring from true faith.
There are areas in our lives where that faith has not worked in us as yet— places still untouched by the life of God. There were none of those places in Jesus Christ’s life, and there are to be none in ours. Jesus prayed, “This is eternal life, that they may know You…” (John 17:3). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we will take this view, life will become one great romance— a glorious opportunity of seeing wonderful things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.
If you like, read more here http://utmost.org/the-faith-to-persevere/
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” (Eph 4:11-14 ESV)
Michael said:
I heard Art Katz share a story in a small group one day about how this stripping of our own intellectual pride and abilities worked out in him. It seems that being a Jew who came to Christ was quite the novelty back in the 70’s, so this college Christian club invited him to come and speak at their campus auditorium. He accepted the invitation and so they set out to do all they could to fill the auditorium for the event with word of mouth and advertising and such. When Art got there he saw these hand bills all over the campus with the catch phrase, “THE KATZ IS COMING!” He was not all that pleased.
So with great fanfare and club leader acting as the M.C. got up and introduce Art to the awaiting crowd. Well Art got up and felt NO anointing to say anything to this large crowd of kids who had come to see the modern marvel speak. So what did he do? What would YOU do with no unction or leading? I am sure that most of us would have tried to fake it and at least pull out some old favorite sermon to share, but NOT Art. All he said was, “God has not given me anything to share with you.” and then he sat down.
The M.C. had to dismiss the crowd and the college club members were all upset that they had been embarrassed by Katz before the whole campus. Art said that afterwards he gathered with them and THAT was when God had something to say. It was just for them and it was about their pride and how they came to see a great Jewish intellect strut his stuff instead of waiting on God to speak and how God is not afraid to let us be embarrassed to deal with that pride in us and test us to see if we will totally depend on Him for every situation.
Thanks, Susanne, for sharing 1 Cor. 2: 1-5. This has been my goal ever since Art shared this story with us that day.
“Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add not unto his words, lest he reprove you, and you be found a liar.” (Proverbs 30:5-6 KJ2000)
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Interesting story, Michael. Thanks so much for sharing!
Yes, the flesh is not able to obey the Spirit of God when He leads us into such an embarrasssing situation. The flesh would surely fake it, but the spirit can take it.
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” (Jn 6:63 ESV)
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Pat Orr said:
Thank you Susanne, and Michael for your words. Lately I have been crying out to God for faith that pleases Him.
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
You’re so welcome, Pat.
May I tell you that you are not alone? I have been crying out to Him, too, because I am not pleased with what I still see in my heart!
Love you in Christ, so much,
Susanne
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jacqui said:
Ah bless you Susanne that is good to hear! 🙂 xx
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Bless you, too, dear Jacqui. Indeed, you are a blessing to me! 🙂 XX
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kenneth dawson said:
your article was great and I loved that story about Art Katz–that’s the kind of folks to be hanging around with!
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Thank you, Kenneth. Very encouraging! 🙂
Yes, that story about AK was great, wasn’t it…
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