The Impossible Kind of Faith

We are in a season in which we are continuously being presented with opportunities to step out in that kind of faith that believes for the impossible.  I am heartsick, yet simultaneously encouraged, by the number of people in my life who are facing monumental situations.  That may seem like a contradiction to you, but I believe that when we are being stretched, God is pursuing us with more intensity than before.  He is the one stretching us, allowing whatever circumstances in our lives, so that we will draw closer to Him.  We must die to ourselves if we truly desire to have more of Him.  What does this look like in our daily lives?

Have you ever been caught off guard by something that came out of left field, catching you totally unprepared?  Or perhaps you have been caught in a continuous onslaught of one event after another, prohibiting you from even catching your "breath".  Lately, I am witnessing this happening to many people about whom I care deeply.  Interestingly though at this same time, I am hearing confirming words from multiple directions about faith in impossible situations.  There are no coincidences in this world - only God-incidences.  He wants me as well as others to grasp just what faith is all about - especially the God size faith that is required if we are going to truly follow Him.

Today I read in the final chapter of John about one of Jesus' last appearances to His disciples after the resurrection.  It takes place on the beach while some of them have gone fishing.  Have you ever thought about this scenario?  They have lost their best friend, their mentor, their Messiah and they go fishing.  In the midst of crisis, what brings you comfort?  For many of us it is returning to routine, finding the normal in the midst of the chaos of life.  These fellows went back to the water, back to the routine of fishing during which they would be busy with routine tasks and not have to think about all that had just transpired.  They could barely grasp it anyway.  Fishing they could understand.  Then Jesus shows up unrecognizable and suggests a shift in where they throw their net.  The result? John 21:6 Then he said,  "Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you'll get plenty of fish! "    So they did, and they couldn't draw in the net because there were so many fish in it...... 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore. There were 153 large fish, and yet the net hadn't torn. 

I love studying the detail in the Word, yet when I researched the 153, it is simply stated that there is no symbolism to the 153.  Of course we can always try to create something out of nothing, but then we are usually working out of our flesh and not revelation.  However, I believe that every word of the Bible is Holy Spirit inspired, so why the number 153?  I believe there are several possible explanations.  One could be that an exact number gives credibility to the eye witness account.  How would anyone know the exact number of fish in the net unless they were there?  But in alignment with our discussion today, I think that the number demonstrates just how big God is when we act on faith.  If you have ever gone fishing, then you can appreciate 153 large fish is an incredible catch, especially when you have had empty nets for hours.  The clincher though comes a little later in the chapter when Jesus says in John 21:18-19  The truth is, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked and go wherever you wanted to. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will direct you and take you where you don't want to go." 19 Jesus said this to let him know what kind of death he would die to glorify God. Then Jesus told him,  "Follow me."

Follow Me.  No matter what the cost.  No matter what you want to do.  No matter what your thoughts on the matter are.  Just follow Me.  Matthew 10:38 If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. That is pretty cut and dried.  Truly following Him however requires that impossible kind of faith.  It requires us to believe that no matter what we see happening in the natural, we know He is in control and He will ultimately win.  His will will be done.  If we believe that then we also believe all of His promises in the Word about what His heart desires for us.  Again, I ask the question: what does this look like in our daily walk?

I recently read a wonderful depiction of what this kind of faith looks like.  Steven Furtick in his book Sun Stand Still talks about helping his young son jump waves in the ocean.  Do you remember doing this either a as kid or with your kids?  Holding their arms high in the sky and lifting them over the crashing wave just as it hits them.  He likens this to what we must do as follows of Christ.  First we must understand that it is not through our own power that we are "jumping the waves" but rather through the strength and power of the One holding our hands (which we have lifted high to Him).  Secondly we must TRUST that He is going to lift us above the wave and not allow us to drown.  Are we going to get wet?  Of course!  Will we feel the punch of the wave on our lower body?  Of course!  Will we be keenly aware that a massive wave went below us and not over us?  How could we not?  The key is that we should be focusing on the One Who is lifting us instead of the wave that went beneath us.  Too many of us are focusing on the waves and not the "Lifter".  Just a reminder, that on which we think the most is actually the lord of our lives.  Which is it going to be?  Our circumstances or our rescuer?

You may be in the midst of overwhelming circumstances right now.  You may not be able to see how in the world this is ever going to be resolved in a way that is acceptable in your mind.  This is when God wants us to demonstrate impossible faith.  This is when He is saying, Do you trust Me with everything?  We must let go and let God handle the situation.  Isaiah 55:9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. As my pastor continually reminds us, God is God and we are not.  Although the wave is frightening as it is coming at you, the exhilaration of its passing beneath you is so much greater.  You may feel as if it is all in slow motion and the experience will never be over, but I promise you, it will and He is faithful to not let His children drown.  Trust Him.

 

Sand through His Fingers

Do you remember playing in the sand as a kid - especially at the beach?  I spent many summers in the sand of the beaches of the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  My grandparents lived only 30 minutes from Ocean City and Assateague.  One of my favorite activities was scooping up handfuls of sand, hoping to find a sand crab in my palm after the sand sifted away.  Recently the Lord gave me a vision that involved that very activity, only it was His rather large hand outstretched over the sand with me standing beneath it.  Before you think I am going weird on you, read on. 

Most of us have by now embraced the belief that God does not cause all things to happen, but rather often allows them to happen in our lives.  Imagine your life.  Imagine that the sand represents the myriad of things that are coming your way.  God has Romans 8:28 in mind: And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.  He is considering how each event, interaction or word spoken will benefit you in the plans He has for your life.  Selectively He allows some of the sand to sift through His fingers and "fall" on you.  Remember that sand is an abrasive substance.  Seashells continually rubbed by sand become smooth and lose their rough edges.  Similarly those "sandy" occurrences in your life are meant to soften those rough protrusions in your spirit.  After enough encounters with the sands of life, your image begins to alter and surprise, you can become more Christ-like.  But there is more.

Just like the sand crab I was trying to capture as a child, there are events, interactions and words in our life that God chooses to capture because they will not contribute to His plan for you.  After God gave me this vision, I began to vividly recall specific instances in my life when it was clear He hung onto a "sand crab".  I do not know about you, but there have been times in my life when I placed myself at the wrong place and at the wrong time.  The disaster that could have - no, let's say, should have - befallen me did not occur.  I escaped unscathed, relatively speaking.  Now in the wisdom of my later years, I can look back and say, "Good grief!  How stupid was that move!!!"  Yet by a clearly miraculous intervention, I was protected.  Folks, I did not even have a personal relationship with the Lord then.

All of this begins with the basic premise, the critical belief, that God loves us.  He loves us so much that:

• Luke 12:7 And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows.
• Psalm 139:2 You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my every thought when far away.
• Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD.  "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."
• John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 

Get the idea?  First and foremost we must believe the truth that He loves us.  Otherwise we will start listening to the lies of the great deceiver who would have us believe otherwise, who would have us believe that our Lord is intentionally harming us, that He is a control freak who simply likes to wield His power.  Sounds like a self description of the enemy, the one who comes to steal, kill and destroy.

Believing that God loves us more than we can imagine means that we must trust Him with our lives and our hearts.  We must trust that even while we cannot see the light in the midst of the storms, the Son is indeed shining behind the storm clouds.  The storm will pass and when it finally does, there will be sun, fresh air and sometimes even a surprise rainbow.  We have to trust that even when we feel as if He is not there, He is.  We have to trust that ultimately He works this out not only to our own benefit, but to that of the kingdom as well.  We also need to trust that earthly rewards are not the preeminent thought in His mind, rather eternal rewards are.

So let's go back to the sand and the hand.  Consider the weight with which God considers each moment of your life (reread the scriptures above if necessary).  Ask Holy Spirit to reveal to you the sand crabs that God held onto and did not let travel through His fingers.  Ask Holy Spirit to reveal to you how the "sand" that was allowed to fall upon you actually shaped your current image.  More importantly ask Him to reveal to you His heart for what you look like in His eyes and His desire for the "completed work".  Too many of us focus on the sand instead of the process.  Personally, I am so grateful for the process and I am also grateful for each grain of sand, as painful as many of them were.  I am excited about how far I have come in this refining process, but I am even more excited about the future and what He is going to yet accomplish with me.  My prayer is that you will embrace a new attitude for the events of your life and embrace the process anew.  Shalom!

Inadequacy

Oh the power of words in our lives!  Recently I have come to recognize that there is a deep root in my life that like ivy keeps springing up when I thought I had ripped it out.  Have you ever tried to get rid of English ivy in your yard?  It is a constant battle against the deep roots that resist death.  I vividly recall such a battle in my first home here in Atlanta.  My tiny backyard was literally covered - ground and fence - with this green stuff.  Thankfully it wasn't kudzu, but definitely a huge challenge.  I tore vine after vine off the fence, pulled them up from the ground, then went behind the fence to clear a barrier of about 2 feet.  However, if I did not continually monitor that space, the vines came creeping back. 

Realistically this is exactly how some of us are in our spiritual walks.  We believe that we have eradicated something from our lives only to discover that the root is still there and consequently new growth starts erupting when we least expect it.  We are currently walking through a powerful teaching at church authored by Mark and Patti Virkler titled Prayers that Heal the Heart.  I highly recommend this for everyone because most of us have yet to fully grasp and obtain the total freedom that Jesus promises us.  There are so many visuals for this scenario to depict our struggle.  In ministering to others, the Lord gave me two that I will share in case it will trigger recognition for some of you.

First picture a cage - like a jail cell if you will.  You are inside that cell holding your heart in your hands.  The bars are the various lies the enemy has used to keep you ensnared.   God beckons to you from outside the cell and tells you to come forward.  Your response, "I can't the cell is locked."  God's response, "No, it isn't.  Go to the door and push."  With trepidation, you move forward and gently push against the cell door.  With great surprise you realize it is moving.  Encouraged you push a little harder and it swings wide open.  Amazed you slowly walk out of the cell, heart still in your hands.  God says, "Come to me, my chosen one, and give me your heart, and by the way, slam that door shut.  You will not be walking back into that again."

Second picture a yard with a stake in the ground and a worn circle around it.  Picture a chain that appears to be attached to the stake and the other end attached to a collar around your neck.  The rut in the circle is deep because of the constant circling around the stake.  There is no grass inside the circle because of the constant dragging of the chain on the ground.  God calls to you to come away from the stake.  Your response, "I can't.  My collar is attached to the stake by this chain."  God's response, "No, it isn't.  Walk away, out of the ruts that you have been traveling all of your life."  You feel the weight of the chain attached to your collar.  Logically you believe that it will yank you back when you try to walk away.  You hesitate.  God speaks again, "Do you trust me?  Do you believe in me?  Do you not know that I love you?  What is holding you back?"  Good question.  What do you have to lose?  Very tentatively you begin to move, anticipating that yank on your neck and the accompanying jolt that will come through your body.  But the love of God is pulling you like a magnet.  So you take a step, then a second.  You climb out of the rut, almost in disbelief.  Just beyond the worn circle is soft, fresh green grass.  The dust and dirt are behind you and you resist the urge to look back.  The glory of God is so strong in front of you that its warmth draws you closer and closer.

Do either of these word pictures resonate with you?  Each of us most likely has some form of imprisonment created by the lies of the enemy.  Whatever it is, God has opened the door to freedom to give each of us the opportunity to walk in complete freedom if we will just seize it.  The challenge for many of us though is that we have begun to walk in freedom and then that master of deception begins his seductive weaving of lies to once again limit us.  John 8:32  "And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."  Freedom is rooted in truth.  Therefore the opposite is true: lies will hold us captive.

One of the roots with which I am dealing is a lie of inadequacy.  The roots are deep born out of generational curses and sins, ungodly soul ties, negative expectations, and more.  This is what I am learning through this study with Mark Virkler.  The powerful truth is that these sources of deception are now being uncovered and I am walking away from them.  How can I truly operate in the full power of Holy Spirit if I allow the enemy access to my soul?  I know that I have come a long way from the beginning point of this journey, but I am not finished yet.  Wisdom tells me that I must guard my heart.  Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do.  Because I am a child of God, I am chosen, I am therefore a target of darkness to attempt to thwart all that God has for me.  However, I know and he knows that I know that he is defeated and all power through Holy Spirit through the authority given to me by Christ is mine to use for the achievement of God's purposes for his kingdom.  

I fully recognize that inadequacy is just one area of which I want to be totally free.  I am going to be very deliberate about moving through each area that Holy Spirit reveals to me.  I want my heart to be free of darkness.  All of the "rooms of my heart" will be open with light and fresh "air" (remember what Holy Spirit's Hebrew name means?  In the Tanakh, the word ruach generally means wind, breath, mind, spirit. In a living creature (nephesh chayah), the ruach is the breath, whether of animals (Gen 7:15; Psa 104:25, 29) or mankind (Isa 42:5; Ezek 37:5). God is the creator of ruach: "The ruach of God (from God) is in my nostrils" (Job 27:3)  From the website: www.hebrew4christians.com)

It is a beautiful spring day in Atlanta.  It has been all week long with mild temperatures.  I have opened the windows of our home and allowed wonderful fresh air to flow through the whole house day and night.  How wonderfully symbolic for what God wants to do in my life.  I encourage each of you to discover what rooms of your heart house have been locked and shut.  Fling them open now and enjoy the fullness of all that God has for you!