Tough Faith For Tough Times (continued) We must keep faith alive: Satan has learned that to kill one�s faith is to destroy the person. We need to do all that is within our power to exercise our faith so that it will spread to others. As we feed our faith, our doubts will die for lack of attention, and more people will be rescued by our faith. In order to keep our faith alive, we must hear and act on God�s word to build our faith. It can be a real strain on a person�s faith when he wants to move, but cannot until others catch the vision. Heb 12:2 says: "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." When we learn to focus on Jesus, we will lose site of the so-called impossible or difficult things in life. The closer we look to Jesus, the smaller our problems become. We must realize that the more we talk about the problems, the worse they get. If we are going to grow or protect our faith, we must exercise it in the face of great odds. In protecting our faith, we must also be aware of those who are very close to us. ( Read Matt 16:22-23) Jesus rebuked Peter for saying what he said. The reason Jesus rebuked Peter is that his mouth was speaking faith killing words. We must realize that when we set out to trust God for something that jeopardized our human safety, our kinfolk or close associates will be more concerned about our safety, instead of our faith. Sometimes in life we face things that are against the norms. We must acknowledge the fact that logic paralyzes faith. God in most times goes against the norms! When we take the time to build our faith, we cannot allow someone else to destroy our faith. You can take a man�s money and slow him down, but if you take his faith, you will bring him to a complete stop. It took time to build our faith and we must realize that the word of God is what feeds our faith, and prayer is it�s daily exercise. There is no greater expression of faith than a life of prayer, because prayer calls upon the realm of the invisible. If we consistently developed ourselves in God�s word and in prayer, we will develop a strong relationship in God and allow us to act on the word of God. The better we know God and His word, the more confidence we will have in him. Our faith is tremendously helped through reading and meditating in God�s word, because it is God�s word that rids ignorance. The word of God always deliver a killing blow to doubt. The origin of fear and doubt is the lack of information. (Lack of the Word of God!) As saints we must also know that unbelief can cripple faith. Just knowing the scriptures alone will not bring faith, you must believe the scriptures! When we combine knowing and doing, our faith will increase. James 4:17 tells us that, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." On Sunday mornings after the morning sermon, if we expect what is preached to be of profit to us, it must be mixed with faith. Heb 2:1 says, "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip." The Evidence of Real Faith: Real faith is always based on confidence in the word of God. We should be ready to act on God�s word like God meant what he said and said what he meant. Real faith never ponders circumstances before making it�s decision, it only seeks a word from the Lord. Real faith does not have to see, it has to only believe, and such belief is demonstrated by action. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Heb 11:1 Only those who are willing to act on the word of the Lord will ever experience the supernatural. One of our great mistakes among many errors is that we allow what might not happen, along with what people might think if we fail, to keep us from acting on God�s word. Saints, we must realize that God is the author and finisher of our Faith. Faith can always see what the natural eye will never see. We may never see it, but God does. When faced with difficulties and troubles, we must remember that real faith behaves in trouble, the same as it does when there is no trouble in sight. Even during our troubles, we must learn how to have faith and praise God in the FACE of TROUBLE not after our troubles are over! We must also believe in the word that God has spoken to us. When we believe in God�s word, we are simply giving him an opportunity to demonstrate his power and might. Faith without works are dead! God Bless |