Here I am again, at a cross road in my life.
I have recently joined a cause on myspace that has enabled me to share my faith, to share my story. This is all for the glory of God.
I have been wanting to get back into serving God, and a while back something that a friend of mine wrote spoke in volumes to me on serving God. This is what it spoke to me:
"We don't need the walls of a church to contain people so we can minister. We don't need to rely on the church to provide for us and maintain our ministry. Our ministry is here. Our ministry is now. Outside of church and in the world. We are called to the lost, not to just hang out with the found."
And, reality has sunk in that God can even use something as simple as facebook to connect us to a lost and dying world. God can use facebook for us to minister to other people.
I have a mix of emotions right now. Part of me wants to cry and the other part has full peace.
I have recently let go of something from my past that I have held on to. That gave me a beautiful release, and since then, I have experienced the passion I used to have.
Sometimes, I sit and think about "the way things used to be." Sometimes I look back to reminisce about a time when things weren't so complicated. I really miss those times.
But, I can't keep looking back.
Yes, there was a time when I was involved with the youth. I knew my purpose in life and I was fulfilling it. I was at peace, I felt free, and I was innocent.
I was so passionate about Christ and sharing the Gospel, and it was apparant. I walked the walk and talked the talk.
And then I came to a cross roads in my life. At that time, I made the wrong decision. I was exposed to different things and I lost my innocence. I entered into a state of confusion, a state of blindness.
I remember one night at church I grabbed my best friend and took her in the back room and broke down. I cried from deep within my soul. I was in a vulnerable state and I was scared. I asked for prayers. With a few other people having joined us, we prayed.
I thought that's all it took was a little bit of prayer, but I was wrong.
I stumbled and fell after that, then stumbled and fell some more. I would always try to pick myself back up and start again, but there came a point where I just gave up.
I gave into the fleshly desires of the world and I left all that I had known and truly loved behind.
Between here and there, I have learned a lot, I have seen a lot.
I learned that there are some people who are boastful about their faith - which sends the wrong message. Their loud and long prayers filled with elaborate words make me wonder if I should bring a dictionary just so I can comprehend what they are saying. "Thou, thee, thy..." I understand that it is the King James' version, but really, that's not how we talk 'round these here parts.
I have watched those same people, and they do great things, but for all the wrong reasons. Yes, its wonderful that you give your tithes and offerings, but how much you give is to be between you and God - that is a personal thing and I need not know and would like not to know how much it is. I am glad that you are financially blessed, but I have realized that bounty is not counted in materialistic things.
I don't want to see you at church just to see you. I don't want to make church seem like some after school activity. I mean, its great that you come, and I thank God for your faithful attendance, but, really. I know that fellowship is an important thing, don't get me wrong, but if you come just to be seen, your motives are wrong.
I can't point my fingers without some pointing back at me.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not perfect by any means. But I just don't understand why we have let things become so complicated.
God spoke to me the other night about "child-like faith."
Matthew 17:20 “...Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible."
Do you know how small a mustard see is?
Simplicity, that's what it's about.
The more we know and the more we grow, the more complex we tend to make things, and all the while, if we would have kept it simple, we would be much better off.
Take for example the desciples. They're on a boat with Jesus when a storm comes. They start FREAKING out - all the while, Jesus is asleep. I can only imagine them running around, "Jesus, Master, save us, we're going to drown!" Jesus gets up and follows them to see the storm. He looks at them, looks back at the sea, then speaks to the sea, "Peace, be still."
That is all it took.
Here's the story:
Mark 4:35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." 36And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" 39And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?" 41And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, "Who then is this, that eventhe wind and the sea obey him?"
It should shout out in loud volumes, Jesus asking them, "Have you still no faith?"
When we go through our tough times, instead of looking for a way out, we need to look up.
During our hard times, it seems like our faith seems to falter, until we find ourselves at the point of barely hanging on and having only a small amount of faith. Do you think it is a coincodence? I don't.
We try to find the answers on our own. "Well, I seem to be stuck in this valley, how do I get out? Oh, I've got it! I'll build a ladder!" Then we side track trying to find the materials to build the ladder when Jesus said that all we had to do was speak to the mountain.
What mountains do you have in your life that you need to speak to?
Is it the mountain of anger?
Call those things that aren't as though they were.
You speak into your life. Your ministry doesn't start and stop with someone else, you CAN - and most likely will, and definately should - minister to yourself.
It is called FAITH.
Faith - 1. Belief; the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another, resting solely and implicitly on his authority and veracity; reliance on testimony. 2. The assent of the mind to the statement or proposition of another, on the ground of the manifest truth of what he utters; firm and earnest belief, on probable evidence of any kind, especially in regard to important moral truth.
The faith of the gospel is that emotion of the mind which is called "trust" or "confidence" exercised toward the moral character of God, and particularly of the Savior. --Dr. T. Dwight.
Faith is an affectionate, practical confidence in the testimony of God. --J. Hawes.
I couldn't have put it better myself:
FaithFaith is in general the persuasion of the mind that a certain statement is true (Phil. 1:27; 2 Thess. 2:13). Its primary idea is trust. A thing is true, and therefore worthy of trust. It admits of many degrees up to full assurance of faith, in accordance with the evidence on which it rests. Faith is the result of teaching (Rom. 10:14-17). Knowledge is an essential element in all faith, and is sometimes spoken of as an equivalent to faith (John 10:38; 1 John 2:3). Yet the two are distinguished in this respect, that faith includes in it assent, which is an act of the will in addition to the act of the understanding. Assent to the truth is of the essence of faith, and the ultimate ground on which our assent to any revealed truth rests is the veracity of God. Historical faith is the apprehension of and assent to certain statements which are regarded as mere facts of history. Temporary faith is that state of mind which is awakened in men (e.g., Felix) by the exhibition of the truth and by the influence of religious sympathy, or by what is sometimes styled the common operation of the Holy Spirit. Saving faith is so called because it has eternal life inseparably connected with it. It cannot be better defined than in the words of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism: "Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel." The object of saving faith is the whole revealed Word of God. Faith accepts and believes it as the very truth most sure. But the special act of faith which unites to Christ has as its object the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 7:38; Acts 16:31). This is the specific act of faith by which a sinner is justified before God (Rom. 3:22, 25; Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:9; John 3:16-36; Acts 10:43; 16:31). In this act of faith the believer appropriates and rests on Christ alone as Mediator in all his offices. This assent to or belief in the truth received upon the divine testimony has always associated with it a deep sense of sin, a distinct view of Christ, a consenting will, and a loving heart, together with a reliance on, a trusting in, or resting in Christ. It is that state of mind in which a poor sinner, conscious of his sin, flees from his guilty self to Christ his Saviour, and rolls over the burden of all his sins on him. It consists chiefly, not in the assent given to the testimony of God in his Word, but in embracing with fiducial reliance and trust the one and only Saviour whom God reveals. This trust and reliance is of the essence of faith. By faith the believer directly and immediately appropriates Christ as his own. Faith in its direct act makes Christ ours. It is not a work which God graciously accepts instead of perfect obedience, but is only the hand by which we take hold of the person and work of our Redeemer as the only ground of our salvation. Saving faith is a moral act, as it proceeds from a renewed will, and a renewed will is necessary to believing assent to the truth of God (1 Cor. 2:14; 2 Cor. 4:4). Faith, therefore, has its seat in the moral part of our nature fully as much as in the intellectual. The mind must first be enlightened by divine teaching (John 6:44; Acts 13:48; 2 Cor. 4:6; Eph. 1:17, 18) before it can discern the things of the Spirit. Faith is necessary to our salvation (Mark 16:16), not because there is any merit in it, but simply because it is the sinner's taking the place assigned him by God, his falling in with what God is doing. The warrant or ground of faith is the divine testimony, not the reasonableness of what God says, but the simple fact that he says it. Faith rests immediately on, "Thus saith the Lord." But in order to this faith the veracity, sincerity, and truth of God must be owned and appreciated, together with his unchangeableness. God's word encourages and emboldens the sinner personally to transact with Christ as God's gift, to close with him, embrace him, give himself to Christ, and take Christ as his. That word comes with power, for it is the word of God who has revealed himself in his works, and especially in the cross. God is to be believed for his word's sake, but also for his name's sake. Faith in Christ secures for the believer freedom from condemnation, or justification before God; a participation in the life that is in Christ, the divine life (John 14:19; Rom. 6:4-10; Eph. 4:15,16, etc.); "peace with God" (Rom. 5:1); and sanctification (Acts 26:18; Gal. 5:6; Acts 15:9). All who thus believe in Christ will certainly be saved (John 6:37, 40; 10:27, 28; Rom. 8:1). The faith=the gospel (Acts 6:7; Rom. 1:5; Gal. 1:23; 1 Tim. 3:9; Jude 1:3).
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
Even the Bible confirms what I'm saying:
Psalm 116:6 The Lord protects those of childlike faith;I was facing death, and he saved me.
Whooo...God is speaking to me, let me share...
Isaiah 7:9 Unless your faith is firm,I cannot make you stand firm.
Matthew 21:21 Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen.
Matthew 21:22 You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.
Mark 5:34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”
And, more on faith:
Acts 20:21 I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike—the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus.
Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.
Ephesians 3:12 Because of Christ and our faith in him, [ Or Because of Christ’s faithfulness.] we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.
1 Timothy 1:19 Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked.
1 Timothy 4:12 Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.
1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses.
Hebrews 11:1 Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.
And that my friends, is one of the best ways to wrap this up.
Simply stated, have faith, grow in faith, walk in faith.
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