Living by Faith Part 5

In our study on Living by Faith, we’ve made a big deal out of our examples in Scripture, people who lived their faith and found approval from God.

We looked into Faith words and found a progression that starts with knowledge establishing our beliefs. Then we seek understanding by asking for insight or wisdom to know what the knowledge means. When we are convinced a promise is true, we then act upon that truth. That is the exercise of faith – the action of belief. We exercise our faith when we trust the Lord. The result is God directing our paths.

What did faith produce? Peace. The ultimate ability to rest in the trustworthiness of God. And Hope – the joy of living with expectation.

Rom 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 

Hope: a feeling of expectation and confidence certain things will happen. Since we cannot live without hope, it is a gift within our salvation.

As with everything else within our salvation, Hope is both a possession and a practice. Rom 15:13  May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. 

How does hope become a functioning component of our faith? How do we hope? That’s what our examples showed us.

Rom 15:4  For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 

Heb 6:17  So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul,

Hold fast is the expression of the strength of our security. A source of support and promise. Two types of anchors for a ship: one to steady them and one to hold them fast. Usage is determined by need.

Act 27:29  Fearing that we might run aground somewhere on the rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and wished for daybreak. 

Difference between wishing and hope: I want. I know.

Last ditch effort to save their own lives. We initiate desperate measures when things get hopeless. They had already reached that point.

Act 27:20  When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned. 

Why would God put Paul through that? To show him the power of deliverance.

2Cor 1:10  He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 

The expectation that God will show up is the source of our hope.

Curt Paul Richter made many important contributions to the fields of biology and psychobiology. One of his most famous experiments involved drowning rats – a study which, today, would probably land him in jail for animal cruelty.

He knew that rats had a reputation for being able to swim for exceedingly long periods of time. Yet when he placed rats in a tightly confined bucket of water, they quickly discovered they had no means of escape, no means of relief, and literally gave up, allowing themselves to simply sink to the bottom, and drowning, on average, within about 15 minutes.

He knew they had the “physical” ability to continue swimming much longer, so concluded they must have felt hopeless. So he tried again, this time pulling the rats from the water once he saw them beginning to struggle. He let them rest for a short time before he put them back into the bucket. They again began swimming, testing the confines of their surroundings, but instead of giving up and allowing themselves to sink and drown, they kept swimming! And swimming! And swimming! Many swam up to 60 hours until their bodies could simply no longer endure.

What was the difference between these two groups of rats? Richter concluded the difference was HOPE – that feeling of expectation that a particular outcome or desire would come to pass, looking forward to something with desire and reasonable confidence.

These rats had been saved once, so they had hope – the expectation, the reasonable confidence – it would happen again. Do we have to nearly drown to learn that? Maybe. But we could learn it through those who went before us.

Heb 11:27 By faith Moses…endured as seeing Him who is invisible. 

Ex 33:18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” 

How did this moment change Moses? Seeing God’s glory didn’t make Moses become Moses.  Being Moses didn’t get Moses the opportunity to watch God pass by.  God saw into Moses’ heart, saw the faith that He would reward with His presence.

Sight didn’t lead to faith; faith led to sight. But so convinced was He, that later he was able to announce:

Ex 4:13 “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today.

Ex 16:7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD

Where did that confident expectation come from? His assurance God would show up.

It’s our invitation that’s built into our salvation: Ps 46:8 Come and see the works of the LORD,

We cannot live without hope. Even in our darkest nights, we have to believe the sun will come up tomorrow. That by faith we will see God’s hand.

Hope tells us to anticipate the glory of God – that we will see God’s goodness in our lives.

Ps 27:13 I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

John 20:29 Then Jesus told Thomas, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

He’s talking about us.

1Pet 1:8 Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,

Why? Because He’s given us the opportunity to know Him and the ability to trust Him.

God wants us living with a confidence that what we can’t see is as real as what we can see. 

Heb 11:1 Faith [being] the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 

World War II parachute packers had an unacceptable record: only nineteen out of twenty parachutes opened. One in twenty failed. It was discovered that making the packers test their parachutes by jumping from a plane, quality rose to 100 percent. Today as I understand it, you’re taught to pack your own chutes.

Packing your own parachute makes it possible for you to pack in all you know you will need. Don’t let someone else to pack your parachute. You put in daily the things you’ll need to deal with life. Pack it right with the right beliefs, solid faith, complete trust and absolute hope. Then, when you hear the voice of God say “Jump,” you can jump confidently, believing you have everything you need for the outcome He intends.

2Pet 1:3  seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 

2 Kings 6:15-17 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” the servant asked.  “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

God, open our eyes and show us Your glory.

TAKEAWAYS:

1. There are times faith will require us to launch out into the unknown.
2. It is essential we do so with confidence that our chute will not only open but will provide everything we need for us a safe landing.
3. The challenge is to make sure it’s packed with the understanding God has made everything we need available to us.
4. If we have packed it well, we can rest in the hope that when the moment comes to pull the ripcord and trust God, all He promised will be there to accomplish all He intends.

 

Living by Faith Part 4

In a study to determine how to best teach children, the VARK Method was founded. It uses four different approaches based on the unique ways children are wired to learn. They found some are:

Visual – need to see demonstrations. These need the information in some form they can see. Work the problem on the board. Draw them a picture. Show them a video.

Auditory – need to hear it explained. These learn best when sound transfers information. They understand better when they read aloud to themselves, or someone explains a matter verbally. Tell me what I need to know. Read the problem to me.

Reading and Writing – need to process data. These are note-takers and perform best when they can connect information to the brain through interacting with things written on a page. They learn well on their own.

Kinesthetic – need to experience it hands-on. These tend to absorb information when they can touch and handle what they need to know. Let them to be physically connected to the information.

Making all children learn the same way will only help those who prefer that way to learn. The discovery was: Children (and Adults) remember best when the lesson is presented in a way they are wired to learn.

Which tells us why Jesus used so many different methods to teaching His people.

Some saw miracles of signs and wonders.

Some heard His voice telling stories.

Some read His word.

Some experienced His hand in action.

Each of us is wired to receive information better in one way than the others.

So, when the Bible says: 1Cor 10:11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come, how do we learn from their experiences? Somehow, we need to get inside their stories.

The Writer of Hebrews said it was by faith that the men of old gained God’s approval. How do I live by the same faith they did? And is the same approval available to me that He provided for them? One of those men of old who is our example was Gideon.

Judges 6:1  Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD gave them into the hands of Midian seven years. 2 The power of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. 3 For it was when Israel had sown, that the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the sons of the east and go against them. 4 So they would camp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. 5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, they would come in like locusts for number, both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to devastate it. 6 So Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried to the LORD. 

It appeared as though God had abandoned His people. Is that what happened? Appearance can distort reality. We say that is happening so this must be true. Which means appearance can have a powerful an effect on what we believe.

Reminds you of Asa when a prophet said to him: The Lord is with you when you are with Him.  If you forsake Him, He will forsake you… Abandoning and forsaking leave the same impression: God has left us and we’re on our own.

            This forsaking is explained as wars. To place ourselves into the story, we might

say frustrations or trials or struggles or tribulations or infirmities or conflict.

Prophet clarifies what’s going on:

Judges 6:7  Now it came about when the sons of Israel cried to the LORD on account of Midian, 8 that the LORD sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and he said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'It was I who brought you up from Egypt and brought you out from the house of slavery. 9 'I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors, and dispossessed them before you and gave you their land, 10 and I said to you, "I am the LORD your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But you have not obeyed Me."

They were paying a price for turning away from God. And because they turned away, God allowed Midian to oppress them. To the people this felt like abandonment.

During this season of “forsaking” they hadn’t heard much from the Lord. Which reinforced their belief that they’d been abandoned. It also set up the downward spiral.

            Not hearing makes us stop expecting to hear.

            Stop expecting to hear makes us stop listening.

            When we aren’t listening, we fill in the silence by thinking wrong things and

doing the opposite of what God said to do. We take matters into our own hands.

Why isn’t God speaking? Because we aren’t listening?

Why aren’t we listening? Because we don’t expect Him to speak?

Why don’t we expect Him to speak? Because we don’t intend to obey what we hear?

Judges 6:11 Then the angel of the LORD came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, "The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior." 

“Valiant Warrior” was an insult to the circumstances. Who wouldn’t love for someone to call them a valiant warrior? There’s honor in those words. Even in difficult times. But to a man living in fear, it was a reminder of his weakness.

But telling him: “God is with you,” didn’t seem appropriate either. Why? Circumstances suggested that wasn’t true. If God is for me, why is everything and everyone against me?

It’s that hang-up question we ask and can’t get answered: How can God be with us when our circumstances indicate otherwise? Shouldn’t God have done something by now? If God is with us, why …am I in this condition? …did that happen? …didn’t He stop it from happening?

Judges 6:13  Then Gideon said to him, "O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian." 

He made an observation — God’s not doing what I think He should be doing.

He formed an opinion: — God doesn’t help us.

He created a false belief: God can’t help us.

Mark 9:17 And one of the crowd answered Him, "Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; 18 and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it." 19 And He *answered them and *said, "O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!" 20 They brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. 21 And He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. 22 It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!" 23 And Jesus said to him, " 'If You can?' All things are possible to him who believes." 

Observation led to opinion, which led to false belief, which led to his defeating conclusion: “God isn’t there to help at all.”

Long time ago a man was broken down in his Model A Ford. An older gentleman in a suit stopped to help. The man said, “No offense but you don’t look like you know much about old cars like this.” He said, “Well, I’m Henry Ford. And it just so happens I made that car of yours. I think I might know something about it.”

Remember the downward spiral of hopelessness: Disappointment, Discouragement, Disillusionment, Depression, Despair.

Gideon was caught somewhere between depression and despair. Depression: I’m helpless. Despair: I’m hopeless. That’s where our minds are blocked from processing the truth. So, he turned inward, where there was no help, which drove him into the hopelessness of isolation.

Jer 18:12 But they will say, 'It's hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.

Judges 6:14 The LORD looked at him and said, "Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?" 15 He said to Him, "O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father's house." 16 But the LORD said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man." 

            I have plans for you.

            I will be with you.

            Here’s what I’m going to do through you.

Here’s what you will do because of Me.

Are you with me?

It’s the call to faith.

Isa 30:18 Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him. 19 O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. 20 Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. 21 Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you [need to] turn to the right or to the left. 

God said through Isaiah, you obey what you believe I want you to do and I’ll confirm your steps.

Is it presumptuous to walk by faith, thinking God will confirm our steps?

Prov 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will direct your paths. 

Got any examples? Elijah challenging the prophets of Baal and calling down fire.

Daniel refusing to stop praying though he faced the lions’ den. Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego refusing to bow to Neb’s statue and believing God would rescue them from a fiery furnace. Sampson expecting God to give his strength back after he had thrown it away with Delilah.

Faith is the ability to trust God. We have that ability. Gideon did, only he lacked the courage to apply that ability to His circumstances. Will we risk everything to follow?

Hudson Taylor, who founded the China Inland Mission: "Unless there is an element of risk in our exploits for God, there is no need for faith."

Playwright Neil Simon said, "If no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine Chapel’s floor."

Judges 6:17 So Gideon said to Him, "If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who speaks with me. 18 Please do not depart from here, until I come back to You, and bring out my offering and lay it before You." And He said, "I will remain until you return." 19 Then Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the oak and presented them. 20 The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the LORD put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. 22 When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the LORD, he said, "Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face." 

Because of the risk of losing his life to do what God was asking him to do, Gideon asked God to confirm that it was Him who was talking to him. The Lord did but then set up a challenge for Gideon.

Judges 6:25 Now on the same night the LORD said to him, "Take your father's bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it; 26 and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down." 

Test (warm-up) for whom?  God?  Or Gideon? Let’s start you off at a lower impact level to get your trust muscles in shape. You need to take a smaller step before the big step. Then, after Gideon completed the test…

Judges 6:36 Gideon said to God, "If You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken, 37 behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken." 38 And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, "Do not let Your anger burn against me that I may speak once more; please let me make a test once more with the fleece, let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground." 40 God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground. 

God, help me turn my unbelief into belief. Realize Gideon wasn’t used to obeying God. So, was he asking God to convince him or confirm for him this was the plan? There is a difference between a confirming sign and a convincing sign.

— convincing — give me a sign so I can believe. I won’t believe unless I see

something. That’s testing God.

— confirming — I do believe. Please verify that what I believe is right. Assure me

I’m on the right track. That’s testing whether what I believe is the right thing to do.

To need proof to convince me to move forward means I have more fear than faith.

To decide to move forward and then trust God to confirm my steps is walking by faith.

That’s how a church operates. We see the vision of what God has planned and them move toward it, trusting in Him to make it happen. Asking Him to confirm His plans.

Charles Kettering: When I was research head of General Motors and wanted a problem solved, I’d place a table outside the meeting room with a sign: Leave calculators here.  If I didn’t do that, I’d find someone reaching for his calculator.  Then he’d be on his feet saying, “Boss, you can’t do that.”

We can’t become paralyzed by fearing what will happen if God doesn’t come through. We move forward, trusting He will.

Like Gideon, when we choose to walk by faith, we accept the risk that requires us to trust God to guide our steps.  Sometimes He’ll open a door; sometimes He’ll close a door.  Our job is not to force open what He closes or close what He has opened.  Our job is to follow Him in the direction He is leading.

A man went over to watch a little league baseball game. He asked a boy in the dugout what the score was. The boy said, “Eighteen to nothing – we’re behind.” “Wow,” said the man, “I’ll bet you’re discouraged.” “Why should we be discouraged? We haven’t even gotten up to bat yet!”

Faith is leaving room for God, confident that when He steps up to bat, it’s a whole new ballgame.

TAKEAWAYS:

1. No one ever said the Christian life would be easy.
2. Each step we take will challenge us to remain faithful to God.
3. Fortunately, God doesn’t expect us to take those steps without Him providing everything we need for whatever He asks.
4. The ability to trust Him is our greatest resource for a successful Christian life.
5. Let’s use that ability and see where God takes us.

Lord, I realize that You are constantly at work.  I know that there are times I will not see Your activity and falsely assume You are not at work.  So, thank You that what I assume, is not the foundation for what is true. And how things appear is not my source for what I believe. You are. I will choose to accept, beyond my struggles to believe, that You are here even when You are invisible, that You are speaking even when You are silent, that You remember even when it seems You have forgotten, that you have not forsaken me even when circumstances tell me You have, that I am and always will be Your righteous child. For You are always my faithful God.