Belief Beyond Words

Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Do we believe what we say we believe? Do the words transcend the pages of the Bible and enter into our lives to help us in our times of need? Or is our faith strong only in theory, for the other person, for another time. Do we believe what we say we believe? Do the words transcend the pages of the Bible to provide us with the strength and hope we need in times when the world says give up? Or are our feelings stronger than our faith?

Faith is always easier in theory. It is always easier to read or hear what we should believe than to actually live it. But the Bible warns us that merely hearing the Word is deceiving ourselves:

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does. - James 1: 22-25

Do what it says. We can listen to the Word for years in our walk before being confronted with a test of our faith. We can know the Word and hide it in our heart but until we actually have to believe it in our lives we may not know the depth of that faith. God does not want weak faith. He does not want lukewarm faith:

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Revelation 3: 15-16

The Bible actually says that it is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6). When Jesus was speaking about faith, He did not compare people who heard the Word versus those who did not. He spoke about those who applied His words to their lives:

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." Matthew 7: 24 - 27

Hearing the Word is not enough beloved. Reading the Word is not enough. We must put God's Word into practice. Then when the storms of life beat against the house of our lives, we will find ourselves on the Rock, not the shifting sands of the world. It is the world that wants us looking at our circumstances and not the promises of God. When the world says impossible God says all things are possible. The Bible tells a story of a boy suffering from demon possession. The child's father says to Jesus "If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."

That can be us today as well. We get the report from the doctor and say to God, "If you can..." We are facing loneliness or relationship problems and say to God, "If you can..." We are facing unemployment, mounting bills or maybe surgery and say to God, "If you can..." when faced with these moments to believe the report of man or the report of the Lord we should keep in mind the response of Jesus to that boy's father:

"'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes." Mark 9:23

For who? For him who believes. Throughout the ministry of Jesus, the Lord performed many miracles. Many were healed. Here are some of the observations from our Lord after those miracles were delivered:

Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour. Matthew 8:13

Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment. Matthew 9:22

Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; - Matthew 9:29

Note the words from our Lord and Savior. "Just as you believed it would." "Your faith has healed you." "According to your faith." These words are not accidental. Faith was the intrinsic element in all of these miracles. Look at the individual faith in these stories. The centurion had so much faith; he did not need to see the miracle performed. He KNEW what Jesus could do and merely asked Him to do it. This is contrary to human nature that feels it must witness something in order to believe it. This was so astonishing to Jesus that He proclaimed He had not seen such faith in all Israel! The centurion had blind faith. We need not see something to believe it.

The second verse involves the woman with the issue of blood. For twelve long years she had suffered from this condition and it had wiped out her entire life savings only to still suffer. The Bible tells us that she believed in her heart if she could just touch the hem of the garment of Jesus that she would be healed. She pushed through a dense crowd, reached out, and was healed. She KNEW she would be healed. This woman had suffered for so long that the world had told her many times to just give up. Twelve years of suffering and misery and instead of giving up, she pressed through the world to touch Christ. She had a persevering faith. We should not give up in prayer, but be persistent.

The third verse is regarding a blind beggar. The Gospel of Luke tells us that this man heard Jesus was walking by and he started shouting after Him, "Son of David have mercy on me!" The crowd told the beggar to shut up. But the more they tried to silence him, the louder he shouted until Jesus came and restored his sight. According to his faith it was done unto him. He KNEW Christ could heal him. In the face of the world shouting him down, his faith overcame. He possessed an overcoming faith. Obstacles to what we seek should not be bigger than our faith.

And that sometimes is really what it comes down to. Something becomes bigger than our God. A relationship ends and we think we cannot go on without the other person. Yet we profess to believe that God sees all time and knows the outcome of that relationship if it were to continue. We profess to believe that God is working all things out for our good, yet cling to what He has already said no to. We receive a report from the doctor and believe that the medical condition we face is bigger than our God. We feel sad or anxious and start to believe that our feelings are bigger than our God. Suddenly our faith does not feel so overcoming or persistent. Our blind faith we so easily believed on the pages of the Bible demands a physical witness in our lives. We waver.

We waver because we start to believe what we see instead of what we know. We start to believe the whispering of the enemy into our lives. It is the enemy that says these things are bigger in our lives. It is the enemy that reinforces your feelings over your faith. Is it any wonder when looking at the armor of God, which item is reserved for faith?

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Ephesians 6: 16

When you are facing surgery the enemy fires the arrows of doubt into your mind. When you are facing the end of a relationship, the enemy fires arrows of depression into your heart. When you are feeling anxious, the enemy fires arrows of emotional overwhelming into your being. Somehow we have dropped our shield. We still are holding it because we know what the Word says. We just are not lifting it up to protect ourselves. The shield of faith is useless unless we use it!

The Gospel of John tells the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. By the time Jesus arrives on the scene, Lazarus has been dead for several days and is entombed. Watch this exchange:

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. "Take away the stone," he said.

"But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."

Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" John 11: 38-40

The stone was blocking the manifestation of the miracle. Martha, still relying upon what the world believes instead of what she knows to be true, objects. In her human mind the miracle is not possible. She has dropped the shield of faith to her side. The response from Jesus is one of the most powerful verses in the entire Bible and speaks to us to this day did I not tell you if you believed, you would see the glory of God? Meditate on that for a moment.

It sometimes can be our faith which we have entombed. What is the stone blocking your belief today that Jesus is saying to you to take away? Belief has to be more than that. Belief has to be bigger than our circumstances, no matter how grave the world says they are. In these perilous times we need an overcoming faith to see past the obstacles the devil throws our way. We need a persistent faith that does not give up in the midst of pain and suffering. We need a blind faith that says I do not care what I see, I know what I believe!

How big is God? God is bigger than your surgery. God is bigger than your diagnosis. He is bigger than your relationship. He is bigger than your career. Our key verses tell us that by faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command! That's pretty big. Yet we can still come to God and ask, "If you can..." instead of asking, "If you will."

The Words in the Bible must transcend the pages from which we read. They must make up who we are. We need to raise up the shield of faith to defend ourselves from the arrows the enemy shoots into our lives. Faith extinguishes them all! We all seek the glory of God in our lives. In our relationships. In our hospital room. In our most desperate moments we seek and need the glory of God. Today Jesus is speaking to us as He spoke to Martha thousands of years ago and simply saying; "Did I not tell you if you believed..."

Reverend Anthony Wade October 6, 2009