In our previous posting we saw that Jesus first had to hear from His Father before He could have faith for the miracles. When your supervisor approaches all the staff and tells you that one of you is going to get a raise in salary, would you take it that it would be you? Not likely, but if she comes to you personally confirming that you’ll have a raise, you have something to hope for and put your faith in, don’t you? “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17).” If Christ gives you a promise or instruction you have a hope to hold onto.
Many years ago I was reading Psalm 91 and when I got to verse 14 to 16 the following jumped from the page and set in my heart: “‘Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honour him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.’” I memorised it and made it my own. In the years to come I needed protection many a time. At such times I prayed this passage I was given, it created faith in my heart and because the Lord gave it to me from His Word and it was therefore His idea, He honoured it. I have many testimonies of the Lord’s amazing protection and deliverance.
Christian life is more than having religious activities. It’s about living with the Lord. He abides in your heart and wants fellowship with you. He wants you to reach into your spirit continuously and seek fellowship with Him. Our pastor preached about heaven last Sunday and during the message I realised that heaven is God’s presence. If we can manage to shift our carnal concerns to one side by trusting the Lord to take care of it (Matthew 6:33) and reach into our spirit where God is, we’re in heaven – His presence. Unfortunately we live in a real world surrounded by real problems and a real devil, so all these will demand our attention. But, the more we fellowship with the Lord, the more we’ll receive faith from Him and eventually we’ll manage to rest in Him and live in His peace.
When we read Hebrews 11, we see many examples of men and women of faith. It is evident in this record that all of them sacrificed much for the sake of their faith. We can’t serve both God and Mammon (Matthew 6:24). Mammon promises comfort and an easy life on earth. God promises a hard life on earth, but in Him peace and a wonderful eternity.
Faith keeps us connected with the Lord so we can live in fellowship with Him, which is why it is impossible to please Him without faith (Hebrews 11:6).
“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13).”
Faith lets us abide in the Lord, realising in our hearts the hope (confident expectation) of His presence and power, which manifests in a love relationship that spills over onto our surroundings.
Lord, I want to fellowship with you.
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