An admission of true faith
By f.martin
To all that read this I hope we can come to an understanding that is brought to us not from the flesh, but from the spirit. I pray there is truth revealed that would unlock a tangible growth in our relationship with the Most High, and a stronger walk with His son.
I first would like to admit a few things. I am a sinner, and so are you. In the context of the word of God which is outlined quite clearly, no one stands above no one else. This truth can and should alleviate the need for one to possess a string of letters behind their name, or speak from a lofty pulpit to be heard.
Romans 3:23
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
When I look upon the word I do not find solace that all are sinners, but I find joy in the fact that grace can save us all. It provides kinship and allows us to fend off the feeling of being alone or having a singular experience not visited by anyone else. As we share the joy and love of Jesus, we also share the pitfalls that beset us from all sides as well as the persecution that follows one who speaks the truth of God.
My other admission is that I am not afraid what you might think of me. As much as I would like to be called friend, and as much as I would like you to hear and know God for yourself, it is truly an individual faith. Judgment will come one by one as will torment. So my intent to minister the gospel has nothing to do with you, and everything to do with you. Not to be complex, but it is simple love, but complex faith.
1 Corinthians 9
For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.
Why is faith complex? My belief is that it is threefold which gives dimensions that must fire in unison to complete the process fully. Mankind has a tendency to want completion without being complete. Firstly you must know what it is you should be doing. This dimension is the training dimension. Since I work in Law Enforcement I will use analogies from that field to illustrate the points.
A new hire is sent to the job and is given a period of 12 weeks for on the job training. This is followed or preceded by academy training. Without this training you would probably ascertain the dangers to both the community and the officer because of this lack of information and training. This is also true for the Christian. As I attended church service after service, one thing was always true, I would constantly ask questions and request to be shown where it was in the word. Secondly, I would go to search engines on the internet and find what biblical scholars said on the subject. These two things were coupled with prayer and supplication and requesting of my God to reveal unto me the truth. I would then put this truth to paper and give it away to find if that truth was understood and acknowledged by my brethren. They would either say amen to my testimony of faith or let me know where truth actually could be uncovered. So the training begins when you are willing to pick up the word of God and search for the truth, and it is an actual uncovering of that which is not hidden. God is fully revealed yet many do not know of Him. How crazy would it be to live with your Father and then when asked what His do’s and don’ts are you simply did not know? What if you are asked what does your Father really enjoy or dislike and you do not know. Yet if you think about the degradation and unrest in the body of Christ, as well as the falsehoods preached, the scams uncovered, the sin that abounds, is it not now more normal to have church dysfunction than not? This is not my attempt at being a naysayer, nor one who has lost hope. Because the scriptures are within me I believe these things must come to pass and I move daily as if they are. For example;
2 Timothy 4
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
2 Timothy 3
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
Any of these characteristics sound familiar? There is a story out of Atlanta that a Pastor of a church for 30 years was being sued by females of the church for the Pastor taking advantage of them sexually under the guise of spiritual guidance. This is unconscionable to me and I place part of the responsibility on the women who fell victim to this pulpit pimp. Nowhere in the word could they reconcile adultery with this Pastor who was married. If they read the word and engaged with their Lord through the word, this would not even be a question as to whether they should or should not do this. To further illustrate the degradation in this church body, the Pastor had a child through adultery with his own brother’s wife. This was uncovered due to the court order for paternity tests. So for thirty years he had lived with the secret that he bed his own brother’s wife and he was grooming the son/nephew to take over as pastor once he retired.
This can only take place when you embrace two important principles of Satan’s behavior patterns. The first is keeping secrets. This is the closet in which the enemy thrives the best. If he can keep you from noteworthy confession for grace sakes, he can prevent a spiritual cleansing of the highest order. Furthermore if he can successfully prevent you from taking a look in the mirror truthfully, he can derail your attempts at spiritual reconciliation. The second is not reading the word. This will allow him to buffalo you at every turn. Without the truth of God many facets of faith remain unknown and the growth in God remains unrealized. It is as simple as satan changing the mile markers. In your walk when you have gone 10 miles, he changes the marker to read one. Summarily you feel as if you’ve walked for a time and had gotten nowhere. It is then that it becomes easy to have the Christian believe in things that are partly true and not a flagrant lie. For example; a televangelist begins to spout a lie and the lie is addressed by another well known speaker of God’s word. The televangelist responds by saying, “touch not mine anointed”. This references the scripture;
1 Chronicles 16
He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.
Not a bad scripture to reference if you wanted the attack on you to stop and you considered yourself a prophet.
‘Christ’ means Anointed.. it is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word rendered “Messiah”
When God spoke in the OT of anointed it was to a select few of patriarchs, kings, or prophets. These were people chosen to move the word or revelation of God since the completeness of the word of God had not been manifested. When God told Saul (His anointed) to “Smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not...” (1 Sam. 15:3) Saul disobeyed and “spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord...” (v.15). upon which Samuel wasted no time in publicly denouncing Saul’s disobedience, telling him that “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft”. (v.23), and that God had rejected him as king. The Lord’s ‘anointed’ was verbally condemned by Samuel for his disobedience.
“Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee” (2 Cor. 1:20-22).
“But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.” (I Jn. 2:27).
The anointing that is spoken of is akin to the power behind the electrical outlet. You need only plug in faithfully. It is not something that falls on a select few special folk. It is that very thing God wants for all of us. Without the first notion of reading the word, faith may develop into a routine of worship for certain men and women who appear to curry favor with a God they know not. When in fact the anointing is what you receive when you receive the Lord. It is within you at the onset. It develops within you as your faith in Him grows in intellect, truth and understanding. Who can argue that the more you know about a particular thing the more you may understand that very thing. Once your understanding is at a keen level, you can with a great level of certainty negotiate well the truth of that thing. It will not come from the reference of books with God, but the in dwelling of His spirit within you which begins with the anointing, or Christ, that is in you.
The second part of the threefold dimension rests in the hands of you alone. You must believe that which is presented to you by the word of God. Not some of it, not question it, and not dismiss that which you do not like.
Hebrews 11
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
This must become true in your heart for true faith to take hold. Without this belief you will consistently question the things of God. For example; a husband frustrated by his wife and her inability to meet his needs sexually will simply deflect his overtures to her own end. Yet if they were both Christians and he was to turn to her and assess her behavior by simply exclaiming the word of God thusly;
1 Corinthians 7
Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
This is a built in rhetoric buster right here in the word of God. Summarily the husband must follow through on what are his responsibilities and sensibilities also written in the same New Testament.
Ephesians 5
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
This is accompanied by the firm belief that what has been written is first true, and then it is to our benefit to follow. It is that benefit that bolsters and strengthens our belief. Who could argue that after several successes you will become more confident? At a young age Eldrick Woods was entered time and again in tournaments with children his own age. Prior to this he was given several opportunities of instruction as well as games against player’s far superior who did not allow him to win. It was through many failures that success was achieved and then realized over and over again which began to build an inner belief system. His belief was not that he could not be defeated; rather it was that he did not believe he would be. The difference being that he had initial faith that took him through trials and instilled in him the desire to compete until the very end. This is the faith we must believe with. At the onset we must know that He is and His edicts are beneficial to us and His word is true through and through.
Matthew 27
He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never sound retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat; O be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on.
I connected the scripture as well as the battle hymn of the republic to illustrate non-belief’s desperate longing to believe. If Jesus were acting on His own behalf instead of His Father’s, He would summarily had granted the request of the Roman soldier and through His actions caused the soldier to believe. Yet He was not there to gain the faith of one but of many. I truly pray that when I am tested for Christ’s sake, my soul will be swift to answer Him and jubilant will be my feet. Each day my salvation is my concern. Not in a morbid sense, but I simply want to do God’s will. Not for praise or ambition but because it is just the right thing to do. I look into self daily to ascertain ways of becoming more in tune with God’s will, also trying to be a stronger brother to brethren and less of a stumbling block.
As you examine the two passages which one feels more right to you? The role of the Roman soldier is depicted daily in your life. You may have encountered this type while watching television, or as you go through daily activities or more personally it may be you. I listened to a TV personality exclaim on his show that if he were to raise children he would most certainly not use the bible to teach them anything. He uses the terms incest, murder, war, infidelity and crucifixion to describe the horrors he feels are depicted in the word. I have no issues with that at all. I can only pray for him. I am curious to know what he would use to train up his children. It seems the world he lives in provides much more somber and morbid experiences than the bible could ever provide. What is also quite interesting is that in this thought process he is putting labels of good and bad on things he describes. Not once asking himself what he would do if he were Seth and all the people on earth were related to him as it pertains to finding a spouse. Not once asking himself whether he is being fair blaming God for the bad behaviors of man, yet not giving him credit for the good. Not once putting thought to how he praises Steve Jobs for the IPOD yet no credit to a creator for the Pacific Ocean. He praises himself for being a stalwart on present day intellect, yet believes that all the ecosystems on earth transpired because two molecules came together at a frightening pace and in the explosion intricate symbols of perfection such as the Ebola virus strain, and the blue whale came to be realized through systematic cell attrition. The contradiction is massive and vast yet folly and comical. He is angry with organized religion and God is to blame. Yet the nine month growth of a fetus receives no respect for God. These things will be and the believer neither despises nor becomes concerned with them. The believer knows these things were forewarned to them that believe on His name.
Luke 21
For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Matthew 24
For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
1 Corinthians 3
And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are your’s;
Once you have the knowledge of God, and you truly believe in that which you have learned. It is then you must exercise or do those things that exemplify faith. If you know that lifting free weights would increase your strength. You also then engage in finding the information that would allow you to maximize your efficiency in training and increase your opportunities to succeed in strength training. It is all for naught if you never go to the gym and workout. This is the number one cause of falling away amongst my brethren. There are several ways that the enemy accomplishes the task of tricking the believer into a lack of action. One way the enemy uses is to deceive the believer into thinking he/she will be judged harshly for action. If one believes they may be criticized for standing for Christ, or persecuted for standing for righteousness, they recoil at the thought. Yet that is specifically what the walk will endure if the path you walk is the narrow rocky one God resides upon.
Matthew 5
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Acts 7
Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
To repeat a quote from a fellow Christian; There comes a time when silence is betrayal. When you fail to admonish brethren you are saying to them that you do not love them enough to stand up for Christ. You are saying you do not want them to grow in their faith. You are saying you are not concerned with their walk at all. If we choose this path, how can we then sit in the pews with our eyes closed looking to receive the spirit of God?
Matthew 5
Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Another way of tricking brethren by the enemy is to convince them that the words of conviction lay only in the mouth of the messenger and not in the word of God. Judge not, that ye be not judged is a popular scripture used to deflect any criticisms of behavior brethren to brethren. It’s a tool used by brethren who do not wish to end status quo. Whether that status quo is of an individual nature or by group. Christ being sui generis in any angle you wish to look upon Him was specific when speaking about judgment. His specifics are as telling as the Latin phrase aforementioned which means unique in its characteristics.
John 7
If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day? Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
1 Corinthians 6
Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?
Zechariah 3:7
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by.
In the original languages, the words translated as judge in Scripture are also translated examine, search, discern, ask, question, contend, esteem, and determine.
1 Corinthians 11:31-32
For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
In truth, God does not forbid us to judge, but He sets up conditions wherein we must judge. Paul states emphatically to the church at Corinth that indeed we must first look upon ourselves before anyone even looks toward us. Then as a checks and balance system in the world, as brethren we look after one another. When a brother or sister is in error, it is an extension of God’s grace and mercy to have another member of the Body provide correction. This gives the one in error an opportunity to repent and it serves as a witness for others in the faith. Letting a brother or sister continue in error is the most unloving and self-righteous act, because it allows them to continue in something that may result in them falling away from the Lord. Our fellowship with each other is but one of the ways in which God helps to steer us in the right direction when we go astray. As Christians, we are not only engrafted into the family of God, but we are made a part of a spiritual family of brothers and sisters. In whom we can fellowship, learn, share, and grow in the faith. We have been birthed into a body of believers who can encourage, strengthen, support, and yes even admonish each other when necessary. "And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.” Who better than Paul to proclaim this truth? Paul dragged believers by their feet to persecution. Yet he speaks thoughtfully of wanting something better for brethren. As should we each day first examine ourselves to see if we are truly what we say we are.
2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
Furthermore, what is the evidence of that claim? Yet the enemy would have you focus completely on the inner workings of your own defense mechanism. Scrambling internally to provide a defense for a bruised ego, a cut or diminished pride or a feeling of perceived diminished worth. What is essential that brethren should let the enemy know each and every time is that you humble yourself and become lowly to fully accept the high calling. The calling does not occur at your apex but at your base.
1 Corinthians 1
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.
We must not be fearful to act and complete the threefold dimension of our faith. It remains imperative that the growth of our beliefs depend greatly on the willingness to act upon those beliefs. So be encouraged when you love upon brethren in admonishment. For though they may state that you have attacked them, they may feel hurt, be encouraged that it is a wound that once healed will be better than when the spiritual scalpel first encountered their soul.
James 2
What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage.
We don’t change the message, the Message changes us.
Nothing is as arrogant as false humility. Humility demands that we constantly check our motives.
Just a brother sharing…..
Stay encouraged and in His will. fm
