HAVE FAITH
by
Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid (May 28, 2015)
“And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.” (Mark 11:22, King James Version [Of faith in prayer]).
Greetings In The Holy Name Of Jesus,
My brothers and sisters, the single most important phrase that leads the day is “Have Faith.” I know my spirit utters, “Have Faith” to me when I look in my purse and find my last twenty dollar bill or my last ten dollar bill or my last five dollar bill---and consider all that I need to do, not wanting to ever break my last bill---not wanting to even break the last bill that I must keep on me in case weather conditions intensify to death and destruction. No one wants to be “broke” without any recourse to help themselves in an emergency, without even their change purse filled up so they can make dollars out of the change to get what they need. Nowadays, we live by faith more than we live by our last one dollar, five dollars, ten dollars or twenty dollars bill or our last quarter, nickel, dime or penny. The feelings of desperation rise up in your chest---uneasiness when you break your last bill---so, now it is no longer your last bill but the change from your last bill or lesser than your last bill so you try to make yourself feel better and say, “Well, I had a twenty but now I have ten dollars and five dollars with some change because I had to gas up to make it to work tomorrow. I had to give my church ten dollars so now I have five dollars to make it through the week for lunch so I guess I will take leftovers, to eat.
Let's discuss the conditions of you trying to save because you knew you never had the twenty dollars in the first place as emergency money because you needed to make a purchase that you could not put off for another day and you needed to gas up to get to work but you convinced yourself that you could pay yourselves first and hold on to---save emergency money. How many of you have lived off of your change purse until your next pay day or until the next time you received money coming in to your household---if it was a big purchase that made you live off your change purse then you felt good because buying the house was worth it---getting in a rental apartment was worth it or buying the car was worth it? You know your savings program was just 'pie in the sky' not a sure save no matter how you tried to pay yourself first because your incoming monies never was more that your expenses (liabilities)---you have always had to hustle to make the difference with odd jobs or odd contracts from your auto skills, cooking skills, home rehab skills, plumbing skills, or education skills. What about when you look in the refrigerator freezer and find that you already used the last pack of meat so you must make a meal without meat---get the one dollar pack of hotdogs at the store, spend your last five dollars to get a roast or big meat that will last so you do not have to think about food, go by the community food bank or you can schedule fasting and praying for a day to hold out until pay day---try to get closer to the day you have money coming in? Do you hear your spirit say, “Have Faith.”
Do you break under the pressure of facing the reality that you are broke again, without money---not able to make it to pay day or to the day that money will come in to your household? Will you borrow from your husband, wife, or friends, maybe a signature loan from your company to help you make it through this month because you were not able to save any money or the money you saved is earmarked for Christmas and you have already taken out of your investment account---at least you didn't have to pay a penalty for early withdrawal or did you have to pay a fee for early withdrawal? Is your spirit broken? Do you still hear your spirit speaking, “Have Faith”?
Perhaps, by now you are so desperate you are sort of numb---preoccupied with the pressures of living the good life so much so until you find talking it out in church or in church groups a waste of time because the pressure is still hacking at you---making you regret so many decisions that you made but you cannot erase the decisions, those decisions pulling at your heart string mocked your common 2
sense and education but somehow the voice that keeps whispering to you, “Have Faith” calmed you down for awhile. More importantly, the hypothetical situations---you promise yourselves beat you down for the last time---the old, if this happens then you will do this or that. If, the rent office will let me pay one week later, then I will get some groceries. If the community food bank will let me get some food, then I will gas up and pay the rent. If, the mortgage company can put my late payments in arrears, then I will keep the money in the savings account and start doubling up my payments until I erase some years---those years that I extended my mortgage.
Furthermore, if my bank overdraft program does not clear my car payment because I had to get some gas, I will borrow from my husband, my wife, or friend and send through a payment to cover the one the bank did not pay. How mad---angry about everything--- that you are still hustling, right about now? You must get back to peace---your decisions must impact your peace, take you from the struggle back to the peace you had or did you ever have peace in your daily life? “Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endureth for ever.” (Psalms 112:3, KJV [The security of the godly]). Why is your house a suffering house full of struggle, since sickness, lost of work, destruction of home, repairs needed for car or home, expenses of raising children, home business expenses, always borrowing from Peter to pay Paul (loans), just cannot figure out how to balance the budget (lack of discipline---no control over my emotional spending), practical spending befuddles me, or I do not care why and I do not know why I do not even hear my spiritual voice say, “Have Faith”?
Do you consider that in spite of your church going, prayers, tithing, and witnessing that you are not godly? “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33, Luke 12:31, KJV [The sermon on the mount]). “And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.” (I Kings 3:13, KJV [Solomon's dream]). “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” (Psalm 37:25, KJV [Prayer for confidence in God]).
According to the Word of God and gospel readings, “But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.” (Mark 10:30, KJV [Christ blesseth the children]). “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” (I Timothy 4:8, KJV [godliness profits all things]). “Now the Spirits speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;” (I Timothy 4:1-16, KJV [every creature of God is good]). Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy.
Thank you Jesus. Amen.
