Let’s argue over who has faith and who lacks it and that will prove what exactly? It will prove to be a foolish task and that’s the truth.
Rather than argue things unseen, let us stay focused on the Lord and stay in the full armor of God in these wicked days for the wickedness and deceit of the devil is very cunning. When the devil has us arguing over how the devil does and how God does and or does not… and all the things that are misunderstood for lack of understanding…all you need to do is add to that mess judging each other’s heart and faith based on man’s little ideas of what faith is.
Let each take their perceptions to the Holy Spirit for edification and wrestle with the Lord for understanding.
As I have said before, How the thief plans to enter into your house and steal your belongings and how he shall kill you is not the most important thing to focus on. That is a fear creator. Instead of that, we must focus first on preparation so when the thief enters you are not sleeping and without protection. Focus on filling up on all of the Word of God and take all you have found and all your questions to the Holy Spirit for edification for man’s ways and man’s ideas are not God’s ways, and not God’s ideas.
When we depend on the interpretations of others, we have no point of reference to weigh against to know if we are being deceived or not. When we read asking the Holy Spirit to explain to us what things mean… we begin to learn. Sometimes our questions are deep and in order to understand, the Holy Spirit takes us on a long journey learning things we might think are not what we asked, but when we finally get to the answer, we find that all the things that we had to learn and know first were exactly what was needed for us to come to the understanding that we asked for. So, take the journey. There are no shortcuts to where the Holy Spirit needs to take you for you to see and to hear.
To be deep rooted in the Word of God, you must take the journey with the Holy Spirit. If you can read, you can take the journey. Now is the time to begin.
Your journey with the Holy Spirit is special for you. What God needs to do with you to get you to move to where he desires you to be is unique. No two people are in the exact same place in their faith and learning to follow the way of the Lord. So, learn to heed the direction you are being led to follow, and follow. Take all things before the Holy Spirit to see if a thing is of God or of the devil and wait for an answer, pray unceasing. Ask as many questions as you need for guidance and reassurance.
When you are being led by the Holy Spirit, follow. At times you will be so excited in what you have learned you will share it with someone who has another opinion. Do not get caught up in vain arguments over interpretations, church indoctrinations and or other people’s opinions. If your core belief in Jesus Christ is that He is the Son of God, died for our sins and has risen and conquered death and hell and is seated on the right Hand of God and is our King of Kings for all eternity, then we agree on what is most important.
Stay away from deceptive dogma. Many have problems drinking the milk, let alone chewing on the meat… and the “Big Fat Food Dogma” that has been layered into all of it is a maze that takes us away from the task the Lord given us to read the scriptures for ourselves and taking all things to the Holy Spirit ourselves for direction and discernment. Some scriptures have many depths and layers of meaning. Remember in the new covenant there is no Greek, nor Jew, nor male, nor female but we are all one in Christ. God will prepare each one for their journey for each ones life has a purpose different from another.
Galatians 3:28 Context
25. “But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. 26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham‘s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
When the Lord was asked which of the commandments was the greatest, he said to Love God with all your heart, mind, strength and soul is the first commandment and the second one is to love your neighbor as yourself. And that if we do those two commands, we shall have done all the commandments of God. And so, let us do as the Lord instructed us to do and hold tight to the new covenant and know we are living stones each one making up the Temple of the Living God. Amen.
Romans 10:4-114 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. 5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. 6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) 7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. 12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Remember, Jesus our Lord made our yokes light. He sat among the sinners and taught them the way to eternal life with the Father in Heaven.
He did not teach mathematics of the Kabballah, nor taught numerology to anyone. He did not show us how to use numbers to come up with all sorts of ideas, nor teach us of numbers to prove his words true or false. He spoke clearly and in easy to understand words. Even though they were used at the time he walked the earth. In fact, it was an ancient and esoteric tradition. Philosophers looked at numerology as a tool for divination, and a method of acquiring knowledge beyond that of the five senses, even as a path to know the divine itself. Yet, Jesus not once ever told the people how to use such divination. Nor did he even suggest the use of it to understand the Word of God.
Jesus never said to do the math. He said have FAITH.
Even faith the size of a mustard seed and you can say to this mountain move to yonder place and it shall be removed, and nothing shall be impossible for you. Matthew 17:20. 20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
And why did he say this to the disciples? Let us put the scripture in its context as the disciples had failed to cast out demons in a man’s son that was a lunatic (epileptic) due to demonic possession. Let us read the scripture in its fullness.
Matthew 17:143-21
“14 And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, 15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. 16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. 17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? 20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
In the Peshetta, the Aramaic translation presents the scripture this way , “14And when they came to the multitude, a man came unto him and knelt on his knees. 15And he said to him, “My lord, have mercy on me, my son has a lunatic demon and has become ill, for he has fallen many times into fire and many times into water.” 16“And I brought him to your disciples and they were not able to heal him.” 17Yeshua answered and he said, “Oh, faithless and twisted generation! How long shall I be with you, and how long shall I endure you? Bring him here to me.” 18And Yeshua rebuked it and the demon went out from him and The Boy was healed from that moment.
19Then the disciples came to Yeshua himself alone and they said to him, “Why were we not able to heal him?” 20Yeshua said to them, “Because of your unbelief, for amen, I say to you, that if you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you may say to this mountain, ‘Move from here’, and it will move, and nothing will be difficult for you”. 21“But this kind does not go out except by fasting and by prayer.”
Doing your own thing is surely not abiding in the Lord’s word? Jesus is pointing out, this is not what or how I told you to do. It sounds like His concern was more so their falling away through lack of faith. Like going out and forgetting to pray and fast and stay close as in God’s rest, for every day is in His rest. As we learned that the Sabbath was entering into God’s rest which was a shadow of things to come. When we don’t enter into His rest, His Sabbath which is His rest… we are easily deceived even in our own idea of our faith… we can lose our sight based on our own ideas of what we have. Matthew 11:28 “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,”
Hebrews Chapter 4
“1 Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; 5 and again in this passage, “They shall not enter My rest.” 6 Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. 9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. 14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
The gift of the Holy Spirit is not something we can just go about and loosely speak of and act as though we can command such powerful Godly Authority by our own whim. Faith is not a machine. Faith is believing that God shall deliver that which is needed to overcome the evil in the world through our faith in Christ our Lord by God our Father.
Because we command something to be, is NOT how the Holy Spirit works in our lives. The Holy Spirit is not a Jinn. Nor can such a gift from God be purchased as Simon Magus the Sorcerer tried to do. (Acts 8:9-25) Prayer and fasting are still part of drawing closer to God. Nor is the Holy Spirit given to one who is non repentant of their own sins.
Imagine being there and hearing the words, “Oh faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me.” Or “Oh, faithless and twisted generation! How long shall I be with you, and how long shall I endure you? Bring him here to me.” However you translate it, the words are such they should sink in and make you reevaluate your actions. When they were alone with the Lord they asked him why they weren’t able to heal the boy. They really didn’t understand. Jesus told them it was because of their unbelief. Even pointing out that all they needed was the tiniest bit the size of a mustard seed. But not only that, they also needed to fast and pray.
It does sound that they had either become complacent and or not fasted and prayed in order to be prepared for their anointed position. For Jesus had selected from among the disciples 12 to be his apostles and to do as He did. In Matthew Chapter 10 it says that Jesus called his twelve chosen ones to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. The names of the twelve apostles were: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. He sent them out instructing them to go to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
They did as they were instructed and came back with much success. Pondering this, one can see he sent them out without purse, nor weapons and they relied on prayer and faith that they would do as Jesus said. It sounds like somewhere along the line they had become over confident and forgot to fast and stay in prayer to grow their faith as Jesus had done in the wilderness and they were shown to do even through the prophets in order to be close with God and in His favor. This is a good lesson for all of us.
Basically, lip service is not belief. Saying you have faith, is not faith. Words and action are different. We must be careful not to deceive ourselves because of past blessings and stay in prayer unceasing to the Lord in all that we do. It is so easy to fall back into old patterns or forget to be as wise as the serpent and gentle as a dove. To ignore the Holy Spirit and not even aware that you are doing that. Fasting and being alone with God and the power of the Holy Spirit in prayer brings you back to that oneness and building of faith.
The Lord taught many things to his disciples, and they were growing in all their ways little by little. None of them understood everything right off the bat, it was a learning process. We see in the scriptures how they had to be corrected and have things explained when in private. The Lord said that he spoke in parables so those who had eyes to see would see and those who had not eyes to see would not see. And that those who had ears to hear would hear and those who had not ears to hear would not hear. The Holy Spirit gives us eyes to see and ears to hear.
That being said, we must each work on strengthening our faith and walking in belief. No one can take that journey for us. We must each step out and take that journey on our own and pray unceasing for our own understanding with the Holy Spirit leading us and showing us what it is that we must learn in order to see with our eyes and hear with our ears. For we each have our own personalities and ways about us that only the Lord knows how to move around to get us to be where He wants us to be.
How many times have you suffered something bad in order to move in another direction that held many blessings for you? God’s ways truly are not man’s ways.
Keep on pressing into the Kingdom of God! Press, press, press!
Dianne
