YOUR FAITH WILL CARRY YOU - PART 2

Posted on March 3, 2011 @ focusontheheart.org
On the "Hope for the Heart" page

Faith is a powerful thing to have and to understand!

We excuse our lack of the power of faith in our lives so many times by counting ourselves weak and vulnerable as humans. This isn't what Jesus wants for us as his children and messengers to the rest of the world!

Even still, as people were talking, the disciples had heard rumors of how Jesus was really from the devil and how Jesus had been breaking the laws that had been laid down by the religious leaders concerning the sabbath day. So we must remember all of that when we see the disciples reaction to the miracles Jesus performed on this day in the storm. Let's read on,

And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, "What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" ~ Mark 4:41

It's interesting to read in the previous chapters of Mark how the evil spirits all seemed to know and acknowledged that Jesus was the Holy Son of God and we can also read how that the Holy Spirit descended as the Heavens opened up when Jesus was baptised by John. These same men had been with Jesus to see allot of these things take place, but they hadn't understood and recognized in the time of panic that this same Jesus was the Son of God and has the power to do all things with anything or anyonethat He so chooses!

Do we still struggle with this today in our society of logic and legalistic thinking? Would Jesus ask us the same thing that He asked His disciples; as we think we are so smart and capable that we attempt to get through most of life's most difficult moments entirely on our own?
Do we often feel surprised when Jesus answers our prayers? Why should we, if we truly have constant unwavering faith in Him? He never wavers from His promises as we go through life's difficult circumstances; our faith is what will change the way that things turn out and it is each person's faith in God that will deliver and restore them in the presence of life's storms.

Jesus was there in the ship the whole time! The sooner that we understand that this holds true in our lives, the sooner we will find our lives filled with the unlimited resource of miracles and blessings of God through our faith in Him. The faith of the disciples, or should I say, the lack of faith was the the cause of their distress and panic in this storm. It was their decision to take on the storm all by themselves and did you happen to notice in that last passage that nothing was said about the water in the boat?

Jesus stopped the storm, but they still had a boat full of water!

I just can't help but wonder how they dealt with that situation. That's the problem with waiting many times when crisis comes. We still have the repairs and the cleanup to do as a result of waiting to call for help. Use your faith and call out to God early when a sudden crisis hits you! Your FAITH will carry you safely through the storms and calm the waves and wind.

I'd like to help illustrate this for you. Hang with me, you won't want to miss this!

Question - How does our faith carry us through the times of difficulty?

We must be careful not to think that we are constantly on a battleground and that we must always be ready to fight off the unseen forces of satan. In sharing my final point, I would like to point out how living our lives battling satan would be very different from what Jesus was teaching His disciples during the time that He was here walking amoung men on the earth.

The disciples may have tried to handle their difficulties all on their own at times, but I believe that they eventually found, as we will also, that it is not for us to wage war against the devil and sin by our strength, because we will loose the battle every time!

It is by FAITH in God that we WIN our battles and remain victorious over the evil forces and the difficulties of this world.
That is going to mean giving up our ego trips; putting our own weapons away and trusting in the all consuming power of God! That means we will have fear and respect for the Almighty One who is greater than us all and admitting this daily! Let's look at some verses that illustrate man's Faith in God that carried him through circumstances of difficulty!

The following passage tells us about a group of men who reached out to help a paralyzed man who was completely helpless. They didn't decide to pitch in to get him a new hospital bed or take him meals on wheels. They, in faith, took action to change the man's life forever! They believed in the spoken word of the Lord! By faith, they carried him to where Jesus was speaking.

And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy(paralyzed), which was carried by four men and when they could not come near to him because of the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed that the sick of the palsy(paralyzed) lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee". ~ Mark 2:3-5

It is true that our sins are what keep us held captive in our troubles and it is our faith in the Lord that allows us the deliverance from the bondage of sin and doubt. The faith of these men showed on this day and Jesus recognized it within their hearts and in their willingness to come to Him for help. Remember, it's so very important for us to be used of God andlive a life of freedom from sin's bondage! I ask you,"Why would anyone choose to remain bound by sin?" TO BE CONTINUED. . . .

"WHEN YOU KNOW YOU CAN'T WIN"

Have you ever fought a loosing battle?

I know that life can take sudden turns for the worse and when that happens we tend to react with panic, fear and sometimes even feel like running for our lives. Isn't this so true of almost everybody in the world today? Yes, there are still a few unusual people who bow their backs, hold their heads high and will fight on to the death. There are those people who will begin to plan another strategy and another angle of attack to hold off the approaching army, but there are times when even those brave and stubborn people must realize that they too must seek help to win.

In the Word of God we find a King who had just experienced that feeling of fear and panic and just didn't know what he needed to do. His name was Jehoshaphat and he had just been given the message that he was going to be attacked, not by one, not by two, but by three armies. These armies were of the children of Moab, Ammon and the Ammonites. He was informed that the group was of a very great multitude coming from the sea and they were getting closer every minute. Don't you think that this king who had been placed over the children of Israel and had served the Lord in all his ways may have been a pretty fearless kind of guy? After all he had the Lord of all creation on his side! how would you have reacted to this message knowing that you had a much smaller army? Let's read a passage that shows his reaction to this message;

2Chronicles 20:3-4 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4 And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

Wow! Can you believe that? It says that Jehoshaphat feared! What did he fear? He was afraid of the armies headed his way and he felt that he was in a situation that was impossible to win. He couldn't help his feelings of fear and panic, BUT he could help how he responded to this feeling that had come over him at that moment of surprise! Don't we all get surprises in our lives that shock us and leave us feeling helpless or in a total state of panic? Yes, I have experienced this and I know that anyone alive today has also been through this feeling and some may have felt this feeling quite often. My friend, let's learn from the reaction of this King to his fearful situation, his helpless situation. He had no hope of winning. He knew he was doomed to loose this battle and also to loose all that he had received from the Lord himself! What did he do though?

He set himself to the LORD! This means that he turned his face to the LORD and turned his attention to the LORD for help. Then he proclaimed to all of his kingdom to fast and pray. You see, the prayer and fasting come before the impossible over and over in the Bible. When I read this my first thought was how the fasting would have made the warriors of Judah even weaker physically as the armies of their enemies gained ground towards the great attack. Knowing that they would grow weaker without food and continuing to proceed with the fast was a complete and total move of faith in the LORD! As a matter of fact, it was the only option that Jehoshaphat had that presented any chance of victory ion this hopeless situation!

Think about this for a minute! Every life was in jeopardy and their very existence was at stake at this moment of their lives! Is this where you are in your life today? There are millions of people in the US right now that don't know where there sustenance will come from for the next day, week or month. There are millions of Americans who are without jobs and the Senate just voted and announced that the unemployment would be cut off for anyone who had been unemployed for six months or longer; leaving many families without. Think about how the layoff of thousands of fathers has impacted the lives of the single moms raising their children alone who depend on that child support to care for their children. Think about the businesses that will no longer receive business from all those families who are now without any income whatsoever! It's a fearful time for most Americans today! Yes, my friend, things are looking hopeless and many are fearful for their families and their own survival! Couldn't we relate in some ways to the feeling that Judah was going through before they began to fast and pray? I think so! Maybe you or someone you know is fighting a losing battle with an addiction, disease or emotional abuse of some kind. Those are the kind of battles that we must trust God to win! Those are the battles man cannot fight on his own!

Let me tell you something encouraging now, my brothers, sisters and friends! Let me tell you how Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah won the war that was IMPOSSIBLE TO WIN! Let's look at another passage a little further down when the Spirit of the LORD spoke to Jahaziel a Levite, in the middle of the congregation of Judah. Let's see what Jahaziel said;

2Chronicles 20:15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.

He said not to be afraid or dismayed because of what you see when you look at your circumstances! Isn't that how we feel too sometimes? Why did he say this? He told them that the battle ahead wasn't going to be their battle to fight, but God's! Your fight to survive, your financial struggles, your clothing an home are not yours to battle for in the time of hopelessness! You may think it is and you may fight and struggle until you are sick and exhausted and in tears, but the LORD will fight this battle for you if you will do what we see these many families doing in Judah thousands of years ago!

They didn't even raise their hands to fight this battle and they not only won; they went home with treasures that they didn't have before? Isn't that just like our LORD to fight our impossible battles and send us home with something more than we had before? I have personally seen God's hand at work so many times when it seemed like there was no way to win! I know that the LORD will do the same for ANYBODY that turns to HIM! I know he will hear our prayers and attend to our fasting when we are experiencing pain, hunger and see no possibility of winning. Put your trust in the LORD!

Don't be afraid; for the battle is not yours, but God's!

TO BE CONTINUED....
In the next chapter we will look at what the families of Judah were expected to do when the enemy was upon them and how the LORD rewarded their prayer, fasting and obedience.