You’ve Got To Believe!!
I use those strong terms, because Jesus used them. If we are part of His kingdom and He is the King, then His word is a command to those who are in that kingdom. It becomes our mandate. There are times when believing can be a life and death matter...
Believing comes as a command from the Lord to all His followers.
John 3:18 “Whoever believes in Him (Jesus) is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed on the name of God’s one and only Son”. (That’s a mandate we are given)....
Hebrews 11:6 “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He is and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him”. (That a Kingdom command).
Mark 9:23 “If you can believe, all things are possible to those who believe”. There is a reason those who follow Christ are called believers.
Just having faith is not enough. Having the ability or the knowledge that you need to believe, is not enough. There must be action that is consistent with what is believed. James tells us that faith without corresponding actions is lifeless and dead. You do not actually believe anything until you are willing to put action behind it. Hope is not enough, because hope must have a plan for what is hoped for. Proverbs13:12 says “Hope deferred makes the heart sick”….Life gets to be a heavy load when hope has no plan, and no clear path....
One man in the bible who was struggling with getting the mix right is found in Mark 9:24 Jesus presented Him with what He could do with the man’s son and his condition, and the man’s reaction was… “Lord I do believe, help my unbelief”… He was actually saying, “I have faith, and I hope this is true, but I need help putting this into action”….
Let me give you some good advice…. when you don’t have a plan, accept the plan the Lord has for you!!!
Let me give you a simple formula…. Faith + Hope = Belief
Faith in His promise, plus Hope with a plan, equals belief that brings it into reality….
TO THE PALSIED MAN in Luke 5:24, CHRIST GAVE THIS COMMAND – “But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, I say unto you, Arise, and take up your couch, and go into your house”.
Do you see the formula? Faith in the promise, brought hope with a plan, and belief that it was possible, sprang forth into action....
TO THE MAN WITH THE WITHERED HAND – Matt. 12:13. Stretch forth , your hand. (action accompanied belief that it was possible...
TO THE MAN WITH AN INFIRMITY 38 YEARS John 5:6.– Jesus asked for a decision to act.....Will you be made whole?
TO THE MAN BORN BLIND – John 9:7, belief required action....Gowash in the pool of Siloam.
TO THE WOMAN WITH AN ISSUE OF BLOOD... Luke 8:45-46 – Your faith (or belief) has made you whole.... (her belief had corresponding action as she touched the hem of His garment)
We see it again Luke 17:14, WITH THE TEN LEPERS – Jesus required that their belief have corresponding action..... “Go show yourselves unto the priests”.
Peter received faith to walk on the water when he heard Jesus say, ‘Come.’ But that faith did not come alive until he threw his leg over the side of the boat and started walking on the water.
So we see in all these accounts, that action unlocked the power that wasresident, when faith in His word plus hope with a plan of action, becamebelief that it would be done!!.
Find and study the promises in the Bible that cover your need. Give yourself to them wholly, and meditate on them until they get deep down inside of you. Spend time with God and listen to Him. Do what He says and make the changes and adjustments that He requires. Hearing His voice produces faith and Hope begins to form a plan, and obedience to what He says produces the victory. Some of you need to start by reading the word about healing and then just find someone and believe for their healing (come on, we all know someone) Read where it says bring them to Jesus, and either lead them in a prayer to receive Christ or bring them to church (we all know someone who needs to be in church) But it’s a start!! A trip around the world starts with 1 step! If He says go then go…. If He says come then come…. If He says stop then stop…. If He says do nothing, then spend the time receiving the plan that will be implemented when He says Go!!! The combination of Faith and Hope, will determine what you believe and act upon…. Evangelist, Jonathan Whitfield was preaching to coal miners in England. He asked one man, "What do you believe?" "Well, I believe the same as the church." "And what does the church believe?" "Well, they believe the same as me." Seeing he was getting nowhere, Whitfield said, "And what is it that you both believe?" "Well, I suppose we believe the same thing." He said... “oh, boy”!!!
Knowledge is the accumulation of information, while wisdom is knowing what to do with that knowledge and how to apply it in real world situations and in our own life. We may hear a sermon or read scripture but if we get in the habit of not applying those truths in our lives, we are training our spirit to give place todoubt and unbelief which defeats our spiritual health and gives Satan opportunities to undermine our faith. This opens us up to error and Satan’s many lies.
Look at it this way, would you invest time and money to go to a trade school for (carpentry, or being an electrician, or mechanic) and never do anything except the book work. Imagine becoming a master carpenterbut you’ve never picked up a hammer during the entire experience. It sounds ridiculous but this is how many Christiansdo it.
Once when I was visiting my Son Chris, in Va. Beach, a group of us guys went to the shooting range. And on the way there, I mentioned that I had never fired a pistol, only rifles and shotguns, and one of the guys, who was an M.P. at the Naval Base, said that he was excited to be shooting live rounds. We were all stunned, since he was an M.P. Then he *.......said that he had never fired a live round through out all of his training. All he had ever fired was blanks.... Too many Christians are shooting blanks!!! It’s time to try some live rounds! Blanks will make a noise, they will even cause a reaction, but they make no holes in the target! If we sit through sermon after sermon, plus all of our personal Bible reading, but rarely apply any of it to see lasting change, correction in our core values, or a new direction in our lives, then we are professional spectators, not doers of the word.. We’re just shooting blanks and we fall short of the target....!
James 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”
We can all do something as we are challenged with the promises of God. There is some plan of action we can take, which corresponds with the hope that is in us.
A teenage girl in college was believing God for the man God had for her to do life with....she was believing for a Godly husband. So, she wrote a prayer, that was her faith plan, she posted it on her dorm mirror and this is what she said:
“Dear God, I do not pray with selfish wants, As girls are prone to be
I do not want a handsome man / But make him, Lord, like Thee.
I do not need one big and strong / nor yet so very tall,
Nor need he be some genius / or wealthy, Lord, at all;
But let his head be high, dear God, / and let his eye be clear,
His shoulders straight, whate’er his fate / whate’er his earthly sphere.
And let his face have character, / a ruggedness of soul,
And let his whole life show, dear God, / a singleness of goal.
And when he comes / as he will come
With quiet eyes aglow / I’ll know, dear Lord,
That he’s the man / I prayed for long ago”.
We know that girl as Ruth Graham, she later met and married—Billy Graham. Her life had a profound effect as one who so faithfully supported and surrounded Billy Graham with love & encouragement.
See it again.....Faith in His promise, plus Hope with a plan, equals belief that brings it into reality….
Abraham believed God and moved away from Haran, to a city whose builder and maker was God….., Joshua and the people believed God for victory and marched around Jericho….., David believed that God appointed Him as the next king so he left the farm and into his destiny….. We see over and over that you can’t please God or fulfill your purpose in life if you don’t have Faith, Hope and belief, working together.
Martin Luther, the great reformer said, “Faith that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing, is worth nothing”.
When the disciples had faith in Jesus words, “Follow Me”…..hope began to plan that out, and their belief put it in action. Amazing things began to come into their lives and many people were glad they did.
In the book titled “Inkheart”, which was made into a movie... the lead character discovers that he has a special power. When he reads a book out loud, he brings the characters to life in the real world. Each of us have a special power....
And the book is the Bible, The words within it are alive and God breathed. When we read it, those words and events, the miracles and works of God, come alive in us and as we believe and act, we bring them into the real world where we live.....We begin to see the faithful God behind it all, who is the same Yesterday, today and forever, guiding everything according to his plan and purpose, and our faith grows more and more, which translates into greater actions in the real world. Maybe you have cried out, “Lord, what’s happening with my life?” I have often thought about times when we are taking prayer requests, and when all the usual requests are recorded, someone will raise their hand to say, “I have an unspoken request.” What falls into that category? An unspoken request is something so close to the heart that it’s very personal, you cannot mention it without breaking into tears. It’s a request that comes forth at the painful intersection between biblical faith and the reality that the hope that is within, still needs a plan for decisive action.
How do we keep hope alive when life itself seems to take a wrong turn down a dead-end street? What if all that we hold dear is suddenly snatched away, if all the familiar landmarks are removed, if our friends desert us, if our job is gone, if our health disappears, if death comes unwelcomed to our door, and we’re in an uncertain place where nothing is familiar anymore. We are now dealing with a difficult but undeniable reality. Sometimes God’s plan is different from what we expected. It’s not that God isn’t hearing or seeing what’s happening, It’sthat He has another direction, another way, that we haven’t tuned in to yet.... (I said yet!) God won’t say yes if His plan is a No... or a wait, or You’ve got to be kidding!!!
We have all just received an amazing gift of 365 new opportunities for a miracle, (minus 7 days).... That’s a lot of chances for God to do a new thing in each of our lives, families, careers, and foundations of the future....
He’s been doing it different than people expected, for His people for thousands of years, and He’s ready to do it now!
It happened when Moses showed up and led them out of Egypt.
It happened when God sustained them for 40 years in the wilderness.
It happened when they crossed the Jordan River.
It happened when the walls of Jericho came tumbling down.
It happened when they conquered the Promised Land.
It happened when Gideon defeated the Midianites.
It happened when Samson defeated the Philistines.
It happened when Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal.
It happened when David defeated Goliath.
You’ve got to believe, it’s ready to happen again..... Are you ready? Does your faith in His promise, plus Hope with a plan, equal belief that brings it into reality…Yes, a thousand times, Yes!!! When D L Moody, the renownevangelist of the last century, who led millions to Christ, was laying on his deathbed, he said to his sons, "If God is your partner, then you need bigger plans."
Imagine an ant crawling across a priceless painting by Rembrandt. It crawls across the dark brown and thinks all of life is dark brown. Then it hits green and thinks, ‘”Oh, this is better. Now all is green.” But soon comes the blue and then a splash of yellow, a streak of red, and then another patch of brown. The ant only sees that part of the painting it is in at the moment, and doesn’t appreciate the entire painting.
We are the ant, and as we journey, from one color to another, in the episodes of our lives, we can’t see that God is actually painting a masterpiece, using all the colors in His great plan to grow, and develop us into mature men and women of faith and hope. One day we will learn that every color had its place, had a reason, nothing was wasted or out of place. Just as there is a time and a season for everything, there is also a color for every stage of life’s journey. When the painting is finished, we will discover that we were part of a masterpiece from the very beginning. Time is the canvas on which God does His painting, and eternity is the viewpoint from which we will see the amazing beauty of His handiwork.
This is His story, being written out through our lives. And we are the ones He has chosen to bring it into the real world. It is so much bigger than you and me that we can’t begin to comprehend all that His plan contains.
Pioneer missionary J. Hudson Taylor founded the China Inland Mission to reach the multitudes of Chinese people who had never heard the gospel. During the terrible days of the Boxer Rebellion (1900-1901), when missionaries were being captured and killed, he went through such an agony of soul that he could not pray. Writing in his journal, he summarized his spiritual condition this way: “I can’t read. I can’t think. I can’t pray. But I can trust.”
The poster said, “Lost dog, 3 legs, blind in left eye, missing right ear, tail broken, recently castrated, answers to the name of “Lucky”.....Maybe you have felt a bit like “Lucky” looks..... we’ve all had those times when we felt lucky! There will be times when we don’t feel like reading the Bible. Sometimes we may get so busy, we may not focus our thoughts on God at all. Sometimes we may feel like our prayers are bouncing back in our faces, but in those moments we can still trust in the loving purposes of our heavenly Father. Hudson Taylor had faith in the promises, and his hope produced a plan, and a deep belief in the author of all things, which gave it corresponding action, and multitudes of Chinese believers can testify that it changed their lives and their eternity.
Look up, child of God, for redemption is drawing near....seebeyond your own problems, difficulties, disappointments and challenges...look up and you will see the hand of God at work everywhere, in everything!
William Cowper, was one of the most popular poets of the late 1700’s, who struggled with frequent bouts of depression and battled forces of darkness that kept trying to pull him down, most of his life. But he held to the promises, and wrote with hope, as he stated his belief in God’s eternal plan. He wrote....
God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm.
Deep in fathomless mines, Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs, And works His sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take, The clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break, In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace
Behind a frowning providence, He hides a loving face.
His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour
The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan His work in vain
God is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain.
Oh, Hallelujah, to the Master painter and designer of destinies!
I want to close with God’s word to the people of Judah, when they had gone into captivity. Judah means “Praise”...So God is speaking to the people of praise in a time of captivity in Babylon....
Jeremiah 29:10-14 "This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill My good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord...
What He said then, He says to you now....Even your captivity has a purpose, even your season of feeling abandoned and hopeless fits into the greater plan. Keep your eyes on the prize and know that He is still the rewarder of those who put their trust in Him.
Could we all read the following together....
Hebrews 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”.
Hebrews 7:25 "Therefore He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, for He ever lives to make intercession for us."
Let’s take a moment to thank God that He is working out an amazing plan through us, as we believe and bring His amazing constantly unfolding story into the earth! Could we take a moment and just give Him praise that He is working through His plan for us.... Surrender to His all sufficient work, He knows how to bring it to pass!
