MISSIONAL FAITH: IT WILL STRETCH YOUR IMAGINATION

When it come to living a powerful and effective missional life, it will require having amazing faith!  But as we apply the concept of faith in God to being on mission with God one thing becomes extremely evident!  And that is:  Missional faith will always stretch your imagination!  Read what God’s word say,

“… now glory be to God! By his might power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope for.”  Eph. 3:20 (NL)

DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT?  Do you sincerely believe that it is God’s desire to accomplish” infinitely more” that you are able to ask for?  THAT REQUIRES FAITH!  And not just any ole faith but amazing faith.

Let’s think about this for a moment!  Try and imagine the greatest thing that God could ever accomplish through your life!  Do you have it?  Is it clear in your mind? Well, guess what? You still haven’t come close to what God wants to do through you!  Your imagination will always be to small.  You are incapable to dreaming up something as big as what God wants to do through you.  What God wants to accomplish you can’t be figured out by dreaming it up the most amazing pursuit.  No, God’s plans are always so huge that it can only be revealed to you by God himself.

This kind of activity with God will always begin with a revelation from Him showing you His plans and His ways.  When God does show you these things it is going to blow your mind away and will require you to have a faith that truly believes that God can do anything, through anybody, including you.

Think for a moment about the idea of Abraham becoming the father of a great nation ...

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FAITH! WHAT EXACTLY IS IT? Part 2

"By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith."  Hebrews 11:7 (NIV)

Here in the New International Version it uses the phrase, "holy fear" but in the New American Standard Version it uses the word, "reverence".  Here we see Noah receiving a warning from God that he was going to destroy the world by a flood but will save Noah and his family if he builds an ark.  So what does Noah do?  Motivated by Holy Fear or Reverence for God Noah builds the ark!  So from this we learn that:

Faith Is Being Obedient To God Out Of Holy Reverential Fear!

Noah's motivation for building this ark was not because he wanted to do something that no one else had done!  It was not because he wanted to show God that he was worthy of being saved!  It was not because he had been sitting around and had nothing better to do!  No!  Noah built that ark because he knew that God was Holy and Righteous, that God was tired of this sinful world and that God would do exactly what he said he would do and that God wasn't playing around.  And that understanding brought

Holy Fear Into Noah's Life That Caused Him To Obey!

You see faith is believing that God will do exactly what he said he would do.  Do we really believe that Christ is coming back one day to judge the living and the dead?  Do we really believe that Christ when he returns will destroy the world by fire? Do we really believe that those who don't repent from their sinful life and turn to Christ as Lord and master will spend an eternity in hell?  If we truly do believe those things doesn't that belief cause you to take pause and fell you with a Holy Reverence for God?  

And if we truly do believe those things shouldn't that Holy Fear cause us to act in obedience to fulfill the mission that Christ has given us of making disciples of all peoples.  I mean if we truly believe that Christ is going to do these things and in the mean time has given us this important task to accomplish should we have the same kind of faith that Noah had that fills us with Holy Fear and grips us with Reverence?  I think it should!

In Galatians 6:9 it says,

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (NIV)

So out of Holy Fear let's not grow tired, 

let's not grow weary, let's not give up!

In Holy Fear let's press on with the mission of making 

disciples for Christ of all people.

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FAITH! WHAT IS IT EXACTLY? Part 1

So what exactly is faith?  I mean we have all heard the Biblical definition of faith from Hebrews 11:1,

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance 

about what we do not see."  

And I would agree that this is by far the most meaningful and beneficial definition that any person can hold to.  But in order to help us begin to view Biblical faith in God differently but in total agreement with what Hebrews says I would like to offer the following:

Faith Is Following God's Instructions Even 

When It Doesn't Make Sense!

"By faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."  Hebrews 11:8

Can you imagine that conversation between Abraham and God?  Think about it for a second and imagine with me if you would how that conversation went:

God, 'Abraham.' Abraham, 'Yes God I'm listening.'   God, 'Abraham I want to pack up your bags and get ready to move.'  Abraham, 'O.k. God, sure. When will I be leaving?'  God, 'I'll tell when it's time to leave but for now just make sure that you, your family and all your servants are packed and ready to go when I tell you.' Abraham, 'Sure God if you say so. That's no problem.  So where exactly are we going?'  God, 'That's not for you to know right now but once I tell you to leave I will also tell you what direction to go and when you get there.'  Abraham, 'Well I guess that's alright.  How long will it take for us to get there?'  God, 'Not for you to know.  You just keep on going until I tell you to stop.'  Abraham, 'Well if you say so I guess I can do that but let me make sure I understand you clearly. You want me, my family and all of my servants to pack up and get ready to relocate to a place that's an unknown destination, I'm not sure when we will be leaving exactly and I don't know how long it will take to get there.  Is that correct God?'  God, "Yes that's exactly correct. Do you have a problem with that?'  Abraham, 'No, not at all. I was just checking."

So let me ask you from our human perspective does it make a bit of sense to pack for a journey that you are going to take at some unknown point in your life, to go on that journey without any idea how long it will take to get there and without any map or instructions on how to get there?

NO!  IT MAKES NO BIT OF SENSE!

But that's faith in God.  He tells us to do something but it doesn't make a bit of sense to us but we do it anyhow!  Why? Because we trust God and we trust that he can do anything even if it doesn't make sense to us.

I don't think that it made a bit of sense to Gideon to engage in a battle with his enemy numbering 10,000 soldiers when his army army had been downsized by God to only 300 men.

"So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.” So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. During that night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands.If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore. Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. “I had a dream,” he was saying. “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.” His friend responded, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash,the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.” When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.” Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside. “Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’ Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled. When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath. Israelites from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh were called out, and they pursued the Midianites. Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth Barah.”  Judges 7:5-24 (NIV)

Really does that make any human sense?  Does it make sense to downsize your army to 300 men and tell them to shout, blow horns and reveal some light from lamps that each man was holding and then as a result then enemy would run around and kill themselves.  Not unless it's God who is doing it.

You see Gideon had faith in God just like Abraham to believe that God would do exactly what he said he would do even when what he said doesn't make a bit of sense from our earthly experience.

So how well are you following God's instructions?  Do you ever get a word from the Lord and then try to redefine it because what you understood from God doesn't make sense?  Why do you think that God gives us instruction that don't make sense and shouldn't work at all?  Why?

Because God is doing something that will prove that he really does exist and can do anything!  That's why!

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