#33 THE DOING OF BELIEVING: FAITH (1)

   “Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you…”                                                     Jesus Christ in Mark 11:22-24 (NASB)

 

     Raise your hand if you have prayed “believing” and your prayer was or remains unanswered. On the surface of this passage, getting prayers answered seems so simple–just ask, believe, and voila, our prayers are answered. But, in reality, answered prayers seem much harder to come by than by speaking the mantra “I believe, I believe…in the name of Jesus Christ.” Was Christ whitewashing the process of getting God to do what we want Him to do? Or, was Christ setting us up for failure? If we’re honest with ourselves, most of us have multiple unanswered prayers. What’s up with this disconnect?

     As we read this passage in Mark 11, we may tend to glide by the first words Christ spoke, “Have faith in God.” After all, we have come to Christ through faith–of course, we have faith in God–we believe God–we believe Christ died for our sins, don’t we? Yet, due to the fact of our unanswered prayers, maybe we should think through what Christ was saying. Maybe we should unwrap the concept of having faith in God. Perhaps then, we can tackle the disconnect between Christ’s words and our experience with unanswered prayers.

     Let’s start with Hebrews 11:1 where the author lays out a definition of faith. This time, let’s use the NKJV and add the  alternative wording  found in the notes for this verse:

Now faith is the substance (realization) of things hoped for, the evidence (confidence) of things not seen. 

By looking at the definitions of the four highlighted words and melding those defintions together, we could say faith is the substantive reliance on what we can’t see, but what we hope for–which, at its basic level, describes God. Or, to put it  in other words, faith means having a real dependence on God. Thus, when Christ said to have faith in God, he was telling us to have a real dependence on God. Then and only then will we be able to ask, believe, and attain what we pray for.

     How do we have a dependence on God that is real and not pretended? This dependence has to be from within us–where no one else sees–and has to be based on something. After all, faith cannot appear out of thin air, can it? Maybe not, but Romans 12:3 tells us that God has given each of us a measure of faith. Again, taking the definition of the word “measure” into account, we can infer that God has given each of us the capacity to have a real dependence on Him. In other words, when He created the human race, He put within us the initial ability to have faith in Him. Therefore, when we understand what Christ has done for us on the cross and are born again, that ability to have a real dependence on God is released within us–it’s ready to go.

      Throughout the ages of Christianity, a great debate has raged: saved by grace vs. saved by works (or, once saved, always saved vs. a believer can lose his/her salvation). These controversies have missed the whole point of Christ’s life, cross, and resurrection. Christ came so each of us can press into a real dependence on God. Rather than argue over things we really have no say in–we cannot control what other people think and do–let’s focus on doing what it takes to have a real dependence on God. Within the pages of the Bible, we can find help in the process of becoming dependent on God. So, let’s see what we can put together.

     First,  a real dependence on God demands that we have knowledge–it is not based on “blind faith.” Hebrews 8:7-13 talks about the new covenant that God had promised to the Israelites (remember Christ widened this second covenant to include everyone). One of the basic tenets of this new covenant is found in verse 11 (NASB): “And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, and everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know me, from the least to the greatest of them.” Of course, just like worldly knowledge, this knowledge of God is not attained by osmosis. God does not open the lid to our minds and pour in knowledge of Him; rather, like Jesus spoke of in Matthew 7:7-8, knowledge of God comes through asking, seeking, and knocking. As the power of the second covenant continues to manifest, more and more people will make the effort to know God until all will know Him from the least to the greatest. And, through that knowledge, we all will be on the way to a real dependence on God.

     Next, this real dependence on God demands that we quiet down (and I am being serious here). So much confusion and hurt are rampaging through our world that oftentimes when we go to God, we are upset and complaining. When my children came to me when they were hurt or angry, the first thing I did was ask them to settle down so they could hear what I was saying. God wants us to do the same thing–be still and listen (Psalm 46:10). He is more than willing to help us in the time of trouble, but He knows that we won’t hear Him until we quiet down. So, if we are going to have faith–to really depend on God–then we need to quiet ourselves so we can hear what He is saying.

     Finally, a real dependence on God demands that we choose Him. I imagine many of us have had similar experiences where God has ministered to us and given us wisdom (that we have tested–more about this in a later post), but we didn’t want to do what He showed us. In those cases, we need to be honest with God, tell Him exactly what we feel, and ask Him for help. In other words, if we choose asking Him for help when we don’t want to choose His wisdom then we really are depending on Him. Time after time, I have experienced God easing me into acting wisely in spite of my resistance to what He was showing me.

     In my next post, we will continue to discuss what having faith in God–having a real dependence on Him–will produce in our lives. God has goals for our faith and understanding these goals will encourage us to know God, to be still and listen to Him, and to choose Him.

     As always, please feel free to comment, just be respectful.

    

     ©2009-2010 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.

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patriciazell, March 7th 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in THE "DOINGS" OF A SON OF GOD

#32 THE DOING OF BELIEVING: REPENTANCE

     “Only believe!”

     “Just have faith!”

     Has anyone ever said those words to you while you were in the midst of a huge struggle? What was your reaction? I know what mine has been–there’s no “only” or “just” in my struggle! And, I was right and so are you. In a world full of deception and lies, believing Christ is hard work. Christ even inferred it is when his disciples asked him what should they do to work the works of God. Christ’s answer? “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him who He has sent” (John 6:28-29). Christ didn’t give a long list of activities we could participate in and then pat our backs for accomplishing great things for God. No, he kept it simple and personal. The work God has called us to is to believe in and on (as the KJV puts it) Christ. And, this work of believing happens on an individual basis, not in a group setting.*

     A paradox is at work here–many, many people believe in Christ, yet some of them may not be aware of  the work that believing takes. Let’s look at an example of a man who came to understand this paradox. Mark 9:14-29 relates the story of a father who brought his afflicted son to Christ’s disciples so they could cast the evil spirit out. After the disciples failed to cast out the spirit, the father came to Christ and asked him to do whatever he could. Christ answered with these words, “…All things are possible to him who believes.” The father understood the paradox of believing Christ in the midst of overwhelming evil and yet, not believing. He responded with a cry many of us understand, “I do believe, help my unbelief.” He knew there was a battle against his believing that his son would be delivered and he asked for help.

     “I do believe, help my unbelief.” All of us who have come to Christ have believed; however, the power of deception and lies is still working around and within us. And, those deceptions and lies stand between us and the power of all things being possible to him (or her) who believes. The work of God happens when we go to God and get the help we need to overcome the obstacles that are keeping us from succeeding. Thank God that Christ made the way for us to believe on him!

     So, we have the rationale behind believing on Christ as the work of God, but what about the how-to? How do we believe on Christ? Again, believing is a process, not a one-time deal. Yes, experiencing the new birth and the baptism of the Holy Spirit are starting points, but there is more required to bring believing Christ into full bloom in our lives. I would like to propose that a consistent element in the process of believing is repentance. In fact, I think we can safely say that, without repentance, the work of believing on Christ is nearly impossible.

     Wait a minute! Isn’t repentance what sinners do in order to convince God to forgive their sins? Not exactly. In Acts 2:38, Peter said “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…” On the surface, this verse seems to imply that people need to repent and be baptised in order to be forgiven. But, didn’t Christ obtain the forgiveness of sins for everyone while he was on the cross (I John 2:2)? Do we really need to convince God to forgive us through repentance and water baptism?

     You see, that little word for has quite a few different definitions. Along with the meaning “in order to,”  for can also be defined as “because of.” If we use the second definition, then Peter would have said “Repent…(because of) the forgiveness of sins.” In other words, repentance is only possible because our sins are already forgiven. And, repentance has a goal. Listen to Peter’s words in Acts 3:19, “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” Let’s take what Christ has done for us on his cross and turn to God, so He might wipe away our unbelief and refresh us! What joy! What freedom!

     Repentance is simply turning around. Before we came to Christ, we didn’t have the access to God that enables us to overcome the deceptions and lies that dominate our world. Once we accept Christ into our lives, we have the right to go to God and find the knowledge, understanding, and wisdom we need in order to be refreshed. Repentance is not some harsh, self-flagellation of ourselves–it is simply running to our Father, climbing in His lap, and pouring out our hearts to Him.

     Christ illustrated God’s heart for the human race when he told the story of a young man who disregarded his father’s love, left home, and went after what the world offered (Luke 15:11-32). When this younger son reached the end of his rope, he decided to go home even though he thought his father would not receive him as a son. Was he ever wrong! Not only did his father welcome him back with open arms, but his father also threw a great party for him. Likewise, when we turn to God in repentance, He clasps us to Himself and rejoices. Do we understand the power of the love God has for all of us?

     Repentance is a task we won’t outgrow until we totally overcome the kingdom of evil and Christ returns to our home here on this earth. Christ acknowledged this when he washed the disciples’ feet after the last meal he had with them (John 13:5-10). Peter was taken aback that Christ would lower himself to a servant’s position and resisted the foot washing until Christ told him that, without it, Peter would have no part of him. Of course, Peter then asked Jesus to washed not his feet, but his hands and his head. What Jesus said next is so important to remember about repentance: “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean…” The disciples needed to have their feet washed because they walked in sandy places. We need to have our “feet” washed–we need to repent–because we walk in a world currently full of evil. Satan is trying his hardest to dirty us up in ways we don’t always understand. But, by turning around and running to God,we gain the power to stay clean and be refreshed! Then we can go on to the second task of the work of God–faith!

 

     *This is not meant to imply that individuals who believe will not be part of group settings. Throughout all of my posts, we have been talking and will be talking only about the one-on-one relationship with God. Group dynamics are not my purview.

 

     As always, feel free to comment–just keep things respectful.

 

     @2009-2010 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.

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patriciazell, February 28th 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in THE "DOINGS" OF A SON OF GOD

#31 BECOMING A SON OF GOD: THE BAPTISM OF FIRE

     Let me tell sort of a funny, but painful, story to begin this post–one that involved our three oldest daughters when they were around 10, 12, and 13. Big hair was the rage of young teens at that time, so we took the three of them to a beauty school (money was tight) and had their hair permed. Everything was going along fine–at least I thought so–until one day, one of them came to me and told me that she couldn’t get a comb through her hair. I lifted the top layer of the back of her hair and groaned. There was the biggest tangle I had ever seen in my life. I quickly checked the other  two girls’ heads and they had the same kind of tangles in their hair. (You see, when they combed their hair, they had only smoothed the top layer down without combing the underlying layers.) So, I sat down with each one of them, picked up a comb, and worked each tangle out with it and my fingers. Needless to say, the process took quite a bit of time and tears, but I was able to completely remove the tangles, and none of the girls ever had that problem again. 

     With our world the way it is, all of us have tangles (some of them huge) in our lives when we are born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit. Some of those tangles have come from circumstances beyond our control and some from our lack of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Since He does love us, God wants to sit down with each of us and work those tangles out. This process of detangling  is called the baptism of fire. 

     To understand the whole concept of a baptism of fire, let’s start with John the Baptist. Before he baptized Jesus, he was talking with his followers about the coming Messiah and said this:

  As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.                               Matthew 3:11-12 (NASB)

If we put these verses with Hebrews 12:29–”…for our God is a consuming fire.”–this baptism of fire sounds like a scary thing. If we just take the surface meaning of these verses, it sounds like we better watch out because God is out to get us. Words like winnowing, thoroughly, unquenchable, and consuming can make us tremble in our shoes and look for ways to avoid anything connected with them. I think we owe it to ourselves to look beyond the scary stuff and find the underlying meaning of this third stage of becoming a son of God.

    First, to help us appreciate the power of the baptism of fire, let’s look at it using reverse logic. What would it be like if God never dealt with any of the tangles in our lives? What if nothing changed at all when we found out about Christ? Would we be any happier that we wouldn’t have to “give up” anything because… Wait a minute. God is good, but our world has been bound by evil. If there is no fire, evil will never cease and good will never manifest.

     Let’s think about what we’ve been discussing throughout my previous posts in this blog. The whole idea behind God creating our world was the power of good over evil. God’s absolute love brings good to us. Doesn’t it make sense that God would establish a process by which He could deal with the results of the scam that Satan pulled off in the Garden of Eden? In reality, we shouldn’t fear God’s fire–we should welcome it!

     One of my favorite verses (okay, I have a lot of favorite verses) is I Peter 5:10 (NASB)–”After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself  perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.” When we go through the baptism of fire, God is the One who will be detangling our lives–God, the One who created our world, the Almighty One. He is the One who will establish me. He is the One who will establish you. He is the One who will establish everyone. Yes, the fire–the detangling– hurts, but the results can’t be beat! Imagine a world free from evil and full of good!

     Unlike the new birth and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of fire is not a one-time event. Neither is the baptism of fire a simple thing. I’ve heard people say that the answers to our problems are simple or that we just need to leave our problems in God’s hands. There is nothing simple about the problems many of us have nor will God wave a magic wand and voila, our problems disappear. No, it doesn’t work that way. God’s method of operation is based on one thing–reason (Isaiah 1:18). He wants us to think clearly and make choices based on the knowledge, understanding, and wisdom that only He can give. So, in reality, the baptism of fire is the baptism of reasoning into our lives. And, this reasoning with God will produce good in the place of evil.

     So, there we have it. The process of becoming a son of God involves three distinct stages that put us in the position of sitting in heavenly places in Christ.* While becoming a son of God is a tremendous experience, God has bigger plans for us. He wants us to take our positions as His sons in this world and to defeat the power of loss, death, and destruction that is wanting to obliterate the human race. He has set specific tasks before us, so, in my next series of posts, we’re going to explore the “doings” of a son of God. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get a handle on the job description God has created for us. When we do and when we start meeting our responsibilities, watch out world!

 

     *This position is of spiritual authority, not of physical being–more discussion about this will come in later posts as we discuss overcoming the kingdom of evil.

 

     As always, please feel free to comment, just keep it respectful!

 

     ©2009-2010 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.

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patriciazell, February 21st 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in BECOMING A SON OF GOD

#30 BECOMING A SON OF GOD: THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (2)

     This post is going to take a more personal turn because we’re going to discuss a controversial topic–what I call a  “prayer language” and others call “speaking in tongues.”  I can only write from my own understanding and experience, but I think what I’m going to share is reasonable. So, without any more ado, let’s dig in and consider this “gift” that the Holy Spirit may bring to believers. 

     To understand the possible reasons that God would want His children to use a prayer language, let’s take a close look at our native languages. No matter what language an individual speaks, he or she has been taught that language. Or, in other words, we could say that our native languages come from the contact that we have with the societies we are born into. Since most of us have not created many words, the meanings of our languages are dependent upon what others have decreed. And, especially in the English language, individual words can have multiple pronunciations and meanings that can cause a lot of confusion in communication. Most of us are okay when we speak within our local communities, but put us in a culturally different community–like when someone moves from the deep South to the New England area–and we could find ourselves struggling  with meanings of words and idioms. Going a step further, if we should move into a society that speaks a different language, we have the ability to learn it as it is taught to us by other people. So, all in all, the languages we speak in our world are strictly human endeavors.

     The new birth is not a human endeavor. Even though many of us come to understand what Christ did for us through the words of other people, the actual birthing “process” originates with God (James 1:18) and establishes the Father/child relationship on an individual basis. Not only that, but Colossians 1:13 also tells us that, at the point of the new birth, God delivers us from the kingdom of darkness and moves us into the kingdom of His dear Son. So, when we are born again, we gain a new identity and move into a new kingdom. Doesn’t it make sense that a new language might also be included in that package deal? Could what the New Testament writers called “speaking in tongues” simply be that new language?

     In my last post, we talked about the Holy Spirit abiding within us to help us know God as our Father. But, another part of the Holy Spirit’s job is to help us acclimate to our new home in the kingdom of God’s dear Son and to help us learn to function as God’s sons in our world. However, we present challenges to the Holy Spirit in both of these undertakings because, up until our new birth, everything we have known has been taught to us by other human beings. And, as “good’” as some of those teachings have been, they have not been the truth that sets us free (otherwise, we would have not needed to be born again). One way that the Holy Spirit may get around this human influence is to give each of us a language that has not been taught to us by other humans. Think about the power of a language that is not taught, but is given to us by the Holy Spirit. 

     As I look back at through the years since I officially received my prayer language (also known as praying in the spirit)  in 1974,* I can describe how it has affected my life by using three analogies. First and foremost, my prayer language is the love language betweeen my Papa Father and myself. Just knowing that God and I share a language that is just ours fills my heart with love towards Him. Our relationship is unique–every believer has the opportunity to have a one-of-a-kind relationship with God–and our relationship is secret (Psalm 91:1, Matthew 6:6).

     Second, my prayer language is the tool that the Holy Spirit uses  (much like a hammer) to tear down the evil in my life and build up the good. II Corinthians 14:2 says when a person speaks in the spirit, he or she is speaking mysteries. I don’t know about you, but there have been multitudes of times when I have had no idea about what was going on in my life. As I have prayed in the spirit, the Holy Spirit has and continues to work with me to show me where my problems originate and how to overcome the loss, destruction, and death that the force of evil wants to bring into my life.

     Finally, all of our prayer languages are the secret codes or encryptions God uses to help us defeat the kingdom of evil. (We will be discussing a lot more about this warfare later on–and we are at war with the kingdom of evil.) Since my prayer language is not understood by Satan, he cannot manipulate it against me like he does to all of us with our native languages. After all, how many times has someone said something to you that has caused you to feel bad and to stress you out? Our prayer languages are always postitive and productive in our lives. We are the sons of God and we have been moved into the kingdom of His dear Son.

    So, there you have it–my understanding of prayer languages. As I see it, they have nothing to do with going to heaven when we die, but they may have everything to do with the return of Christ and immortality. I know Jude 20 (NASB) says this, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.” As I communicate with God by using my prayer language, I am building myself up on my faith that what I am saying is not just a bunch of gobblygook. I believe my prayer language has meaning and will bring God’s absolute love to fruitition in my life and in the lives of others.

 

     * I had my prayer language in my early teens, but I had no idea what it was–I thought I had made up a language. All I know is that I escaped the destructive rebellion of teens living in the 1960’s, and I credit that to the connection I had with God through my prayer language.

 

     As always, feel free to comment–just be respectful!

 

     ©2009-2010 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.

2 Comments

patriciazell, February 14th 2010 | Posted in BECOMING A SON OF GOD

#29 BECOMING A SON OF GOD: THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (1)

    

     The power of the Holy Spirit–those words can bring images of miracles and of emotional worship services. But, the Holy Spirit has a specific mission to the human race that we (as a body of believers) haven’t explored much. Now, more than ever with trouble exploding in our world, we need to understand and take part in what the Holy Spirit wants to do. So, let’s begin with Romans 8:14-16* and then we’ll see where those verses lead us:

  For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God…

Did you catch that last sentence–”the Holy Spirit testifies with our spirit?” Two different spirits are working here: our spirit which is the same spirit that made Christ the Son of God and the Holy Spirit which is the Spirit of God. Sounds confusing, doesn’t it? But, it’s not really: the Holy Spirit overshadows us to create our inner man of righteousness then indwells us to help us know God as “Abba, Father!

     As recorded in John 14-16,Christ talked extensively about the Holy Spirit with his disciples. Keeping in mind what we just read from Romans 8, let’s look at some of what he said. First, let’s read John 14:16-18, 26:

  I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans … But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

The Holy Spirit is God’s provision for human beings to understand His fatherhood. Christ did not come just to leave us hanging when he ascended to the Father–he did not leave us as orphans without a father. This Holy Spirit, who had worked from the beginning of our world and who abided with the Hebrew nation, was (is) going to be inside believers in Christ. This Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth, was (is) going to bring truth and to teach all things to those who were (are) born again. So in a world full of deception, God has provided the source of truth.

     Now, let’s jump ahead to John 16:12-15 and listen to more of Christ’s words:

  I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All that the Father has are Mine…

 Everything that is God’s is Christ’s, and through the Holy Spirit, everything that is Christ’s is ours–this is truth. What is God’s? Remember in my first few posts, we talked about God’s character–life, light, good, truth, spirit–all of those are Christ’s. And, through the Holy Spirit, all of those are ours (Romans 8:17)–the Holy Spirit discloses life, light, good, truth, and spirit to us. The Holy Spirit enables us to make them ours. What great news!

     In his talk with his disciples, Christ even spoke of the methodology the Holy Spirit uses to guide us into all truth:

  And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.  (John 16: 8-11)

The first work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to show us our unbelief–sin is simply not holding onto God through Christ. (Not holding onto God causes all kinds of destructive behavior.) Then the Holy Spirit convicts us of righteousness–Christ became sin and died; he was resurrected and he ascended to his Father because life is greater than death; and we are made the righteouness of God through Christ. And, the Holy Spirit convicts us of the fact that Satan and his cohorts have been judged–Christ demolished the dividing wall they had built and their lies are being revealed through the Holy Spirit. (Notice that the Holy Spirit does not convict us that any human beings have been judged!)

 

     Before we pause in our discussion–more to come in my next post–let’s look again at the first part of Romans 8:15, “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again…” Nowhere is there a stronger statement of the difference between the Mosaic covenant and the second covenant that Christ ushered in. Remember, Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 tells us that, after Solomon had spent many years seeking all there was to hear, his conclusion was that humans were to fear God and keep His commandments “because God would bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.” This one statement of Solomon’s sums up the main idea of the Mosaic covenant–fear and obey the unseen and holy God or face judgment (with certain punishment for evil).  However, while he ministered to the Hebrews, Christ repeatedly drove home the truth that God is the loving Father and that humans need not to fear Him. The indwelling Holy Spirit is the One who brings this truth into reality in our lives. We don’t have to fear God–we are not His slaves, we are His children. God loves us with His absolute love which is perfect, complete, and real!

     As always, please feel free to comment–just keep it respectful!

     *Note–all scriptures are taken from the NASB.

     @2009-2010 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.

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patriciazell, February 7th 2010 | Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in BECOMING A SON OF GOD
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