Elemental Faith

I want to follow up on Christian's excellent post, Be a pest, and mention that the reason we can come to Jesus on a constant basis and 'bug' Him, is because we have the faith that He is God. If we did not really believe Jesus could do anything, we would not come to Him in the first place.

The great thing about our faith and ability to come to Jesus, is that it is our foundation of Christian belief, our elemental building block of why we believe what we believe.

The word Element has a good number of definitions, one of them, as a noun, says the following:

an essential element of the game component, constituent, part, section, portion, piece, segment, bit; aspect, factor, feature, facet, ingredient, strand, detail, point; member, unit, module, item.

In Chemistry, an element is defined as: each of more than one hundred substances that cannot be chemically interconverted or broken down into simpler substances and are primary constituents of matter.

So basically, an element is the foundation of the whole, but a significant piece if not the most significant piece of the whole. And when it comes to faith, we must be ELEMENTAL. Jesus tells us the importance of this. He says we must have faith like a child...to simply believe...

Here is how Jesus puts it from Matthew 18.2-4

For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, "I'm telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you're not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God's kingdom. What's more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it's the same as receiving me.

Constipated Faith
Erwin McManus puts the issue in a funny way. He says that we sometimes think that our faith is bottled up inside us. Its like we have a constipated faith and if we could just grunt and strain hard enough and get it out then we could live by faith through our actions.

Sometimes, we make faith to difficult, almost like there has to be some complicated formula to follow...Maybe I have spent a lot of time in the chemistry and physics lab, because at times I feel like I live in a lab of life where if I run the faith formula correctly then Jesus will answer accordingly...

On another level, I think we can even use faith as a coping mechanism instead of a way to trust. Faith develops from Following Christ, and if our faith starts to become a form of superstition or magic, then we are probably obtaining our faith in something other that Jesus.

The Size Of Our Faith
So what does elemental faith look like? Figuratively speaking, Jesus says in Matthew 17.20, that faith looks like a mustard seed. Jesus wants us to know that we don't have to have some giant sized faith before we can do anything or believe. He simply wants us to trust Him.

Holy Expectation
So why is having an elemental faith, a faith the size of a mustard seed so important? Because it leads to a life of Holy Expectation...we live each day to the fullest, knowing that God is in control and we watch Him work, and we expect Him to work...We take what He has given us and give our all, but at the same time we have a foundational trust, an elemental faith, a mustard seed belief, that God is in control. This allows us to live by faith instead of fear.

To summarize:
A coping mechanism faith is driven by fear. It says that we are in control and that God is our genie...it only leads to stress.

An Elemental Faith says that God is in control and that we are created in advance to do good works which He has already prepared for us to do...it leads to Holy Expectation and True victory! (Ephesians 2.10)

So what about you? Is your faith a way to cope or a way to trust?

Overcome Fear of Failure

He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?"
Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
~Matthew 8:26~

Thanks to www.litemind.com for today's posting. It is a portion from part one of a two part blog about how to overcome our fear of failure...Enjoy!

Failing is the only way to go far enough

“If you hit every time, the target is too near or too big.” –Tom Hirshfield

The only way to know that you’ve gone far enough is to go too far. And going too far is called failing.

That means that if you don’t go far enough — in other words, if you don’t fail — you’ll never know for sure where your limits really are.

Race car drivers know this to the bone. They even have a saying for it: “The one sure way to find out if you’re going fast enough is to crash”.

So if you decide to live a life of “playing it safe” — of avoiding failures altogether — you can be safe in the knowledge that you’ll most likely accomplish your goal — after all, that’s a dead easy target to take aim at. Just bear in mind, however, that you’ll never be able to get the most out of your life acting that way.

• • •

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

~Isaiah 41:10 (NIV) ~

Fearless

Max Lucado's new book, Fearless, has been released!

Imagine Your Life Without Fear

He also preaches the book in his new sermon series!!! Watch it now!

Fearless Intro: Why Are You Afraid? from UpWords Ministries on Vimeo.

Reconditioned Reflexes

A reflex action*, also known as a reflex, is an involuntary and nearly instantaneous movement in response to a stimulus.

Why am I telling you this? Because our reflexes in life determine our destiny. We have all types of stimuli bombarding us on a daily basis, and our response, our reflex to such stimuli will determine our success or our failure.

When faced with challenges, sometimes we do not even think, we just react. Fear strikes and we either shrink back or attack forward. It generally comes down to our conditioning. Have we been conditioned to always give into fear or have we been trained to go forward despite any challenge we face?

Our response to challenges is much like the "knee jerk" test the doctor applies during a routine physical exam. The doctor is testing our reflexes. Specifically, the doctor is testing what is known as our reflex arc.

The Reflex Arc
A reflex arc* is the neural pathway that mediates a reflex action. In higher animals, most sensory neurons do not pass directly into the brain, but synapse in the spinal cord. This characteristic allows reflex actions to occur relatively quickly by activating spinal motor neurons without the delay of routing signals through the brain, although the brain will receive sensory input while the reflex action occurs. The main source of the reflex action is through the bottom muscles.

In short, when a response is given, the input is so quick that the signal bypasses the brain and goes straight to the spinal cord and then back to our muscle, and that is when our "knee jerks." We don't even have to think about it. It is instantaneous.

Stimuli of Satan
The enemy, satan, loves to hit us with his stimuli. He fills our minds with lies, with doubt, guilt, fear, discouragement...he tries to make us think we are not good enough, that we are too old, too young, undertrained, overzealous... and depending on how we have been conditioned, we will either believe his crap instantaneously or we will defeat him with The Word of God.

In his awesome book, "Wild Goose Chase," Mark Batterson mentions how Jesus has come to recondition our spiritual reflexes. Batterson says, "Satan uses guilt to turn us into reactionaires. Jesus came to recondition our spiritual reflexes and turn us into revolutionaries for His cause.

So here is your homework. Whenever you are hit with a stimuli of satan, like fear, doubt, guilt from the past, lies, etc, focus instead on God's Word, God's Promises, Scripture that you have meditated on, memorized, and internalized. Remember how God has worked in your past, how He is working in you in the present, and how He will grant you victory for the future.

Allow God to recondition your reflexes so that your new automatic/instantaneous response and reflex is to move forward in God's Strength and for His Glory!

"Our courage directly affects the speed at which the future unfolds."
Erwin McManus

*source: wikipedia.org

For I Am Your God

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”- Isaiah 41:10

There Are No Ifs

Cool passage in Mark 9.14-32 ...

A man brings his demon-afflicted son to Jesus for Healing. The man says, "If you can do anything, do it. Have a heart and help us!"

I love the response of Jesus...Jesus says, "If? There are no 'ifs' among believers. Anything can happen."

The man goes on to say, "Then I believe. Help me with my doubts!"

Jesus goes on to heal the boy...the disciples (who initially tried to heal the boy) asked Jesus, "Why couldn't we throw the demon out?" Jesus answers, "There is no way to get rid of this kind of demon except by prayer."

Like the the child in this story, we all have our "demons," whether it be the economy, temptations, etc...and like the boys father, we all have our doubts. But as Christ Followers, we all have Jesus who can heal us all...

The word "If" has just been eliminated from my Prayer life!


"...There are no 'ifs' among believers. Anything can happen."

Become What You Believe

Loving The Book of Matthew...it's a book of Faith! Chapter 9 has more examples from the last post about Jesus being "taken aback" and astonished by our faith...

In Chapter 9.1-3, some men carried their paraplegic friend to Jesus so that Jesus could heal him...The Scriptures say, "Jesus impressed by their bold belief..."

In Chapter 9.18-19, a local official approaches Jesus to come and save his daughter...the man says, "If you come and touch her, she will live."

In Chapter 9.20-22, a woman who had hemorrhaged for twelve years said, "If I can just put a finger on his robe, I'll get well."

In Chapter 9.27-31, two blind men cried out to Jesus, saying, "Mercy, Son of David! Mercy on us!" When Jesus got home, the blind men went in with him. Jesus said to them, "Do you really believe I can do this?" They said, "Why, yes, Master!"

He touched their eyes and said, "Become what you believe." It happened. They saw.

The Master is telling us, "Become what you believe." We must "Really believe." I want Jesus to be "impressed with my bold belief."

Fear: Which One?

Fear...we all have it. The question is, which one drives you. Take the test below.

1. Fear of missed opportunities
2. Fear of making a mistake

I would rather make a mistake than miss an opportunity. I would rather play offense than play defense. I would rather be proactive than reactive. Circumstances and Opportunities are all around us, we must take advantage of them. From Psalm 105.1-6, we see the following:

Keep your eyes open for God, watch for his works; be alert for signs of his presence.

It's all about Holy Anticipation, Holy Expectation. Psalm 5.3 says, Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.

But when we do see the opportunity, we must act. James 2.20 says, You foolish person! Must you be shown that faith that does nothing is worth nothing?

Faith not in use is worthless. Jesus laid down His Life so that we could live. I want to live my life for Him the way He fought for me.

His death was not passive. My life will not be passive.

Fear and Limits: A Solution

"Your Fears Determine Your Limits" ~ Erwin McManus ~

If we fear people, we will stay lonely.
If we fear going outside, we will stay inside.
If we fear heights, we will stay low.
If we fear of taking a shot, then we will never score.
etc, etc, etc

So what is Fear? Fear is phobia. A phobia is defined as an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something. And this irrational fear or extreme fear is perhaps the main thing that keeps us from living our lives to the fullest.

Christ died so that we could live. He has already won the victory for us...there is nothing to fear.
1 John 4.18 says "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (emphasis added).

So the question comes down to this: do we love? For example, think of someone you love. You love them so much that no fear on the planet would stop you from taking care of them...your love drives out any fear that may exist...

If fear is keeping you from living or achieving, it could be that you do not actually love that which you are trying to obtain, care for, achieve, etc...

Take Home Message: Instead of trying to overcome your fear, start LOVING more!

Let's live the God-Ordained lives that Christ gave His life for...

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." ~ Joshua 1.9 ~

God-Ordained = GO!

But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must GO to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD. ~ Jeremiah 1.7-8 ~ (Emphasis Added).

In the next post, we will talk about how we need to LOVE in order to get rid of all fear...but now we will see how what we LOVE will help us to "GO" and LIVE a God-Ordained life!

The word ordained, according to one source, is an order or decree prescribe; determine (something) such as "the path ordained by God."

...So when I say that LOVE can and will help us live a "GO" life, I'm not talking about a fuzzy-feel good cute and cuddly love...I'm talking about the kind of LOVE that moved Jesus to go the The Cross for you and for me...that is the kind of LOVE that drives out fear and allows us to live a God-Ordained Life!

Jesus lived a God-Ordained life...In John 17.15 we see how Jesus says the following:

I glorified you on earth By completing down to the last detail
What you assigned me to do.

Determining Our Assignment
There are many ways we can try and understand what our assignment to do is and how we can live a "God-Ordained Life...One way we can get a glimpse of it is by applying the "Philippians 4" Principle to our lives.

Philippians 4.8-9 says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." (emphasis added)

Notice how the "whatever" is mentioned 7 times in the above passage...So living a God-Ordained life is "whatever" you do that is Noble, Right, Pure, etc..the important thing is that we don't just think or meditate upon these areas, but we that we actually put into practice what God teaches, tells, and shows us.

Final Thought: Jesus received an assignment. Jeremiah received a command. They received them because they had a relationship with God. We must do the same. If we do not 'hear' from God, it is probably because we are not seeking Him.

But If we do 'hear' from God and do not act, it may not be that we don't know what God is wanting us to do, it could be that we are too afraid to do it...

So let's think and then act on whatever is noble, right, pure, etc, and those qualities, just like LOVE, will help us to overcome our fear and 'GO!'

What is your assignment? What command do you need to GO and take action upon?

Pray With Boldness

One of my favorite statements is, "Pray like everything depends on God, Work like everything depends on you." I love this because it shows how God wants our partnership with Him. Well, if any of you are like me, I have been living an altered form of this statement lately...

Instead of Working like everything depends on me, I have been worrying like everything depends on me...

Instead of going to God in Prayer with Boldness, I have been "worrying" my Prayers...but allow me to say this...GOD SPEAKS!!! Look what He revealed to me in The Book of James last night, I Pray it speaks to you as well:

Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open. ~ James 1.6-8 MSG ~

And here it is in the CEV version:

But when you ask for something, you must have faith and not doubt. Anyone who doubts is like an ocean wave tossed around in a storm. If you are that kind of person, you can't make up your mind, and you surely can't be trusted. So don't expect the Lord to give you anything at all. ~ James 1.6-8 CEV ~

Pleasing God
Asking Bodly, In Faith, and without doubt is HUGE! Look at Hebrews 11.6:

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (emphasis added).

Mark 11.24 goes on to say, Everything you ask for in prayer will be yours, if you only have faith.

Now this "Everything" (aka "Anything") is "Everything/Anything" in The Name of Jesus...

Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it! ~ John 14.14 ~

This means, as The Message paraphrase puts it, Praying for anything along the lines of who Jesus is and what He is doing!

Prayers Answered
How is our Prayer life? Are we asking Boldly and In Faith, or are we doubting and filled with worry? Do we trust God...Is Prayer a relationship with God or a coping mechanism for worry? I want God to see me as a Rock, firm in my faith, not as an ocean wave tossed around in the storm.

Worry, Waiting, and Worship
One problem that may cause us to worry instead of worship is due to the fact that we are waiting. We say, "I'm just waiting on God."...Reality check: God does not need to catch up with us while we wait on Him....

I like how Perry Noble puts it, and I paraphrase: "God waits on us, we don't wait on Him...if we are waiting on God, then that must mean we are ahead of Him, and folks, we are not ahead of God!"

It's time I get back to Worshipping God instead of worrying about circumstances...

Lord, Forgive me for my lack of faith and trying to control through worry. I will focus on my boldness in Prayer because I Pray to you, The One and Only Bold God!

I'm convinced: You can do anything and everything. Nothing and no one can upset your plans. ~ Job 42.2 ~