lion rebel

word:BELIEVE

John 17.20, 21 – “My prayer is not for them (the disciples) alone.  I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you sent me.”

John 20.27 – “Then (Jesus) said to Thomas, ‘Put your hand here; see my hands.  Reach out your hand and put it in my side.’  Stop doubting and believe.’”

Common belief unifies people no matter the situation.  At least it should – Jesus did whatever it took for Thomas to believe because the unity of those 11 disciples was paramount to the expansion of the Kingdom, of the Church.

1]Why don’t we experience more unity in the church?  Is it because some of us don’t really believe?

2] Why don’t we all get to touch the wounds of Jesus to make our belief easier?

I asked these questions several weeks ago, and as I review them today I find the answers not easy or really available.  I had a brief discussion with a friend about God’s purpose in the differing denominations in the Church.  Unfortunately (and in some ways fortunately) we won’t really be satisfied with any answer today about these kinds of questions.  People aren’t unified at all times because we can make our own choices.

But imagine if we did.  Imagine if all by ourselves we made the right choices, the same choices, and held to the same things.  The power of that is so great it is nearly incomprehensible.

I wish we all could touch Jesus’ hands and body, to see that he really did raise from the dead – but how much greater is our faith if we believe without seeing?  Is it really called faith if we have to see it before we believe it?

word:BELIEVE

John 10.37-39: “‘Do not believe me (Jesus) unless I do what my Father does.  But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand the Father is in me and I in the Father.’  Again they tried to seize him but he escaped their grasp.”

John 11.25-27: “Jesus said to (Martha), ‘I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will ive even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die; do you believe this?’
“‘Yes, Lord,’ she told him, ‘I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.’”

I think it is hard to believe in God because the idea of Jesus and what he did is so foreign o us – even when we see it with our own eyes, it is a hard thing to grasp.

1]Why did people want to kill Jesus for talking about being the Christ?

There are obviously many theological, philosophical, historical reasons that could be spoken about this – but I am going to cut it down to one thing: he wasn’t what they wanted the Messiah to be.  Why do choose to stray from God?  Because we come to a point where what we think the reality of God should be doesn’t come to fruition.  Our parents get divorced, our spouses fail us, our friends cut us down behind our back and desert us, or our finances don’t make us comfortable enough.

But Jesus came for the broken, the wounded, the hurt.  Not the perfect.  Life will never be perfect and in those moments of imperfection we should be able to recognize that is when our faith should mean the most, that should be when we stand up and declare the faith we’ve proposed all along.

2]What power is there in profession of Jesus as the Christ?

How often do you find yourself speaking something, thinking something about your life that you despise?  ”I’m not good enough,” we say, or, “I am just average,” or, “I can’t imagine doing that.”  And the result is that we aren’t good enough, we are just average, and we will never be able to imagine doing that great thing that has been placed on our hearts…

Instead, in that moment of doubt, speak aloud your belief, speak aloud, “I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world and save us from ourselves!”

What you believe is tremendously affected by what you speak and think.  Once again, it’s all about a choice.

word:BELIEVE

Why can it be so difficult to believe in God?  Why is the work of believing in God so hard?  These questions came through my mind after reading these two verses:

“Whoever believes in (God) is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only son.”  (John 3.18)

“The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6.29)

Believing in God is clearly the core basis of salvation – it is the only thing we need to do to gain God’s favor – and that comes only from our encounter with him because of Jesus’ effort for us.

So why is it so hard to believe in God?  Is it hard?  My initial reaction is that it isn’t hard – but then I look at the actions in my life, the things I do, and it seems a lot of the time they don’t reflect the fact that I believe he is God, he is Savior, he is capable, he is strong, he is merciful, he is gracious…and the list goes on.

Why do we tend to act as if we don’t believe?  Does that mean we don’t really believe?  I think the easy answer is yes we do believe, it’s just that we are imperfect.

Yet if I clearly know right from wrong and I choose wrong, it shows that I know the difference between the two, but I am choosing wrong over right because I believe that will be more right for me.  Does that make the choice right?  I don’t think so.  But clearly I still believe that wrong is better than right.

We cannot allow ourselves to live in a place of continually choosing wrong over right – it will prove our belief again and again to be in the wrong place.

I don’t want to be in the wrong place.  I don’t know why it’s so hard to believe, but I do know that it is a choice.  Often the right choices are the hardest.

word:BELIEVE

Luke 24.25-26: “(Jesus) said to them, ‘How foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!  Did not the Christ have to suffer these things (crucifixion) and then enter his glory?’”

John 1.7: “(John) came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.”

It is so easy for us, as humans, to get off focus and forget the things that are true; yet it is through us, as humans, that others come to know God, by his spirit.

1] Why do we get distracted?  Not only distracted, but easily distracted?

I have watched people take time off from going to church.  I find myself all too frequently taking breaks from reading my Bible and from engaging in the truth and prayer.  It is in those moments that I get stung by Jesus’ words, “How foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe…”  It’s when I choose to not participate that I get distracted from the things of God.  I will always contend that we don’t get distracted from the things of God, but instead we choose to not participate with the things of God and then find ourselves distracted with the things of the world.

2] How do we show others who God is?

I find that in those moments that I choose to walk away from the things of God, it is because I am thinking only of myself, which coincidentally hurts others in my life.  Yet, in my most “spiritual” moments I can be thinking only of myself, striving and working to be the man and leader that God has created me to be.  And in that circumstance nothing changes, I still am in a place of thinking only of myself, still in a place that can hurt others in my life.

Why?  Because it is not about me.  I am saved, made new, made right, and set free.  I know the truth, I know right and wrong, I know it by the conscience of my heart as it bears down on me.  I don’t need anything else to be pointed out to me.  But others do not know what I know.

I want to be like John the Baptist, one who never loses focus of the truth: that Christ died so that all sins would be washed away, so that all people could be with him.

But they’re not.  And I am.  When I begin to think of others, to love others as the disciple John reminds us we should, they can see Christ, that he loves them, that he cares for them.  I can’t be worried about the eyes on me…

WORD:BELIEVE

Mark 16.17, 18 – “These signs will accompany those who believe: In [Jesus'] name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; they will drink deadly poison, and it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people and they will get well.”

Luke 8.50 – “Hearing this (that the girl was dead), Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”

Believing brings about great power.  Especially believing in the most Powerful One.

Reading these two passages brought up two questions in my mind:

1] why don’t we see more of this great power?

The obvious answer, if taken from the text in Mark 16, is that we do not believe…Jesus says that those who believe (which should be you and I, in most cases) will see those types of signs through out their lives.  I know some people write this stuff off as, “That was only for then.”

I don’t know if it was only for then, but I do know that I don’t live as though I believe often enough.  Yesterday as I was praying with our staff I reached a moment where I was praying for God to make it rain in our church’s sanctuary…ridiculous as it sounds, I was trying to prove to God that I believed.  But then I felt him touch my heart and kinda say, “Silly boy, then everything would be wet and all that sound equipment and these chairs would be ruined…”

Duh.  [which leads to my second question]

2] why do I scoff when I do see it? [for example: Benny Hinn]

Why do I think guys like Benny are a joke?  I certainly am not praying, laying hands on people and seeing miraculous signs of healing – are you?  If you are, let me know, because the truth is: I want in on that.  Not because I want to be the next Benny Hinn, but because I want to see people’s lives changed…and I want to prove that I believe with the deepest part of my soul.

Don’t you?

Continuing in exploring the word believe:

Mark 1.15 – ‘”The time has come,’ Jesus said.  ’The kingdom of God is near.  Repent and believe the good news!’”

Mark 9.24 – “Immediately the boy’s father (whose son was tormented by an evil spirit) exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’”

Jesus clearly presents belief as a choice and yet the man in the later story clearly asks for Jesus’ help in order to believe more!

What must happen in our lives to enable us to believe?  I think first a recognition that God is right and we are wrong.  This is where repentance comes in – “Repent and believe the good news.”  With out turning from our wrong ways we cannot believe in the right ways of God.  As long as we continue to believe that our ways are the right ways, God’s ways will never make sense to us.  Perhaps this is why the man in the story asked for help to overcome his belief, perhaps he really wasn’t sure that Jesus was who he said he was and could do the things he said he would do.

When I don’t believe do I ask for the Lord’s help to overcome it?  Do you?  Or do we hide from him in that?

I have been reading through the Mark’s story of the Gospel of Jesus and have found, as I often do when I spend focused time reading the scriptures, that there is a fundamental part of my life that I need to understand more.  Currently it is wrapped around this word “believe.”  So, here goes:

Matthew 18:6 – “If anyone causes on of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

Matthew 21:22 – “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

In these two verses, two different frames of believing are presented: 1] the simple and easy belief of children; 2] the power of belief.

Why is it easier for children to believe the things of God.  Some might say naivete – others that the “fantasies” of God are easier to grasp.  I think both of those things are true – God, everything he stands for, represents and says could happen if we only believe, is very much a fantasy.  Clearly it is easier to believe the things of God are true as a child because of the lack of exposure to the “real world.”  There are many days I wish I was but a child.

Why must we believe before we receive -and- how do you go through that process selflessly?  It’s easy to ask for a new car, for someone to buy your old car, for a new guitar, or for the mate of your wildest dreams to be presented before you in perfection…It’s easy to ask God to do things for us, but oh so hard to ask him what he wants to do and then ask for that to happen, because it is often something that will cost us.

What is the good in giving some one something if they don’t believe you can give it to them?  It will prove that you can give it to them, but it would only then provoke them to ask for whatever they wanted.

But God, in his wisdom, knows that if we believe first, then we won’t go through the pains of serving ourselves by asking him to do things for us.

How much longer will we ask for ourselves?