Faith is about who I trust not how I think or feel…

 

A friend struggles with praying for a prodigal son. She trusts God when she can see results, but as soon as the son shows no interest, she panics that God is not listening to her prayers. This is the dilemma of a faith that relies on sight rather than on the promises of God. If that ‘faith’ was what God values, then a blind person could never trust God.

Today’s reading makes this statement that claims there are no different kinds of faith:

“Men talk about a feeling faith, a living faith, a saving faith, an intellectual faith, a historical faith, and a dead faith. But it is all a waste of words; for either we trust or we do not trust. If we trust, we have faith; and if we do not trust, we do not have faith; and that is all there is to it.”

The person who wrote this left out an important point: the object of faith. I’ve heard people say they ‘feel' God will answer, or it ‘makes sense’ that God will do it, and so on, or they rely on their own goodness to get into heaven, but my faith needs to trust in something more reliable than my feelings or my reasoning or my own goodness. God even says that all my righteousness is like filthy rags. The object of faith is always the Lord and what He says. Anything else is empty faith. Trust might be there, even a sincere trust, but the object of trust is faulty.

To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move. (Isaiah 40:18–20)

How can any created and inanimate object be worthy of worship? How can even the most costly likeness of anything give comfort in sorrow or even hear my prayers?

As for feelings, they are unreliable too. I had a bad dream last night and woke up filled with despair. Not one thing changed in my life but the dream was excessively negative. I even wanted to die. But how can a dream change what God says? For example:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:3–10)

Walking by sight falls short as well. Did God love me more today than yesterday because someone gave me an unexpected gift today? The Bible says that God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) His love is expressed in blessings, but in their absence, I can still know He loves me:

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37–39)

If I don’t feel loved, if I don’t see loving actions, if my friends turn away, if no one calls, does that mean God stopped loving me? Faith is Him and His Word, not in the up/down events of life or in emotions or observations — only in what He shows me about Himself.

PRAY: Jesus, You are the object of my faith. You promise to save me, keep me, take me to be with You. You keep your promises. No matter what is going on or not happening, You are totally reliable and I can trust You with all my heart. Thank You for being who You are!

Use it or lose it?

 

Someone I know often says that when God speaks anything to her, she needs to have a sign or a confirmation of it. For instance, if she reads that God will give peace to her children (Isaiah 54:13) then she needs to see her children at peace to fully believe it. This answer to prayer becomes her evidence for faith. The problem with this is the Bible’s description of faith:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

The examples given are about creation and about the faith of OT saints:

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. (Hebrews 11:3–7)

Note in each example God is pleased with the faith of His people which came before His rewards for faith. There is no mention of them believing because they were rewarded. Faith is about trusting what God says, even if we cannot see the answer. Our faith is in God’s promises, even before their fulfillment.

There is a divine order concerning this. Today’s reading puts it this way: first, get your facts; second, put faith in those facts; and finally, acknowledge the feelings that come as a result of believing the facts. This order is always followed in earthly matters; but curiously enough in religious matters a great many people reverse this order. They put feelings first, then faith in those feelings, and come to the facts last, looking on them as the result of their feelings.

Last night was my example. I ‘felt’ that a certain team would win the game we watched and even thought that my strong feeling was from God. However, they lost. My ‘faith’ was not based on facts but feelings. A strong ‘I want’ can affect how I read the Bible too, a far more serious error. If I want God to use me in a particular way because I have a strong desire for that thing to happen does not mean God will do it. I need to pay attention to His will and not base my beliefs on my desires.

Today’s reading describe those who say they could easily believe it if only they have the witness in themselves, as the Bible says we are to have. But when is a person to have that inner witness—before he believes, or after?

Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. (1 John 5:10)

The Bible puts the believing first. Is not this because what God says comes first and is our priority and our fact? His words are true, and they come to us as knowledge, not as a feeling that requires proof by giving us some sort of result that is affirmed by a full or partial answer.

As for that, my ‘feelings’ can be based on something false. Just because my children are at peace does not mean that God has been teaching them. They could be at a time in life when everything is going their way. My hope must be in God to fulfill that promise, not in what I can see!

PRAY: Jesus, enable me to always be alert to the idol of feelings or the need to ‘see’ answers before I will trust what You say to me. You are faithful and true to Your word. Everything else is iffy and even fickle. Besides, You also say, “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it” (Hebrews 2:1) not “pay closer attention to how you feel.”

Always the Same

Myself and two other women met on Thursday to pray. Most of our time together was marked with praise. God had answered our prayers for several people and we rejoiced. During that time, one person’s phone rang. It was her husband. He’d heard so many answers to prayer that morning that he had to call and tell her. On my way home, I was filled with joy and humbled by the incredible goodness of God.

Today’s devotional offers the observation that Christians who experience a morning like that can see wisdom, strength, or spiritual riches of one kind or another in which to glory. But when we come down from this “high” into ordinary life, these thoughts vanish as if we had nothing left to glory in. As I read that statement, my reaction was mixed. If I am rejoicing in only the good times and what I can see, is not my focus off God and more about the pleasant blessings He bestows and the comfort of His care rather than the reality that He is good all the time — even when I cannot see it?

When the disciples were out on a boat with Jesus, He was asleep and they were afraid they would drown. Before they started this voyage, He told them they were “going to the other side” but they seemed to have forgotten that, and did not think that He the has power to get them where He told them they would go.

This is what the Christian life is filled with — days and times of total uncertainty. Our situation and feelings go up and down, but that does not mean that our God is bouncing us on a yoyo string. In all of the ups and downs, I am learning that He is unchangeable. What we call “spiritual blessings” are not the same, at least unchangeable to my vision, but they ought to be like that in my theology. Truth pulls the train, faith follows — then emotions. If I let emotions take the lead, then when prayers go unanswered and life is full of uncertainties, my faith falters and what happens to truth? It gets shoved into a corner and I need a rebuke, or a pointed sermon, or some discerning soul to give me (and those emotions) a good boot back to where I should be thinking.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:17)

If joy is lost, then I’ve forgotten that my joy is in the truth about God. Life may seem as if all is lost except the desire to have my comforts return, yet God is still with me, and still the same as when I am aware and focused on His goodness. He didn’t move; I did.

I’ve had aches and pains this week, partly related to a cold snap that aggravates these old muscles and bones. This is a distraction from the goodness of God. Why do we tend to relate that to our health? Most of the prayer requests we hear are about health. While I understand the desire to feel good, might I be better to pray for an increased focus on the Lord who never changes? He is still sovereign, still loves me, still using all things for my good — to transform me into the image of His Son. That should make me overflow with joy all the time.

PRAY: Lord, I’ve no idea what the day will bring, but ask that You will allow me to focus on You and Your unchanging goodness and find joy in that. May You be the delight of life, a delight that can look beyond aches and pains, unanswered prayer, and any other discomfort that might come along. Use all things, as You say You will do, to change my life and to be stedfast and faithful to You, just as You are to me.


 

Faith relies on facts not feelings

 

The past few weeks I’ve struggled with up/down emotions concerning my responsibilities. Some days they are challenging but doable. Other days I feel totally overwhelmed and want to sleep all day. This is a new experience for me. For years, I have felt confident in taking on most things, but God is working in me to remove self-confidence and rely on Him only. For this, He used a month of trauma.

Today’s devotional expresses it this way: “It is all very well, perhaps, to rejoice in God’s promises or in the revelations He may have granted us or in the experiences we may have realized; but to rejoice in the Promiser himself—Him alone—is the crowning point of Christian life. This is the only place we can know the peace which passes all understanding and where nothing can disturb.”

This is difficult to describe, but as I read the rest of it, the lights came on. That sense of God being enough is wonderful, but if that sense is not there, that indicates that I have been relying on my feelings or view about Him and that is not what “God is enough” means.

The author of the devotional puts it this way: sometimes what satisfies us is not the Lord but our own feelings about the Lord. Usually we are not conscious of this, but our feelings fail, we think it is the Lord who has failed. At that, despair easily follows. Of course, this is foolish, yet it is such a common experience, that very few realize what has happened.

An illustration likens the Christian experience to a train. Fact is the engine pulling it. Faith is the the coal car that fuels the engine, and feelings are the caboose that trails along behind. Although it trails, the caboose is important – it is where the train crew lives.

However, it does not work to put faith or the caboose in the lead. When that happens, the facts are not the main source of living. As long as faith and feelings are solid, all is okay, but once they take a dip (and they often do) facts need to be put in place. This has never been a problem for me until this past while. And like the devotion says, I couldn’t figure out what was going on so prayed that God would show me, and He did. My caboose was taking the lead.

This past few weeks I’ve had three big projects happening, plus being very ill, plus two deaths, plus no ladies prayer time or small group Bible study meetings (leader is on holidays) and I’ve stayed home too much. The family of God needs each other to keep on track, to be fact-checkers for one another. This devotional reminded me of these verses:

But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. (Psalm 73:16–17)

My struggle is not the same as the psalm’s author who was concerned about the prosperity of the wicked, but the solution is similar; he sought discernment in the place where the people of God gather to worship. I need Christian fellowship, not coffee and cookies but sharing truth about God. Truth is the facts that pull the train. Too much time alone opens the door to other visitors, like burdens, difficult experiences, emotional issues, etc.

PRAY: Knowing that You have not abandoned me even when I feel as if You have is important Lord. Having other Christians remind me that You are here, or even me being the one who does the reminding for them is the way to keep that fact engine pulling my faith and keeping my feelings square with the facts. Thank You Jesus for being the way and the TRUTH and my life. This is going to be a good day! (Later: and it was!)

Alive but dead? Dead but alive?

Death is separation of the person from all else that is living. No communication. No sight. No understanding. No hugs. No anger. It means the end of everything loved, enjoyed, felt, sorrow, pain and laughter. Why am I being so morbid? Because knowing what life is includes knowing what death is.

My doctor says as soon as we are born we start to die. She is talking about physical death and as much as we try to avoid the thought, we all are terminal. However, this is not the death that I am thinking about. It is spiritual death, not the separation of myself from all else in this world, but the separation of my spirit from the Spirit of God, a separation caused by sin. Another morbid thought.

Most people avoid the word sin the same way we try to avoid thoughts of death. Maybe that is because these terms are cousins, even siblings. They signify an ending, a brokenness, a ruin. Spiritual death is separation from God — but it has good news attached. It can be fixed, reversed, changed. John wrote:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30–31)

Some might read this and say, “No thanks. I already have a good life. I don’t need life in Christ.” They don’t realize they are physically alive but dead to God, dead in sin. Jesus is not talking about new physical life. He is talking about having the innermost part, our spirits, made alive so that we are in relationship with our Creator, so we have His life, a life that is eternal, one that lasts after these bodies die.

Life is how the Bible expresses what happens to those who believe in Christ. Jesus expressed it this way to the Pharisee, Nicodemus: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

This life is described as eternal in quality and is, therefore, the opposite of the state of spiritual death, which means to perish. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Life in Christ means having His divine nature imparted to my heart. I try to let that sink in. Somedays it is an incredible reality. Somedays so unreal, those days when I feel very human, very far from being a child of God. But faith or believing is not about feelings. God says, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12) and faith believes it, regardless of my feelings.

The same goes for actions. Today I am experiencing a lot of pain and can hardly think about the rest of the world that suffers too, and that needs prayer and compassion. Other days, I can weep for them, pray and call and care. Yet whether my actions are selfish or selfless, Jesus gave me His life to me and He does not take it back every time I act as if He is not here. This new life is eternal, not come-and-go or temporary.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, I’m not feeling too lively or eternal today, but that does not change You or Your promises, nor does it change the reality that You will never leave me or forsake me. As for those who do not understand spiritual death because they refuse to think about that word sin, or do not want spiritual life because they do not understand what they are refusing, I pray Your Spirit would shed light into their hearts and minds and by grace and mercy, they would seek and grab hold of all that You promise.

Perfect Peace

Isaiah 25:1–26:21, Luke 9:1–27, Job 6:1–13

Today’s OT reading includes one of my favorite verses: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” (Isaiah 26:3)

What does “perfect peace” look like? The Bible is filled with descriptions, so these selections from Luke, Job, and here in Isaiah offer only a glimpse. It is an internal peace, sometimes based on circumstances, sometimes not, but always grounded in the Lord Jesus Christ whom I trust with my death and my life. He is my peace.

“O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.” (Isaiah 25:1) Perfect peace includes praise based on what God has done and that His plans are dependable.

“You have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat . . . .” (Isaiah 25:4) Perfect peace is being sheltered and cared for by Almighty God.

“On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.” (Isaiah 25:6) “And taking the five loaves and the two fish, (Jesus) looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd (5000 men plus women and children). And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.” (Luke 9:16–17) Perfect peace is knowing God is able to take care of my most basic needs.

“He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 25:8) Perfect peace is knowing I have eternal life and eventually God will make all things right.

“Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.” (Isaiah 26:4) Perfect peace is having an anchor for life that will never change and the ignorance of those who say He does not exist or is dead cannot change Him.

“O Lord, you will ordain peace for us, for you have indeed done for us all our works.” (Isaiah 26:12) “And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.” (Luke 9:1–2) Perfect peace is knowing that my life is in His hands, but not only that, I will do all that He wants me to do, for He gives me His power to make it happen and is with me to make it so.

“Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” (Luke 9:20) Perfect peace is knowing without a doubt the divine identity of Jesus Christ.

 “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (Luke 9:23–25) Perfect peace is answering the call of God to lose myself in Him, and knowing that when I do, my life has eternal significance and God will be glorified.

“Oh that I might have my request, and that God would fulfill my hope, that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off! This would be my comfort; I would even exult in pain unsparing, for I have not denied the words of the Holy One. What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient? Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze? Have I any help in me, when resource is driven from me?” (Job 6:8–13) Perfect peace is knowing God is in charge when all of my resources are gone and I have no strength. I might not feel too happy about it, but perfect peace goes beyond being happy. It is that inner sense that the Lord knows what He is doing, even if it hurts.

For all of that, I can say with Isaiah, “My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.” (Isaiah 26:9) Perfect peace is trusting God completely.

Know and believe that God loves me

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:16)

Being loved and feeling loved are not always the same thing. A child may be denied candy because the parents love the child, but the child may not feel loved, even loudly profess that feeling when not getting candy or whatever else is wanted.

Sometimes I wonder if that is the way we are with God. He loves us, but when we don’t get our way and life hands us a bitter pill instead of the candy we’d hoped for, we think that God no longer cares. 

Part of this is the same problem as the child who wants the candy; we do not always know what is best for us. Withholding something that seems like a blessing feels like unkindness, even cruelty. We question His love, forgetting that God knows what is best for His children and what will bring us more harm than good.

I have more trouble when the circumstances of life, which I believe are under His sovereign control, but become difficult. I know God could fix the problems, or make them go away, or not let them happen in the first place. So why does He allow this pain or that trial? I have acted like a disciplined child, questioning the love of my heavenly Father and failing to recognize or remember that His love is still set on me.

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:5–14)

Today’s devotional reading says that the secret of walking closely with Christ, and working successfully for Him, is fully realizing that I am His beloved. He has set His heart upon me. He watches over me with tender interest and works out the mystery of my life with fondness. He keeps my hand from the candy jar and if need be, sends difficulties to deepen my faith. My part is to remember His love has already been proven. Jesus died on the cross for me. 

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. (Romans 8:32–34)

Like a loving parent, not being allowed excess candy in life is God’s wisdom for His children. Allowing trials goes beyond what we suppose is love even more, yet even a loving parent will correct their children, and not dote over them to the degree that no tripping, falling or mistakes are allowed. 

Then there is another reason for doubt. I have days where I feel that God does not love me, but my feelings are not attached to any circumstances or events. When that happens, I have to conclude that this is nothing more than the devil repeating his age-old line that he used on Eve in Eden; You can eat from that tree (or do whatever you want) because God really doesn’t want the best for you, a lie that suggests that God does not love me.

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Father, I know this struggle from time to time. Yesterday’s class on spiritual warfare was about this very thing — that our enemy tells us lies in an effort to make us think wrongly about You. When that happens, I start feeling and acting contrary to truth. As John says, I know and believe You love me. Help me today to ignore the Liar and instead know, believe, and abide in Your love.