Faith

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen. It gives us assurance about things we cannot see. Through faith, the people in the days of old earned a good reputation. -Hebrews 11:1-2

Faith. One of Jesus’s favorite topics and something I think is often misused. In the evangelical community it is often ephemeral, fleeting, and more akin to hope. Faith is in the Bible, in the creation, and in doctrine, but it has little to no impact on your daily walk. The Bible is clear it means more:

• Faith is never talked about when discussing whether the Bible is true or not. Rather faith is something much deeper - believing that the God of the Bible is true and that He can act in your situation.
• Faith is always expressed as action. Journeying to see Jesus or yelling for him against his disciple’s orders. The model of everything written in Hebrews is, “By faith, ____ did _____”.
• Often the difficulty in the Evangelical community doesn’t come at whether God can but whether He wants to. The community echoes the leper saying “If you are willing, you can make me whole.” He knew God could, but he wasn’t sure if God was willing.
• This kind of belief can look weak, especially in cultures accustomed to displays of power accompanying their belief. Also, you don’t need a relationship with God for it to work, which is what I would consider the main flaw.
• The promises in the Bible are to be taken in context but are not for you personally unless God says they are.

In the Pentecostal community it’s seen as a way to get God to do your bidding. “I have faith so it must happen” is the general attitude. Promises are seen as binding no matter who they were given to or the context. There are a couple problems with this:

• We were never supposed to do miracles outside of relationship with God, but it’s clear in the scriptures this can happen. Such as with the 7 sons of Sceva or Matt 7:22-23 where Jesus says you can do miracles in His name but not enter heaven.
• There is an unhealthy focus on the external gifts of the Spirit verses the internal fruits of the Spirit. Gifts of the Spirit are taken as signs that you are approved by God, which is not consistent with the rest of scripture.
• Faith is 1 dimensional - in victory alone. The faith in difficult times - of Job or Hebrews 11:35-38 are discounted or seen as less than the faith of the powerful and victorious.
• This look on faith again, doesn’t need God.

When you read the Bible, it takes faith. You are reading something that looks nothing like your everyday life. The world has different rules - often times Jesus says something the complete opposite of what you know from your experiences. Lead by serving? Treat your enemies kindly? Forgiveness in a world that says never forget? Each of these is a choice - either your life and experiences are true or the Bible is true. Belief is choosing to believe the Bible over your circumstances, and faith is acting on that belief.

I believe faith was never meant to be a siloed experience; it is always meant to draw you into a relationship with God. Every time you see something in the Bible that you don’t see in your life, God is asking, “Do you want to do this with me?” It’s an invitation to a deeper level of relationship and understanding. When you read something in the Bible and the Spirit within you burns, it’s time for a personal change.

God, show me your ways. Help me walk in faith, and let me see every disconnect between my life and the Bible as an opportunity for growth.

 

Personal Relection

This afternoon I’m going to be delving into why I can step out in such extreme faith in other ares of my life, but I am afraid of a lack of finances. Why am I so stressed out that my ribs would go out? 

Any stress I am experiencing goes to my back and, if it gets too bad, it throws out a rib. That’s where I am at the moment - stuck laying down because a rib went out. This is the first day I’ve been able to sit up in a while. My rib hasn’t gone out since 2006.

So getting right into it, clearly there are burdens in my own life that I should be giving to God that I am not. Last week when the financial breakthrough came, I was incredibly relieved. However, in that moment I saw the stress I was under for what it was and there was a large portion of the stress that wasn’t affected by the miracles of provision.

So what is it? My thinking that leadership is intercession; sharing in the pain of the people under you? Or my false assumption that I have to carry everyone on my back and my faith?

I have a problem. I expect that I will sacrifice, give up everything, pray, have faith etc, but I don’t expect the people around me to do the same thing. Naturally this means that I will be carrying burdens God never meant for me to carry. And it’s a fatal flaw in my discipleship… If I don’t teach people to do it all, what am I really teaching them? Christian life without sacrifice? I’ve always been shocked at how much health and wealth the American church preaches in Africa without meaning to… Have I done the same thing without meaning to?

If I preach the good and not the sacrifice and the bad, am I really creating full disciples out of the people under me? What happens when I leave? Will they be prepared? To the outside world I am a tremendous success but to me it feels like I’ am just discovering that I have dropped the ball on the most important part of God’s call on my life.

Paternalism - doing things for other people that they should be doing themselves. It’s our biggest enemy here and I thought I was doing well, only to realize its roots stretch deeper than I thought.

Ugh… I think the first step is to bring my team in on the issues we face at the moment. I need to give them the opportunities to sacrifice like I have had, in time as well as in finances. And I need to be putting them in situations where it is actually possible they fail and I don’t bail them out.

Rough Times

God can give you all you need. He will give you more than enough. You will have everything you need for yourselves. And you will have enough left over to give when there is a need. -2 Corinthians 9:8

Sunday was a rough day. I was at a really low point and finances were really bothering me. It takes $7,000 a month to keep us running and August and September only brought in $4,200. We had a couple bills we couldn’t pay and were in ‘creative accounting’ territory with some others - delaying payment so we could pay others. I was on the verge of picking up the phone and starting to call the people I knew that may be able to help in case of emergency, thinking this may be a test of my pride. I ended up choosing to contact some people God had put on my heart to encourage instead. Carla and I had a long conversation; she hasn’t been nearly as bothered this time around.

Then breakthrough started. After multiple months of no unexpected donations, we had 3 in the same day. Tuesday was breakthrough in our website work - after much discussion we had three people pay for work and a large contract for next year finalized. God came through again in incredible ways.

In college, living by faith was cool. We got to see God’s miracles around us and he provided over and over again for mission trip and other things he was laying on our heart. Then faith was me and Carla, going to Africa with less than $200 for 9 months but full of faith. That was scarier because it was our lives at risk; we knew no one and didn’t even know where we would be staying. But it was just us.

Then the kids came along. People started freaking out when they heard what kind of situations we’d be raising our children in… They only knew a small portion of it - that’s when we started down-playing some of the issues we were facing because others would worry if they actually knew the danger we were facing.

And then we started Equip Mozambique and things got even more real and more intense. Now other people and other families were depending on me. This responsibility is a great burden on me and the thought that we may not be able to pay salaries is always a huge worry. My friend pointed out to me…

“You’ve risked a lot of Jesus. You’ve sacrificed. Are you allowing others to risk and sacrifice as well?”

Anyway, today is a day of praise - that God does generously provide, and that we are taken care of. Today is also a day of reflection - why do I still feel this heavy burden when I am certain God will provide, and how can I give that to God? This seems like my never-ending struggle; as soon as I overcome it at some level, God ups the ante and I have more staff, larger projects, or more people depending on me. Maybe what I really need is a paradigm shift.

 

Galatians 6:1-3

Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. - Galatians 6:1-3

I find these verses very interesting. We usually separate verse 1 from 2 and 3. “Share each other’s burdens” actually means helping one another out in their sins, not just lending a helping hand. And “importance” is said with the same backdrop.

What stops us from helping others, particularly those who have been struggling with the same sin for a long time? The same things Paul points to in verses 2 and 3, we don’t want to share the burden. They fell, it’s their job to get back up is the general sentiment. However, Paul is exhorting us; that is not how the body of Christ should work. We need to come alongside and raise them up. It’s not just their struggle; it’s ours. This is particularly important in dealing with believers with long-term addiction. If you’ve been using drugs for 15 years, you will rarely be changed overnight. Yes, it happens, but we should expect a long, dedicated fight for this person’s soul.

Verse 3 can be much more subtle. We don’t want to associate with "that kind of person;" we feel like it’s beneath us to do so; all the other members of the church don’t have this kind of problem, etc. What if the sins they have been overcome by is anger or gossip - social sins? Do we still have the same grace for them as other sins?

I can still remember one small group meeting where one of the guys admitted he was lazy. We had talked about sexual struggles and all these other problems but it felt like a whole new level when he confessed that. Because of the work ethic in Rolla, that was deeper and harder to deal with than sexual temptation! God still wanted to deal with it.

 

Striking the Rock

I’ve been reading in Numbers where Moses strikes the rock. From all outward appearances this was a success - a miracle happened, all the people were provided for… But Moses himself was punished for the incident.

This concerns me because it means you can do ministry and be praised by everyone around but still do wrong and be on God’s bad side. Yes, feedback by the people around you is important but it’s not everything. A parallel Jesus verse would be “What good is it to gain the whole world but lose your soul?” It’s entirely possible to do miracles and cast out demons in God’s name but never know him.

It’s a difficult time here for us. Our projects are praised and the way we train up leaders, and we have a solid staff. But people die, needs go unmet, and we don’t have responses. Are we too focused on ministry and not on the people? Is that protecting the acorn or losing sight of the greater goal? As I told Carla, if I knew I was doing something wrong I’d instantly change it; if I knew I was doing right I would be able to trust in God, but when I’m not sure I’m doing the right thing my trust flounders.

I think this goes into being a good listener. Moses went to God but left understanding the wrong thing. We need to spend time understanding God’s perspective, slowly digesting His words, and not shoe-honing what He tells us into simple yes-nos of how we see the situation. I can so easily see this happen to me - I go to God with a problem, He says He’ll solve it with a rock so I jump up and go about obeying, not paying attention to exactly what He’s told me. Just like I can often miss what people are really saying because I haven’t really thought about it or it’s so different than what I am expecting.

Like Friday, when someone asked to go to church with me but in a Mozambican way. I only understood looking back on it, and only understood when I was already sitting in church. It happens often, particularly with Mozambicans. “Yes” and “...yes” mean the opposite so I can’t just pay attention to the words but the tone of voice and speed too - that it difficult for me.