Journey of Faithfulness: Belief

Luke 1:26-45

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called^[c] the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.

To be used and blessed by God we must be available to Him.

 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”

To be used and blessed by God we must believe that he will do what He says He will do. 

Overcoming demons through belief and prayer

I was reading from the 9th chapter of the Gospel of Mark the other day and the account of Jesus healing the boy with the evil spirit (vs. 14-32) caught my attention. 


vs. 24;  Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”


When we go to pray for healing - physical, emotional, relational, or spiritual - we must start by praying that Christ will help us overcome our unbelief. 


vs. 29; Jesus replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”


It is often the case that prayer and deep commitment to prayer is the thing that is discarded when a person is aiming to overcome a demon in their life. 


Jesus, help me to overcome my unbelief.


Jesus, help me to remain commited to prayer. 

Imagine...

Large billboards have been erected in Terre Haute, Indianapolis and other major cities around the United States by an organization known as the "Freedom From Religion Foundation" with the message; "Imagine No Religion". Perhaps you have seen one of these billboards?

The organization consists of a great number of atheists with the intent to protect "and to promote the constitutional principle of separation between church and state". The issue, of course, is that these individuals have not done their research on what the first amendment of our constitution says, why this portion of the first amendment was written, or what the intent of our founding fathers was when they wrote this portion of the amendment. Either they failed to do the required research or they did just enough research to support their desired outcome and argument.

Yet, the first amendment also provides for freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of press, and freedom to peacefully assemble and for these freedoms I am thankful. But, what's interesting is that God also provided these freedoms shortly after He created the earth and everything in it. That is, when He spoke in the garden of Eden. See, freedom is what God gives to all of His creation, and that freedom is a beautiful thing!

Someone asked me not long ago what proof I could offer that God exists. After a lengthy response I concluded by saying that if God were to provide definite proof there would be no atheists and no agnostics, instead everyone would be believers in The One True God. That is the wonder of this thing God has provided for us all; free will.

But back to the billboards. These billboards do not upset me in the slightest. This atheists organization does not upset me in the least bit ; it saddens me that they are misinformed, it concerns me that they are misguided, and it disappoints me that they are misunderstanding, but it does not upset me. The truth is that these billboards provide us, even believers, with a great question and a persons answer to this question reveals the nature of their heart and their soul.

Imagine No Religion
Imagine if there was no set of beliefs or practices regarding God.
Imagine if there was no commitment or devotion to God.
Imagine if there was no worship or observance of God.

Considering this, I can imagine no religion. I meet people daily with no religion; no belief or practice of God, no commitment or devotion of God, no worship or observance of God. Yes, I can easily imagine no religion because I see that daily.

But, what if the statement is changed, changed by just one word, how does this make you feel?

Imagine No God

Three Things After Three

Three things happened this afternoon, after 3:00p the first shaped my afternoon, the second my evening, and the third made connected my thoughts and got me thinking. Allow me to share.

FIRST...
A gentleman entered my office this afternoon and said he had the desire to recommit his life to Christ! I'll take five seconds of spacing here to allow for celebration...................................................................................................We had a lengthy conversation about what it meant to be a Christian, what actions he needed to take to recommit his life to Christ, and many of the question and/or concerns he had about this recommitment. One of the topics that came up was his formation of our belief in Christ and the great foundation that our parents built within us at such early ages by "forcing their beliefs on us". And although we had these beliefs thrust upon us, at some point, we all must ask the question; "What do I believe" and we must accept Christ, and the salvation that only He brings, for ourselves Following our conversation I had the great privilege in praying for him and having him pray. This has been, by far, the most rewarding part of my ministry here in Robinson.

Second...
This great experience was followed by dinner with my wonderful family. We decided to go out for dinner and because we eat at such an early time the restaurant was fairly empty. Sitting down in a quiet booth we got settled in only to have an older couple with, what must have been, the most annoying child in the Robinson area. Dinner was spent with this child dropping food on my shoulder, making siren noises in my ear, hitting me in the back with some sort of a stuffed snake-eel-fish-dinosaur. Every now and then "ma-maw" and "Chris" would say "turn around Austy" (I assume his real name was Austin but for such a cute little bugger we need to use the pet name "Austy") but little Austy didn't listen.

THIRD...
Kim ordered hot wings for dinner, her desire for bread sticks and hot wings was what brought me and little Austin together in the first place. Well, that and fate! Anyhow, she likes the wings not the drumettes (we call them chicken butts) and so I was lucky enough to polish off the final two for her. I like spicy food and these didn't seem that spicy, not until I finished them and started breathing again.  As I sit here almost four hours later I can still taste the aftershock.

 As I sat down to reflect on this afternoon's events, still celebrating the rebirth of a soul, tasting the hot wings from dinner and icing the wounds obtained from little Austy, I thought about that foundation of beliefs given to me and to so many others. Some of us are so very lucky to be given this foundation at an early age, to be introduced to Christ by our parents, teachers, friends, and churches. Some of us are lucky enough to have the beliefs of others thrust upon us, creating a basis of beliefs for the remainder of our lives. Others, are not so lucky! Some, like little Austy, are not given a foundation, a basic foundation of behavior and respect (I'm making a judgment call here and referring not to Salvation). Yet, just like the hot wings, it may not be felt until after we have formulated our beliefs and have lived through many of the trials and burdens of life and begin to breath again. 

Do you feel the "aftershock" of the foundation that was given to you? If you are not as lucky as I perhaps you had a foundation that was built on uneasy soil or perhaps you never had one formed at all. Yet there is only one foundation, the true foundation, that can stand the test of time, trials, burdens, struggles, stress, and all that life brings. And that foundation is Jesus Christ. 

"For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 3:11)