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

Lessons from Bath Time

Bath time at our house is always very eventful.

A couple nights ago Kim had to run out and I wanted to get the kids in and out of the bath before dinner. So I started the water and called out for them to come and get in the bath. Seconds later I heard Zion ripping his diaper off as I passed him in the hallway. As I tossed something in the garbage can it occurred to me, "he still had his shirt on" (Zion can't take his shirt off by himself). I walked into the bathroom and saw him sitting waist deep in the running bath water and asked "did you forget something?" That explains the look on his face in this picture.

We all "jump" into certain situations without fully thinking through the steps that need to be taken or the preparations that need to be made, much like Zion did when he jumped into the bath without removing his shirt.

There are various situations in which we need to make preparations before we enter into them. Accepting Christ in our lives is not one of these. Christ tells us to come to Him with all of our burdens, with all of our anxiety, with all of our fears, with all of our failures, and He will meet us where we are. and although there are no preparations that need to be made, there are still steps that need to be taken, a shift in our mindset that needs to be made. That shift comes when we begin to let go of this world, when we begin to let go of ourselves and admit that we need Jesus Christ as our Savior, our Lord, and our Master. It is then that we take the two steps outlined in Romans 10:9, confess and believe. And, "YOU WILL BE SAVED"!

Back to the kids and bath time for a moment. Our kids love taking baths, partially because we let them play for an extended period of time before making them get out and they enjoy splashing around in the water. So, when we tell them that it is time to get out of the tub, it is usually met with some hostility and argument.  And, although Zion does not want to get out, he has yet to figure out the whole cause and effect thing, the repercussions of an action. So instead of telling him that it is time to "get out of the tub" I usually will ask him to "pull the plug". This gives him yet something else to do in the tub. And, as the water runs out, he gets cold, and wants to get out of the tub to get warmed up and get dressed.

While there will remain certain preparations, actions, or changes for almost every stage of our lives. In the same way, various repercussions of our actions follow. What are our repercussions of accepting Christ?

Here are JUST A FEW:
- letting go of this world (Luke 14:26)
-  denying one's self (Matthew 16:24)
- take up the one's cross (Matthew 10:38)
- make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20)
- filled with joy (Acts 13:52)
- love for others (1 Thessalonians 4:9)
- fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)

Glee/What People Need

 

This past Tuesday the show "Glee" was on and although I do not normally watch it, the storyline this week was that of religion and spirituality. So, not only did I stay in the room and on the channel, I actually paid attention (something I do not always do).

  

In this episode, one of the characters makes a grilled cheese sandwich and when he opens the grill sees what he believes to be an image of Jesus. He then deems this "grilled cheesus". He proceeds to pray to the sandwich, asking it for various signs and confirmations of control. Although this opening made me skeptical that this was yet another television show that was trying to bash the name and the image of Christ, I stuck around and gave Glee more of a chance this week.

The most basic issue I had with this portion of the episode was that it was as if someone with no understanding whatsoever was attempting to explain Jesus Christ, Christianity, and everything about faith, prayer, belief, etc. As one fellow blogger wrote "I suppose it would be like me, an Asian American, writing about what it’s like to be black; I can research and I can see the cultural or societal view of being black, but it would be quite amazing if I could write about the true experience."

These words explained where the writers of this show were coming from, because a basic level of research had been done, a cultural or social view had been considered, and then off to the writing boards they went. Yet how can I say this? I do not know if the writers, the producers, or the actors of the show Glee are born-again Christians or if they make claim to any faith at all.

Yet this same basic approach is made by so-called Christians everyday, those that claim to follow Christ and have a faith in Him. So many are not truly experiencing the saving grace, the fellowship, and the presence of Jesus Christ and His Spirit within their lives. Yet they are "Christians".

We are told in Matthew 7 not to judge, and for this reason we leave this alone. Who are we to judge those around us that claim the name of Jesus and yet do not have the depth of understanding, the depth of relationship, or the depth of desire to truly know Him? We so easily forget that we are to hold one another accountable, that we are to "consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:24 ), that we are to "encourage one another and build each other up"  (1 Thess. 5:11), and that, if we are truly a part of the body of Christ, we are all a part of the same body (1 Cor. 12).

Back to Glee, as the program went on various situations played into the storyline, "church and state", "religion in school", "homosexuality", "death", "the afterlife", "family", and several more. The basic conclusion to the episode was that, we all need to have faith in something, we all need to believe in something. I can definitely get behind this on the most basic level. I don't see how anyone can live in the world and honestly believe that there in no "higher power", that there is no God. Further, I don't see why anyone would continue to live if they honestly believe that there is no God and no hope after they pass away from this world.

We all need to have faith in something. True! Yet the issue in our world today is that so many have a faith in something, and that something is anything. What people NEED in our world today is a faith in The Living God, The God that does not change, The God that created, loves, and sustains everything. What people NEED in our world today is a lasting relationship with The God that offers forgiveness for yesterday, joy for today, and confidence for tomorrow. What people NEED in our world today is 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)