What I believe
I wish I could tell you that I was a pillar of faith. But I’m not. I struggle with faith just as much as the next person. Let me give you some examples of what I believe and things I struggle believing.
Here are some things I believe:
- I believe God is passionately and madly in love with me.
- I believe that through Christ, I am righteous and holy.
- I believe that when I die, I’m headed straight to heaven.
- I believe heaven is going to be awesome and wonderful!
- I believe God is working around the clock to help me, strengthen me and encourage me.
- I believe God desires for us to be healed and whole–body, soul and mind.
- I believe that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives inside of us.
Those are some of the things that I really believe, undoubtedly. I have no doubts about them. They are just facts to me. I don’t question them. I don’t struggle with believing them. They are truth to me.
But then there are things that I just struggle to believe. I know in my head they are true, but in my heart, there are doubts, like:
- Can God really shape an election based on our prayers?
- I’ve been praying for someone’s salvation for years. Is it helping?
- I need healing. I believe in healing. But, why isn’t it happening yet?
- I want to change in some areas, but I’m finding it so hard.
- When finances are flowing, life is good. But when they start to ebb, so does my faith.
- I need to stop drinking coffee, but I love the stuff. I doubt at times that God can help me stop drinking coffee.
Isn’t that amazing!?! I can believe that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives inside of me, and at the same time, I doubt God can help me quit the coffee. That’s just messed up.
Satan knows that our faith is what activates the spiritual into the natural. He knows real faith makes a difference in our lives. Faith pleases God (Hebrews 11:6). God loves it when we believe, really believe. And Satan knows that. So, he’s number one target is our faith. His most powerful weapon is unbelief. If he can get us to doubt God, then he has won.
Think about it. Have you ever had any of these thoughts:
- I’ve tried praying for this issue in my life, but nothing has changed. I guess God just wants me to live this way.
- My mom died from cancer. My grandma died from cancer. I’m probably going to die from cancer.
- This is just the way I am. I can’t change.
- God is all powerful, and no matter what I pray for, he’ll do what he wants anyway.
- I keep messing up, over and over. I guess God doesn’t want to help me.
Who do you think is the source of these thoughts? Where do they come from? They are not from God. The enemy has a vast number of resources to get us thinking this way. And, it’s wrong. While these thoughts may look like humble, Christian thoughts, all of them are rooted in unbelief.
God is passionately pursing us and fights hard for our faith. That’s what we need to believe!
Faithless generation
This is another one of those amazing stories about faith, about believing:
- When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, a huge crowd was waiting for them. A man came and knelt before Jesus and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, because he has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.”
Jesus replied, “You stubborn, faithless people! How long must I be with you until you believe? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” Then Jesus rebuked the demon in the boy, and it left him. From that moment the boy was well.
Afterward the disciples asked Jesus privately, “Why couldn’t we cast out that demon?” “You didn’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I assure you, even if you had faith as small as a mustard seed you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible” (Matthew 17:14-20).
I find this story amazing because here the disciples had been with Jesus for quite awhile now, and they had seen the miracles, the power, the results of faith in Jesus. At this point, they had seen bread and fish multiplied (Matthew 14:19), they had seen Jesus (and Peter) walk on the water (Matthew 14:25), and they had seen numerous miracles. Surely, you would think they could believe by now. Maybe it wasn’t the disciples lack of faith as much as it was the people’s lack of faith. Jesus did rebuke them, “You stubborn, faithless people.”
Yet, it was when he was long with the disciples that he said, “You didn’t have enough faith.” So, it was their lack of faith as well. They didn’t believe. If they had just a mustard seed of faith, “nothing would be impossible.”
What seems impossible to you right now? An upcoming reorg at work? A struggling marriage? Rebellious kids? A serious sickness? What seems impossible to you, right now? Listen carefully to the words of Jesus, “If you have enough faith, nothing is impossible. If you believe, it is possible.“
Do you believe?
There is one area in my journey with God that has really changed how I pray and how I respond to God. Faith.
In the New Testament, the Greek word often translated as “faith” is pistis. Interestingly, the Greek word often translated as “believe” is pisteuo. The Greek words are the same, except one is a noun (pistis) and one is a verb (pisteuo), but it’s the same word.
In my journey, I have found faith/belief to be essential to the Christian walk. And conversely, I have found that our greatest enemy is not the devil, but our unbelief. He is defeated. His power and authority has been stripped away at the Cross. But, we must believe in order to reclaim our authority.
Ask yourself a simple question, “What do you really believe?” When you pray for peace, or strength, or victory over some bondage or fear, do you believe? I mean really believe?
We say we believe, but in all honesty, I’m not sure we do. We probably just hope. Read these scriptures and see how faith/belief empowers our prayers:
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Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I assure you that you can say to this mountain, ‘May God lift you up and throw you into the sea,’ and your command will be obeyed. All that’s required is that you really believe and do not doubt in your heart. Listen to me! You can pray for anything, and if you believe, you will have it” (Mark 11:22-24).
“It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
We’ve got to believe. When we pray, beg and plead with God about something, and then don’t believe he will answer, we’re like a wave tossed about by the sea:
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“But when you ask [God], be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord” (James 1:6, 7).
Look at your prayer life. When you pray, do you “really believe and not doubt in your heart”? Or, do you struggle with unbelief? Do you have thoughts like, “God won’t answer my prayers. I’m too much of a sinner. It hasn’t worked in the past. Why pray?”
Do you realize that unbelief limits the power of God to work in our lives? Check out one of the most amazing scriptures regarding faith:
- “Because of their unbelief, he couldn’t do any mighty miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their unbelief” (Mark 6:5, 6b).
Did you catch that? “He couldn’t do any mighty miracles.” It’s not that he wouldn’t. He couldn’t. He was limited. His hands were tied. His power was limited. Why? They didn’t believe. And Jesus “was amazed at their unbelief.”
Over the next few weeks, I hope to share more in this area, including some of my experiences (and failures) regarding faith.
Another “random” thought?
This week, I had another “random” thought that turned out to be more than just a thought.
A few weeks ago, I purchased some new video production equipment for a project. It wasn’t a big deal, just something I needed to do. The piece of equipment is kind of rare—not everyone has this equipment. There’s probably only two or three in the Dallas area.
This past week, I was on the set of a friend’s production. They are shooting a new web series. And, my friend is using this special piece of equipment. He bought his last year. While I was on set, I had this thought, “I guess with me purchasing this same equipment, he could always call upon me in case there are any problems.” Random thought, or was it?
A couple of days ago, my son and I were driving down to Austin for some business meetings. While driving down, I received a phone call. The caller ID revealed it was my producer friend. That’s odd, I thought. He’s in the middle of production. He shouldn’t be calling me. I hope it’s not about the equipment.
Sure enough, his rare production equipment had broke, and he needed to borrow mine to maintain his tight production schedule. Interesting.
I know that doesn’t seem like a big deal to most people. In fact, most would just call it a coincidence. But, I don’t believe in coincidence. I believe it was that “still, small voice of God” that was simply giving me a “heads up”.
The struggle we all face is how to distinguish which thoughts are mine, which thoughts are God and which thoughts come from the devil. It’s a struggle because they all sound the same. It’s the words, the content that helps us know who is saying it.
Prince of the Air
This past weekend, my wife and I were driving back from a baby shower of a friend. It was a nice peaceful drive. We were talking about our pastor’s message this weekend. He was preaching about how God has chosen to limit himself to our faith, to what we believe. It was an excellent message and right on.
As we were driving, I made this blanket statement, directed mostly towards my own attitude and unbelief. I said, “I wonder sometimes if we don’t see answers to our prayers because we don’t really believe God.” My wife got quiet all of sudden—something was stirring. I realized later that it wasn’t a good stirring.
When we got home, she was very upset with me. I asked her why. I didn’t understand what I had done wrong. (That’s pretty normal for me.) When I made that statement about our prayers not being answered because we don’t believe, here’s what she heard me say, “Angela, it’s all your fault. You don’t really believe when you pray. You’re the reason God doesn’t answer our prayers.”
Whoa! Where did that come from? That’s not what I said. Nor was that what I intended. I was speaking totally about myself. Yet, what she heard was a condemning accusation about her faith.
Immediately, I knew exactly where that came from. Ephesians 2:2 calls Satan “the mighty prince of the power of the air.” He has this “gift” to mix up the words we say so that the hearer receives them completely different than what we speak. He can manipulate thoughts and ideas so that when the words come into our minds, we misinterpret them and immediately become offended. It’s an incredibly effective strategy, especially when people are completely unaware of it.
Thankfully, my wife is the kind of person who likes to talk things out (sometimes in gory detail). So, we talked about my comment and my intentions, and she quickly realized that I was not accusing her nor pointing my finger at her faith. It was more about me and my walk with God. Not hers.
Think about your own life. How many times have you said something only for it to be completely interpreted wrong? Or, how about those times when you sense something is wrong with your spouse, and she comes in crying, “You said this and you said that.” And you can’t recall every saying that. The prince of the air is at work.
The other side of distraction
In my own experience with hearing God, I have found that it is very easy to become distracted. There are so many things in this world fighting for our attention. We are bombarded with hundreds of marketing ads each day. Companies spend millions of dollars simply to get your attention. “Buy our products!” Commercials, billboards, logos, advertisements, telemarketers, solicitations–they are everywhere.
Then, add to that what we feed our mind with on a daily basis. The average American spends almost 9 hours a day consuming media–television, movies, internet, iPod, music, computer games. Nine hours a day! Considering we spend 8 of our 24 hours a day sleeping, that leaves only 7 hours a day that we’re not consuming media. That’s amazing.
I think one of the key tactics of the enemy is to fill our minds with so much stuff that we don’t have time to listen. Think about how hard it is to just slow down, clear your mind and be at peace. I know for me, Mr. Adrenaline Junkie, it’s near impossible. Yet, God commands us, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).
Be still.
Try it. Try being still after a hard day of work and stress. Try being still after watching some action flick or romance movie. Try being still when there’s bills to pay and work to do. It’s hard!
Just yesterday, I was playing this computer game called Combat Arms. (I’m usually not a gamer, but my son likes this game, so I try to spend time with him playing Combat Arms.) When playing this game, you’re in this virtual world, and images are constantly in front of you–soldiers, snipers, guns, explosions. And, it’s a real-time game, so we’re playing with other players all around the world. So, you’re adrenaline gets pumping.
Here’s what happened last night. I was playing the game at about 8 pm, a couple of hours before bed. After I finished playing, I shut off the computer and then sat down in my recliner to pray before I climbed into bed. But, each time I closed my eyes to pray, I would see those scenes–the soldiers, snipers from the game. So, I had to open my eyes to pray. But, I would forget and close them. Again, soldiers and snipers everywhere. It was very frustrating and distracting. How could I pray and be still when my mind was still in the game? I think the enemy has done a pretty good job of creating so much distraction around us.
Just to clarify, I’m not some anti-media person. Actually, it’s my profession. I’m a producer. I produce media. I believe there are some redemptive forms of media, but I think it all comes down to balance.
Ask yourself these questions:
1. How much media is enough? When do I cross over from media enjoyment into media gluttony?
2. What is my refuge, my safe place, the place I go when I’m stressed? Do I flip on the television to “veg out” for awhile. Soap operas, reality shows, news? What’s your escape?
3. Are you finding it harder and harder to dedicate time with God? Would you rather get up first and check your email? Turn on the television? Listen to some music? Fill your mind with something?
I encourage you to spend some time this week “being still”. God is waiting for you on the other side of the distraction.
Intimacy with God
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to sit down with a close friend of mine and listen to him share his own experience on hearing God.
Early on his walk of faith, his desire to hear God was strong. In almost every situation, he would ask, God, is this what you want me to do? Or, Was that you, God? Are you trying to tell me something? His mind was constantly on the lookout for a “word from God” regarding every area of his life.
I’ve wrestled quite a bit with this notion of knowing God’s will in every area of our lives. It seems almost impossible; yet there are numerous scriptures supporting this idea:
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“Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:6).
“If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life” (Matthew 16:25).
Even Jesus only did what he knew the Father wanted him to do: “I assure you, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does” (John 5:19).
I also think about Brother Lawrence’s writings from 300 years ago, where he learned to “practice the presence of God” in his everyday life. He was able to achieve a profound intimacy with God.
I believe this is the life God has called us to, a life of intimacy with him. And not just, “Lord, bless this food” prayers, but deep, profound, soul-searching, mind-engaging conversations with our Father. I believe this is God’s greatest desire for us. It’s not about giving, serving, working, helping, and doing. It’s about being. Being a child of God. Being with our Father. Spending time with him.
After all, what’s the greatest commandment? To love God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our strength and with all of our mind. That’s loving God with everything.
My friend and I talked some more about this intimacy with God, and I could sense some cynicism in his voice. He had been wounded years ago. I could hear it in his voice. So, I asked him about it.
He went on to explain that what started out as a desire to hear God soon became a bondage, a stress. He would wrestle over every decision, every “word”, every situation. His peaceful prayer time soon became filled with pressure. He had moved from listening to straining and striving.
When he told me this, my first thought was, That’s the enemy. Think about it for moment. If the devil could do one thing and one thing only to cripple your walk with God, it would be to disrupt communication between you and your Father. It’s a common military tactic—the first strike of a successful engagement is to take out communications. With that gone, surely confusion and disorganization will follow. My friend agreed.
Just as God has a plan for your life, so the devil also has an evil plan for your life. He does not want you to hear God, so he will take you to one of two extremes:
1. The devil wants to take you to a place of frustration, like my friend, where hearing God becomes full of pressure and stress. And who wants pressure and stress? It’s just a lot easier not to listen.
2. Or, the devil will convince you that God doesn’t speak at all. Cut the communication cord early, before it even has a chance to work. Sadly, this is where most believers are today.
God has great plans for you, and for you to live out those plans, we must hear what they are. I encourage you, today, to listen. God is speaking.
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