Bible Study | When Your Faith Isn't Working

Okay, are we there yet? What do we do when our faith isn't working? That's what we're talking about today on the Crazy Buzz Bible Study. Super excited about diving into this because I feel like all of us, at one time or another, we've been believing for something, believing for something we've seen in the Bible, believing for a promise of God, believing for a miracle, believing for breakthrough, whatever it is. And we're believing and we're believing, and then we get kind of tired in the believing because we're like, nothing's changing. I don't know. Is this like, this for you? Like, let me know. Leave a comment, because I want this to be a conversation with us, because we're united together in this. I know that when the body of Christ is strong, the church is strong, the kingdom is strong. And so we want to be part of this, really, all united together so that we can help one another. And what I want to do today is really dive into this topic. What do we do when it doesn't seem like our faith isn't working? We've been speaking to that mountain, just like the Bible says. You know, you say to this mountain, move, and it's going to be moved and it's going to be cast into the sea. And you keep speaking and you keep speaking and that mountain is just kind of glaring down at you, like, what you going to do? I ain't moving anywhere. What do we do? What's going wrong? Well, there could be something, one thing, actually very significant that you could be doing wrong. And I want to dive into that, because if you can eliminate that, honey, you could get your breakthrough so much faster. I know you're believing for this, so let's figure out what we're doing wrong here. There's one thing you could significantly be doing wrong, and this could throw off everything. It could be why you haven't gotten that breakthrough yet, why you haven't gotten that miracle yet, why you are still waiting for the promise. I don't know. Have you ever felt like, Joshua, that God tells you, you know, walk around seven days, and on that seventh day, the walls of Jericho are going to come tumbling down and you're going to walk in to that promised land, walk into Jericho, you're going to take authority, and if you're like, all right, this is like day 597. I've been walking around these walls, and they're not tumbling down yet. What am I doing wrong? That's what we're talking about. So I'm going To use this scripture, I'm going to use Luke 18, 1:8, because I think hidden inside this one passage is something so powerful. And I've never really heard anyone talk about this a lot. Well, I don't think I've heard anyone talk about this really. But I see there's a secret that's hidden in this passage. As soon as you discover this, it's like, boom. It can change everything. So I'm going to read this to you, but I also would love, if you had your Bible handy, like to go along with it and track it, because I'm reading from the classic amplified version, so it's good to get different versions. So let's start. Luke 18, verse 1. Also, Jesus told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to turn. Coward, fate, lose heart and give up. All right, so first of all, that's us, right? So he's saying, don't give up, don't lose heart, don't faint. And we're like, all right, I'm. I'm not. I'm still holding steady, but I've been believing for a long time. So he's speaking to us, all right? Those people who are believing for something and they have not seen the manifestation yet. If that's you, say howdy, I'm here, still waiting. Next verse. He said, in a certain city there was a judge who neither reverenced and feared God, nor respected or considered man. All right, understand this. There was a judge. Now, was he a good judge or a bad judge? Was he a nice, godly, upstanding man, or is he kind of a jerk? Look at it. It said he didn't reverence and fear God and he didn't respect or consider man. He was basically a jerk. Alright, so we can say, here's this judge, he's the antagonist. If you're looking at the story arc, he's the antagonist. All right? And then the next verse. There was a widow in the city who kept coming to him and saying, protect and defend and give me justice against my adversary. Now, the widow can be us. Think about this. Because she knew her legal right. Think about it. This widow said, all right, I have an adversary and they're coming against me. I don't know, they could have been taking her land or stealing her property or, I don't know, could have been a number of things. But this widow knew her legal right and she wanted justice. Now here's the deal, friend. If you know your legal right, you can declare justice. What do I mean? By legal right, I mean if you see it in the Word, you can see it in your world. If God promised it to you in His Scripture, then you can take it to heart and declare it to be true in your life. If he said healing is available for you in the Word, then you just decide, healing is available for me in my life. If you decide sufficiency, financial sufficiency is available for me in the Word, that's what it says. Then hot dog, financial sufficiency is available for me too. Okay? So that's what it means to have a legal understanding of what is rightfully yours. Jesus died in order to give you everything that is possible. All right? So we have a legal right. I have a legal right. When you see it in the Word, you can see it in your world. So this widow, she knew she had a legal right. So here she is. It says in the next verse, verse four, for a time he would not. So this jerk of a judge was not giving this widow anything. He was not performing his duty. A judge is supposed to execute justice, right? We have a judicial system. They are supposed to execute justice. So this judge was not a nice guy. He was pretty much a jerk. And he was kind of ignoring her and not executing justice. And then in verse four says, for a time he would not. But later he said to himself, though I have neither reverence or fear for God, nor respect or consideration for man, yet because this widow continues to bother me, I will defend, to protect and avenge her, lest she give me intolerable annoyance and wear me out by her continual coming, or at the last she come and rail on me or assault me or strangle me. So why was he being so honorable to this widow? Because he didn't want her to bother him anymore. He was sick of her coming every day. He's like, I just. I just had to get some relief from her. She's driving me bananas. B A N A N A S And she's probably going to come one day and like, bring a whole army of other widows to attack me if I just don't do something about it. I'll go ahead and do something. Verse 5. That's. That's what he said. She's going to assault me, strangle me, something. I'll just get rid of her. Verse 6. Then the Lord said, listen to what the unjust judge says. Says, leave it in the chat. Unjust judge. The reason I'm telling you to do that is because we're going to track here. We're going to discover something hidden here. In this passage, that is going to elevate your faith to a new level, my crazy blessed buddy. So check this out. The unjust judge says, listen to what he says. And will not our just God defend and protect and avenge his elect, his chosen ones who cried to him day and night? Will he defer them and delay help on their behalf? I tell you, verse 8. He will defend and protect and avenge them speedily. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find persistence and faith on this earth? Someone put in the chat speedily. Speedily. Who wants to get their speedily Manifestation? That's not a word we often throw around. Speedily. Let's do it speedily. Don't you wish we could, like, get all our shopping done speedily? All right. Yes, yes, yes. Speedily. Somebody write that down. Check it out. We all want the miracle now. Do you want it now? Do you want your manifestation speedily? Do you want the promise speedily? Are you sick of waiting now? Sometimes we'll read this and we'll think, all right, there's the solution. I've got to wear God down. Has anyone believed that before? Just say. Just say. Yes, I have. Yes, I've believed it. Yes, I've been trying to wear God down. I get it. This. Sometimes when we read this, we're like, I'm just not going to let up. I'm shocked up. I'm just going to wear God down. Pretty soon he's going to give me that miracle. He's going to turn the tide of my favor. He's going to finally get me debt free. He's going to finally give me my healing. I just got to wear him down, right? That is often what we think of. But I'm going to show you. Like I said, there's a secret here. Check this out. You could be waiting. All wrong. What? What if. Just. Just play with me here, okay? What if we didn't have to wear God down? Because it says right here, he will do it speedily. What will he do? He'll defend you, bring, protect you, avenge you. In other words, he will fulfill on his promise and he will do it speedily. So what is the hold up? I'll tell you. Is believing the wrong identity of God? Because very clearly he said, here's an unjust judge who's pretty much a jerk, right? You don't know if you can trust him or not. What are those? One of those characters, you know, you kind of have to bug him to death to at least get a response. Anyone know someone like that? Anyone Knows someone. Like, I've texted them three days in a row and they're not responding. And I know they're reading my texts. I know they're reading them. Absolutely. I see. See, it was red. I can tell. Anyone know what I'm talking about? All right, so sometimes we believe God is the unjust judge. But what he was talking about in this story, he's like, wait a minute. You don't have to believe that about our God. Yes, the judge was unjust, and that's why she had to wear him down. But our God is not. Our God is kind. Our God is compassionate. Our God is loving. Our God always is looking for opportunity to bless his children. Our God is an inexhaustible warehouse of favor. Whoo. That hit somebody right there. Our God is an inexhaustible warehouse of favor that is always, always, readily and speedily available. So what's the difference how you view the judge? God is the ultimate judge. But guess what? He is just. He is loving. So when we switch our identity perspective on how we see the judge, that's going to change how speedily we get our miracle. See, we don't have to wear down God. And here's the deal. I want you to lean in. If you've been distracted for a minute, if you've been looking at something else or you're thinking about something else, tune in with me real quick. I'm going to tell you something. Your faith may not be working because it isn't faith. Hold up, Work with me here. Your faith may not be working because it isn't faith. What it actually is is fear. Gift wrapped in faith. Did you catch that? We have a tendency to believe we're operating by faith, but what we are actually doing is we're operating in fear, masked in faith. See, that widow had to show up every day. Why? Because she was afraid. She was afraid that justice was not going to get done. She was afraid that what was coming to her was not going to come to her. She was afraid that her miracle would never happen. Her breakthrough would never happen. What she knew was available to her would not be delivered into her hands if she did not drive this person crazy. And we believe that sometimes, too. Because we inside, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep inside, in the very dark recesses of our soul, we hold this idea. Can I really trust God? Can I really trust God? Is this hitting anyone right now? Because if I don't see. She couldn't trust the judge, could she? Why? Because he was unjust. She couldn't trust Him. That's why she finally, she just wore him down. Said, okay, get up, get your ass, drink cup of coffee, check my cell phone, and show up at the judge's house and drive him crazy. That was like her agenda because she couldn't trust him. We have to let go of the fear. How do we do that? We have to change what we're believing about God. Check this out. In Matthew 16:15. Matthew 16 is when Jesus was talking to the disciples and he was saying, who do people say that I am? And they're like, oh, some people say you're Elijah. Some people say you're John the Baptist. Some people, you know, just going on and on. But then he asked the killer question. That question that cuts through bone and marrow, that question that separates soul from spirit, that question that permeates your very subconscious. He said, who do you say that I am? Why did he ask this? Because whatever we believe about Jesus is showing up in the way we're living our life here on Earth. If you say Jesus is loving and compassionate and trustworthy, guess what? That's how you're going to operate. You're going to operate in faith, you're going to operate in joy. You're going to operate in freedom. But if you say, oh, I don't know, Jesus, well, sometimes I guess you come through, and sometimes I guess you don't. And sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. Sometimes it's yes, sometimes it's no. Sometimes just wait a while, which is not biblical. Give me a break. That is nowhere in the Bible if you ever hear someone say, you know, sometimes God says yes, sometimes he has, says no. Sometimes says, wait a while, say, could you show me where that is in Scripture? Because the scripture I read says that all of his promises are yes and amen. And you have done such incredible work around this because you're really wondering, is my faith not working? Because you're seeing someone there in, like, hurting and suffering. You're like, wait a minute, this. This doesn't line up. And you're wondering, what am I doing wrong? Maybe the only thing that's going on. First of all, we have to give people freedom to choose, make their choices, choose their path in life. As much as it hurts us, we have to relinquish. And sometimes death is not the ultimate destruction. You know what I mean? It's that soul that's impoverished. Not the body being impoverished. But what we also have to understand is I need to make sure I'm responsible for myself. Am I operating in the belief that I can truly trust God and that he loves me. Because perfect love casts out all fear. When we talk about operating in fear, we're like, oh, if I don't wear God down, it's not going to happen. That is 100% fear. And there is no love there because perfect love casts out fear. Love means God. I don't really see how it's happening right now, but I know that. I know that. I know that you love me. And I can cast my care upon you. Because this reason only you care for me. You love me. And God is asking you today, who do you say that I am? Remember when. When Abraham said who? Who do I tell him? Like, well, oh, that was Moses, not Abraham. You know those old Bible guys, they kind of all like, blend in together. Moses, he's telling Moses, go and rescue my people, get them out of slavery. He's like, who do I say? Send me? And God said, I am. What? He was saying this. It's really up to you. Who do you believe is sending you? Who do you believe empowers you? Who do you believe that I am? And if we know that he loves us and that he's trustworthy, then how that shows up is we rest. Check this out. In Psalm 18:25, 26, it says, to the faithful, you show yourself faithful. To the blameless, you show yourself blameless. To the pure, you show yourself pure. And to the crooked, you show yourself shrewd. That's Psalm 18:25, 26. Now, does God change? No. It says in the Bible there is no shadow of changing in Him. Not even a shadow of change in the Bible. So we know God does not change. He's the same. Yesterday, today, tomorrow. So if God doesn't change, then what determines the change in his character? It's the lens we use to view him. When you believe he's faithful, guess what? He's always going to show up faithful. But if you believe he's crooked, he's always going to show up. As that unjust judge you just can never trust. You always are looking over your shoulder to see if something's coming after you. Because you wonder, am I? Can I trust Him? Am I safe? But what it means to believe that God loves you, if you really operate in that belief. God loves me. I can trust him, and his word is true, even if I'm not seeing it show up right now, like I thought it should show up, which is a biggie. If I truly believe he loves me and I can trust him, that shows up as hope. And guess what? Hope is revealed in rest. We're not to give up our hope ever. Check this out. Hebrews 10:35 through 36. Do not therefore fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward. Compensation is like a legal term. It says, okay, if I perform two days of wages, I'll be compensated with this much money. Okay? Everyone understands what compensation is, right? And so in the Bible, it tells us what our compensation is as believers, if we believe this and we operate in this way, then here's our compensation. God says, behold, I put, here's a choice. I put before you. Life and death. Choose life that you and your descendants may live. There is a blessing over us and our descendants. That's our compensation for deciding to live in the will of God. There's a compensation. And so it's saying, don't give this up. There is a great and glorious compensation. It's not just like two days wages, baby. The great and glorious Compensation means Ephesians 3:20 blessing. It means exceedingly, abundantly, beyond anything you can think or hope or imagine. That's what's coming at you. That's the compensation. That's the rich reward. Just like Eula put right there. That's the reward. That's the compensation. That's our blessing that we are entitled to. It's not like the spirit of entitlement, like, give this to me. No, it's entitlement because we are the children of the Most High God and he has created this blessing for us to operate in. So if we will not give up this hope that we will be compensated. It says, you have need. This is our need of steadfast patience and endurance so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God and thus receive and carry away and enjoy to the full what is promised. Who here wants to enjoy to the full all of the promises that God has laid out for us in his word, like to the full. I don't want to leave anything on the table. Everything Jesus died for me to have, I want access to it. I don't want to leave anything behind, right? I want this life to be an experience of all the blessings that God has in store for me. So if we want to enjoy this to the full, what it says we have need of is steadfast patience and endurance. Now, does that mean steadfast patience and endurance to keep hounding God? No, that's not what it means. It's not. If I can just endure one more day of bringing this prayer request to God and say, God Please do this. Please do this. No, no, no, no, no. We are believing silently that he's an unjust judge when we're operating that way. Actually, what we're in need of is that patience to say, even though I don't see it now, I know it's coming. Hallelujah, praise God, it's coming, or else God will not be God. And all of this is just a sham. So I know God is faithful. I know His Word is true. So I'm not going to freak out and. And lose my poop all over the place. That's a technical term you can feel free to use if you want to. I'm not going to freak out over this and be like, you know, storming the gates of heaven. There's no gates that are keeping us out of heaven. Heaven is available. Jesus said, the kingdom of God is here. It is all available to us. So when we understand that that is hope, it says in the Bible, hope will not disappoint. So that hope is characterized. Are you ready for this rest? How do you know you're operating in faith? It shows up as rest. When you're white knuckling your faith, it's just revealing. You're actually holding a considerable amount of doubt. And doubt carries with it fear. And that means we are believing the wrong thing about God. And whatever we believe about God will always show up in our life. So check this out. I want to wrap this up with this. Hebrews 4, 9, 11. So then there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath rest reserved for the true people of God. For he who has once entered God's rest also has ceased from the weariness and pain of human labors. Just as God rested from those labors that were peculiarly his own. So remember, God created the world in six days, and he rested on the seventh. Now he labored for six days and he rested. So what? God is telling us that there is a rest that is set aside for you who believe. And so that is a relief from the human effort. What does human effort look like? It looks like what the widow was doing, showing up every single day, bothering this judge and hounding him so that he would eventually give her justice. That's what human effort looks like. We don't have to hound God. We don't have to plead with Him. We can find the promise in the Word and we can rest in it. That is the rest that is available to us. It says, verse 11, Hebrews 4, 11. Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest of God, to know and experience it for ourselves, that no one may fail, I mean fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience into which those in the wilderness failed. God's rest is my rest. We have to claim that. So when God's promise is right there in front of us and we know that justice has to be served because we serve a good judge, a loving God, then we can rest. That's how we know we're truly operating in faith. The reason that you feel like your faith isn't working is because it's not really faith, it's fear. And fear gets us nothing but more things to be afraid of, right? So who is ready to operate in faith and let it show up as rest? Who's ready to do that? Say, I'm ready. I am ready to finally stop hounding God and just rest in it. I'm going to tell you what that shows up as. It shows up as gratitude. That means every day what I'm believing for the promise that I've seen in His Word that's available to me instead of beating on the door, going to come boldly into the throne of grace and say, thank you for it. Thank you for it, thank you for it. I tell you, gratitude will open up doors that you're striving cannot every day, even if you're not seeing it. Say, God, I don't have to know how because I know who. I know you and I know you love me and I know I can trust you. So I'm just going to rest here. I'm just going to sit on your lap because you said I could come boldly to the throne of grace and just let you love on me and let me love on you. I am grateful for it. I am grateful for it. Guys, I'm so, so excited. We're starting at the crazy blessed Bible study Live again. Super excited about this. And I am also so excited to partner with you in faith. Where in your life do you want to see justice done? Are you ready to be debt free? Are you believing for one of your children to turn around and come back into the kingdom if they've been rebellious or rejecting God? Are you believing for something in your family to turn around or something in your finances? Are you believing for your business, your body? What is that? So we're going to go ahead and pray and if you. And while I'm praying, like, go ahead and leave it in the chat because God sees. He sees everything. Father, I thank you so much for this time together. I thank you, God, that we can dive into your word. And in your word is every single thing we need to not only navigate our path in this world, but God to lead us to victory in everything. Everything, God, because you said you came to give us an abundant life in every area of our life. So, God, in those areas that people have put down here in the chat, Father, whether it's live or whether they watch recording, you know that God and I just lift these up to you. And God, we're lifting this up to you in full faith, knowing that you love us and you truly desire to bless your children. So anything standing in the way, we call it out in the name of Jesus. We cast it down right now in the name of Jesus. Any obstacle standing between us and the manifestation, what we're believing for, we cast it out in Jesus name. And we thank you. We thank you, God, that we are just walking into our promised land without breaking the sweat, without losing our peace. We just keep on taking steps forward. We praise you and thank you for the fullness of glory and for this promise manifest in our lives in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Guys, thank you so much for hanging out with me. Make sure you share this. I love. I love you guys. Love you so much. Bye. Bye.