I Don’t Have Enough Faith - I Ain’t no Un Fortunate Son - Purity 881

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of a South Adelaide sunset comes to us from Dave Bond Photography, as Dave shared this back on August 16th, asking, "Who doesn't love a good sunset?" I mean, really, do you know anyone that doesn't? As much as I agree with Dave's sentiments that we could assume that everyone loves a good sunset, I was reminded yesterday sometimes the things that we— that are so clear to us, um, can be obscured or completely unseen by others. Everyone is a whole lot of people, and I bet there are some of us that know people that struggle to see the good in anything, even spectacular sunsets from South Australia. But that's not me, that's not me. I ain't no unfortunate one. No, it ain't me, it ain't me. I ain't no unfortunate son. Uh, pardon the CCR song parody distortion, but man, I lived in the shadows of darkness, of depression, pessimism, and skepticism for way too long. Um, and the Lord opened my eyes to the truth of who he is, who Jesus Christ is, who I am in Christ, and I I just can't help but see the beauty that the Lord has made everywhere I look, and when I hear supposed Christians lament about the darkness of the hour or the perceived lack in their lives, I have to trumpet the truth and be a voice of encouragement that tells anyone who will listen that God is good and he takes care of those who put their faith in Christ and choose to follow him with the way they live their lives. Well, it is Saturday, and while I have to work today— I know, boo-hoo— I pray that all my friends, whether working or not, have a blessed day and a wonderful weekend. Because regardless of our current circumstances, the Lord has made a way for all of us to have peace with Him and an abundant life of freedom, love, peace, and joy. And that way is Jesus Christ. But you have, but you have to believe in him, trust in him, put your faith in him, and receive what the Lord has given to us as fortunate adopted sons and daughters to the King. Yesterday I was reminded of one of the biggest lies of the enemy that runs rampant in churches and keeps Christians bound in bondage to sin, uh, the victim, uh, to the victim mentality and spiritual invinci— infancy. What is the lie that is repeated and proclaimed as a rationalization for repeated failures and/or lack of peace? The lie is, "I don't have enough faith." Amazingly, the people who proclaim this lie even have a life verse to stand on. They echo the prayer of the father of a demon-oppressed child who pleaded to Jesus in tears 'Lord, I believe, help my unbelief' in Mark 9:24. Instead of standing in faith, they proclaim their unbelief or a lack of an adequate faith and lament of their lack of peace or good feelings or good circumstances in their lives. Instead of building up their faith and renewing their minds by studying and agreeing with what the Word of God says about who they are in Christ, They, they claim a lack of faith capacity or the ability to believe. Other derivatives of this lie include, "I wish I could believe, but I can't." Also, "That may be true for them, but it's not true for me," or, "I don't have the faith like them." These dejected, unfortunate children of God have more faith in their failures than they do in the Lord. By proclaiming their lack, it's not surprising they are make— they're— by proclaiming their lack, it's not surprising they, they are sad because they are making a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom and depression for themselves. They have forgotten the face of their Heavenly Father and have lost themselves in the mirror of self-introspection introspection and fallen victim to fleeting feelings by not abiding in Christ. If I choose, if I choose to, I could see bad in everything. I could see that others are gifted or blessed, or, you know, are more gifted or blessed than me. I can, I can have a real pity party about all the things that I don't have. I could even look at today's sunset photo and tell you how it's not so great, or even go to a wild extreme and speak on how the sun is actually hostile to us and is just looking to give us sunburns and skin cancer, that the sunset— that, that, that sunset is actually trying to kill us. Or I could choose to see the good in God's creation and in my situation. But what if it— what if my situation, um, you know, is lacking and it isn't so good, or I had— or has been better before? What if I can't see the good here on the earth? That's why we need God. If we look to ourselves or the world, we will only see that things are falling apart and that we are all going to die. But the Lord sent Jesus Christ and showed us through his resurrection that death is not the end. There is more to our existence than this life. There is an unseen spiritual realm, God's kingdom, and, and the Lord has a plan for his creation that will culminate in Christ returning and the eventual— and what— and, and the eventual establishment of a new heaven and new earth. And not only do we have a bright future with the Lord, but our faith in Christ also gives us power to overcome and to experience the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Before taking pity on the man and his demon-oppressed son, Christ said, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." He also said in John 10:10, "I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly." So the sky is the limit, but we have to believe the abundant life that Jesus promised us is possible. We have to believe that is available to us, and we have to have faith and follow his wisdom to receive it. And when I say receive it, don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about some prosperity gospel here. Christ has already given us everything. He has— he— everything. He has given us eternal life, and no matter what situation No matter what our situation is, if we realize that we have what we have in Christ, we can see that even our unfortunate circumstances will have some fortunate circumstances in them. And regardless of what we have or, or, or don't have materially, we have everything spiritually. But if we doubt, if we disbelieve, or if we take our eyes off of Christ, we can believe the lie that we don't— we have nothing, or we don't have enough faith. While we may lack some things in this life, we have everything we need in Christ. And time and time again, scripture tells us that through faith we can receive all kinds of things like healing, peace, freedom, victory, love, and joy. But if you are proclaiming your lack of faith or your unbelief, you won't see the glorious Son. Or the things he has given you. So keep walking and talking with God and agree with what he says about you, and allow your faith in him to provide you with the abundant life that is filled with the fruit of the Spirit that he has for you. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible, Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verses are 1 Peter 3:15-16. And they say, instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscious clear— conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. Today's verses encourages us to worship Christ as the Lord of our lives and ex— and to explain to others that our hope comes from him and to live a good life. Um, today's verses set up the expectation that if Jesus is our Lord, that we will live good lives that are beyond reproach and that will exemplify hope. Surrendering to the Lordship of Jesus is the key to Christian living. We don't stand on our freedom to do whatever we want. We follow him, and when we do that, we have a clear— we have clear consciences, and we will have a life of peace and hope that others can see. Our Christian faith is a belief that has no discernible— you know, if our Christian— oh boy— our faith, our Christian faith is not a belief that has— is not a belief that has no discernible difference from our unsaved neighbors. Our faith is a lifestyle of righteous living. Our faith changes the way we live and the people we used to be and will cause us to tell others about it. So if you don't have peace or the abundant life, repent and worship Christ as your Lord and follow his way that leads to a clear conscience and an ongoing testimony of righteous living and hope. Well, as always, I invite all to share the, um, uh, I invite all to go to emptyforchrist.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Discipleship, also known as the Cost of Discipleship. And right now we're sharing from Bonhoeffer's writings on Matthew 6, on the hidden nature of the Christian life. And today we begin the section on the hiddenness of prayer. So if you want to see what we shared from Bonhoeffer's work, go to mtcforchrist.org and you'll see that resource at the end of today's blog post. As always, we encourage a life of faith. And I, I don't want to sound like a word of faith proponent, but you have to have faith. You know, that's— we have faith in our salvation, and everything else we receive is received by faith. That means we believe it, receive it, instead of doubting, instead of disbelieving. We believe God's good, and we accept the things we have. And you have faith that God is with us, um, even when our circumstances aren't so great. Um, you know, he has freedom and victory for us, but if we don't believe— if we don't believe, you know, he'll give it to us, how do we expect to experience it? Anyway, um, it just— it's very befuddling. I can have, you know, people who have quite a bit of Christian understanding and then say, you know, to repeat that lie, "I don't have enough faith." You don't have enough faith? Well, as my wife, you know, reminded me yesterday, and as I reminded the person who said that to me, you know, we need the faith the size of a mustard seed to move mountains. You know, we don't need a lot of faith. We just have to have faith in Christ and stand in it. And stand in the authority we have to proclaim our freedom and our victory. And guess what? It's not just proclamation, it's also walking it out. That means turning, repenting, agreeing with what God's Word says, and changing our lives. We can't just say things. We can't just proclaim things. We have to live them. We have to believe them in our hearts and our minds and, and demonstrate our belief, our faith, by acting it out. You know, the classic example of faith is the chair, right? You have belief that chair can hold you up. Yep, I believe it. Well, are you going to sit in it? Until you sit in the chair, until you test your faith, until you demonstrate your faith, your faith is, you know, is platitudes. It's mental assent. And if you get a word from the Lord You know, and we all have gotten a word from the Lord. It's called the Bible, um, that tells you you're victorious, that tells you you're free, that tells you you're Daniel in the lion's den. It means you're safe. That means you've been set free. That means that God is, is supreme, and, uh, the spiritual forces of darkness Your own failures and weaknesses, you know, are overcome through faith in Jesus Christ. And if we don't stand in that authority, um, we'll stay locked in chains, we'll stay locked in fear. Ah, you know, forgiveness will set us free. You know, boldness will set us free. You know, we know a confession sets us free. You know, agreeing with the word of God sets us free. When we, when we grab those keys to freedom and turn them in our lives, then we receive it. If you believe it, you'll receive it. I know it sounds like a prosperity gospel thing here, but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about faith. I'm talking about it is well with my soul even when things materially in the world aren't so well. It's proclaiming the truth about who you are in Christ regardless of your feelings and allowing your beliefs of who you— you know, your trust, your faith in who you are in Christ to transform your mind, will, and emotions to agree with the Word of God regardless of circumstances, you know, and your feelings. You know, and it's through faith alone, you know, that we're saved. It's through faith alone that we're sanctified. It's through faith alone that we're set free. If we choose our sin, our unbelief, or our doubts over, over the truth of what God says about us, we will continually struggle and we will disbelieve and cry out, "Help my unbelief." You know, God helped this man's unbelief by performing a miracle. Um, that might not necessarily be the case in all our lives. Sometimes the miracles happen after we believe, not before. And the fact that we could possibly believe that Jesus is our— is who he said he was, if We get that truth, the miracle's already happened, because vast majority of people in this world will not see the rising sun, will not see that sun, that glorious sun of God for who he is, and, uh, will doubt and disbelieve. But if we believe that Jesus was the Messiah, he was the Son of God, the miracle's already happened. It's time to let the rest of a miracle the happen by believing what he said and applying his wisdom to your life. So, so I encourage you to have faith and walk in it. And if you need teaching and instruction on that, the word of God is filled with it, but I also provide some on my podcast and discipleship classes, um, for Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. I teach freedom because I've experienced it through faith. Try to lead people and encourage people in that. So it's my prayer that, uh, that we'll keep walking and talking with God and see the goodness of God in the land of the living, because it's here for us to have. But we have to believe it, and we have to pursue it continuously. Anyway, I have to work, so I'm going to pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your Kingdom. Lord, forgive them, for they know not what they do, is what I say. And that's probably me too, um, yeah, most likely. Um, so we just pray, Lord, that you will bless anyone listening to this message, that you would give them spiritual discernment, um, the power to, you know, agree with what you say. Um, just really, that's the power of making a choice, that I'm going to The word of God says it, I'm going to believe it and obey it. Lord, help us all make that decision today. And, uh, Lord, we just pray for you to bless us all, come alongside our prayer requests for the situations in our lives, the people that are on our hearts. Help them, help us. And Lord, as we always pray, uh, Lord, we pray for you to go before us to open our eyes to the truth of what you want us to see today, um, and to lead us into the things you would have us do. Because we just want to follow you, Lord. We just want to do what you would have us do. We want to represent your kingdom here on Earth and give people the hope, uh, that comes from following you. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.