Do I Live By Faith...or Doubt?

As I prepare for tomorrow's message I am wondering how often I actually live or act by my faith.  Or better put, how much does my faith actually influence the actions I take moment by moment throughout the day?  I'm not talking about how my beliefs influence my actions because I think that what I believe about Jesus heavily influences my whole life.  I thinking more about faith: the confidence I have that God will do what God has promised whether I see evidence of it or not.

If you are like me, almost everything that we do in our lives is backed up by some sort of security.  Very little of what we do puts us out on a limb.  This is especially true in terms of our relationship with God.  We don't share our faith because we have fears.  We don't change a ministry because of our uncertainty.  We don't take a risk to do a new thing with our faith because we are comfortable.  We don't deviate from our drive home from work to do something God might want us to do because we don't want to be home late.  We don't reach out to someone in need because it will cost us something.

We tend to live more by doubt than by faith. 

Re-Taking Lost Ground

As Israel was preparing to take the promised land, God told them what they had to do in order to gain the land back.  It is what we need to do in our spiritual lives to gain back lost land.  They (we) needed to:

1. Drive out the inhabitants - remove whoever (or whatever) had taken ownership of the land, and drive out those living on land that belongs to Israel.  We often try to take back the land, but we leave someone (something) alive to stay on that land.  We desire to give up coffee, but we still sit in Starbucks to study.  We want to lose weight but we still purchase cookies (for later use).  We want to stop lusting but we still purchase the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.  We need to drive out the inhabitants (which could be the demons who are deceiving) in order to take back the land.  Or else they will be a "barb" in our eyes and a thorn in our side.  They will give us trouble.  WHAT HAVEN'T YOU DRIVEN OUT?
2. Destroy carved images and idols - These are depictions of the "gods" that have taken up residence in the land. We do not always realize what we worship but there are images all around us of things we substitute for God.  When we look at these images they bring us security and they tell us what we need to be doing.  We actually take instruction from inanimate objects!  We must destroy these images so that we can focus on God's direction and worship God alone.
3. Demolish High Places - these are the actual places in which we carry out the worship of other Gods.  We each have our sacred places that help us to draw near to God (the place we pray and read the scriptures and worship God).  We also set up places where we worship those images and idols and receive direction from those things we worship.  DEMOLISH THEM!  Or they will continue to influence your life.
4. Take possession of the land - Once the land is empty, we need to overrun the land and live in it.  Take up residence in the way God would desire us to live.  If we leave it empty, others will come and re-take it.  

How might this look?  Let's say your issue is that at one time in your Christian life you were generous, but that is not part of your life any more.  You begin by driving out the things that have taken the place of generosity : debt, possessions, self-centeredness, etc.   You then destroy the images and idols of prosperity, the lies of what we think we need and the things that have gained more importance in our lives than God.  We then destroy the high places of covetousness and greed that have a place of importance in our lives.  Then we take possession of the land by living there in God's way of living.

It doesn't sound easy, but then again, the Israelites had to go out and actually fight very difficult battles as they took the land.  Why shouldn't we have to do the same?

Grumbling

I continue to read about Moses' leadership in bringing God's people out of Egypt to the Promise Land.  It is almost not understandable how often the people of Israel grumbled, although I am sure if we were in the desert for all that time we would find some things to grumble about.  After all the miraculous things God continued to do, and then the punishments that God placed on his people who grumbled or rebelled, there were still those who thought they needed to vocalize their whining and complaints. 

I know we wouldn't do that, right?  We would never complain about not enough food or water.  Of course we have unlimited amounts of water piped into our homes and so much food that we often waste it.  We would never complain about leadership in the church (or a teacher at school or a government leader).  We would never grumble about how tough our lives are or at what we perceived God was doing.  We would never complain about circumstances or events or irritating people or the heat or the cold or the rain or the loud neighbors...Shall I go on?  For some reason we feel we have the right to grumble and complain about everything that happens contrary to our liking. 

Maybe, just maybe, we need to get a grip on ourselves and learn about contentment.  Paul certainly did.  Paul tells the church in Philippi that he has learned to be content whatever his circumstances.  There is a secret to that kind of life.  The secret is this: "I can do all things through him who gives me strength" (Phil 4:13).  Evidently Paul learned that this was not just a memory verse but the truth behind contentment.  This means when I am hot, God can hep me handle the heat or God can make it cooler.  All things.  That means when we are hungry God can provide food or help us handle the hunger.  All things.  God can heal us or God can walk with us through tough physical times.  All things.  We just tend to demand that God do things our way, or we will teach God a lesson and be miserable.  Not contented. Angry.  Demanding.  Upset. 

That will teach God a lesson.

I Was Thinking...

I have some random thoughts I have been thinking about, begun by things I have read or heard.

• Giving is not what we think it is.  It is an exhilarating expression of trust in God.  Maybe our lack of giving is about a lack of faith in God.
• If Christianity is counter-cultural, why do we think the Amish are so weird?
• Fear of hell has never been a lure for me to draw closer to God.  Neither has the fear of God punishing me kept me from sinning.  It is God's kindness that leads me to repentance (Romans 2:4).  And I think it's been my desire to please God because of all that He's done for me that keeps me from sinning.
• If I am not putting myself in a position to really NEED the Holy Spirit, do I have the right to expect the Holy Spirit to do anything in or through me?
• In the Old Testament, priests served from ages 30-50.  At 50 they priest could help (assist) but could not do the duties of the priest. I have turned 50 this year.  What does this mean?
• Last one - As I am sitting outside by the fire listening to the pond fountain flow and the fireworks exploding all around me I am very grateful for the life I have.  I am thankful for my wife and children.  I am thankful for me church.  Most of all, I am thankful for so many of you who I share life with.  

  Well, that is the randomness with which my mind sometimes works when I get to thinking.  Happy Fourth of July!

Doubt: Another Look

I saw this clip of Dallas Willard talking about doubt and belief and it made so much sense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiOIyP4VHOk

Why do we put so much belief in what we doubt and so much doubt in what we believe.  Could it be that we need to spend much more time doubting our doubts and believing our beliefs?  Something to think about...