Notes from The Faith Log

The following faith articles are excerpted from The Faith Log.

 

• The Servant God
• Don't Let the devil Outsmart You
• Holy and Happy
• How to Forgive By Faith
• How to Move a Mountain
• Faith Works Through Love
• Welcoming the LORD
• Fully Authorized Agents of Heaven
• Words That Literally Change the World

The Servant God

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

We were made to love and to serve. We were made in the image of God. God is love, and love gives and serves. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. The Son came, not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life for us.

Many people think that it is somehow demeaning to take the role of a servant. But the example of the Lord Jesus Christ teaches us otherwise. He came expressly in the servant role, and even humbled Himself to the point of death on the Cross. This was not the lowest expression of His person, but the highest.

Being a servant does not demean us, it enlarges us. It does not bring us down into degradation, it lifts us up into divine destiny.

Jesus instructed His disciples, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant” (Mark 10:42-43).

By this, Jesus did not mean that we should become servants so that one day we can be great leaders and no longer need to serve. No, the world thinks that way, and so do many Christians. But that is not what we are called to. Being a servant is not the journey to greatness—it is the destination! Taking on the role of the servant is greatness itself, because it is in this role that we come to understand the heart of God.

Faithpoint: We do not lose anything by being the servant of all. Rather, we come to understand greatness, and we become like our Father God, who is love.

Don’t Let the devil Outsmart You

For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices. (2 Corinthians 2:10-11 New King James Version)

Or check out how these other translations have it:

• And when I forgive this man (for whatever is to be forgiven), I do so with Christ’s authority for your benefit, so that satan will not outsmart us. For we are very familiar with his evil schemes. (New Living Translation)
  In order that satan might not outwit us. (New International Version)
• We don’t want satan to win any victory here, and well we know his methods! (J. B. Phillips)
• After all, we don’t want to unwittingly give satan an opening for yet more mischief—we’re not oblivious to his sly ways! (The Message)
• So that satan would not win anything from us. (New Century Version)
• To keep satan from getting the better of us. We all know what goes on in his mind. (Contemporary English Version)
• That we may not be over-reached by the adversary. (Young’s Literal Translation)

Has the devil taken advantage of you? Outsmarted you? Outwitted you? Won a victory over you? Received an open door to bring more trouble into your life? Won anything over you? Over-reached you?

Well, if there is anybody in your life that you are not willing forgive, then the devil has done all these things to you.

Notice that forgiveness is indeed the issue under consideration in these verses.

Failure to forgive does us no good. What is worse, when we refuse to forgive, we open ourselves up to great harm—the devil has our number.

But it does not have to be that way. Paul says that we have the devil’s number. We know his ways, his thoughts, his intentions. We know what’s going on in his mind. We can turn the tables on him and do something he is not prepared for us to do. We can learn how to forgive in the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. That takes the wind right out of the his sails.

Faithpoint: Don’t let the devil outsmart you. Outsmart him instead. Get the victory over him. Get the better of him. Outwit him and shut the door to any further mischief from him. It’s very simple: If you have anything against anyone—forgive!

Holy and Happy

In Your presence is fullness of joy. (Psalm 16:11)

Here is holiness and happiness together. The presence of the LORD is holy—always has been, always will be. When Moses stood apart to behold the burning bush, the Lord called out his name told him to take off his shoes. He was on holy ground—God was present in purpose and power.

God is holy and His presence is holy. That does not at all preclude joy, but is, in truth, the very foundation of joy. To enter into the holiness of God is to enter into pure happiness.

Many Christians fail to understand the relationship between being holy and being happy. Some are willing to do unholy things because, “God wants me to be happy.” Others believe you cannot truly be holy unless you are actually unhappy. Both ways are huge distortions and lead only to destruction.

God is holy, but He is not a crank. To be holy means to be set apart. God is holy because He is set apart from everything else—there is none greater than Him. He is Lord over all. He is totally unique—holy.

God’s people are holy because they have been set apart for God’s special purposes. Holiness is not what we do, it is what we are. It is about identity and relationship, our relationship with God. Performing certain acts does not make us holy. But if we enter into relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and begin to understand our identity in Him, we will begin to live in ways which are harmonious with God’s holiness.

The first question of the Westminster Catechism, an instructional guide produced for the Church in the 1600s, asks: “What is the chief end of man?” That is, what is the purpose for which we have been made?

Answer: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” John Piper, Baptist pastor and theologian, thinks we should amend that to read: The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. If we are not enjoying God well, be we are probably not glorifying Him very well either.

The Bible says that God is love, and that He is a consuming fire. Both are expressions of His holiness. As we get closer to God, His love will burn out everything in us that does not come from Him, everything that keeps us from fulfilling the destiny and purpose for which we were created, everything that keeps us from experiencing true joy.

Now, joy is not a quiet thing, but a very exuberant thing. Many times the Old Testament exhorts us to “shout for joy.” This is often found even behind the word “rejoice.” In the New Testament, one of the words for “rejoice,” agalliao, literally means to “jump for joy.”

Shouting and jumping—that’s God’s idea of joy!

The LORD your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.

(Zephaniah 3:17)

We are now in the time of which this passage speaks, the days of Jesus the Messiah. God is with us by His Spirit. He has come as a powerful warrior, mighty to save, and He rejoices over us.

The first “rejoice” used here refers to expressions of mirth, gladness, gaiety and pleasure. God not only rejoices over us, but He rejoices with gladness (simcha). The KJV says He “rejoices over you with joy.” It is joy multiplied by joy. But the extent of His pleasure is even greater than that, as God pours out His love over us.

The second rejoice (gul) means to spin with powerful emotion. God whirls and twirls over us with great passion and love. Pure joy!

Holiness and happiness belong together. Be holy, and happiness will follow. If you are holy, but not happy, you’ve gotten the holiness part wrong. Look to Jesus, and give yourself completely to Him. Holiness is not about you and what you have or have not done. As in all things in the Christian life, holiness is about Jesus, and happiness follows.

Faithpoint: God invites you to enter into the holiness of His presence, that you may dance with Him in great joy and experience His deep happiness with Him. And that is the most holy thing in all the world.

How to Forgive By Faith

If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, “Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,” and it would obey you. (Luke 17:6)

Wait a minute—did I get the right verse for today’s topic? What do mustard seeds and mulberry trees have to do with learning how to forgive?

Well, Jesus was talking about offenses and how to deal with them:

Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him: and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, “I repent,” you shall forgive him. (Luke 17:3-4)

Now, people don’t generally mind rebuking a brother. In fact, it comes quite naturally (at least in our fallen human nature). But when Jesus said to rebuke, it wasn’t a license to act mean and nasty, or to be self-satisfied (which often seems to be what we take “rebuke” to mean). When someone offends us, we want to “tell them off.”

That’s not what Jesus was talking about. Yes, there are times when we must deal seriously with a matter, and we should never back down from that. But we must always be careful to do it in love, seeking the good of the other person involved.

We don’t mind repentance, as long as it is somebody else who is doing it. If someone offends us, and then comes back and apologizes—well, we can often just go ahead and let it go, and it makes us feel, you know, sort of magnanimous. (We have a nasty habit of making everything about us, don’t we? It’s the fallen nature again.)

But seven times in one day? That’s pushing it. I mean, how much of this treatment are we supposed to take?

Plus, its one thing when they offend us, and then they repent. What about when they don’t repent? Are we still supposed to forgive?

Yes.

In another place, Jesus said, “Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11:25).

No repentance mentioned here, not even a hint. Just forgive.

Okay, that really tests our limits now, doesn’t it? But we’re not in bad company, because it tested the disciples as well. When Jesus told them to forgive the brother seven times, the disciples suddenly became aware of a great inadequacy in themselves, particularly in their faith.

The apostles—that’s what Luke calls them at this point—said to Jesus, “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). Yeah, if they were going to have to offer this kind of forgiveness, they were really going to need to reckon with their faith.

You see, like everything else in the Christian life, forgiveness is a matter of faith. For when we forgive, we are giving up something. Will God “make up the difference” for us? It takes faith to trust Him to do that.

So Jesus began talking about mustard seeds and mulberry trees: “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you” (Luke 17:6).

Faith is like a mustard seed, and like a mustard seed, it must be planted to do any good. The size of the seed is not important. What you do with it is. But how do you plant the faith “seed?”

Jesus tells us: “Say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,” and it will obey you.”

Ah, yes. You plant your faith “seed” by what you say. It is the same way with forgiveness. Forgiveness requires faith, and faith is a seed that you plant by what you say.

So the way you forgive is to say, by faith, “I forgive.” You may not feel like you have forgiven. You may even feel anger rising up again because of the offense. But you must cease from being moved by your feelings and stand with your faith: “I forgive.” As often as the offense comes to mind, and as often as feelings of anger rise up, reassert your faith: “I forgive.” 

Faithpoint: As you take your stand in faith and forgive, you will eventually find that the offense has been uprooted from your life. It is no longer chained to you, you have released it by faith. It is no longer a stumbling block for you, you have removed it by faith. It has been cast into the sea, by faith. Now you are free to move forward in your life.

How to Move a Mountain

Jesus did not say, “Beg and plead for God to move the mountain for you.”

And He did not say, “Sit down and come up with some logical, empirical reasons for why that mountain should move.”

Nor did He say, “Wait and see if that mountain will move.”

Or, “Sit and wish for the mountain to move.” 

And He most certainly did not say, “Complain that the mountain is not moving.”

But Jesus did say, most earnestly and emphatically:

Whoever says to this mountain, “Be removed and be cast into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. (Mark 11:23)

Let’s look for a moment at the word “doubt.” The Greek is diakrino and refers to a divided judgment. A person who speaks to his mountain and believes in his heart that it will move, and also believes in his heart that it will not move, that person is of two minds. The result is that he will not see his mountain move, not one inch.

James said, “He who doubts [diakrino] is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything form the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:6-7). The man of faith will be full of expectation, but the double-minded man should not expect anything at all.

What to do? Fill your heart with faith until there is no more room for doubt. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God, so fill your hearing with the Word. Meditate on it and let it become powerful inside you, building you up in faith until you can no longer keep quiet about it. Then, when you are filled with faith, and you have no doubt that the Word of God will be fulfilled—and only then, open up your mouth and start speaking the Word of God to that mountain.

Faithpoint: Fully believe in your heart, then speak to your mountain, and you will have whatever you say.

Faith Works Through Love

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. (Galatians 5:6)

Paul was addressing the issue of satisfying the righteousness of God. It is not a matter of being circumcised or being uncircumcised. These accomplish nothing. Only faith, working through love, means anything.

The Greek word for “working” is energeo, which is, of course, where we get our word “energy.” The Amplified Bible has, “faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love.” This love is the love of God working in us and through to reveal His righteousness. Only faith working through love is able to bring this about.

Faith without love is meaningless. Paul said, “Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2). Yes, faith can move mountains, but if we do not have love, then it doesn’t make any difference.

God is love. Love gives and serves, and that is what God is all about. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” Since God is love, and faith comes by hearing the Word of God, then faith must be all about expressing the love of God.

Love casts out fear, which is the opposite of faith. The Bible says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts our fear, because fear involves torment” (1 John 4:18). Again, it is the love of God that is in view here. When His love has done its work in us, there is no more room for fear in us—it is booted out because fear produces torment. The Greek word “torment” means punishment, or penalty. When we receive the love of God and let it do its perfect work in us, we are no longer tormented by ideas that God will punish or forsake us. We are free to live and act out of His love. It is His love that makes our faith meaningful and effective.

Faithpoint: Faith works through love. If your faith is weak, check how your love is doing. Yield yourself to the love of God and let it heal you and set you free from all fear. Let it fill you and change you into a vessel through which God can pour out His love to others. Then your faith will be magnificent.

Welcoming the LORD

You will show me that path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

(Psalm 16:11)

This morning on Fox News Sunday, the “Power Player” of the week was Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Democrat from Texas. The reason for this selection is because she always manages to get a center aisle seat for the president’s annual State of the Union address, where she gets to greet the president and enjoy some face time with him.

Of course, as a Democrat, she often disagrees with President Bush, but that matters little. For her, it is important to build the relationship. Chris Wallace, her interviewer, complimented her on her ability to make that important connection in her effort to get things done. She responded, “I know how to welcome the president.” 

Jesus said, ‘He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him… If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. (John 14:21, 23)

Faithpoint: Wow! If only the people of God would learn that secret with the LORD, and learn how to welcome Him! We would not only experience more frequent visitation from the LORD, we would discover how easily visitation becomes habitation. Manifestations of His presence would proliferate and our joy would quickly increase.

Fully Authorized Agents of Heaven

Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

(Matthew 6.10)

Notice that the mood of these phrases is in the imperative. That is, they are not requests, but commands:

• Kingdom of God, come!
• Will of God, be done on earth as it is in heaven!

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus has given us the authority to exercise these commands. To put it another way, we are fully authorized agents of heaven.

Our authority comes from heaven, and it is given to us to exercise upon the earth.

• Wherever we see a situation on earth where the kingdom of God is not manifesting, we have authority to call God’s kingdom forth.
• Wherever we see a situation where the will of God is not being done, a situation that is out of sync with heaven, we have authority to call for God’s will to be done on earth.

Faithpoint: We need a revelation of who we are in Christ, of what He has commissioned us to do, and of the authority and power we have been given in the name of Jesus to perform it. Meditate on the Lord’s Prayer, and then begin to bring that authority to bear on the earth. For if you believe in Jesus, you are a fully authorized agent of heaven.

Words That Literally Change the World

The spiritual realm is greater than the physical realm because the physical realm comes forth from the spiritual. For God is Spirit (John 4:24), and He is the creator of the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:10)..

The natural, physical realm was created by words—that is, by the Word of God. “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:3).

We are authorized to speak the Word of God on the earth. The psalm writer said, “With my lips I have declared all the judgments of Your mouth” (Psalm 119:13).

Faithpoint: Consider the power of the words that come out of your mouth. Consider how greatly the world could change when we learn to put God’s Word in our mouths.

© 2005 by Jeff Doles.
All rights reserved.