What is faith? Well, faith is that thing we get when we’re in a jam. How much is enough faith? I guess enough that you get what you want. I don’t know about you, but I’m done treating faith like a concierge service. I don’t have faith to get stuff; I have faith to gain access to the presence of God. In His presence is the fullness of everything I could ever need in this life, into eternity. Faith is my key to His Presence.
The simplicity of it is this. Why do we worry about our lives? What we will eat, drink, or wear? Observe the birds of the air, they don’t sow or reap like many of the “Faith teachings” we receive, yet the God of all creation takes care of them. Are we not more valuable than birds?
It always boils down to the basics. Walk by faith, and not by sight. We walk by that which enables us to see and experience God. While Jesus was here on earth, He performed many miracles, and He would always say, “I only do what I see My Father do.” He didn’t say, “I do what I do because of my faith in the Father to accomplish what I want.” Jesus was trying to get our attention by repeating that simple statement because it contained a key:
Use faith to see what God sees, not what our circumstances suggest.
So how do we see what God sees? Well, you have to realize first that Jesus and the Father were one. John 17:10-12 and 20-23 says it best:
10All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one.
20"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
When our consciousness comes to the place where we know we are in the Father, and He is in us, then we begin to see His power manifested through us because by virtue of this unity, we have what God has.
This unity is not the same as a union. Unions fight, just watch the news. When there is unity, there is order and we all know God is a God of order. It was chaos that He reached into when He was forming the earth, and made order.
This unity is not pie in the sky, it’s attainable, here and now. But to gain this unity, it will require you to repent! Or, in less cinematic words, change your thinking.
All your life you may have believed that if you had a whole lot of faith, you could make a whole lot of things happen. At least that's what religion teaches. Truth be told, everything we have is simply because of God’s grace in our lives. And, we don’t get a lot of what we ask for, because we ask amiss. Which takes us back to Matthew 6 where Jesus reminds us that God knows what the birds need, how much more, us, the apple of His eye.
See, there is much commentary on how people used faith in the Bible, and you can pick and choose which verses you will use in your defense. For instance, we try to use faith to get stuff because of the scripture reference where Jesus says, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed you can move mountains.”
Yes, this is true, you can change your circumstances if you believe you can. But that’s elementary thinking. It’s basic. You have to take it a step further and understand that Jesus wouldn’t teach anything that He didn’t believe Himself, and He always taught that He only did what He saw the Father do. So, understanding this, we should use faith to gain access to God and see what He sees, this way we can look at our circumstances through God’s eyes and bring into this temporal world that which we see in the spiritual world. If you’re asking God for something, it should be for a realization of His presence; for your eyes to see what He sees; for His consciousness.
Once we can see what He sees, then we can look on a temporally sick person and speak healing and change their physical circumstances. How? Simply because sickness isn’t a reality to God, (because God cant experience sickness), so if we are one with God, just like God would, we will speak order into disorder and change what is temporal to look more like what is eternal; all for God’s glory. That’s how Jesus did it, anyhow.
Here’s some food for thought. This happened to me on the weekend past.
Danielle and I volunteered at the Urban Youth Impact Back to School Bash with our church Lighthouse Christian Center Intl, at Gains park and while we were walking over to the park, I saw a logo on an SUV in the parking lot and I just thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread, so I showed Danielle and she thought so too. Anyhow, because we got there late, we weren't assigned to any particular station so we went looking for work. We came up on these two guys wearing red "safety patrol" shirts and asked them if they needed any help, but they didn't. We ended up chatting for a bit, and we came to find out that one of the guys, John, actually owned the company for the logo I saw in the parking lot! It was his SUV! He also let me know that his website has been under construction for a while and really wants to get it up and running.
Well, guess what I do? I create websites. So, he asked me for my card and we're gonna get his site up and running. Personally, I just thought that was the craziest thing ever! Almost 1,000 volunteers scattered about the park, (and its a huuuuuge park) why did we approach that guy who just so happens to own the logo that I thought was soo cool?
Did this happen by chance? Not a chance. I didn’t go asking around for the guy who owns the logo, but I did go asking how I could serve, and they were the first people we asked.
Here’s the point. God knows how my bills are paid. He knows how much I need to buy food and He knew I would need money because my radiator just gave out on me this morning! Grrr. What God did at the park was show me how he was going to provide for me, while I was providing for someone else. The few seconds of interest I showed in that logo was enough to begin the process of bringing what I needed directly to me; the way it should be.
Though, had I been MORE consciously aware of God’s active presence at that moment I saw the logo, I would have known I would meet the owner and get work, making me rest easier about any financial circumstances I may have. Thus, giving me peace. All this assurance would come BEFORE I even meet the owner.
But as you can see, it is a progression in the right direction. The more of God’s consciousness I receive, the more of His intent I can create and give life to.
It goes without saying however, that I met the owner primarily because I was busying myself trying to serve. I wasn’t asking where the hot dog stand was, or where the restrooms were, I was asking how I could serve. We are most like Jesus when we serve. Not when we speak ever so eloquently, or do something that makes people say, “wow.” But, simple servant-hood.
