Faith, Boldness, and Love

To start this out, I'm just going to say, I'm writing this post as much for myself as for your benefit. It's time for some brutal transparency, because I think a lot of people see the things that I do and are impressed. However, they aren't seeing the battle inside and the flaws that I have. They just hear about the cool stuff that happens, because that's the fun part of the story. The author of 2nd Timothy has this to say in chapter 1 verse 7, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." Quite honestly, my first reaction when God tells me to go and do something is to worry. These worries often manifest in thoughts like "What if I pray and nothing happens?" "What if they think I'm crazy?" and "What if I'm totally wrong?" They often end up crippling me and rendering me ineffective. I recently went to a fair and my fear was thrown in my face and made brutally apparent to me. I saw people walking with canes, being pushed along in wheelchairs, and people who have probably never before heard the Good News of what Jesus Christ has done for them. Instead of being broken and faithful to show them the awesome love that I've received, my first instinct was: RUN. God might ask you to do something really stupid, and you might make a fool of yourself. Ultimately, God said "Pete, I see how afraid you are, and I'm not going to ask you to do something radical tonight because you would not have the faith to see the results I want you to see. I see that you need to be built up and start using your faith inside the body before you can go out to the lost and broken and see lives and bodies healed and redeemed." So I was never asked to pray for someone, or given a word for someone, because my fear had rendered me ineffective. This leads me to the first part of the title: FAITH.

Hebrews 11:6 "It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him." Faith is how we please God. If we want to see the Kingdom of Heaven come into every situation, we must live by FAITH. I'm convinced that the reason that North America does not see miracles as often as third world countries is because we don't have the faith to ask for things in the name of Jesus and then believe that they will happen because we have asked for it and because we love and are loved by the one we are asking these things from. (John 14:13-14 "You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!" Mark 11:24 "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.") I'm not saying to "name it and claim it," I'm merely presenting my case for faith. All throughout the Gospels, Jesus tells his disciples that if you merely have faith you will see mountains move, if you just believe things will happen. We see so many examples of faith yielding great results. The woman who suffered from constant bleeding reached out to touch Jesus and was healed because of her faith (Matthew 9:22). In Mark 10:52 we see another example of this, “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked.

“My rabbi,” the blind man said, “I want to see!”

And Jesus said to him, “Go, for your faith has healed you.” Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road.". There are many other stories I could go to, but it would take too much time.

Time and time again throughout the Gospels and throughout the entire New Testament we see the crazy, STUPID things that have happened because people believed and had faith. They had radical faith that created boldness, and it was their faith and boldness combined that led them to preach while they were on trial. We, and more specifically, I, desperately need more boldness. Faith is awesome, but without the boldness to ask for things and to obediently do what the Father has asked of us, it will accomplish very little. See, I KNOW that God can heal and that he wants to, I have even seen it firsthand! But at the fair, I didn't have the boldness to put my faith into action. I wasn't bold enough to go pray for those I saw walking with canes, or being pushed in wheel chairs, or those that I could see were obviously hurting and desperately lost. And as I'm sitting here typing this out, I'm realizing that faith without the boldness to act upon that faith isn't really faith at all. Just knowing that God can do something isn't faith, it is merely knowledge unless it's used to further His Kingdom. 

In the "faith chapter" (Hebrews 11) we see many examples of great faith. Almost every single one of these "by faith-s" is followed by someone doing something. Faith is boldly putting our belief into action. This leads me to the final point I want to make-- the love that makes bold faith useful and worthwhile.

Paul says that without love he would merely be a clanging cymbal, or noisy gong. So acts of faith are worthless unless they are coming out of love. If the reason you want to see someone be led to Jesus or be healed in his name is so that you get something out of it, something is terribly wrong. The only way we are to share the gospel is with LOVE, and it should come out of a loving relationship with our Savior. In Matthew 7:22-23 we see what happens when the motivation is NOT love, and is NOT coming out of a loving relationship with Christ. "Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’". Miracles, prophecies, and great works are crap unless we do them out of love for Jesus because we KNOW him. Acts of faith should be the overflow of worship and getting quality Daddy-time.

Often times in the Gospels before Jesus performs a miracle, the word says "he was moved with compassion" to do something. My challenge to you and myself is this: be moved by love, have faith in God, and boldly do what he has asked you to do. He has not given you a spirit of fear or timidity, but one of  power, love, and self discipline. Ask for things in the name of Jesus, because He loves bringing glory to the Father. Make sure you are spending time getting to know Jesus. I don't mean knowing ABOUT him, I mean knowing HIM, out of experiences and encounters with him. Do all of this in love, and expect God to move mightily.