“Faith is taking that first step even if you don’t see the whole staircase.”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
Welcome to another Thursday UNFILTERED blog post, the only blog that always forgets to wear its mask when it leaves the house (“always” is relative).
This is part 2 of a two-part series. Last week I shared Part 1 – A Word to My Miracle-Obsessed Friends.
If you haven’t read it, you should. And I hope you’ll share the link with those who will benefit. What I addressed is a mammoth problem today.
In the opposite direction, there’s a small segment of Christians who believe that the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit and His gifts are no longer extant today.
But theologians have spilled gallons of ink and murdered millions of trees demonstrating conclusively that there is no biblical justification to support such an idea. (And I’ve done the same myself in the Titan.)
Many Christians today profess that God can perform miracles and supernatural healings. But the sad fact is, their hearts are full of doubt when it comes to their own healing or the healing of others.
When God does answer a prayer for healing or deliverance, their minds tell them “it’s just a coincidence.”
For those who understand the ways of God, however, there are no such things as coincidences.
Even so, any Christian with two neurons and a synapse knows that God answers prayer. And sometimes those answers are as obvious as a neon sign.
Faith is Necessary
While some ministries have turned “faith” into a magical force, the New Testament is crystal clear that faith is required for God to act supernaturally.
Consider these texts:
And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive. Matthew 21:22
For assuredly, I say to you, 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. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. Mark 11:23-24
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Mark 9:23
Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20-21
And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. James 5:15
But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. James 1:6-8
In light of these texts, it’s no surprise that Jesus typically attributed a person’s faith to why they were healed. See Luke 17:11-19; Matthew 9:20-22; Mark 2:5; 10:46-52.
Strikingly, Mark tells us that Jesus COULD NOT do many miracles in His hometown because of the unbelief present.
He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith. Mark 6:5-6
In addition, if you look at the narrative in Matthew 17:14-20, Jesus said that His disciples couldn’t cast out a demon because of their unbelief.
How Does Faith Grow?
So the question before the house is, “Since faith is necessary for God’s action, how do we increase our faith?”
The environment by which faith flourishes is humility and absolute surrender to Christ. That is, a life fully given to His pleasure and service.
Luke 17 bears this out.
In that text, the disciples exclaim, “Increase our faith!”
Jesus responds with the parable of the unworthy servant, which is a message about humility and absolute surrender to the Lord and His purpose.
The lesson is clear. Humble yourself, make your existence all about serving Him, and begin exercising child-like faith in God’s willingness (not just ability) to act.
The prayer of faith isn’t based on the idea that He can do what you’re asking, but that He will do it.
In other words, EXPECT Him to respond to your requests.
A Violent Faith
Let me let you in on a little secret. When it comes to the things of God, if you don’t “possess” and go after them, you won’t receive them.
Everyone in the Gospels who ran in desperation saying, “Get out of my way!” and grabbed Jesus by the garment, received deliverance.
If you’re not hungry or thirsty, you won’t be filled.
You’ve got to be willing to move heaven and earth to get what the Lord has promised.
I’ve explained this principle in The Kingdom Suffers Violence. Give it a listen if you haven’t.
We live in a microwave society, we want things fast, easy, and convenient. But that’s not the way the kingdom of God works.
Very often, God uses DELAY to work in us as we wait on Him to act. (The pain of waiting on God is another subject, one that I am writing about presently in my upcoming book – due out 2021.)
Western Rationalism
If you grew up in the Western part of the world, you’ve been indoctrinated with a Western, rational mind-set. Therefore, you’ve been conditioned to always make naturalistic assumptions about what takes place in the world.
We in the West think of everything in terms of natural cause and effect. But not everything in Scripture settles within that framework. And not everything in life can be explained by natural means.
Consider the occasion when Paul was bit by a poisonous snake (see Acts 28). If that happened today, many Christians would immediately assume that Paul would die without an antidote.
But Paul didn’t swell up and die.
If some Christians were present, their minds would go to explanations like: “Maybe the snake was old, and he lost his fastball.” Or “maybe the snake used up his venom on a previous victim.” Or “maybe Paul is immune to viper venom.” Or “perhaps the snake really didn’t bite Paul; it just appeared that he did.”
These are examples of looking for natural cause and effect.
But as a follower of Jesus Christ, we must let that paradigm shift (little word-play there). There are other paradigms and other ways of looking at the world.
Our culturally viewed understandings of the miraculous do not harmonize with the biblical view of the miraculous.
Part of life in the kingdom of God is to lay aside Western rationalism and embrace the supernatural worldview, which allows for God to work and do the miraculous — that which transcends natural laws.
The Bible was written from this perspective.
A Closing Challenge
Here’s my challenge.
Beginning today, start believing God to do SPECIFIC things in your life and in the lives of others, things that we see Him do in the New Testament (which rules out things like winning the lottery — see James 4:3).
And don’t make the mistake of concluding your prayers for healing or deliverance with the trope, “If it be thy will.”
That’s a prayer of surrender, not a prayer of faith.
Consequently, “if it be thy will” is appropriately spoken when surrendering oneself to God’s will when He has asked us to do something that requires self-denial.
But it’s inappropriate and ineffective if you are believing the Lord to act in bringing deliverance to others or yourself.
In this respect, “if it by thy will” is the “Christian loophole” that baptizes unbelief.
We don’t see any hint of this qualification in the Scriptures I quoted at the top of this article.
Remember, the disciples couldn’t cast out a demon because of their unbelief. Not because it wasn’t God’s will.
It certainly was the Lord’s will.
Read the story yourself. A story that applies to so many situations today:
When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
“You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.
Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Matthew 7:14-21.
Incidentally, this doesn’t mean we should condemn people who aren’t healed because they lacked faith. That’s a misappropriation of my point. (I’ve already addressed this problem in Where’s God?.)
In short, miracles only happen for those who have the faith to expect them.
See you next week.
A brother,
fv
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A Word to My Miracle-Obsessed Friends