Monthly Archives: April 2015

Enough is enough.

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Faith. Most days I don’t even feel like I can find the words to type. Can my faith really move mountains? Will I really see healing in someone’s body? It seems that with all of the stuff of life, faith is hard to come by. And when we do have faith, it feels small or insignificant.

By the way, if you want my idea of ‘stuff’, click here.

My first two posts about faith were in regards to Altitude and Attitude. Feel free to go back and read them again. =-)

The Altitude of Faith is that Jesus is supreme. He is above all else.

The Attitude of Faith is reflected in my actions in life.

But is my faith enough?

Faith6

I say yes. But again, don’t take my word. God says yes as well.

I John 5: 4-5 tell us, “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

What?!?! My faith is the victory that overcomes the world?!?! I guess I will take God’s Word at face value here. It is not normal to think of myself as an overcomer but I like it. There is a small catch though…I need to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. If that is in order, than I am victorious.

So to answer the question in the opening paragraph, yes, my faith can move mountains. I can see people healed. My problems and issues are suddenly not so life-choking.

It seems that enough is enough. My faith is enough. God can do anything because He is all-powerful but He chooses to let me use my faith. Enough is enough.

And that, my friends, is the Amplitude of Faith.

Amplitude –

“the state or quality of being ample, especially as to breadth or width; largeness; greatness of extent.”

It all boils down to the fact that God has given each one of us a measure of faith. Some people have more than others but everyone has some. And that faith is enough.

Can I come full circle? This is how I ended my first post in this month:

Faith has nothing to do with feelings. (Thank you God!!!)

If we look at faith and understand it (even if it is only a little understanding), there is nothing essential about how we feel as it relates to faith. My feelings do not always line up with my Altitude, Attitude, and Amplitude but they can certainly influence it!

So go and exercise your faith today. And when you don’t feel like it, that just might be the best time to act.

Another aspect of Faith

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Quick summary of last week:

We all have faith in something. We can choose to put that faith into anything we desire. Jesus, being the Ultimate of Everything, is the highest location for our faith. Our Altitude of Faith should be in Jesus.

Jesus. Isn’t He awesome? Because he is above all else, he rightly deserves our honor, trust, respect, love and yes, our faith. We may know that in our heads but how does that faith translate to our hands? How does having faith in Jesus play out in everyday life? Back to I John 5. I copied the first three verses here.

“1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,”

We can see the Altitude of Faith in the first verse, “that Jesus is the Christ.”

The last part of verse 1 and verses 2-3 give us the Attitude of Faith.

Attitude –

“manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc., with regard to a person or thing; tendency or orientation, especially of the mind”

What is your disposition towards faith in Jesus? Do I have positive tendencies with regards to faith? My manner is evident of my faith, right?

The word love is used 5 times in these 3 verses. Let that be a clue as to what our attitude should be. Here is a little example.

When I went to North Central University, it was actually called North Central Bible College. Among my friends, there was one in particular that I remember. He was rather intense. We would be talking about a subject and he would often times use the phrase, “Chapter and verse.” He was asking for proof for my ideas. It was one thing to talk about something we had heard in class or Chapel. This guy always wanted to know what the Bible said. He wanted proof.

Remember, love is a clue since the author used it so many times in a short span.

While the object of our faith (altitude) is Jesus, the proof of that faith (attitude) is our action or love.

My dad often said to me, “You will always have time to do what you want to do.”

I have faith in Jesus. He was a perfect man. He was killed, buried and then raised from the dead. His sacrifice is enough to wash me from my sins. My life is now completely in His hands. I am free in Christ!

All of that is my Altitude of Faith.

I put others before myself. I serve at home and at church. I refrain from swearing or crude language. Drunkenness is not an issue. When the gossip starts, I leave the room. I smile even when I am having a bad day. I invite people to church. I sing on the worship team. I try to be the best version of me that I can.

All of this is my Attitude of Faith.

Go back and read those three verses again. Our actions stem from God doing something that we could not. I DO NOT do good things to get something from God. I do these things because He has already done something for me.

This post is not about doing good works to get saved. But rather, it is about doing good works because you are saved.

Faith…time to soar!

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Ever been in an airplane? I am sure that most of you have. I like to fly. It generally means I am going on vacation. But there was this one time. It was a single engine plane. There was the pilot and then me and my buddy. We were flying for about an hour when the storm hit. Wow! I was not excited on that particular flight! You feel the bumps and rolls so much more when you are in a little plane. We prayed that night. =-)

A pilot has to check so many dials, gauges, readouts, etc. when flying. Most of them I could not even name. But there is one that I do know. And frankly, it could be the most important one in the entire cockpit; the altimeter. In my simple way, it is the dial that tells you how far above the ground (which is altitude) your plane is flying. And when flying, being above the ground is essential!

altimeter

So the altimeter measures your altitude. Here is another definition:

Altitude – “the height of anything above a given planetary reference plane, especially above sea level on earth.”

The higher your altitude means you are higher up in the sky. Pretty simple. Now let us apply that to our faith. I John 5.

This is just the first verse of ch. 5. “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.”

We can have faith in many things. I believe that we are all born with a measure of faith (more on that in another post). The neat part is that we get to apply that faith to anything that we would like. We can have faith in people, jobs, money, alcohol, our looks, pastors, pornography, intelligence, or so many other things.

But the highest idea/person/thing that we could possibly put our faith in is Jesus. Specifically that Jesus is the Christ. He is the Messiah or anointed one. Our sins can be forgiven because of Him. Freedom comes from Him. Life is in Him!!! He is alive! With Easter just passed, we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus. He was more than a prophet or teacher. Sure, he was a good man but he was more. He is…how do I finish this sentence? He is life. He is everything. Everything consists because of Him.

But don’t take my word for it. Read the Word. Start in the book of John. Jesus actually makes some statements that describe himself.

 

As you go through your day, ponder your faith. Here is a question I would like to ask you,

What is the Altitude of your Faith?

 

 

Faith!

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faith

Have you ever climbed a mountain? Ever taken on an outrageously huge project? Ever had paperwork over your head? Me too. When I get in those situations, I freeze. How can I ever do this monumental task set before me!?!? If I am honest, that is how I was viewing this post. More so, this topic. Faith. There was a brief mention of it in one of my posts last month. Hope and Faith are closely related.

But there is so much about faith that can be written! The bible speaks long about faith. And the fact that faith is not clear cut in what it means makes it even more daunting. Faith can be so many things to so many people. Where do I start?

 

So I froze.

 

Right now it is Friday morning. I usually post Tuesday some time.

I was fearful of writing something offensive. What if I posted something that was contrary to God’s word? Am I even qualified to do this?

My feelings say no but my faith says YES! So I sat down and started typing…

In the rest of the month, I want to share my thoughts from a few verses in I John. Faith is personal. So I will share my journey.

So I conclude with this idea:

 

Faith has nothing to do with feelings. (Thank you God!!!)