Below is a post from Facebook by a friend and pastor that I know. He speaks the truth in such an easy to understand and plain way that I felt the desperate need to share this with all of you too.
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This is long but the Lord told me to post this today… so I am doing so. This comes after listening to Cornelius Lindsey‘s message again last night and a long night of just hearing God share some things with me. This is for many of you… likely even most who will take the time to read it.
The most heralded message to the Christian believer today is on having faith. Many churches preach it constantly… turn on Christian Television and preacher after preacher is telling you how to increase that faith. There are books we purchase and read… read the Bible a little bit more, listen to some more preaching, give more money, just jump out there and give as they build up your emotions with great sounding words and promises of crazy increases. The music plays a happy song or that Hammond organ plays just the right rift and folks start really feeling it! The problem is… none of that stuff is what grows and truth be told… most of the mess called faith today is rejected by God.
We expend and are taught to expend much of our faith on material things often with the mindset of a child that as parents we scold because everything thing to them is “MINE, MINE, MINE!” Want a new car… have enough faith! That bigger house you dream of… have enough faith! Looking for that perfect man or woman… sow that seed of faith! Your kids and Uncle Bob are on the path to hell… sow that salvation seed into this ministry and God has to honor that seed! So much silliness out there being taught and so many buy into the mess because let’s be honest… it appeals to our greedy little foul hearts. We have made it about gain with studying… gain with giving… gain with about everything else except the gain Scripture speaks of and that is GODLINESS with CONTENTMENT is GREAT GAIN.
Great gain isn’t that fancy car, bigger house, or large holdings in bank accounts. Great gain is being godly with contentment meaning… He is enough and I am content be it with little or be it with much. Anything else (and I am saying this regardless of the fact that many of you follow this mess) is FALSE teaching… heresy.
True faith comes from having an intimate relationship with God. When we look at Scripture and the men like , Abraham, … A man of great faith and great wealth. Then we look at other men of that same great faith like Elijah… yet there is nothing that leads anyone to believe or assume that he had very much at all wealth wise. These were men that Scripture says… “they walked with God.” Always walking with Him… Elijah we know as a man that prayed diligently. Constantly seeing things through truly spiritual eyes. Wealth wasn’t the gauge of their great faith… it was their relationship with God. All those spoke of in Hebrews 11… even those wandering around in caves who were destitute, poor, and without but yet still they refused to forsake their Savior.
Think of the disciples… men who decided that they would follow Jesus. They saw miracle after miracle and yet when the wind blew and the boat started to rock and roll… WAKE UP JESUS they cried! He wakes up and then tells them… your faith is so small. I can hear their minds too… “WHAT! We follow you don’t we? Everywhere You go we’re right there with you!” But then look at what they said when the storm ceases… “what manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him? They knew Jesus… but they still didn’t KNOW Him. Ministering right along side of Jesus… blind seeing, deaf hearing, lame walking, leprosy disappearing, feeding thousands on very little… and they still didn’t know really who Jesus was. Is it any different with most of us today?
We don’t know Him because we still don’t get what Jesus was telling us in Luke 14. “If you want to be My disciple then you must love Me more than mom, dad, wife, kids, even your own self. Get rid of your possessions (because be real… you possess them because at the end of the day they possess you) and come… follow Me. ”
When you love someone it is almost impossible for someone to drag you away from that someone’s presence. You share everything with them in your life… telling them all about you… your ambitions, dreams, desires. You bend those things, even giving them up just to find a common ground with that person so that your goals and the others goal can work alongside each other so that you can share the rest of your life with this person. The thought of them never being around again causes your brain to malfunction, your stomach is tied in knots and your knees get weak. You give up time with even close friends and family whom you have a love for but not a love like this! You want your friends in your life because you enjoy them and the fun that you have with them… but when it comes to my baby… those guys can’t interfere. Mom… dad… I love you guys but listen! This one is special! He/She is the one!
Let the reality of that set in because in reality… Jesus said, “listen… you have to love me even more than that.”
Who is always on your mind? How often do we go through life without His presence and truth is… we don’t even really miss it that much? Husband… Wife… remember when you first fell in love? Think of all the crazy things you would use as an excuse just to spend another little bit of time with them. Think of when you went to work and pined away much of the day anxiously waiting for work time to be done so you could see that beautiful face again and just be there in his/her presence. Even when away, you spend countless minutes… even hours talking on the phone and you don’t even like talking on the phone that much. You already talked about everything there was to talk about so now… you aren’t talking that much but in a weird way… you are at least electronically together.
Remembering all that… is that how you really are with Jesus?
You want to grow your faith then grow your relationship with Jesus. Prayer, study, worship… all of those are important in this relationship with Him and if you truly desire more of Him then there is no way you will not do those things. But don’t forget that it also includes Him constantly being on your mind… close to your heart… waiting on Him…. longing for just another little bit of private and intimate time alone with Him… even if He’s not talking to you… That presence alone is enough. His desires now trump your desires… You will do anything you can do to please Him no matter the personal cost to you. It is not any longer about seeking more for you… it is about godliness, content with what you have. That is great gain because the gain is that intimate relationship with a Savior who will never leave you nor forsake you.
*Posted on Facebook by Pastor Ken Smith
Gently Speaking ♥ 