Jesus said, “Have faith in God.”
“Yeah, I know that verse. I’ve read it a thousand times. I have faith! I believe in God.”
Then why aren’t you content? Why are you on the run seeking after other things to satisfy the emptiness of your soul?
BE ON GUARD:
The Three W’S: Worry — Weary — Weak
The root of worry is fear. Fear takes up residency where there is a vacancy of “faith in God.” And whatever is not from faith is sin. (Romans 14:23)
Being worried will cause you to lose your joy. Lack of joy will affect your strength and cause weariness, a lack of hope/courage, which brings weakness to your faith and life. There are many scriptures to combat this.
God told Joshua: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:8-9)
Worried?
“You are my hiding place;
You shall preserve me from trouble;
You shall surround me with songs of deliverance.” (Psalm 32:7)
Weary?
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29)
Weak?
“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” (Psalm 18:2)
The three W’s have some things in common.
They are symptoms that your soul is dominating your life!
You are a spirit, have a soul, and live in a body.
You are a new creation in Christ. That means you have already been “delivered from the power of darkness” (worry, weariness, and weakness) and have been transferred into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom you have redemption. (Colossians 1:13) That’s power to overcome anything! Where is that power located? How do we unlock it?
YOUR OWN WORST ENEMY Romans 7:18-23
The soul: mind, will, emotions, intellect (natural reasoning), and memories.
When the soul: mind, will, emotions (feelings), intellect, and memories are dominating your life, you will find yourself being pulled back into the world to find something to fill the void. That will put you on the road to being carnally minded (death). When the soul and the body rule, temptation and sin will be knocking at your door daily. See Romans 8:5-8.
This is not good for a Christian.
One foot in the world (the devil’s playground) and one foot in God’s Kingdom produce confusion and at its worst will cause the Christian to become hard hearted toward God’s Word, and eventually walk away from the LORD.
That propensity toward iniquity came through Adam.
GOING DEAF
Imagine not being able to hear and receive what your Pastor is saying.
Imagine having contrary thoughts against God’s Word as it is being preached.
Going deaf to The Word is a symptom of a heart that is on its way to becoming hardened. We know from the Parable of the Sower, hardened ground bears NO fruit from God’s promises. It’s like throwing seed on concrete. (Mark 4:14-20)
Is it possible for good fertile ground to become stony ground? Yes!
Is it possible for stony ground to become the wayside ground? Yes!
How can that happen?
Let’s reverse Jesus’ teaching on the Parable of the Sower, starting with the good ground.
Good ground can begin to harden when:
- the cares of the world,
- deceitfulness of riches,
- and desires for other things enter into the heart
- those thorns ... CHOKE THE WORD! That means the promises of God are not coming to pass in your life. This is the thorny ground Jesus spoke of.
That hardening will continue even further.
Stony Ground
These are people who hear and immediately receive The Word with excitement but have no root in them. I believe they have no real love for God. When trouble or persecution arises on account of The Word, they become offended and fall away. The Apostle Peter put it this way: "A dog returns to his own vomit." Read 2 Peter 2:20-22.
Wayside Ground
The final hardening is the wayside ground. When they hear, satan comes immediately and takes away The Word sown, like those who sit in church and hear the Pastor teach, but it’s in one ear and out the other. The seed cannot find a place to enter into the heart to produce life.
No Word, No faith. No faith, No strength.
In Paul’s letter to the Hebrews, he warns long-time Believers:
“Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?”
(Hebrews 2:1-4)
“Do you mean someone who actually witnessed signs, wonders, and miracles could turn from God and fall back into the world?”
Yes! The Israelites witnessed God’s mighty acts in Egypt and walked on dry ground through the Red Sea, yet weeks later made a golden idol to worship! Some preachers in the twentieth century had great ministries with signs following, yet ended up in disgrace in their latter years.
LIFE IN 2017
Let’s wake up, dear Saints, for as long as we are on this earth to do God’s will and fulfill the call to take the land for His Kingdom, we must do those things we have learned in the beginning and continue daily to be fervent and connected to the LORD, for we have a deceitful enemy who is against The Church and The Glory!
Every contrary thought, all accusations against God’s Word, must quickly be taken captive and replaced by speaking God’s truth!
HOLY SPIRIT
“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said:
‘Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’” (Hebrews 3:12-15)
LIVING IN THE RIVER OF LIFE
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you
in the knowledge of God
and of Jesus our Lord,
as His divine power
has given to us all things
that pertain to life and godliness,
through the knowledge of Him
who called us by glory and virtue,
by which have been given to us
exceedingly great and precious promises,
that through these
you may be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust.” (2 Peter 1:2-4)
Furthermore, the Apostle Peter admonishes us to be diligent, adding moral excellence to our faith, accompanied with knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love.
Why? You will receive a reward:
“For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:8)
_______________________________________
“WHEN GOD’S WORD ISN’T ENOUGH”
I heard that statement from the LORD and was led to expand it into this Bible Lesson.
If you are sensitive to His Spirit, you can feel the sorrow in these words.
This is nothing new to our Father, for the nation of Israel hurt Him every time they turned their face from Him to follow the ways of the world. The book of Hosea likens this to spiritual adultery.
means that Jesus is not enough. Selah
Suggested Assignment
- Read and study 1 John often.
- Pray in the Spirit twenty or thirty minutes every morning. It will lay track for faith, hope, and love to travel on throughout your day, and will increase your spiritual strength to remain connected.
- Say often: “I have faith in God!”
PRAYER WITH PURPOSE: See Current Events
INTERCEDING FOR:
THE CHURCH, THE LOST, and ELECTED LEADERS ... in our counties and in our nation.
Copyright © 2013 – 2017 Prayer with Purpose; prayerwithpurpose.org