A Deeper Faith

The following notes are taken from a journal I wrote one summer while on a camping trip in Northern Ontario. 

Faith is something concrete, not abstract.  If it is only an idea then it has no power to direct our lives. We are saved by faith -- Abraham was granted righteousness or was put in a right standing with God because he obeyed by faith without understanding in the natural why he was called to do what God had asked.  This was before Christ's death on the cross.  This brings to mind by revelation the very first act of sin, or that first turning away from faith to human understanding -- Eve was tempted with the lust for knowledge. It was at this point that faith was abandoned and the mind became the new god.

Humanism is the glorification of man --faith is the glorification of God. Humanism shuts out God completely and makes of itself its own god.  Whatever you put your faith in, that thing is what will get all the attention and not God. It also gets the glory. So if you put your trust in money, money will be the thing that gets your attention. Your focus will be on a "thing" rather than on a Person.  I think the importance of faith is about glorifying God more than anything else.  God gets glory when we put our trust in Him.  

There is a connection to idolatry, as in Romans 1:21-25 NIV: 

Rom 1:21  For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Rom 1:22  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools

Rom 1:23  and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Rom 1:24  Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

Rom 1:25  They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

     Also, knowledge represents power.  It is a powerful temptation we face every day.  Yet only God has power.  He gives us limited power for the purpose of accomplishing His will.  When we are faithful He unleashes to us more power.  The trouble with the world's philosophy is that people really believe that knowledge is power, but that is only an illusion.  The truth is, knowledge for a Christian is a stumbling block because it tempts us to control our world and often others around us -- hence "power trips." Today I was troubled about many things -- what should I do, where should I work, what will happen on our vacation, where will we go? The Lord showed me that the reason I was so agitated and troubled about wanting to know so many things is because I am lusting for knowledge because knowledge is power.  It gives me a sense of power and security, but this is not a walk of faith -- it is a walk of fear.  I want to live by faith, not fear. I don't want to be in control, but as long as I am asking so many questions (probably a hindrance to my faith), I will not be free to walk in faith. 

Right now I am making and selling postcards to make some extra money.  I have a sense of empowerment over my life because I can count on making some money which I will save and I'll be able to plan for things -- like our holiday. Yet when I picked up the mail I found tickets to a Christian concert in the mail -- it's in Minnesota.  We had planned to go to Michigan and still might, but this is where we wanted to go in the first place but felt we couldn't afford it. The Lord provided us with the tickets to go.  It says in the Bible that man has many plans, but his goings are of the Lord -- the Lord knows our deepest heart's desires and He will lead us and direct us perfectly -- all I had to do was leave it completely in His hands. 

Note:  Even though we didn’t go to the concert in Minnesota, the lesson I learned was just as important.  The Lord knows our heart’s desires and He will fulfill them when we put our life in His hands. 

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I READ THE BIBLE? 

I Cor. 2:6-14 NIV 

1Co 2:6  We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

1Co 2:7  No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.

1Co 2:8  None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

1Co 2:9  However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"—

1Co 2:10  but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

1Co 2:11  For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

1Co 2:12  We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

1Co 2:13  This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.

1Co 2:14  The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

1Co 2:15  The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:  

When I read the Bible my mind starts to line up and agree with the things of God. If I seek answers in the natural, my mind (flesh) will look for answers having to do with the flesh, and will oppose the things and thoughts of God (see Romans 8).  That is why when I read the Bible I am engaging my spirit to receive the things of God.  In verse 10 it says that He reveals things by the "Spirit" and not the flesh.  And in verse 11, the only way we can know the things of God is through the Spirit.  Verses 6 & 7 tells me that God's wisdom doesn’t come cheap. It is only revealed to the few who really love Him.   His wisdom is really a rare and precious thing -- incomprehensible to us and I think He wants to build a trust relationship with us before He will reveal the really deep things.  Also I think the more we build on His Word the more prepared we are to receive the deep things of God.   

What are the deep things of God?  These are the things that we can never understand with our natural mind -- for example His love for us and the fact that He accepts us unconditionally as we are in spite of our sinful nature.