So today I was talking with a couple of my friends, Josh and Nick about the post I had written the other day about faith. As I was talking with them, the Lord began to kind of take over the conversation. As He always does, He ended up ministering to me through my own words and I would like to share the point of what He said. I was talking about the verses I shared on faith, and of course that brought me to talking about Paul and his life. Paul had faith like no other, and Christ was Pauls absolute focus in life. But even so, Paul was not free from persecution. He had been beaten and left for dead, flogged, stoned, and thrown in prison more than once. He had been led by the Spirit to appeal to Caesar, and as the story goes, was on a ship headed to the place where he would make his appeal. As they were traveling there was a tempest, and the sea was raging so severely that the entire crew and passengers feared for their lives. The ship broke in half and they were shipwrecked on a Island. They had gotten to shore and had built a fire to stay warm, and out of the wood came a deadly serpent and latched itself onto Pauls hand. The natives of the island looked at Paul, and said amongst themselves, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live. But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.” Now I want you to think about this. Up to this point Paul had been beaten, stoned almost to death, thrown in jail, shipwrecked, and now bitten by a deadly viper. How many of you think you could endure all of these things? After going through all of these things, when that viper latched onto Pauls hand, what if he had said, Thats it. After all of these hardships and trials, this is how its going to end? Im going to die from being bitten by a snake? Obviously he didnt, but if I were in his shoes, I would have to think the thought would cross my mind. Wouldnt it yours? But instead Paul had faith. Instead of him falling to his knees in fear and disappointment, and crying out to God about how He could allow this to happen to him, Paul looked at the snake and just shook it off in the fire. I dont think he even thought twice about it. He knew that God had started a good work in him, and had Faith that He would finish the work He had started. He believed in his God, and in the power of his Christ, and by Faith he knew that God would keep His Word to him. How many times have you faced trials and hardships and thought, or even said, God, why are you allowing this to happen to me? How many times have you cried out to God and said, Lord I dont have the money to pay my rent. I cant afford the groceries I need to feed my family. I cant take the pain of this situation. I cant endure this Lord, where are you? Why are you doing this to me? Havent you ever felt this way before? Why do you think Paul didnt feel that way?..... Because Paul had Faith. I mentioned the other day that the Word of God says that, Christ is the author and finisher of our faith and that Faith comes by hearing, the hearing of the Word of God. It wasnt that Paul had accomplished the art of having a great deal of faith. We cannot conjure up faith. Faith comes from only one place, the Word of God. Every time we pick up our Bibles and read the Word of God, we are literally partaking of the very body of Christ, the bread of Life. The very Son of the Living God. And as we partake of His Word, His Word is changing the fibers of our being. He is going into our veins, our hearts, our minds, and our spirits and is removing sin, disease, and all the things that stand between us and Him. He is replacing doubt with hope. Fear with courage. Hate with love. And doubt with Faith. There is no replacement for the Word of God and without it we cannot have faith that God will do what He said He would do. Without the Word of God, we are not reminded of His promises, His Grace, and His power. Without the Word of God, we are lost and we do not walk in the light. Instead we walk in darkness filled with fear, doubt, and hopelessness. So when the vipers of this world have their grasp on our lives, what will we do? Will we cry out in fear? Will we wonder where God is? Will give up the fight? Or will we have Faith that God in His Grace and Power will protect us and provide for us? Will we shake the viper off in the fire and keep going towards our destination? Will we have Faith?
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 03:21:35 +0000
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