Faith is something real

On November 7, 2013   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Hebrews 11: 1 (King James)

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith is the substance of those things you are praying for. Faith is something real. It is substantive. It is not just an idea or a concept. It isn’t just theology or a feeling. It is the substance that becomes your answered prayer.

My dictionary defines substance as: the real or essential part or element of anything; essence, reality, or basic matter. You see faith isn’t ethereal. It is real even though it is not tangible. A thought is real as is a word. You cannot reach out and touch them with your fingers but they still are real and have real world consequences. Some have said that we are the sum of our thoughts. That is a powerful statement whether or not it is true. Certainly our thoughts greatly influence our lives. And by now we all know that our words have power. And although they are not palpable they undoubtedly affect the substance of our lives. So it is with faith. Although we cannot bottle it, it is a crucial element in our answered prayers.

Faith is the very essence of the things you want or need. And although you will not find it listed in the periodic table it is the element which God uses to form your answers. Imagine, if you will, a periodic table of spiritual elements rather than physical elements. Faith would be right up there. Maybe its symbol is Fa. Looking at the table we find that faith is the key building block for all things spiritual just as the physical elements are to the things of the physical realm. In order for us to operate in the spiritual realm we must first grasp this concept that faith is substance. It is something real. It is something perceptible if not tangible.

The next premise we must understand is that faith is the substance, the essential building block of the things we are hoping for. So, stop right here. What are you hoping for? For what are you praying? Now picture a child’s building blocks. Instead of the letters of the alphabet these blocks have their spiritual symbols on them. You look there on the rug where are scattered all of the building blocks and you see a block with Fa on it. You grab it. Perhaps you can find more Fa. You collect all that you can muster and you build the first level of your edifice. As you look you see other blocks there with symbols on them. Maybe there is P. You reason, “That has got to be prayer.” Another on has Co for confession, another W for the Word. As you look you see more and more essential spiritual elements, the building blocks of a spiritual reality. You gather them up, stacking them one atop the others until you have constructed something magnificent. Then you realize that it was all rather easy and fun once you realized the blocks were there and that they were for you. It is though the building blocks were in your toy chest all along but you didn’t know they were there or you didn’t realize what they were for. Now you know, though and armed with new information you can begin to build anything that you need or want.

There is one more premise that you need to understand though. Everything that exists in the physical realm first came into being in the spiritual realm. Everything that you can see, touch, taste, etc. first existed in the realm of the spirit. Before the earth existed, before even the sun or the moon, God had an idea, a thought, a vision. He then created in the physical that which existed first in His spirit. Every creation of humankind was first birthed in the spirit of a person. The spiritual realm is the realm of creation. The physical realm is the realm of fabrication. Therefore, before you manifest anything in the physical, you must first perceive and create it in the spiritual but now that you have your spiritual building blocks this will be child’s play for you.

So we have today, opened up the toy chest and let the wonder of God’s creation flow out. Perhaps you will identify some other spiritual building blocks other than the ones I mentioned and can write me telling me their spiritual symbols. As you begin construction, though, remember that Fa (faith) is the essence of those dreams you are building. It is a crucial element and must be included in every construction project. Without it, you are building a house of cards. Faith is the substance; it is the raw material of your hopes and dreams. Dream big dreams. Live large but begin in faith.

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Grace gives and breeds life

On March 14, 2013   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 1:16

For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.

The grace of God has come unto us. We are no longer slaves under the law. The Law kills while grace gives life. Grace begets grace.

I hope you were able to see Les Miserables while it was in the theaters. It was a very moving drama based on the struggle of common French people painted on the backdrop of the French Revolution. There are extremely strong Christian themes in the movie. For me it was an incredibly poignant demonstration of the effect of grace and law upon the human condition.

The principle character is Jean Valjean. The picture opens with him as a prisoner at very hard labor. He was enslaved for nineteen years for stealing a loaf of bread because his sister’s child was starving. We visit him upon the day of his parole and are introduced to another central character, that of Javert. Javert represents the law. He is very strict and codified. He knows the letter of the law and does his best to live by it. He is ruthless and without mercy and this proves to be his undoing.

Valjean is a character of great turmoil and the audience follows him through this turmoil as he tries to determine right from wrong in a complex and changing society. He is taken in by a priest and is shown great kindness and mercy. But the hardness of prison life has changed Valjean into a criminal so in the dark of the night he arises from his bed and stealing the silver service and other items of value slinks away into the night. He is caught though, and the police drag him back to the church and present him to the priest. They say to the priest that this man, Valjean, insists that the priest gave him these articles. What is the priest’s response? What would our response be? The priest told the constabulary that yes, he did give those items to Valjean but he asks Valjean, “Why did you forget these?” wherein he goes to the table and picks up two enormous silver candle stands and puts them in Valjean’s arms. Now that, my friends, is the love of God. That man of God showed the grace and the love of God that Jesus came to bring to us. That simple act of grace changed Valjean forever. It transformed him from a criminal to a man of principle. He went to a new town and made a life for himself, became the mayor of that town and tasked himself with helping others. He became a man of much compassion in the very image of Christ himself.

But then who appears but our arch villain Javert. Principally, though, Javert is not a man of evil. He is just a man who does not know the love of God. He does not understand that Jesus’ life brought forgiveness and mercy to a world of sinners. He begins to suspect that the mayor is actually prisoner 24601 who has skipped out on the terms of his parole. Then when he believes that he has accused Valjean wrongly he gives his life into Valjean’s hands. He doesn’t beg for mercy. He wouldn’t because he knows nothing of the mercy of God. Twice, three times Valjean has Javert’s life in his hands. Valjean, however, is a man who has come under grace and appreciates the God of lovingkindness so each time he extends mercy to Javert. In the end the conflict within Javert becomes insurmountable. He is the beneficiary of mercy and grace but he cannot allow it to transform him. He is rigidly and dogmatically legalistic even in the face of the saving grace of the Lord Jesus. Unable to resolve the conflict, he commits suicide.

The law kills. Grace gives and breeds life. Valjean who was shown mercy became a person of great grace, compassion and kindness. He extended himself to help others even at great personal risk. His life honored the kindness of God which was visited upon him by the priest. The priest had Valjean’s life in his hands even as Valjean would later hold Javert’s in his. And like the priest, Valjean shows mercy.

The message of grace, which I truly believe is the message of the age, is not a message of promiscuity and permissiveness. It is a message of love through which we all seek to return the gift bestowed upon us. Grace does not accentuate or condone sin. It pardons it so that we might be renewed into the image of our beloved Jesus. I hope you will deeply consider the presence of both grace and legalism in your life. It is by grace that we have been saved. Even the Javerts of the world are saved only by grace. Perhaps as we accept the grace and mercy that Jesus died to give us we can not only be transformed ourselves but we can also extend that same mercy to others.

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