Hardened by unbelief or childlike in faith?
With over 7.4 billion people on this planet right now, God knows exactly what is in the hearts and minds of all. Even more amazing is that He can hear and speak to all of us at the same time. This is a thought that either makes a brain seize up and cramp because you believe it but certainly can’t explain it, or it’s a thought that makes you laugh at me thinking I am a complete fool to believe such nonsense. Which are you, brain cramp or mocker?
Jesus said that unless we change and become like little children, we will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven, Matthew 18:3. The Kingdom is a “now” reality we are gifted to carry within, filled with God’s love and grace and presence and power and Word. By Him in us, we are meant to reflect the One who rose from the dead and saves all who call on his Name.
I will never forget a testimony I heard on my first mission trip. In 2007, I went to India and was at a conference where we were teaching the Bible to new believers. I was teaching my group that God speaks through the Holy Spirit. Through an interpreter, I asked my circle if anyone had a story to share of God speaking to them. One man in his 50’s wanted to share. He said his wife had suggested he go to some meetings being held by a local Christian earlier that year. He was not a Christian, he was Hindu. The meetings required an overnight stay. Without understanding why, he went. But as soon as he checked in, he felt out of place and angry so he left the first meeting. He went to his hotel room and called his wife and said he was not going to stay. She disagreed with him and said he should stay which made him even more upset. After hanging up with her, he said he paced his floor and started arguing out loud, “Why stay, what does it matter where I go?” Immediately in his heart he heard, “Open the bible.” This stopped him, and he looked at the bible he had just received that day. He opened it. When he opened it, his eyes immediately met these verses from Psalm 139-
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
He said the Holy Spirit went on to tell him there is nowhere he would ever go that God would not know exactly where he was, and that it was useless to try and flee His presence. He was to stay and learn about Jesus. This flood of words in his spirit was so foreign to his own thinking, so specific to the complaint of his heart, he stayed. He made a decision that weekend to invite Christ to rule his heart and save his soul!
God is a Good Father. It is His good pleasure to give us the kingdom; but in childlike faith will we receive the divine life He offers?
I read a devotional from Os Hillman this week that talked about the church evolving to become more reason and analysis based rather than obedience by faith based. Decision making for God’s people is to be pure obedience as led by the Spirit in submission to Christ, not by logic and reason. God gets glory from obedience, not carefully laid out human calculation. He went on to say logic and reason didn’t bring the walls of Jericho down, nor was logic and reason how Naaman was healed of his leprosy.
Os Hillman gave only 2 of countless biblical examples that reveal God as One who calls his people to walk by faith, not by sight. But our Christian culture resists; we have a ton of unbelief. I think we miss out on a lot because of unbelief. We forget that unbelief made God change his mind about bringing a previously chosen Israelite generation into a promised land. We forget Christ’s severe warning and rebuke of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum because they would not repent even after seeing His power. We forget Christ was unable to do miracles within his hometown and fellowship because of their unbelief. We forget the intense warnings of Paul in 1 Corinthians 10 (worth reviewing). We are in a generation that minimizes God’s warnings wanting to reason and control our way through faith. We forget that God reveals hidden and secret things to little children, not the wise and learned, Matthew 11:25.
Logic and reason versus faith by obedience were at odds in me on Monday. It was a real battle of will versus Spirit. But I pressed in so unbelief would not get an upper hand. But the nagging fear for provision stayed with me all day. I was weary after a draining previous week and weekend so doubt was loud. By the end of the day, I decided I could not go home with this pressure, so I decided I would walk and talk it through until it was gone. Mostly for the first 45 minutes or so I was repeating to myself scriptural promises and reviewing key moments that led me to my current place. It was over 90 degrees that day so I made my way along a wall in shade and happened upon this baby bird, breathing heavily in the heat, eyes closed, barely alive…
This little bird sent me into a tail spin of thought. “LORD please don’t let this little bird die right in front of me right now!” I had no idea what to do except get it some water, so I hurried back to my jeep and and prayed with fervor that the little bird would live. As I prayed, I realized that
I was really the little bird
and that seeing this bird in distress was somehow symbolic of my current distress. Then I remembered sitting in Wegman’s last Fall and in a bizarre turn of events, a sparrow hit slightly above my arm brushing my sleeve dying on impact with the window, falling to the ground. Jesus was reaching in to my thoughts then, He was reaching in to my thoughts now. He was reminding me that not a single sparrow falls to the ground and dies without His father knowing about it, Matthew 10:29. He was reminding me not worry about my life. All I was to do was to seek first the Kingdom of God and all that I needed would be provided, Matthew 6:25-34. When I came back to the wall, the little bird was hopping around in response to one of his parents calling him from above. He got nervous as I got close, so I quickly doused him with water to cool him, took a picture and let nature takes it course, happy and settled God was in control of the little bird and me.
God is pleased to give us the kingdom; but in childlike faith, we must believe. There is blessing in seeking first His Kingdom, a treasure that will never rot or fail.
Into the Waters Ministry, Inc has been formed to help people linger longer with God and to resource the earnest to draw near and know Christ. Tuning to His voice and spending time in His presence is a gateway to kingdom reality. God speaks and renews minds in the sessions we are holding. God is giving comforting words to speak to His people and letting them know He sees them. He is speaking words of life to their spirits. His children are not out of his view. He knows all about them. He knows what is happening in their lives, hearts, and minds. Stay tuned for more sessions to be announced and in childlike faith attend! There is divine revelation for those who believe and an eternal kingdom to walk in by faith not by sight in this world and the next.
