NEWS Faith, Belief and Love
I've been having some intense discussions with Christine over the past several weeks. We have been talking about the importance of belief and faith. Christine is very spiritual. She has been working extremely hard over the past several years. I greatly admire the work she has done on the Cross. When we recorded "Soul Fire" back in 2005, Christine was a "cracked and broken vessel ready to hear." This is how she described herself in the song "A Time To Heal."
Fast forward to today and Christine is talking about leaping and having the net appear, as she did on her song "The Call" from our new record. Leaping into the unknown into something we can't see requires faith - a great deal of faith! Belief is important because when you leap and you seek Him above all else, you have to believe that His heart and His love will lift you high up spiritually into the heavenly places.
Jesus says: 'Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.' (John 20:29)
Jesus also says: 'God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.' (John 4:24)
Christine is a loving spirit and she is blessed. She is blessed more than she realizes.
I happened to be reading Hebrews this morning. Hebrews 11 is all about faith and belief. The writer of Hebrews (let's just say it's Paul even though we aren't sure) said:
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
And,
It is impossible to please Him without faith. (Hebrews 11:6)
There it is! Paul is echoing Jesus - believing without seeing. That's the Holy Spirit at work.
Last week, Christine emailed me a beautiful prayer from Ephesians. I've been meditating a lot recently on Paul's letter to the Ephesians. It is deep Scripture - incredibly spiritual. The Spirit was obviously moving greatly in Paul when he wrote this letter.
I had read the prayer Christine sent me several times before, but when I read it again, something hit me hard. I saw the enormous power in Paul's prayer. Let's examine the prayer:
For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height -- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21)
'That Christ may dwell in our heart through faith.'
Yes. Christ... in our hearts... through faith. That's Christianity in a nutshell. Christ in our hearts through faith.
Christianity has become a religion about Jesus. How tragic and sad. In truth, Christianity should be all about having a close, intimate relationship with Jesus. There is nothing more intimate than having Christ in our hearts. It is Him living in us. It is no longer I, but Christ. A heart full of Jesus is a heart full of love. His everlasting and never-failing love energizes our spirits - powerfully and absolutely.
'that you may be rooted and grounded in love.'
Rooted in love. Grounded in love. Why? Because 'God is love.' (1 John 4:8). When we are rooted and grounded in love, we become one with God. Our hearts beat with His. We are transformed into true love. How precious and beautiful! Note that there is nothing religious about being rooted and grounded in love. It's a spiritual thing. When we walk in love, we become spiritual fruits, not religious nuts.
'(that you) may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height -- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge;'
That we comprehend His love - the width and length and depth and height. The scope of His love is not bounded by space and time. Like the Cross, it extends out in all directions, north, south east and west.
How do we comprehend His love? With our minds? No, says Paul. We comprehend His love with our hearts. That is where He dwells - in our hearts. Our minds cannot comprehend His love. Paul tells us His love surpasses knowledge. It's beyond the reach of our minds. This explains why many otherwise brilliant (and relatively high IQ) scientists have difficulty grasping Jesus. They are trying to understand the Lord with their minds instead of their hearts. You can't do it. As the brilliant French mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal noted in his book, Pensees, "It is the heart which perceives God and not reason. That is what faith is: God perceived by the heart, not by reason. The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing."
Until people open up the eyes of their hearts, they will have difficulty seeing God and comprehending His powerful, life-generating love.
'that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.'
Filled with the fullness of God. His Spiritual fruit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). By letting Christ shine through our hearts, we become one with God and His heart - a heart full of perfect love.
And, with respect to God's love we know there is no fear. For God tells us:
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear. (1 John 4:18)
No fear in love. Think deeply about this Scripture. So many people live in fear today and consequently, don't walk in love. Fear equals insecurity. We tremble with fear. Fear paralyzes us. If people only had faith and believed in God's love they would fear not. His love casts out all fear. This is truly remarkable!
Which brings me back to my discussions with Christine. Faith and belief are essential if we are to grow spiritually and walk in love. Without them, it is impossible to live a life of love (Ephesians 5:1-2). As Pascal wrote, "It is faith in our hearts that makes us say not 'I know' but 'I believe.' God used the former religious Pharisee, Paul, to deliver the important message about faith, belief and love. As Paul told the Galatians: "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." (Galatians 5:6)
May you have great faith and believe in His perfect love.
Agape,
Steve
Fast forward to today and Christine is talking about leaping and having the net appear, as she did on her song "The Call" from our new record. Leaping into the unknown into something we can't see requires faith - a great deal of faith! Belief is important because when you leap and you seek Him above all else, you have to believe that His heart and His love will lift you high up spiritually into the heavenly places.
Jesus says: 'Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.' (John 20:29)
Jesus also says: 'God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.' (John 4:24)
Christine is a loving spirit and she is blessed. She is blessed more than she realizes.
I happened to be reading Hebrews this morning. Hebrews 11 is all about faith and belief. The writer of Hebrews (let's just say it's Paul even though we aren't sure) said:
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
And,
It is impossible to please Him without faith. (Hebrews 11:6)
There it is! Paul is echoing Jesus - believing without seeing. That's the Holy Spirit at work.
Last week, Christine emailed me a beautiful prayer from Ephesians. I've been meditating a lot recently on Paul's letter to the Ephesians. It is deep Scripture - incredibly spiritual. The Spirit was obviously moving greatly in Paul when he wrote this letter.
I had read the prayer Christine sent me several times before, but when I read it again, something hit me hard. I saw the enormous power in Paul's prayer. Let's examine the prayer:
For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height -- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21)
'That Christ may dwell in our heart through faith.'
Yes. Christ... in our hearts... through faith. That's Christianity in a nutshell. Christ in our hearts through faith.
Christianity has become a religion about Jesus. How tragic and sad. In truth, Christianity should be all about having a close, intimate relationship with Jesus. There is nothing more intimate than having Christ in our hearts. It is Him living in us. It is no longer I, but Christ. A heart full of Jesus is a heart full of love. His everlasting and never-failing love energizes our spirits - powerfully and absolutely.
'that you may be rooted and grounded in love.'
Rooted in love. Grounded in love. Why? Because 'God is love.' (1 John 4:8). When we are rooted and grounded in love, we become one with God. Our hearts beat with His. We are transformed into true love. How precious and beautiful! Note that there is nothing religious about being rooted and grounded in love. It's a spiritual thing. When we walk in love, we become spiritual fruits, not religious nuts.
'(that you) may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height -- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge;'
That we comprehend His love - the width and length and depth and height. The scope of His love is not bounded by space and time. Like the Cross, it extends out in all directions, north, south east and west.
How do we comprehend His love? With our minds? No, says Paul. We comprehend His love with our hearts. That is where He dwells - in our hearts. Our minds cannot comprehend His love. Paul tells us His love surpasses knowledge. It's beyond the reach of our minds. This explains why many otherwise brilliant (and relatively high IQ) scientists have difficulty grasping Jesus. They are trying to understand the Lord with their minds instead of their hearts. You can't do it. As the brilliant French mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal noted in his book, Pensees, "It is the heart which perceives God and not reason. That is what faith is: God perceived by the heart, not by reason. The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing."
Until people open up the eyes of their hearts, they will have difficulty seeing God and comprehending His powerful, life-generating love.
'that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.'
Filled with the fullness of God. His Spiritual fruit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). By letting Christ shine through our hearts, we become one with God and His heart - a heart full of perfect love.
And, with respect to God's love we know there is no fear. For God tells us:
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear. (1 John 4:18)
No fear in love. Think deeply about this Scripture. So many people live in fear today and consequently, don't walk in love. Fear equals insecurity. We tremble with fear. Fear paralyzes us. If people only had faith and believed in God's love they would fear not. His love casts out all fear. This is truly remarkable!
Which brings me back to my discussions with Christine. Faith and belief are essential if we are to grow spiritually and walk in love. Without them, it is impossible to live a life of love (Ephesians 5:1-2). As Pascal wrote, "It is faith in our hearts that makes us say not 'I know' but 'I believe.' God used the former religious Pharisee, Paul, to deliver the important message about faith, belief and love. As Paul told the Galatians: "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." (Galatians 5:6)
May you have great faith and believe in His perfect love.
Agape,
Steve
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home