The Health Status of Our Faith

I know it’s only October, but it feels like 2020 has been five years in one.  With all of the chaos and unexpected events that have been going on all over the world and in my own life, my faith has really been tested.  I think, if anything, this long year has revealed to me the health status of my faith.  Let me be completely honest with all of you.  In the beginning of the year, my faith basically flatlined and I panicked.  It was like the Squilliam Returns episode from Spongebob when he was trying to remember his name.  I was watching the news and I was convinced the world was ending.  I don’t even want to tell you how many times my mom and sister had to tell me to turn off the news and chill.  I was out here like Joey from Friends when he had just turned thirty, shouting, “Why God, why?!”  But then I started to shut the news out and let God’s word in.  Instead of listening to what news commentators think about what’s going on in the world, I started to search for what God thinks about what’s happening in the world.  I highly recommend listening to some of the guests on Sid Roth’s It’s Supernatural talk show (always check to see if what they say lines up with scripture, of course).  I know that a lot of other Christians are having the same struggles with their faith right now and I want to address this topic because it is important in this hour.

Proverbs 1:7 says:

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

I am sure many of you have heard that scripture before.  In Proverbs 1:7, we have an interesting juxtaposition.  The fear of the Lord opens the door to knowledge, but fools hate wisdom and instruction.  What does one have to do with the other?  What I have noticed in my life and in many other Christians is that our fear of the Lord has waned.  By that I mean our reverence, admiration and awe for the Almighty God has eroded and we have become as foolish as the world around us.  When we do not spend time with the Lord in prayer and reading the word, we are operating in darkness.  We do not know the foundations of our own faith, so we are struggling with small obstacles.  We do not understand the awesome power of God, so our standards have been degraded and our expectations for our lives as Christians are in the sewers.  We are simply settling for extraordinarily less than what God has planned for us.

We have become a people that have succumb to the fears of the day; a people who walk without power and authority; a people who have let the world and the powers therein dictate the circumstances of our lives.  We have become compromisers and quitters.  We have been silent and complacent.  We are distracted and easily manipulated.  We have become victims instead of overcomers. 

Who is the God we serve?  Is He not the God who parted the Red Sea for Moses (Exodus 14)?  Is He not the God who sent His angel to shut the mouths of the lions in the den for Daniel (Daniel 6)?  Is He not the God who reigned down fire from heaven for Elijah (2 Kings 1)?  Is He not the God who sent His only son to die for our sins?  If these are all just cute little bedtime stories to you, you are as foolish as the world and you will never walk in the power and authority that is given in the name of Jesus Christ.  How much God must grieve when He sees the state of His people today.  Where are you strong, uncompromising, unrelenting, fearless, unwavering, undeterred, unstoppable Christians? 

If 2020 has revealed anything, it is not that the world is ending or that life sucks.  It has revealed the poor health status of our faith and our inability to stand when it matters the most.  We are standing in the middle of a battlefield with no shield, no weapons, blindfolded with our pants around our ankles.  What are we going to do about the state of our faith?  How should we live as to not grieve God’s spirit?  The Bible is clear.  We have a guide.  We don’t have to live like this.  I cited 2 Corinthians 3:7-10 in my post about prayer and it’s still relevant:

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.  We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

I know 2020 has been rough, but don’t lose hope and don’t forget who you serve.  Do not grow weary and do not lose sight of why you are here.  For those of you who are alert and listening, please start or continue to pray and study the word with fervor.  Stand in the gap for those who are lost.  For those of you who feel convicted, God’s mercy is great and your sins are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.  The sky has not cracked yet, so there is still time.  We are God’s people and we can do so much better.  We serve a great, great God.  Do not forget that.  Let’s move forward together as the body of Christ and settle for nothing less than God’s perfection.  Let’s move forward without fear and face the hour we are in with the weapons God has given us.  We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).  Remember that we already have the victory!