FAITH THAT WORKS (part one)

Too often, our Christian lives have been defined exclusively from a perspective of what once was and what currently is in our lives. The life of faith that Christ is calling us to though is one that celebrates the past (What God has done), that steps out in the here and now (recognizing what God is doing) but also believes God for the greater things yet to come! (responding to who God is!)

Faith is less something we have to have and is more a response to the revelation of God’s character! He is faithful! We have been called to have faith in the faithful One who has rescued us from sin and death, who is loving, changing and shaping us but who is also inviting us to partner with Him in establishing what is yet to come!

 Two phrases that I believe are helpful in us coming to grips with this life of faith we are called to are below.

IT IS MORE IMPORTANT WHAT GOD HAS SAVED US INTO THAN WHAT GOD HAS SAVED US OUT OF!

-The incredible account found in Exodus of the miraculous rescue of the Israelite people out of slavery and Egypt (what with plagues, a reluctant Pharoah, the angel of death and an entire sea parting as if mere curtains being drawn back to name just a small portion of it) is only just the beginning of what God had intended for His chosen people. God rescued them OUT OF Egypt and then took them on a journey INTO the Promise Land and the very same is for us!

IT’S LESS A QUESTION OF WHAT GOD HAS SAVED ME FROM AND MORE OF WHAT GOD HAS SAVED ME FOR!

-We are not merely just sinners saved by grace but we have now been called sons and daughters! Slaves can never dream much further than the end of the day, possibly the end of the week. But it is sons and daughters who are given the privilege and provision to dream as widely and as far into the future as possible. And that is what we have been called for! Not merely just to survive the world, but to change it! The life of faith is one concerned with the unseen and not yet realities, and believing God for them.

What is your vision of your future? Is it one where you are still battling with the same old sin, the same sickness, a similar financial situation, a still unresolved relational tension, an unchanged level of influence? Faith is allowing the God of the impossible to take our pasts and our present realities, and letting Him shape them into a glorious future.

Faith is calling out to us today to say boldly and believe without fear that, “I’M JUST GETTING STARTED!”

"To infinity and BEYOND!" part one

On the backdrop of Abraham's pioneering response to the extravagant call of God in the twelth chapter of Genesis is this one verse at the end of chapter 11 that has haunted my heart for a number of years and that continues to shape my thinking and dreaming.

Genesis.11:31
"Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter in law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there."

What God starts and envisions us with can be short cut by whether we continually fight for a pioneering spirit or whether we allow a settler's mentality to pervade who we are. Terah was called to Canaan, but he got distracted and settled in Haran...we can not afford to have the same said about us when our proverbial 5 score and ten are up. Being linked to a pioneer is not enough! Lot travelled with one but a mere 2 chapters later we see how he settled for the comfortable and how that shortcut his and his family's future. Below are a few differences that mark Settlers and Pioneers.

Settlers:
1. Always want to RETURN to how things were
-We often refer to these people as the "when we" christians. Those who long after "the good old days". Often these thoughts and desires to hold onto the old way and patterns isn't loudly vocalised but is outworked in whispered conversations, unsaid decisions of heart and folded arms. The nation of Israel were also gripped by a Settler's mentality as they were lead out of slavery as everytime there was a problem or inconvenience, they grumbled and wanted to return to Egypt.

2.Always just REACT to a situation or problem
-Leaders that have embraced a settlers mentality can be found constantly "fixing" problems. "Maintenance" is the buzz word for a settler. We are not just administrators of what God is doing. We are called to be breaking opennew ground. Has faith become just a concept we bring up at the end of a sermon on salvation or is it an everyday reality that we live by and that we allow to be our compass on every decision and thought process?

3. Always RESIST change
"no critic or cynic ever went down in history"

Pioneering isn't always comfortable or convenient. It may even have many dangers and possible pitfalls. How will we react to them? Will we respond to the voice of "reason" and the crowd ("at least we had graves in Egypt") or will we respond to the upwards and onwards call of God and step out courageously onto the danger encircled path of obedience?

Genesis.12:4
"So Abram left, as the Lord had told him"