Got little Faith? PART FIVE

Faith for Spiritual Perception

Mat 16:3 And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?
4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.
5 And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.
6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread.
8 Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?
9 Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
10 Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

Almost everyone has heard the phrase “too heavenly minded to be any earthly good”, in reference to those people who are “always talking about Jesus this or Jesus that!” those who say such things will probably conclude their thought with “Why, you can’t hold a normal conversation with those people!”

“Normal”. That’s an interesting word. To tell you the truth, I am sure that many people have spoken about me that way. But to be honest, that’s NORMAL for me and my circle of friends. I surround myself with people that have been accused of being too heavenly minded to be any earthly good. I really don’t think that there is such a thing. To the contrary, the more heavenly minded we are, the more earthly good we will be! The more heavenly minded we become, the more we want to conform to the Will of our Father Who is in Heaven.

Those of us who are heavenly minded know that it is His Will that NONE should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

We know that it is His Will that His children walk in Holiness instead of ungodliness.

We know that it is His Will that His children go and preach the gospel.

We know that it is His Will that they feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and care for the widows and the fatherless.

We know that it is His Will that we follow peace with all men as much as possible.

We know that it is His Will that our lives and our conduct would bring Him glory in every thing we do and say.

We know that it is His Will to care about others more than ourselves.

If all Christians would clothe themselves with this type of mindset, this earth would be a wonderful place. If we are a people of great faith, we will actively pursue His Will. If we are a people of great faith, we will set our affections on those things that are above, rather than those things that are below. We will be about the things of the Kingdom. We will be about establishing His Kingdom wherever we are. And His Kingdom brings not only spiritual blessings, but earthly blessings as well. Those who reside in his Kingdom have no addictions, no bondages, and no curses.

Hallelujah! I can’t get enough of that heavenly mindedness!

The real problem lies in the times when we are too earthly minded to do any good for the Kingdom of God.

The Word of God says the carnal mind is at enmity with God.

This is the disciple’s plight in our passage in Matthew. Jesus was teaching them a Truth concerning Spiritual things, and they were reasoning with their carnal minds as to what Jesus was referring to. They were thinking about their stomachs.

Spiritual discernment is at a minimum for a child of God whose mind is set on the things of this earth. Those who are earthly minded will have a self centered religious mindset; having a form of godliness, but denying the power that accompanies true godliness. The religious mindset is focused on the externals of one’s environment. The one who is earthly or carnal minded turns to material objects, images and possessions in order to relate to the spiritual realm. A very vivid example of this is found in the Book of Exodus:

Exo 32:1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.

The “devout” religious person will tell you that they don’t worship the image or the icon, but they have the image or icon to help them focus on the god they worship, just as we see in this account when Israel had the calf made to remind them of the “gods” who brought them out of Egypt. The religious ones will tell you they just “venerate” the image or the icon (which is the same thing as worshipping it!). They need something “earthy” to enable them to focus on the spiritual. Religious beads, jewelry or images that are used to bring a person “closer to god’” are all products of the carnal mind.

It is easy for the Christian to relate what I just wrote to the Catholic Church. Catholics have their sacred images and icons, their relics, their rosaries, scapulars, and their Holy water. We are all aware of how multitudes of people travel all over the world to see various “apparitions” and to hear messages from some saint or Mary who is purported to speak to some individual who then conveys the message to the gathering “faithful”.

But in this day and age, it is not only Catholics who are blinded to Spiritual truth because of their carnal thinking. I used to attend a church where everyone would get excited if someone got a job, got a promotion, was blessed with a car, a new home, a boat, money (especially money!), or some other earthy “blessing”. It was easy for people to praise the Lord when they were getting “things” or their provision was being met. But they wept and howled and cried when it seemed like their financial security was threatened.

It was their association with “earthy” things (i.e., their material well being) that enabled them to focus on praising the Lord. That’s really not any different than any other “religious” mindset.

It doesn’t matter if you have ten million dollars and a private leer jet that you received through conniving and manipulating the masses. That’s not evidence of Faith. Can you rest in Jesus even if you have absolutely nothing? When all your material possessions are lost, can you still praise Jesus? Can you still brag about Him with confidence to those you encounter?

When you are sick and on the point of death, will you still praise Him?

Earthly concerns do not move a person of Great Faith. People of great faith are all about Jesus, and not their circumstances.

People of Great faith are all about others more than they are about themselves.

People of great faith are not concerned with the current trends, or the traditions of the church…they seek only the Will of God.

“Little faith” concerns itself with personal needs and defines the teaching of the Bible in a way that will benefit “Self”. The person with little faith will interpret the teaching of God for their own personal gain. “If I ask in Faith I can have a brand new car.” “If I ask in Faith, I can get rich.” “If I ask in Faith, I can have good health.”

Little faith is mostly about the “me” issues in a person’s life. When Jesus told His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they immediately thought that since they had not yet eaten, maybe he was warning them not to eat the kind of food that the Pharisees eat! They had forgotten what Jesus had told the Pharisees in a recent encounter:

Mat 15:11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

The Pharisees had complained to Jesus because the disciples didn’t wash their hands before they ate, in accordance to tradition that had been passed down from generation to generation (Matt 15:2). And Jesus told them bluntly that it was their traditions that made the Word of God of none effect because they use their traditions to justify their disobedience to the Word (Matt 15:3-9).

Have you ever heard anyone say “I know the Bible says not to owe anybody anything, but every Christian I know is in debt, so it must be o.k. for me to be in debt as well!” THAT’S making the Word of God of none effect through our accepted practices.

Or even though you are taught that the WHOLE Bible is the infallible inerrant Word of God, given for our instruction so that we can be thoroughly equipped to do the work of the Lord, and that the Lord is the SAME today as He was Yesterday, and will be the same tomorrow; the church you go to teaches that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for today, so you ignore 1 Corinthians 12-14, thus making the Word of God of none effect through embracing the church’s traditional viewpoint.

Or maybe you are taught that 1 Peter 2:9 doesn’t REALLY mean that you are qualified for ministry, and Matthew 28:19-20 or Mark 16:15-18 doesn’t really apply to every Christian, and you believe your church’s teaching above the Word of God. THAT’S making the Word of God of none effect through the accepted practices and teachings that have been passed down from generation to generation.

So many “mainline” denominations have explained away the existence of the gifts of the Holy Spirit or the Baptism of the Holy Spirit because of their fears of the supernatural or their tendency to trust in their “reason” more than the Word of God.

To tell the truth, a lot of what is done through the operation and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit seems downright foolish to the carnal mind.

1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

All of those religious people (devout Jews) that were present on the Day of Pentecost thought the disciples of Jesus Christ were drunk out of their minds, because what was happening defied any logic. All they could do was judge what they were seeing by what they knew in the natural realm of things. Because they were carnally minded, they had no spiritual perception. Sure, these Galileans were all speaking in the languages of those who had assembled there, which certainly challenged their way of thinking, but their minds just couldn’t comprehend that this was a spiritual thing that was taking place. All they could relate to is what “religion” and religious works had taught them, so because of their lack of spiritual perception or discernment, they said, “these men must be drunk!”

In the same way, a lot of religious people will look at the Charismatic, Pentecostal, or Full Gospel crowd from their carnal viewpoint, and dismiss what is happening because their logic and religious mindset screams against it! So they don’t have to deal with the unfamiliar, they teach things like “well, the gifts of the Holy Spirit have been done away with, so all this tongues and healing and craziness that happens in some churches is just foolish emotionalism!”

Some will even use stronger words and say that it is of the devil. According to Jesus, that is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Because their personal experience doesn’t coincide with what may be happening in some congregations, they deny the Power of the Presence of the Holy Spirit. In His discourse with the Pharisees, He plainly told them that what goes in the mouth is not what defiles a man, but that which comes out of a man (Matt 15:11), and now just a little while later, the disciples are interpreting His warning to beware of the leavening influences of the teachings of the Pharisees and the Sadducees as being about the type of food that they eat! Had they been mindful of the significance of the Words that He spoke to the Pharisees, they would not have been confused as to what He meant when He told them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.

Those of Great Faith dig into the Word of God and meditate on His Word:

Psa 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

Psa 119:9 BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

I personally know pastors and evangelists and others in ministry who read more books and listen to more tapes and cds than they read the Bible, the Word of God. Some of them even have volumes of books of sermons that have been preached, so they can get inspired by someone else’s manna. I can’t fathom that…I know you can’t live a life of great faith in that type of situation.

The Bible has the Words of Life, because the Author of Life inspired its’ contents, and there is no better place to be inspired to preach than the Bible. And there is no better orator than the Holy Spirit.

I pray that the Lord used me to encourage you or to challenge you with this “got little Faith?” series. Are you steadfast in your study of the Word of God? If you are able to read, and are not steadfast in your study of the Word, you won’t get beyond the place of “little Faith”.

If you are more concerned about your own well being than you are of other’s or if you think you are too busy to take time for someone who needs you, you cannot be a person of great Faith.

If you find yourself panicking because of the storms of life that come your way, and you worry about how you are going to survive this one, you are a person of little faith.

The person of Great Faith may not have the answer of how it is going to turn out, but he or she will rest on the Word of God that promises “ALL things work together for GOOD for those who love God and are called according to His Purpose!” (Rom 8:28).

If you think that there is no way that God can use you for ministry, you will never get out of the boat, and will miss your opportunity because of your little faith.

Too many Christians never get beyond “Little Faith”. It’s because they don’t really KNOW the Lord. And if you don’t KNOW the Lord, you really won’t TRUST Him. The reason Most Christians don’t know the Lord is because they don’t study His Word! As a result, they are stuck in the “little Faith” rut! They will fall for anything, and they will be led astray by false teachers who try to convince them that the Bible doesn’t really mean what it says!

I love the Word that promises me: “…But the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”

If we are Christians we have entered into a covenant of Faith with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the One Who created us, and Who took such a personal interest in us that He clothed Himself in humanity to redeem us from our sin through His own shed Blood! He did all that so we could KNOW Him! He is the Word manifest in the flesh! How do you get to know Him, except by studying The Word, and believing EVERYTHING He says? Glory!

That verse I just quoted is found in Daniel and the first part of that verse speaks about the anti-Christ, and how he will deceive many:

Dan 11:32 And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.

The point is that there are many anti-Christs even now who corrupt the people of God by flatteries, giving them a false sense of security in telling them if they just say the magic prayer they can have their name written in heaven. Those who enter into a covenant with Jesus Christ WILL repent of their wicked ways, and WILL bear fruit fit for repentance.

Without Faith it is impossible to Please Him! I want to please Him with GREAT Faith! How about you? Read His Word. KNOW His Will for Your Life. Fulfill your calling that He has Called you to!

Hos 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.