We have been on a journey together exploring the promises of God and how to obtain them. Today I want to address five questions from believers about stepping into those promises and living by faith. These questions touch on trials, blocks to faith, proclaiming the Word, experiencing healing, and balancing character with power. Let me share what the Lord has shown me over the years.
Distinguishing Testing from Consequences
As it is written in James 1:2-3: “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” Let me say this again. How do I know if I am in a season of my faith being tried and tested, or if I am just eating the fruit of poor choices or sin? That is a great question. In my understanding there are seven different types of suffering that we will go through as Christians as the body of Christ. Sometimes when you are in the midst of that suffering it feels identical. You cannot really tell a lot about a trial from the circumstances of the trial. It is more the origin of the trial.
Let me give you those seven real quick. There is suffering in our life that Satan throws at us. There is suffering in our life that God wants us to go through. There is suffering in our life that comes because of our own poor choices in a way we are personally to blame. There is suffering that comes in our life through other people through our friends through the people we hang out with. There is suffering because we live in a fallen world that is not subject to the fullness of God’s reign yet. The creation groans for the manifestation of the sons of God if you will. There is suffering that comes through a lack of knowledge because we do not know what belongs to us. Then lastly there is actually a good and glorious suffering like we long after Jesus. It is the suffering that leads you to fast that you are so in love with Jesus that you are like get me out of here God. It is the suffering imagine if somebody goes to heaven and spends an hour in heaven then comes back to the earth and like I hate this way compared to it the glories that are yet to be revealed.
So how do we know which one we are in? Frankly the only way we can really ultimately truly know is to ask the Lord is to ask the Holy Spirit. That is why James says count it all joy when you fall into testing trials those kind of things. Then he says ask God for wisdom. If you are in the midst of a trial ask the Lord for wisdom. You see if I am in a trial because of sin in my life I should ask the Lord for wisdom and the Lord is going to say repent. If I find myself in the belly of a whale when I should be preaching in Nineveh I can ask the Lord for wisdom and he will be like repent. Turn though your sins be red as scarlet they will be white as snow repent turn and come back to me.
If I am in a trial because I am in the wrong person I can ask the Lord and he will show me you can love those people you can minister and speak truth to them but you cannot hang out with them. That can include watching media or things like that. If you fill your mind with the things of the world it is like friendship with the world which is enmity against God. So asking the Lord is the only true real answer to that. But I would actually say there are other tells other indicators. Firstly if there is sin in our life that convicting sense of the Holy Spirit. Our own conscience can play a role in that but our conscience is not perfect and can be seared but the Holy Spirit cannot be seared. So there is a convicting sense of Holy Spirit in that.
I think as well if we are going through a testing moment usually it will test something in our faith. Usually if we are going through a trial it will be trying to deny something that the Word of God has deposited on the inside of us. Jesus said that when the seed is sown if the birds of the air can they will come and steal it away. Then he said if the birds cannot steal it it will spring up but when persecution comes for the word’s sake. So when you are in a trial in a way it is not about killing you it is about killing the word. Satan comes for the word. So I would say that is another tell another indication. But I honestly think asking the Lord is the best way of doing that sometimes our own perceptions are subjective.
Lastly I would say this it is good to have friends that you can go to. Now Job had three really bad ones but it is good to have godly people you can go to and say I am going through this. Do you think I missed it? I think when you go with a humble heart to somebody who has known the Lord longer than you who has walked with him who has got some experience in that realm they can really help you and speak into that circumstance that situation. So going to somebody else again they can be mistaken as well but at times other people see things from a different lens from a different perspective and see things that we maybe have chosen not to see.
Identifying Blocks to Faith
As it is written in Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” You mentioned three reasons faith fails cannot believe it is for me lack of knowledge or past wounds. How do I figure out which one is blocking me? How do we figure out what is blocking our faith would be a good way of saying that? Again I think Holy Spirit is the perfect answer to that but actually just being really honest with our faith.
The bottom line if I can be bloody honest with your faith is what do you really expect to happen? I said this last week but if I were to drop this Bible I really do expect it to fall. Now we can have a discussion about gravity and it is not a force it is the curvature of space and time my math and it does not really matter. I expect this Bible to fall. I know that I know that I know that this Bible will fall. A lot of time when we are in fake faith we are sort of hoping it will fall we are trying to do like a magic trick we are not fully when you are fully persuaded you know that you know that you know that you know that you know.
When you are fully persuaded again excuse my language and my foolish expression of that in a way not talking about gambling here but it is like you would bet your life on it. That is emotionally where you are at. You are at perfect rest and peace. He who believes has entered into rest and has ceased from his labor. When you are at faith and you are trying to believe when somebody is trying to believe it shows me they do not believe. So one of the ways of really knowing where that comes from is knowing where you actually are with your faith. Again praying and saying Lord show me the root of that.
Now if you are in a particular area of faith you are trying to engage your heart with and you keep having memories of a previous time when that you tried and that did not work and it did not work now so it will not work now and he did not get healed so I will not get healed. That is probably your problem that bad experience is mentoring you more than the word is. If you are in a place of faith where you are trying to have faith but God’s word is not keep popping up in you then it is probably a lack of knowledge. If you are in a place of faith where you are believing for something and the dominant thoughts of your heart keep coming up it is not for me Fred deserves this Murray deserves this but I do not deserve this then it is probably that you do not really believe this promise is for you.
So examine your heart pray ask the Holy Spirit obviously but also listen to the reactions and the responses of your heart. If I put my hand in a situation where it is being burned as pain coming that is an indication that is where the problem is. I do not need to move my foot. I need to move my hand. So see what is coming up in your own faith.
Proclaiming God’s Word
As it is written in Hebrews 4:2: “For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.” What does it practically look like to proclaim God’s word? Is this not just positive thinking or is there more to it than that? For years I have said this that I have kind of taught and there is a big difference between confession and positive thinking. Can I tell you positive thinking is a really good thing. It is a really important thing. I believe it is actually a really spiritual thing.
So my point in saying that is there is nothing little nothing just about positive thinking but there is a massive difference between positive thinking and the word of God. I think it was Emile Coue the French psychologist who used to say every day and in every way I am getting better and better. It is like he would give his patients little mantras to say if they would say it they would sort of end up thinking that way and believing it. A lot of CBT cognitive behavioral therapy has taken those principles and has worked out that that really is true. So I think positive thinking is not a small thing. I think it is actually really big and can have massive effects on our life but that has nothing to do with the word of God.
You see I can think I am going to have a great day and harness I can be a positive person in my day but it is not actually when God says something. You see God and his word are one in the beginning was the word the word was with God the word was God the same was in the beginning. The word was made flesh and tabernacled amongst us. Jesus is the word of God. If Jesus walked into this church building right now and spoken to this camera he would not have any more power than I do when I open this book and read the words of Jesus because this is the word of God not paper ink ribbon it is the word the word of God is the word of God.
So I would put it simply this way. When you are moving in positive thinking you are harnessing your own natural ability. God bless you. There is a lot of that when you are proclaiming the word of God you are harnessing the ability of the creator of heaven and earth you are aligning your words with his words. You are not choosing to call those things which are as though they were. You are saying whatever I see is real but what God says is eternal. Heaven and earth will pass away. Your word will never pass away.
Experiencing Healing Through Prayer
As it is written in Mark 16:17-18: “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Since I believe in healing theoretically or theologically but I have never seen anybody healed through my prayers am I missing something? Well I do not wish to be rude but yes you are. I mean I have seen thousands of people healed and somebody healed two or three days ago.
I think it would be my advice find yourself a good church that teaches the Bible and practices the Bible. In an earlier teaching this week I quoted the verse it says follow those who obtain promises. If you are we should have a right to be trained and mentored to follow pastors elders leaders whatever people who walk to follow those who obtain the promises and we it is one thing we should read the Bible and then especially as younger believers we should have examples of those who are doing these things that we can learn we can follow we can be trained we can be corrected.
So often especially in terms of healing I have found that people are operating in good faith but not in faith and simply praying kind of asking God God would you please come and heal this person? Then from the lack of experience they derive theology they end up inventing excuses to explain away why something is not happening based on what they are seeing or more importantly what they are not seeing. So yes it is a good question and to say but pray about it as well Lord who are the people that I can follow? Who can I learn from? Some people you can learn from parts of their life but not from others. So I would say as a younger Christian you have a right to see that happen in the life.
Balancing Character and Power
As it is written in 2 Timothy 3:5: “having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” You said that seeking God’s power is not immature but in my church we are taught to focus on character and not power who is right. So the kind of character versus power question. Let me give you two quick perspectives on this. At some level I agree. If I have to make the choice of focusing on the character of Jesus versus the power of Jesus I would rather have the character of Jesus but it is a false choice.
Nobody will get into heaven because they moved in the power of God. But actually nobody will get into heaven because of their amazing character. It will be because they were born again. In a way God’s plan for our life is not that we would develop good character. God’s plan for our life is that we would be born again. We were dead in trespasses and sins. We come to Christ and we are born as new people. Then we step into a new identity. For the rest of our lives to a greater or lesser degree we are placed with the challenge of practicing the new man putting on the new man of walking in newness of life.
I have received newness of life then I need to walk in newness of life. The Bible says walk worthy of the one who called you worthy. So in Christ God has called me worthy. I need to call me worthy. Then I need to practice that and learn to walk worthy of it. So our character is a really important thing when it is the outworking of new creation not when it is me just trying to be a good person. But my main point would be to this. I think it is a false choice a false dichotomy and a choice that the Bible never puts before us.
We do not have to choose between the character of Jesus and the power of Jesus. We get to have both and we need both and we need to show the world both. There are times in your daily walk where what is required of you what is needed to be seen is the character of Jesus. Do you remember the little bangles they used to have like a bracelet in the 90s WWJD what would Jesus do? If you are working in a gas station and they hand you too much change then you return that $100 bill back that they thought was a $1 bill or whatever and they have just seen the character of Jesus. That is maybe what they needed to see in the moment.
If you are working in a gas station and you have got a splitting headache that will not go away and somebody says how is your day going and you are honest and you tell them and they pray and bang you are set free you receive what you needed. You did not need to see godly character. You needed to see the power of Jesus. We need both and with love and respect to your church or anybody I am sure they are sincere but they may be sincerely wrong. It is not a biblical choice to try to offer people you need to choose one and not choose the other. You need both. I would actually suggest to you that it is a character fault and failing when we tell people to ignore the power of Jesus and place something else. We need both. We really do. Both and not either or.
These questions highlight the practical side of living by God’s promises—discerning trials identifying faith blocks proclaiming the Word pursuing healing and embracing both character and power. When we press into the heart of God through the Holy Spirit we find the wisdom to navigate each one.
Selah.
Scriptures for Study
James 1:2-3, Hebrews 4:12, Hebrews 4:2, Mark 16:17-18, 2 Timothy 3:5, Romans 8:22, Hosea 4:6, 2 Corinthians 4:17, James 1:5, John 16:8, Mark 4:15, Mark 4:17, Proverbs 27:6, Hebrews 4:9-10, Romans 8:1, Matthew 4:4, John 1:1, John 1:14, Matthew 24:35, Romans 4:17, James 5:16, Hebrews 13:7, Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 3:10, Ephesians 4:1
10 Questions for Reflection
- What types of suffering have you experienced and how might asking the Holy Spirit clarify their origin?
- How can you recognize when a trial is testing the Word deposited in you?
- In what areas of your faith do past wounds or lack of knowledge seem to block progress?
- What expectations reveal the true state of your faith in a specific promise?
- How does proclaiming the Word differ from positive thinking in your daily life?
- When have you aligned your words with God’s Word rather than your circumstances?
- What steps can you take to find mentors who obtain promises like healing?
- How might operating in good faith but not true faith affect your prayers for the sick?
- Where in your walk do you need more of Jesus’ character or more of His power?
- How can embracing both character and power change how you represent Christ to others?
