This Thing Called Faith. 

While praying for my brother I was talking to God about the covenant of our fathers and mothers and grandparents. Remembering my maternal grandmother's prayers in her last few years for each of her seven children, their spouses and children, as we shared a room and she presumed me asleep. I started telling God how I don't believe in the blessing from and of people anymore because of experience and history. From inside my spirit, His Spirit spoke, " Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Faith is conceived at intimacy with God. Great faith comes from great intimacy with God. Jesus knew this and as a man, He spend great amounts of time with God alone. You cannot be intimate, open and honest in trust with someone if the two of you are never together alone. David became the person he was because of the years alone with God behind the sheep.

I have to hear to see. Seeing is never a prerequisite of faith, but hearing is. Faith is a substance of things unseen, and if you believe you will see God. Seeing is revelation. Revelation is the result or outcome or culmination of faith not the cause of it. If we believe we will see. If we believe we will receive. If we believe we will....

Mystery is part of who God is. We can only know Him by revelation. Revelation comes from the Holy Spirit. There is NO revelation without the Holy Spirit and that requires faith. You have to faith it to let the Holy Spirit teach you.

Faith, believe, comes from hearing the living, "now" word of God. That is why Jesus said, "Those who have ears let them hear" and not those who have eyes let them see. With words God created the universe and with words we preach in such a way that people believe. Words, living words, "now" words, spoken in faith, which in turn brings revelation.
Faith comes from "hearing" not having heard. We need a fresh word. Jesus was constantly in communion with the Father. A fresh word from the Father infuse us with faith. - Faith is the currency of the Kingdom -

Seeking to see in order to believe is creating a horse-behind-the-cart situation. We walk by faith and not by sight 2 Cor 5 v 7. Faith comes from the Rhema - living, alive, spoken by a voice - Holy Spirit-inspired, word that has the power to create, by growing like a seed - the seed of Mark 4 and Luke 4. There is an internal faith that comes from hearing. This faith is the kind that grows inside of us and brings the God of Heaven here to the earth. True faith, authentic faith does come from hearing and it becomes an inward reality.

Untill now I believed that it was okay if people's faith comes from miracles, healings, signs and wonders but I now understand that this is why the multitude left Jesus. Their faith was a seeing faith. The substance was not there. Seeing faith is external faith. It is faith that you do not own. It makes people run from event to event, trying to see a new thing and basically being entertained. This kind of faith does not last. It has no more substance than the emotional high or low we get from a Holywood movie. It needs to be kept amazed and in wonder. It makes the poor pastor work hard to keep them interested and it gave birth to the "seeker sensitive" idea.

Those that have faith that comes by the living word of God, have an internal, lasting, growing faith. This is the kind of faith that is able to save, sanctify and reveal God to us and through us. This faith will transform our inward man daily untill we also glow with His Divine presence and carry with us the aroma that brings change.

Where I see no evidence in my experience or history of the value of human blessing... Where I saw the flaw of the human factor... Where people's blessing meant pain... God says, "Have faith, when there is no evidence that can be seen." Faith is the substance when the facts or history shows no substance. Have Faith!

Tempted by the Devil 
Jesus was tempted by the Devil, would we escape?

After forty days and forty nights fasting in the wilderness Jesus was hungry. It is a legitimate need and not in itself sin. But the tempter used this need for a springboard for his attack. We all have legitimate needs. The need for safety, love, food, sex, companionship, adventure and entertainment and more. All these are God given needs that is part of being human. In itself there is nothing wrong with any of these. Yet it may become the opening the enemy use for attack.

The tempter came near to Him. He could not attack from a distance. It had to be close combat. As close as it possibly could. We learn two things from this statement. The enemy is not omnipresent and when those closest to us are acting in a way that we know this is out of their nature and norm, remember that our wrestling is not against flesh and blood. Remember that in order for us to be tempted as our Master it will be close combat and that as we wrestle that we have to separate the person from the attack.

Lets consider the tempter's attacks on our Savior.

First attack was on His identity as the Son of God. Identity is always the first target. It was with Adam and Eve. " Who are you and who is your God?" On our identity hinges our confidence, faith, security and trust. If you know who you are you have confidence and security. If they know who you are they will have faith and trust. The question of identity is always foundational. To believe in Jesus Christ is to believe in His true identity: He is the Son of God who came as man to rectify all that was wrong with man, so that we could become acceptable to God the Father.

Identity carries a measure of authority. If I am the Queen of England my authority will match the position. If I am a son of God my authority will match this identity.

Identity also includes destiny. You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not stand against it and I will give you the keys... As a child of God I am destined to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven

Jesus did not ignore the attack but spoke to it with the authority of God's word. The second part of the first attack was to tempt Jesus to proof His identity by going against the spirit of His nature. His nature was to sacrifice Himself and give. Now He was tempted to use His anointing and authority for self serving purposes; to fulfill a legitimate need, yet, this is the hook of the temptation: Self or others.
He chose to focus on the spiritual and not this earthly needs but that which is eternal. He lifted His vision higher and locked unto that which cannot be shaken.

For the second attack the Devil actually take the Son of God. He, Jesus, the one of all authority is being taken by the Devil. He is captured and taken somewhere, where he did not mean to go but He let the Devil take Him. Jesus is taken by the Devil.
The Place of the second attack shows us that the Devil understood something about God that most of the church are still ignorant of. God cares about places. This city is God's favorite. He loves this place.

The Devil take Jesus to a place He loved and are familiar and comfortable with. You'd think that Jesus would have home court advantage. Just because the Devil take us to a place we know and are secure in does not mean that we are safe. Watch out when you are taken to a place of intimacy, security and "warm fuzzies" and it was not by God's doing.

The attack is inherently the same as the first one. The hook is slightly differently baited. The attack is still His identity: If you are the Son of God. The hook is not a legitimate need anymore. Now it is a right out challenge to look and sound right for the wrong reasons. To proof yourself the Son of God throw yourself down. And now the devil reveals himself as a quick learner. He quotes scripture. Speaking God's word and trying to sound like God is a trick he does with much effectiveness. Making you do something that even looks like your mission. Jesus did come to sacrifice himself. Yet in it is also revealed that God cares about the time and method. It matters how and when His will is done.

Jesus comes back with a relational answer quoted from the scriptures. It is the best answer. Tempting God by doing something stupid and presumptuous has more christians in trouble than outright sin. We jump and hope God will send His angels to catch us. We have very little discernment and not enough relationship to notice that the scripture quoted to us was not from God's Holy Spirit but an impostor pretending to be Him.
Jesus' come-back was basic and solid. Follow the temptation to the last ripple. See the last and final affect and see if it will first honor and glorify God. Then if it will affect and how will it effect the relationship between you and God. And then also what will be the ultimate result. What will it accomplish? What would it accomplish if Jesus jumped and was caught or not?

The third attack leaves Jesus again in the control of the Devil who takes Him to a high mountain. Now he shows Him the prize that is to be His. Jesus is to receive the Kingdoms of this world and their glory. That is the promise of the Father. The temptation seemed different from the first two. Now it is not cloaked or subtle. It is as direct as a knife at your throat.

The Devil just comes openly with what he wants. He declares what he wants and promise what you want. This almost sounds like a mafia offer: too good to refuse. There is so much wrong with this offer.

Reaching the desired and promised end our own way and in our own time by making a covenant with the devil in essence worships him. How do we worship the devil? Out an out- most often not. We do it by obeying him and doing things at his time and in his way and in so doing letting him be our master. See Jesus' response: Go, Satan for it is written Worship belongs to God and Him alone. Serve Him only.

This blatant but final: Who do you serve? Who gets your worship, your awe, your wonder? Where is your passion, devotion and excitement of your soul? What is it that your soul loves? What do you choose?

The other thing to consider about all three these attacks is that the temptation was the same as in Eden, to act on the word of the devil instead of the word of God. Acting on the word of God includes creative ability. His word creates. It has authority to perform and accomplish. It accomplishes it's purpose when used with faith and obedience. The word of the Devil always delivers destruction. It destroys, kills and steals. From these fruit we can learn to recognize the sound, tone and content of the Devils voice as oppose to the voice of God.