Faith Matters

Faith Matters ~ Episode 283

How important is faith in your life? For many, faith matters to a lesser degree than it should. In this episode, Felice explores the importance of staying vigilant in our walk with the Lord and how to shore up our resolve in times of weakness.

You may enjoy these podcasts:

1. Spiritual Sandpaper
2. Prayer Text
3. Glory and Praise Forever

Have you seen t-shirts, signs, mugs, and even Christmas decorations with the words “Believe” on them? This seems like a good thing, but is it? What do we believe? What do they believe? There are some false prophets out there who talk new-age nonsense, and that is something we should avoid.

Quickly, the new age is a hack of real faith. Some of it sounds good; for example, you should have “love, joy, and peace” in your life. But then it gets wacky and says things like, you should do what your heart tells you, you should do what you feel like doing, whatever feels good, do it. It further gets into the use of “spiritualism,” involving transcendental meditation, reincarnation, the use of crystals, and other strange occult practices. That, my friends, is a recipe for disaster. The new age is entrenched in the occult.

All the more reason, we should be aware of what we believe and shore up our faith in the truth. The real God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. If faith is important, answer the following:

1. Why do you care about faith?
2. Why do you worship?
3. Why do you work at doing what is right?

What do we really believe? In a study my daughter did in her classroom at a Christian school, she asked her students if they could tell her their denomination (if any) and what they believed. Many could not clearly articulate their beliefs, and so their assignment was to go home and discuss it with their parents. It is amazing that we can attend church regularly, Bible studies, and other prayer groups, yet when asked, it is difficult to define our beliefs clearly.

Sure, faith matters, but if we don’t know what we believe, that could be part of the problem. We want to put on the armor of Christ, Ephesians 6:10-18 which begins, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. …

We should spend some time thinking about what we believe and make prayer a priority. Why? Because when strife or adversity comes into our lives, we must be prepared. It typically goes one of two ways. When adversity hits, we either become more committed in our faith or question God with the “Why me?”

Many of us fall into the downward spiral of self-pity, and that is difficult to get out of; we’ve all been there. I just visited the cemetery today to put flowers on the gravesite of my parents, and I still miss them. The stark realization when I look beside their gravesite is the bench that has my last name etched with special scripture verses we picked out. In the end, I am reminded each time I visit the grave site death is inevitable.

This is why faith matters to me! I want to evangelize and share the good news, and I can do this today with you. It is no accident you tuned in to this episode today, even if you are a subscriber to my podcast. God wants to do an amazing work in your life. You may have felt called for some time, and that is wonderful. It begins with you understanding your faith walk and why it matters so that you can explain it to someone else in this hurting world.

Before we can evangelize, we must be disciplined. I heard an exorcist share on YouTube that the main reason that we are attacked by the evil one is because we lack elementary spiritual discipline. He talks about how most people can’t tell themselves no. They do not have self control in their lives to continually say no to temptation. I think I talked about this video, and some of you may be curious and want to listen on your own. Even if you are not Catholic, it is worth giving the video the 55 minutes it takes to watch. The video, which is the second of a three-part series, this one is titled Obstacles to Prayer and Holiness here

As we live our lives, we must give evidence to the truth that we are striving for holiness, but holiness only comes with blessings from God. As Christians, faith matters, but so does honesty, integrity, and doing what is right. A friend of mine’s husband was a born-again Christian, he led a men’s Bible Group at breakfast, yet that didn’t stop him from leaving his wife and children for someone else. Faith matters not only in our proclamation of faith, “Jesus I believe in you! I love you! I want to follow your will!” it means dying to self and taking up the daily cross and following Him.

Faith begins with the understanding that Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, came into this world as our Savior, died for our sins, and rose on the third day. He conquered sin and death. He did it for you and for me. That should make us rejoice!

The only place to go is forward. Do not look at the past; look to today and the only place to go is to Jesus. Don’t walk, run! We can become distracted by the things of this world, and to that, we say, “Get behind me, Satan, in the name of Jesus!” By focusing on the eternal, by putting our trust in God, by looking at the good that is in our lives (look carefully, those of you who doubt; it is there), and rejoicing in everything. Remember, everything in our lives does not go unnoticed by the Almighty. God gives us the tools we need for sanctity. Remember that he has armed us (think back at the beginning of this podcast, put on the Armor of God). He has armed and equipped us and it is up to us to allow him to work out the conflicts in our lives so that we can flourish in that peace that surpasses all understanding.

While we should pray, “God give me a new heart!” We read in Ezekiel 11:19  I will give them one[a] heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,

A heart that hungers for the Lord, a heart that hungers for righteousness and goodness, a heart that wants to be used by God to minister to this hurting world. Amen! Dear friends, it isn’t easy, but our faith should be the most important thing in our lives. Everything else will pass, but our faith redeems and gives us a chance at everlasting life.

In the next podcast, I will share with you the miracles in the lives of believers today and how we can enjoy the fullness of life as Christians all year long!

The challenge this week is to live out our faith; if we are not sure what we believe, research and think about it! Then, pray and strive today to walk closer to our Lord.

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