Faith does not have a stopping point.....

Many, if not most, Christians say their faith consists of believing that Jesus is the son of God and that He died for their sins and rose for their justification. Once that faith is "in place", then it is time to just get to work being "good" Christians, showing Him how thankful we are for His dying for us.

Now in Ephesians, God has told us specifically that the shield of faith shall quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. If this faith we just discussed is all that God asks us to believe, then the question we each need to answer would be--

Do I find that the promise God made to me of having every arrow of satan quenched is working? Have I found safety from the arrows of satan, free from his accusations and the condemnation he brings, impervious to the temptations he throws in my way? Am I walking in liberty or as a captive? Am I walking in the rest of God, having ceased from my own labors, or am I weary in my attempts to avoid condemnation by my own efforts?
If God's clear promise to us is not working, who is at fault, God or us? Could it be possible there is much more that our faith is to grasp for than just forgiveness? Could it be that our faith is not to reach a stopping point but that we are to believe all the amazing words of our God, even.....no, especially the ones that seem impossible?



Satan has succeeded in getting this battlefield switched over from a spiritual battle to a battle in the flesh, where our strength, our resolve, our self-control is our shield, as he knows that once faith is taken out of the equation, our defeat is sealed and even if by chance he cannot rob us of our salvation, the battle for our overcoming in this life is all but lost and at best we will be ineffective witnesses for the power of God to set others free. At worst, many will simply become the ground where the seed rooted for a while, but the cares of this life, or the persecution for the sake of the good seed came and the word died, and the end was worse than the beginning.



How we need to understand the importance of believing the words of our God, that in the end, that is all we will have, and yet, it is all that we will need.



We are in a time of peace, and yet how many are being defeated daily in their attempts to walk in victory over the lower nature. Defeat is so common among us that we have lowered the standard of God for us, that we can do all things through Him that loves us, to a walk where defeat is not ideal, but acceptable because, after all, we are only human and God understands and forgives, right? Instead of letting the word examine us, judge us, convict us, change us, we have simply altered the standard to make the ground we walk on a safe zone.



Listen, all who desire heaven as their home. Give ear to how God has ordained that we please Him. Trust in every word that proceeds out of His mouth, in the amazing promises of God, is what brings glory to Him. Faith! Is this not the lesson God has for us from the start to the finish in His word? Is this not how we become overcomers? By faith? Is this not how we endure to the end? By faith? Is this not the secret to our victory, to our walking in the rest of God, by faith?



Yet, where do we find the bride as the final days approach? Readying herself through the promises of her God to meet her Beloved, or going through half-hearted religious motions, with our hearts intertwined with the world that He came to free us from, acting as if we do not have a care in the world, with sin still a part, an accepted part of our daily routine?



Let us not be fooled anymore by the enemy of our souls who would sooth us with smooth words that we have nothing to worry about, that all is well, even though we are still captives, still bound to our lower nature and to the gratifying the lusts of our flesh that we are told our glorious God has set us free from.



In this time of peace and prosperity, if we cannot walk by faith, overcome by that faith, and find the victory, what makes us think that somehow, as the enemy comes in like a flood, we will simply rise to the occasion and defeat the enemy of our souls when in his great anger, he comes at us with everything he has?



"If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, what will you do when the horsemen get here?"


Jeremiah 12:5



Lord, may you awaken your bride to the need for our shield of faith to be up, and for us to be found pressing into ther kingdom when you come.


May you breathe on our faith so that we might see the exceeding greatness of your power that you give to those who would but believe your words. May those who have up till now walked in defeat and been found content there be filled with the desire to bring glory to you by believing your exceeding great and precious promises, and may they find the glorious libery of the children of go that you have for every sngler one of your children. May your body become fully armed asnd equipped for the war that is even now raging for our very souls and learn how to fight, not only for ourselves but for the souls of our friends, our neighbors, our children, our parents, our world. Amen.






Blessings,






Bruce