FAITH BEYOND THE TEST, PART 2

Romans chapter 1








Today we are walking in: Faith Beyond The Test Part 2












Proverbs 20:6



Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful H529 man who can find?





FAITH





Today we look to the word FAITH-- H529- emuwn--faithfulness, trusting, faithful









The Torah testifies...............


Deuteronomy 32:20



And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith H529











The prophets proclaim..................



Habakkuk 2:4



Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith H529.







The writings bear witness............

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CHAPTER EIGHT

FAITH BEYOND THE TEST, PART 2

“Faith makes things possible, not easy.”

—Author Unknown

Faith

is vital to life in the Kingdom of God, just as vital as food,

water, and currency are for life on earth. We need food

and water to sustain our physical life, and we need currency—

money—in order to buy what we need. Remember that faith is the

currency of God’s kingdom, and we cannot transact Kingdom

business without it. This is why Scripture says, “The righteous will

live by faith” (Rom. 1:17b). Kingdom faith—faith in Christ—is our

spiritual food, water, and currency. After all, Jesus Christ is the

“Bread of life” (John 6:35). He is the source of “living water” (John

7:38). Faith in Him (kingdom currency) gives us unlimited access to

the riches and resources of Heaven, because “Everything is possible

for him who believes” (Mark 9:23b).

So are you rich, or are you poor? In any country, poor people are

those who have little or no currency. They also have little power or

in

more currency you have, the more you can do; greater is the

in

can make. This is why many wealthy people become

philanthropists, endowing foundations and establishing charitable

organizations. They feel a moral obligation to give something back

to society, to use their money for good. Faith has this same value to

our lives as Kingdom citizens. We cannot live in the Kingdomwithout faith any more than we can live in our earthly country

without money.How Good Is Your Currency?

Wealth is measured by the value of one’s currency. If a

government’s currency loses its value, it doesn’t matter how much

of it anyone possesses. In the years immediately following World

War I, the economy of Germany collapsed. The value of the German

mark took a nosedive. Formerly a

themselves penniless as the thousands or even millions of marks in

their possession were not even worth the paper they were printed

on. In our own day, something similar has been happening in the

nation of Zimbabwe.

The source of our wealth determines the quality of our wealth. It

is the same with faith. The source of our faith determines the quality of

our faith. In other words, our faith is only as valuable as the

dependability of its source. If our faith is in money, then our faith

will last only as long as our money lasts. Some people have killed

themselves after su

led to loss of faith, which led to loss of hope. Without hope, they felt

life was not worth living. When the test came, they failed because

they had anchored their faith in an undependable source.

What is the source of your faith? In whom or in what do you

trust? Is your source dependable? Will it endure the tests of time

and beyond? The quality of your faith is only as good as the quality

of its source, so make sure you have the right source.

Faith always requires an object: something or someone to believe

in. The object of our faith determines the quantity, or size, of our faith.

The size of our faith can never exceed the size of its object. If we

desire faith with unlimited potential, we need an object with

unlimited capability in which (or whom) to place our faith.

Currently we are in the midst of a worldwide economic recession.

Millions of people have lost their homes, their jobs, their life

savings. Businesses have downsized or declared bankruptcy. Banks

have failed. Many homeowners with subprime mortgages havedefaulted on their payments sending mortgage companies into deep




levels of society. Why? Because the very thing most people assumed

they could trust—the economic structure of society, including the

stock market and the banking system—has proven to be not as

dependable as they thought. If the foundation is shaken, anything

resting on that foundation will be shaken. This is why we must

anchor our faith in something that cannot be shaken.

Security is one of the basic common needs of all people. We all

long for a sense of security in life, the con

our life on something we can depend on. Our faith is only as secure as

the object of our faith. Don’t put your faith in a job; jobs can go

away. Don’t put your faith in a bank; banks can fail. Don’t put your

faith in government; governments can change. Don’t put your faith

in a pastor; he will disappoint you eventually in some way or

another. Don’t put your faith in signs, wonders, or miracles; they

are temporary.

I learned a lesson many years ago that has carried me through

many di

you didn’t expect. King David the psalmist said, “In you, O Lord, I

put my trust; let me never be ashamed; deliver me in Your righteousness”

(Ps. 31:1 NKJV). David learned that the only reliable object of faith

was the Lord God. People fail and things pass away; only God is

eternal and unchanging. Although trust between people is vital for

successful relationships, we should never place our ultimate trust in

another person. God alone is worthy of our faith. Our faith is only as

secure as the object of our faith. Put your faith in God and you will

never be disappointed.

Similarly, the stability of our faith is determined by the stability of its

object. In other words, if the object of our faith is stable, our faith

will be stable; if the object is wobbly, our faith will be wobbly as

well. And wobbly faith will collapse in the face of crisis. In recent

months we have watched as millions of people worldwide who

placed their trust in the supposedly rock-solid

had their faith severely shaken. No institutions of humankind aredependable as the source or object of our faith. We must look

beyond the natural to

illustration of all regarding the importance of a stable foundation for

building a stable faith that survives testing:

Why do you call me,

“Lord, Lord,” and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like

who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a

house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a

struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my

words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without

a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was

complete (Luke 6:46-49).

The stability of our faith depends on the stability of its object, its

foundation. Kingdom faith means that we dig “down deep” and lay

the foundation of our faith on Christ, the “Rock.” That way, when

the storms of life and the torrents of trials assault us, we will stand

as strong and as unshakeable as the Rock upon whom we are built.

What is your faith in? Upon what (or whom) have you built your

faith? Have you established your faith on an unshakeable

foundation? Jesus said, “Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22). God is

absolutely trustworthy and thoroughly stable. He is the same

yesterday, today, and forever (see Heb. 13:8). With Him there is no

shadow of turning (see James 1:17). God is stable. God is solid. God

is forever. And so are all who put their trust in Him.An Unshakeable Kingdom

Nations come and go. Empires rise and fall. But the Kingdom of

Heaven is eternal, ever present, ever stable, and absolutely

unlimited in wealth and power. The only way we can escape the

unstable and transitory nature of life in this world is to be linked by

faith to God’s unshakeable kingdom. Scripture says,

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and

enduring word of God. For, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the




the word that was preached to you (1 Peter 1:23-25).

This world and everything in it are perishable; they will one day

pass away. But the Kingdom of God will remain. Kingdom faith has

the same staying power because it is anchored in the King of

creation who cannot be shaken. From that place of safety, security,

and stability, not even the most taxing tests of life can dislodge us.

On the contrary, trials and tests serve to strengthen and purify our

belief. The strength and depth of our faith are proven by the tests

we survive and the obstacles we overcome.

The turmoil in our world, whether war, economic downturn,

moral decay, social unrest, political upheaval, or whatever, should

not upset our spiritual balance or rob us of peace. We are merely

witnessing the shaking of things that are only temporary anyway.

Our hope—our certainty—is built on an unshakeable Kingdom.

Knowledge of this truth should

thanksgiving. As the writer of Hebrews puts it:

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You

have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the




spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the

sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused Him

who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from Him who warns us

from heaven? At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised,

“Once more I

will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the

removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may

remain.

Therefore, since we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so

worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming

12:22-29).

Anything created can be shaken so don’t trust in it. Is your car a

created thing? Is your house a created thing? What about your job?

Your bank account? All of these are created things; therefore, you

could lose them. God could shake them and take them away. Then

what would you have left? God loves us and wants us to trust Him.

In fact, He loves us so much that He will shake what we have if that

is what is necessary to get us to stop trusting in ourselves or our

possessions and instead to place our faith in what cannot be shaken.

And the only thing that cannot be shaken is God.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we live in an unshakeable Kingdom.

We are citizens of a realm that will never fall, never go bankrupt,

never go through a depression, never experience famine, or poverty,

or disease, or disaster, or setbacks of any kind. We experience these

kinds of things while in this world because while here on earth we

are living in foreign territory; our true home is elsewhere. The King

is hard at work expanding His heavenly realm into the earthly

sphere, reclaiming territory lost when satan usurped power from

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

We are the King’s ambassadors on this mission. Our hearts should

be full of joy and thanksgiving when He blesses us with a little bit of

Heaven on earth: personal stability in an unstable world and perfect

peace while turmoil is all around us. But our peace and stability are

not based on the things we have, which can blow away with thewind. We have peace and stability because our hearts are at rest in

Him and no other.

Hebrews 12:28 says that we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot

be shaken, not that we will receive it. It is ours right now. We are

receiving a government, a lifestyle, a culture, an entire society that

cannot be shaken. When we live as we are supposed to live—by

unshakeable Kingdom faith—the rest of the world will take note and

wonder how we can be so calm, so cool, and so con

gone crazy. And they will want what we have. As I have said many,

many times before, everybody is looking for the kingdom; many

people just don’t realize it yet. They know they are looking for

something, but don’t know what it is. People all over the world are

desperate for something to believe in, somewhere to put their trust,

something that will bring peace, stability, balance, order, and

meaning to their lives. Only the Kingdom of God can

Kingdom faith is not afraid of anything because it is founded on

that which can never fail or be defeated. People everywhere have

been worn down by the world. Beaten up, broken down, battered by

disease and disaster, torn apart by grief and loss, many of the

world’s people pass their days in lives that seem utterly hopeless.

They long to believe in something that works, something that will

bring them victory in life instead of defeat, something that will

enable them to overcome the world. They need to see us, people of

Kingdom faith, people whose faith will not fail no matter what we

face. Then they will know that the Kingdom of God is real and that

it works.Trust in the Creator

The biggest problem with the religions and philosophies of man—

their fatal weakness—is that they consider the natural world as the

ultimate extent of reality. Throughout human history most people

have followed religions that worship created things as gods—

birds, cats, bulls, trees, water, and just about anything else—rather

than the Creator who made them. Kingdom faith, in contrast,

worships the Creator, not His creations. This is in keeping with

God’s will and desire when He declared, “You shall have no other

gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of

anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them” (Exod. 20:3-5a).

We humans have an almost irresistible tendency to trust in the

tangible—those things we can perceive with our senses, things we

can see and touch. But appearances can be deceiving, and matters

do not always turn out the way we expect. Wise King Solomon had

this to say: “I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to

the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or

wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance

happen to them all” (Eccles. 9:11). While this may sound fatalistic,

Solomon’s point is that apart from God, nothing in this world is

certain. And that is why we should never place our faith in the

things of this world. King David certainly understood this, as

evidenced by his words: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Ps. 20:7).

To understand David’s perspective, we must travel back in time

3,000 years. In those days, any victorious general needed at least

two things: horses and chariots. Why? Because they were key

elements in one of the main modes of

slow, but chariot troops could move quickly to

enemy. Without them, an army faced almost certain defeat. David

was a brave and skilled warrior and the leader of warriors. He

certainly understood the value of chariots and horses to his militarystrength. Yet he plainly stated that he did not trust in them, but in

the Lord. David knew that his victories depended not on his military

might and prowess, but on the Lord’s favor. As long as he remained

faithful, he could count on God to bring him victory.

Gideon learned the same truth. He defeated an entire army of

Midianites with 300 men armed only with torches and clay jars.

How did he do it? He trusted in God and followed God’s

instructions. It was the same with Moses and the Israelites at the

Red Sea. With the pursuing Egyptian army behind them and the sea

before them, they had no path of retreat and faced certain

annihilation. Then Moses raised his sta

parted the sea, and the Israelites crossed over on dry ground. When

the Egyptians came after them, God brought the waters together

again, and the Egyptians drowned in the sea. This just goes to show,

as I said before, that no matter how hopeless matters seem, we

never know the truth about the situation until we see it from God’s

perspective.

David said, “I don’t trust in horses and chariots. My faith is in the

God who made the horse. My faith is in the God who made the

wood and the metal from which the chariots are constructed. Even if

the chariots fail, I still have the God of the chariots.” Is it any

wonder that David won so many battles? David was the most

successful king in the history of kings. The secret of his success was

that he never trusted the soldiers or the swords, the horses or the

chariots. Instead, he prayed to God and committed himself, his

army, and the outcome of the battle into God’s hands. Win or lose,

he trusted God. It is because of this character quality of faith in

David that the Bible describes him as a man after God’s own heart.

Where is your faith? Put your faith in God. Don’t trust in your

spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, family, business, job, school, or bank

account. Whatever happens today or tomorrow or the next day

doesn’t matter; with God as your hope, you win—guaranteed. If

God is for you, who can be against you?Faith Through the Good and the Bad

Kingdom faith is belief in the big picture of God rather than in the

daily details of life. Job’s wife did not understand this. She had no

clue as to the bigger picture from God’s viewpoint. All she saw was

that her once healthy and wealthy husband was now sick and

destitute, and she concluded that faith doesn’t work. This is why she

told her husband to “curse God and die.” In e

“It’s useless to follow God; look at where it got you. Why don’t you

just kill yourself and get it over with.” Keep in mind that she was

married to a man the Bible describes as the most righteous man in

the whole land. She lived with a man who prayed every day, fasted,

paid his tithes, and lived a blameless and upright life. Now, after

losing their children and all their worldly wealth, Job was covered

with painful sores and boils. For someone whose faith was limited to

only what she could see with her eyes, it was only natural for her to

conclude that serving God was pointless.

Job’s answer is timeless: “Shall we accept good from God, and not

trouble?” (Job 2:10b). That simple question reveals a world of

insight about the sovereignty of God. God is God, no matter what. In

good times or bad, God is God. Job’s attitude was, “Once I was rich;

now I am poor. Once I had much; now I have nothing. Once I was

healthy; now I am sick. Everything I had the Lord gave me, and if

He wants them back, He can have them. I love God with money or

without. I will serve God with wealth or without. I will trust God in

sickness or in health.”

This is the essence of Kingdom faith. Kingdom faith inspires the

heart to sing with complete conviction, “Through many dangers,

toils, and snares I have already come; ’tis grace hath brought me

safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.” Faith enables us to go

through the dangers, toils, and snares; faith empowers us to face

either good or bad times with equal balance; faith ensures that God

will give us the grace to endure all tests and come out shining

brightly on the other side.“Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” What a

statement! But we have to de

God’s perspective may not be good from ours. It all depends on

what serves God’s greater purpose. “Good” may mean a

furnace as it did for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It may

mean a lions’ den as it did for Daniel. It may mean a cross as it did

for Christ. It may mean a stoning as it did for Stephen. It may mean

beatings, a shipwreck, imprisonment, and a martyr’s death as it did

for Paul. It may mean exile as it did for John on the island of

Patmos. All of these things were “good” in God’s eyes because they

served His purpose. In each case of trial and hardship, He was

glori

earth.

Our God is bigger than any trouble we will ever face. Job loss?

God is bigger. Financial reversal? God is bigger. A loved one

addicted to drugs or alcohol? God is bigger. A child in prison? God

is bigger. No rent money? God is bigger. Cancer? God is bigger.

With Kingdom faith we can handle trouble because trouble is always

temporary. No test will come our way that God will not equip us to

face; there is no burden that He will not give us the grace to bear.

The question we must answer: Do we trust Him? Do we trust in His

unfailing love? Do we believe that everything He allows into our

lives is for our good and His glory?

Job 2:10 says that throughout all his su

not sin in what he said.” Some have accused Job of being negative.

But in acknowledging that we receive bad in life as well as good,

Job wasn’t being negative; he was being honest. What’s the

di

it is unpleasant. Negativity is attacking God and blaming Him for

everything that goes wrong. There is a tremendous amount of

negativity in our world today and precious little honesty, even

among believers. Like Job, we need to learn how to take good or

bad, blessings or trouble, and accept them equally as part of God’s

program to bring us to strength and maturity. Our faith must be

bigger than good or bad.Some people cannot survive success. That is why God may reduce

us to bankruptcy before He gives us plenty. And then if we forget

Him, He may reduce us to bankruptcy again to remind us that we

used to be bankrupt. God is more concerned with our character than

He is with our coins. He can give us anything He wants, but He

can’t give us character. We have to develop character through tests

and trials.Rehearsing Our Faith

One way to build faith with character is to rehearse our faith. By

this I mean taking the time to think through or “rehearse” how we

would respond to God in the face of various worst-case scenarios. If

your house burned down, how would you respond? If your spouse

or one of your children died, how would you respond? Rehearsing

our faith helps us evaluate the various elements of our lives in

comparison to our relationship with God and discover that in the

end nothing is more important than faith.

Job’s faith survived severe testing because he had spent

considerable time rehearsing it. Listen to what he said: “What I

feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. I have no

peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil” (Job 3:25-26).

The disasters that befell Job are the very things he feared would

happen one day. This means that he had considered the possibility

more than once. He dreaded the thought of losing everything and

going through su

even for one who feared God. Then when the feared disaster came,

it brought turmoil into his life, robbing him of peace and rest.

Notice, however, that it did not rob him of his faith. This is because

in rehearsing his faith—in considering worst-case scenarios—Job

realized that in good or bad, in disaster or in blessing, in plenty or

in want, God was still God and was worthy of worship. Job

concluded that nothing that could happen in his life would warrant

abandonment of his faith.

How often have you feared the worst? How much thought have

you given to how you would respond to the arrival of tragedy in

your life? Many believers who have been taught to expect only

good, prosperity, and blessings in their lives with God are

devastated when something bad happens. Sometimes their faith is

shattered because they are unprepared for trials and hardships.

Their lopsided faith has no room for it.Pondering the possibility of severe trials and setbacks is neither

negative nor unhealthy unless it progresses to a paralyzing and

obsessive fear. Preparing ahead for trouble is a sign of maturity. In

fact, a key operating principle for Kingdom faith could be: “Expect

the best and prepare for the worst.” This is a wise course of action,

as Scripture attests: “A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but

the simple keep going and su

trouble today will help mitigate its e

Rehearsing your faith means checking to make sure that your

faith is in God rather than in the things He has given you, just in

case the things are shaken. Do you believe in God only because He

has blessed you? Do you de

promotions, the advancements, the prosperity…or does it also

include the furnaces and the lions’ dens?

God promised Abraham, “I will bless you with a son,” but that

blessing included a 25-year wait for a man who was already 75

years old. That may not sound like much of a blessing to us, raised

as we are in a culture that demands everything right now. God’s

de

thoughts are not our thoughts or our ways His ways (see Isa. 55:8).

Abraham’s blessing was not only his son Isaac. It was also 25 years

of believing God for the promise—25 years of faith growing in

maturity and depth. If Isaac had been born nine months after the

promise, we would have nothing to learn from Abraham. What

made Abraham the “father of faith” was 25 years of patient waiting

for God’s promise to be ful

package: a 25-year wait, followed by a 9-month pregnancy,

culminating in the birth of a miracle baby. And through it all,

Abraham grew into a man of unshakeable faith.

Whatever you are going through right now is going to bene

other people who are observing you. Stand

of testing, and they will say, “You know, I’ve been watching you

from a distance, and I can’t believe how steady you have been

through all of this. I know what you’ve been going through on your

job. I know what they have been doing to you. I said to myself, ‘Hetrusts in God; let’s see how God works now.’ I can’t believe you

remained steady all that time under such pressure! You’ve shown

me that faith in God works. Teach me that faith.”

And that becomes your witness.

Is your life in turmoil? Are trials and tribulations robbing you of

peace and quiet and rest? God has not abandoned you. He may

simply be shaking your life to see where your faith is, and, more

importantly, so that you can see where your faith is. Can you have

faith in the absence of peace? Can you remain stable when

everything around you is shaking? You can, but only by examining

your faith to make sure it is anchored in the right place: not in

things, but in the Creator God who is King and Lord of all.

Kingdom faith is unconditional faith. It doesn’t depend on what

happens or what doesn’t happen. It doesn’t rise or fall on the basis

of blessings or lack of blessings. Kingdom faith does not say, “God,

I’ll love You if You do this for me,” or, “Lord, I’ll serve You if You

do that for me.” No, Kingdom faith says, “Lord, I will love You and

serve You no matter what.” This was the attitude in Job’s heart

when he said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him; I will surely

defend my ways to His face. Indeed, this will turn out for my

deliverance” (Job 13:15-16a). Even in the midst of his troubles, Job’s

faith gave him hope of coming out triumphant on the other side. He

also knew that faith was his only hope, which is why he said, “I will

trust in the Lord, even if He kills me.” In trusting God, Job had

nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Job’s steadfast faith paid o

God blessed him with twice as much as he had before. And here we

see another key principle of Kingdom faith: Kingdom faith will always

be rewarded. It may take a while to see it—Abraham waited 25 years

—but it will come. The reward may or may not be material in

nature; God may not bless you with great wealth or material

prosperity. But keep the faith; run the race;

the Lord will establish your steps. He will guard your way and guide

your path. He will lead you into a life of grace, power, meaning, andpurpose, a life of ful

your destiny as a child of God and a citizen of His Kingdom.

Kingdom Principles

The source of our faith determines the quality of our faith.

The object of our faith determines the quantity, or size, of our faith.

Our faith is only as secure as the object of our faith.

The stability of our faith is determined by the stability of its object.

Kingdom faith is belief in the big picture of God rather than in the daily details of life.

Kingdom faith will always be rewarded.