The Refute is Here

Faith

Recently I wrote an article that flowed from a broken heart over the recent loss of a dear friend of mine. I stated there were simply sometimes that God does things we do not understand and it is impossible for us to understand. I went on a rampage about how God is not like a formula and we cannot use Him as such. I wrote I was a little comforted by the fact a friend had reminded me, “The Lord giveth and taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” I was pretty upset when I wrote that article (I wrote it the evening of the day she passed away) so I knew I was going to say things I did not mean, but at that point, I didn’t care.

All that to say this: Maybe I’m easily persuaded (I’m getting better though), but I’m writing this to refute most of what I wrote in that article.

Thank God for Starbucks. And thank God for friends. I found myself at Starbucks with my dear friend Amriel on Thursday night. I knew we were going to hang out and I knew this topic of faith and God and healing and such was bound to come up (and if it didn’t, I was going to bring it up.) Amy is the kind of person I can talk to about anything and tell her everything I’m thinking and as much as she may disagree (or agree,) she’ll listen and then speak God’s Word to me. She isn’t bound to a doctrine some church came up with…she just wants to know Jesus and His power. And she wants to make that known to people. She’s the one who challenges me and gives me hope that I can someday be like her. =P

I’ve grown up in the church where divine healing is taught and/or preached. That God has already purchased healing through Jesus Christ for His people and all that is required to do is to accept that gift (just like people accept the gift of salvation.) And I’ve always believed that because, number 1, from my reading and studying of Scripture, it is very much Biblical. My conversation with Amy on Thursday only reinforced that much more than before. And number 2, I’ve seen it take place. I’ve seen it in my own, personal life. I’ve seen it with my family, my friends and I’ve definitely heard many many stories about it (once again, Amy was sure to tell me many.)

Jesus never refused to heal anyone he met. If they wanted healing from Him, He gave it to them—as long as they had faith. The only time the Bible says Jesus did not heal people was in His own hometown of Nazareth where He marveled at their lack of belief! And if Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, He is still that kind of God…despite what happened last week or what happens whenever a person does not receive their healing. According to Scripture, all believers have already been healed (1 Peter 2:24-“…by his wounds you have been healed.” Note that, originally, in Isaiah 53:5, it states, “…by his wounds we are healed.”) Once Christ died on the cross for us and was raised up, we have healing. It has been given to us. It is only for us to accept now. Just like when Christ died on the cross and rose again the world was given salvation. But it’s up to the people in the world to accept that gift.

Since yesterday morning at about 5:50, Hebrews 11 has been laid on my heart. Of course, we all know it is the “faith” chapter. It discusses what faith is and what people in the past exercised the faith that pleases God. And because I don’t just like to read a portion of Scripture and take it ‘as-is’, Hebrews 10 and 12 have also been of great benefit to me. Just think about these verses:

Hebrews 10:21-“let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith…”

Hebrews 10:23-“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

Hebrews 10:38-39-“But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.”

Hebrews 11:1-“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.”

Hebrews 11:2-“This is what the ancients were commended for.”

I love this one! I always have skipped over this verse because it seems a tad bit irrelevant and definitely not “new.” I’m all about changing the methods we use to get the message of Christ across to the culture we live in today so whenever I hear anything about “tradition” or “ancient” or “old times” my brain just kicks off. But seriously, if the ancients were commended for having the faith mentioned in Heb. 11:1, I want that kind of faith.

Hebrews 11:6-“And without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

Hebrews 11:11-“By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.”

When we see a promise in Scripture, do we take it as truth because He who made it is faithful? Or do we simply say we believe the promise until we see it actually happen?? No, we must believe because it is true and God is faithful to keep His Word.

Hebrews 11:23,27-“By faith Moses’ parents…were not afraid…By faith he left Egypt, not fearing…”

In both those verses faith is mentioned right along side not being afraid, not doubting that God would hold up His end of the deal all the time.

Hebrews 11:30-“who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised…”

Hebrews 12:2-“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…”

Jesus Christ, the Most Captivating Man Ever, is not only the Author of my faith—the one who started it all, but He is the Perfecter of my faith—He will help me to make my faith solid so it does not waiver

Those are amazing statements on faith. What I failed to realize the past week was that God, although not a formula God, He is a God of order. He, thankfully, set up a way for people to have a relationship with Him. That way is through faith (by grace, of course. Ephesians 2:8-9.) If we do not have faith, we can’t please Him. The problem I had the past week was that I was thinking, “If things go against God’s Word because of people’s lack of faith, God is not loving.” But how many times have I told a calvinistic-minded person, “How can you say everything is up to God?! That leaves no room for true love.” So I was really confused, but reading God’s Word on faith and listening to Amy talk to me about faith and how we, as believers, should exercise our faith has changed everything for me.

As much as I love books about being relevant to our culture, being a “new” kind of Christian or whatever, I had forgotten the difference the books about faith and certain books of the Bible and God’s Word had made in my life. They were the ones that gave me more revelation into God’s Word itself and that began to transform my life.

I have, unfortunately, exchanged God’s Power, His Word and His faithfulness for cultural relevance and trying to be a “cool” Christian. However, I do not think the past several months I have been researching how to be relevant and up-to-date on this Christianity thing have been in vain. I think they have helped me to understand more about Jesus and the way He lived His life. And I now understand way more about social justice and the importance of giving people hope and love. But in that, I now devote myself to knowing God more so I can make Him known in all His fullness.

Faith. It’s interesting stuff I sometimes don’t understand. But I think the next two books I’m going to read are by Smith Wigglesworth on faith. Do I sound like I’m going back to the traditional stuff? Do I sound like I’m going back to the “old” way of being a Christian? Perhaps it sounds like that. But this is going to push me forward into more of God and His power and therefore be able to make Him known in a better way. I can’t wait. It’ll be fun.

A Note:
This is a refute to the article I wrote last week (Why??) It is NOT a refute against anything I said about Rachel. Rachel was amazingness and I miss her so much. This is just a refute against my questioning God's faithfulness to His Word.  His Word always stands and always 'works.'

WHY??

Urg. Y'know?

Today has been a freakin hard day, I'm not gonna lie. I felt a sadness that I haven't felt in so long. I could feel it in my eyes and I could see it when I looked in the mirror...

We believed. I believed. We prayed. We woke up in the middle of the night quoting God's promises back to Him that he was supposed to heal Rachel....There was no doubt in our prayers. I had my questions, of course but no, it wasn't doubt.

I've been taught that our God is a God that follows this little list that's called, "DO THIS AND YOU'LL GET THIS EVERYTIME." And it's a fake list. It's not real. It's not true...at least in my, or Rachel's reality it's not. Don't get me wrong, I know Rachel is having a blast and is much better off than we are but I'm shaken up that this formula I've been taught all my life doesn't work. Not that I ever liked formulas when it came to God. I always thought formulas were for math and science...not a relationship with the Most Captivating Man Ever. How did we ever come up with the idea we could contain Him in a formula?

I still believe God is a God of love and compassion, kindnesss and grace, peace and joy...He's wonderful. But if what I've been taught all my life is true, there are only 2 conclusions that can be come to: 1.) God is a liar, or 2.) We didn't have 'enough' faith. And I can't find either one of those things to be true. There has to be another option. God is mysterious and beautiful. He cannot be contained in our boundaries. As hard as it is to take on a day like today, Dave reminded me: "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." His name is still blessed. And I will bless it. But God it still hurts. And it would hurt worse if it was even closer to home than it is...I can't imagine.

I miss Rachel. I miss her sweet spirit (although she constantly made fun of me. =P) I miss her servant attitude that always kicked me in the butt cause she loved to serve...in the small and the big, and sometimes I only like to serve in the big. I miss her smile. Her joy. Her love. Her compassion.

So here's to you, Rachel....live it up and make fun of us while we're still down here. =) I love you dearly and I can't wait to be with you where you are. Thanks for all you've done for me. I love you.

God of compassion and the Father of all comfort, be with Rachel's family tonight. Be with her close friend's tonight too, and through the coming days. I can't imagine what it'd be like...speak to them. And let the Spirit of Comfort give the peace only You can give. I love you, Abba. So be it.

Anyone? Anyone at all?

I would LOVE a massage right now. My shoulders have been hurting all evening. And massaging them myself just isn't cutting it. But unfortunately, I'm home and everyone is asleep. =P I guess I'll have to live. 

I feel fat. haha. I've eaten way too many cookies today and pretty much just sat around. I need to exercise on a consistent basis to stay healthy and all.

Okay, that's about it. Sorry this wasn't an edifying post. I just wanted to update.

Get to know the most captivating Man ever...Jesus.

Live and love deeply.
Meghan

The Language of the Church by Matt McDonald

I did not write this and I am not taking credit for this. Matt McDonald wrote this and I got it off of www.relevantmagazine.com It takes a good look at how we have viewed church for so long...."both" sides (the 'old' and 'new')...but there are way more than 2 sides. Engage.

One of my favorite “what-ifs” is to ask the question, “What if God had chosen to make the sky purple instead of blue, and the grass orange instead of green?” People’s first response is always, “That would be weird.” But the truth is, it wouldn’t be weird because we’d never know the difference.

Only recently did I realize that the order of the letters in the alphabet, “A, B, C, D, E, F, G …” is an arbitrary order. It’s not like numbers, where the order is necessary to convey value. No, the order of the alphabet holds no effect on the way the letters work. For whatever reason, our letters were put in that order and now that makes them easy for us to learn and remember, but the alphabet could just as easily begin with F and end with Q with any combination of the other 24 that you like stuck in the middle.

Growing up in church, I always had certain beliefs and understandings about Christianity. I always believed that preachers wore suits, had gold watches and smelled funny. I always believed that hymns were especially sacred. I always believed that preachers had to talk in a certain cadence. I believed that it was rude and probably sinful to sit when everyone else was standing. I believed that the words preachers used to describe God, and the way they talked about things concerning God, was the only way to talk about Him. I believed that it was probably sinful to not like a Christian song, or not like a hymn or to have bad feelings towards anything that happened in the church. I grew up learning what I understood to be the language of Christianity.

As I grew up, I started to rethink this, but it only lead to other problems. I started to learn a new language. It was a language that included cooler speakers who told jokes and praise songs played by bands that were pretty good for the most part and always better than the hymns (which I still felt bad about not liking). It included a lot of games and Christian t-shirts. There were a lot of really fun, excited people with too much energy doing really annoying things that they thought were funny. A lot of open sharing was encouraged, and these people talked about things like drugs and sex and peer pressure—stuff the other preachers didn’t touch. And there were these things called “camps” where we would go to learn about all of this stuff. They were a lot of fun, for sure, but they taught me another language.

Then there was this thing called “worship” that everybody started talking about. There was this idea of worship that I had never seen before. Often—almost always—this worship involved music. We were taught to worship with music without it being made clear exactly what worship was. I thought that God obviously talked to people through this music, and I wondered more than once why he didn’t say a whole lot to me when I listened to it. They taught us to raise our hands, to kneel down, to use words like “broken” and “holy” and “mighty” a lot. They taught us how to pray cool prayers using those words. They taught us that we didn’t have to say things like “thee” and “thou” when we prayed. And we ate a lot of pizza.

So at different points in my life, these are the things that I equated with being a Christian. I thought that Christians had to do these things in order to be in God’s will. It never occurred to me what Christianity in Zimbabwe might look like, where they don’t have lights and sound. It never even occurred to me what it might look like in England, or Mexico, or even Canada. I thought that these things I did were required of me as a believer in Christ, and so by that rationale, I thought that to dislike these things, or to find them to not be effective meant that I was not doing what God wanted me to do.

I have another favorite “what if.” If a person is born blind, having never seen anything in their life, how do you explain color to them? Having never seen anything, the word “blue” would be meaningless to them. “Shade,” “hue,” “darkness,” “light,”—none of these things could be communicated to someone who has never seen anything. They would have no point of reference for understanding such concepts.

That person who was not raised in a church environment—that person who grew up in a world where God did not exist and Jesus was never an option—what do they see when they come to Christ? When they find Jesus, when they experience salvation, what do they associate with it? They surely don’t see church. They don’t hear church language and quote church slogans and catchphrases. “Holy,” “hallelujah,” “glory,”—these words might have no meaning to them. How do the blind see Jesus?

However it is, that is what I want. God existed before church did. I want to see what He looks like without looking through the lens of a well-crafted service or message. But to truly do that at this point in my walk would take more than a strong-willed mind. I would have to rewrite the language that I have learned. For us to see God that way, we would have to stop talking about Him the way we do and start doing things differently

I wrote a new article on my Reality of the Unseen blogspot.

Check it out, it's called, "To Church With Being Blunt"

http://realityoftheunseen.blogspot.com

Live and love deeply.

Committed to the Revolution,
Meghan Fife