“The Fight of Faith”
Proverbs 3:5-6: God doesn’t desire for us to understand everything He desires that we trust Him.
• Trust is Faith.
• @robalancollins: “Fear and feelings can be fatal to faith.”
• @keithcraft: “Faith is believing God’s way is best.”
Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:7 that he had fought the good fight of faith and because of that there was a crown of righteousness awaiting him in heaven. Heaven is the ultimate reward for those who have kept the faith and have believed. Faith is a fight worth fighting and it has great rewards. The greatest battle in regard to faith is trusting God in spite of what you may see or feel in this present moment. Fear and pride are unwanted companions that attack trust. Fear causes us to lag behind and pride causes us to run ahead. I believe that God wants us to trust Him and to keep the faith by keeping in step with Him, not lagging behind or moving ahead. You must have faith that God is with you and that He is fighting for you!
Joshua 10 tells us how Joshua defeated the enemy armies because God was with him. It also tells how he prayed and the sun stood still, as well as the moon. But, there were 5 kings who ran and and hid in a cave. (vs. 16-27) Those kings were: 1. King of Jerusalem 2. King of Hebron 3. King of Jamath 4. King of Lacish 5. King of Eglon. Kings rule – but these kings hid. These 5 kings represent what tries to rule from a hidden state, instead of from a public authority or dominion. They were hiding out waiting to defeat Joshua at just the right time. When Joshua had the kings brought out of the cave he had his soldiers put their foot on the neck of each king. Sometimes you have to take authority over what is trying to take authority over you. There were 5 kings who had dominion, but instead they hid in a cave. We do the same things at times. We allow those things that are hidden, rule us.
We have 5 senses and those senses can control us at times if we let them. They hide out in the caverns and caves of our soul waiting for just the right time to defeat us. Our 5 senses are used to help us determine what is going on in our world. God gave us our senses for a reason, but when we are controlled by our senses rather than our faith in God – they will rule us, and ultimately defeat us. Just like the 5 kings in the cave! Kings rule. And we must decide whether we are going to be ruled by the 5 kings of our senses or by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords of our life and faith! The five kings are our flesh, not our faith, they are our senses, not our Savoir. These kings can be what we: 1)See. 2)Hear. 3) Smell. 4) Taste. 5) Touch. You can’t always trust your feelings! You can’t always trust your senses! But, you can trust God and you can put your faith in Him, because He is faithful
1. Are you controlled by what you Smell? (something smells funny)
God’s desire is that when you go through something you don’t come out smelling like it: The 3 Hebrew Children in Daniel 3- “didn’t even smell like smoke.” They were thrown in the fire bound, but what bound them was burnt up. They came through the fire better – not bitter! If we are going to come through fires and trails of life and not smell like it, we are going to have not allow how we feel dictate how we respond. Nonetheless, here’s the good news: God steps into the areas of our life that stinks, even if you feel like it’s too late. In Luke 11 Mary and Martha said, “It’s too late our brother Lazarus stinketh!” But, Jesus called him forth and he lived! You may need to put your foot on the neck of something that doesn’t quite smell right, something that stinks and declare in faith: “This situation may stink, but that doesn’t stop God and with Him all things are possible and it is never too late!
2. Are you controlled by what you Touch (Feel)? (Feelings…)
God desires for you to be moved by Him not just what you feel. “Don’t be so touchy”- refers to the fallacy of your feelings that sometimes misunderstand and reacts in an impulsive way to situations. In Genesis 27 Jacob went to his father pretending to be Esau. His father said, “Come here so I can touch you.” Then he said, “You sound like Jacob, but you feel like Esau.” Isaac trusted what he had felt, over what he had heard. Romans 10:27 says, “Faith comes by hearing.” You may have to put your foot on the neck of how you feel and declare: “It’s not all about how I feel, it’s about what I know and I know whom I’ve believed in and I’m persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him until that day!”
3. Are you controlled by what you See? (seeing is believing)
God wants you to see His face above what you are faced with. Sight can be a powerful king that controls you through your senses. However, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. In Genesis37 Jacob was old when his sons brought him the coat they he had made for Joseph. It had been stripped from Joseph when they threw him in the pit. It was torn apart and splattered with blood. This shows it is possible to put faith in a lie. Jacob believed Joseph was dead when in fact he was very much alive and in a position to bless his family in their time of need. Jacob lived all those years in grief because he believed a lie. What are you believing? In 2Kings 6, Elisha prayed and asked for their eyes of his servant to be opened so that he could see the host of angel armies that were surrounding them – the angels surrounding them were more than the enemies that they were facing. You may need to to put your foot on the neck of what you see and declare: “God, above everything I see – help me to see you, first and foremost!”
4. Are you controlled by what you Hear? (I heard that.)
God wants you to hear His voice above the voice of everything else. The scripture tells us to: “Be still and know that I am God.” Elisha heard the sound of rain in the midst of famine. There are many voices that need silenced: 1. The voice of self. 2. The voice of others. 3. The voice of the devil. 4. The voice of doubt. and 5. The voice of fear. You may need to put your foot on the neck of what you hear and declare: “God help me to hear you above all of the other voices and noises that are keeping me from hearing you!”
5. What do you Taste? (taste and see that the Lord is good)
Don’t allow life to leave a bitter taste in your mouth. Don’t allow life to make you cynical and bitter. You may need to put your foot on the neck of what you taste and declare: “God is good all the time. And, all though I have reason to be disappointed, I refuse to allow life to leave me stale, sour or bitter. That’s because I have tasted of the Lord and He is good!”
The problem with our senses is sometimes we can’t trust them. In life we are not meant to understand everything, but it is God’s desire that we trust Him in spite of what we: 1. Smell. 2. Touch. 3. See. 4. Hear and 5. Taste. Trust is faith! Our senses will try to rule us and rob us of our faith. They hide out in the caverns and caves of our souls and wait for the opportune time to defeat us. Nonetheless, we are victorious as we put our faith in God and declare and believe that His way is best. Don’t lag behind in fear or step ahead in pride. Just trust God and stay in faith. You can trust Him, because He is faithful!
