Rise Up and Walk
Faith is important to Christians, because the Bible says that, “without faith it is impossible to please God.” Most Christians can quote Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The problem with most Christians is that we don’t know exactly what that means.
Faith is something we know that we need to please God, but most of us come up short in the faith department. The Bible says that if we have faith the “size of a mustard seed” we can move mountains and who doesn’t want to move mountains. I have found that the problem that most Christians have is their faith is small because of their fear of failure, the lack of experience or their fear of man. We must come to realize that success is not our responsibility, our responsibility is to obey. We cannot do the things we pray for or we wouldn’t need to be praying for them.
First let’s discuss the lack of experience. Whether that is because you are part of a group that doesn’t believe in miracles, you have never had opportunity to see a miracle or that “stuff” just isn’t for you. I will tell you that I was hit by a car when I was 17 years old and broke my back. I was paralyzed from the waist down with a x-ray showing a disc knocked out of my back. My mom got the little ladies of the church praying and 12 hours later I walked out of the hospital and have never had a residual effect from that accident, so you will never convince me that God doesn’t heal.
Second, the fear of man. This is a legitimate fear that most all of us experience at some or most of the time. The problem is that we cannot use this as an excuse to not share our faith or pray for miracles. In Acts chapter 5 there is a story of some of the apostles who are preaching the Word of God and they were arrested and thrown in jail and told to NEVER preach in the name of Jesus again. That night an angel set them free and what did they do? They went right back to the temple and began to preach. When the religious leaders heard about it they had Peter and the disciples brought back before them. Pick this up in Acts 5:27-29, 27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, 28 saying, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!”
29 But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.” So we too must settle it in our heart that we are going to obey God rather than man no matter the cost.
Third, the fear of failure. We first must recognize that it is not our responsibility to perform the miracle, it is only our responsibility to ask and have the faith that God will do the miracle so that He will receive the glory. In the West we judge success by results. We want to think it up, plan it out, do the work and see the end results. This is not the way it works in God’s kingdom. We are only responsible to obey! In God’s kingdom obedience is success. Sometimes He does ask us to do something, but he always does the work. The story in Acts chapter 3 Peter and John are going into the temple to pray, a lame beggar begs for money, then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
We all probably would have prayed for this cripple and even had faith that God could heal him. But how many of us would be like Peter and take the man by the hand and help him to his feet? Peter had to utilize his faith to access God’s power. Peter obeyed and acted in faith and God brought the results.
So depend on the Holy Spirit and He will help you overcome your fear of man, fear of failure and the lack of experience. Pray, have faith and obey God and He will use you in the kingdom. So I have to ask “Do you have rise up and walk faith?”
Working Until He Comes,
Robert
