Developing Conquering Faith
Notes
Transcript
Tonight’s message, in a way, follows on the heals of this morning’s message. As I mentioned this morning, one of Christ’s goals, during His earthly ministry, was to prepare His disciples for that time when He would no longer be with them. We can see that in Mark 8:31:
And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Tonight’s message is one that I have preached before and it is from a series of messages in which I point out that we, as Christians, have five basic spiritual needs. They are:
Victory over sin
Wisdom in decision-making
Living above our circumstances
Conquering faith
Godly character
The disciples were going to need all of those things; we need all of those things. However, tonight, we are only going to focus on one:
Developing Conquering Faith
Developing Conquering Faith
How do we develop conquering faith? I’ll answer that question with this statement:
We develop conquering faith as we meditate in the providences of God.
What are providences?
The following is a good working definition:
Providences are every event and circumstance in our lives, designed and controlled by God, for His glory and our good.
Every event and circumstance in our lives...
All things that happen to a believer are providences. This is the truth of Romans 8:28.
Think, for a moment, about these events/circumstances:
Your parents
The place and time of your birth
Your gender
The color of your hair and your eyes
Designed and controlled by God...
Some events God actually plans for us and sends them into our lives. Other events He does not cause by does allow them to come into our lives for a purpose. However, whatever the case may be, you can be assured that God is in control of every aspect of the circumstances you are facing in your life. (Colossians 1:16-17)
For His glory and our good.
God is jealous over His glory; therefore, He has devised His plan in such a manner that no flesh will be able to boast or glory in His presence. All that men will be able to say in God’s presence is recorded in Revelation 4:11:
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Thus, God so designs His providences in our lives that He will be glorified, and we will be the better for them.
I would like you to see all of this in an Old Testament example (and then we’ll brake it down a little further).
Turn to and read 1 Samuel 17:32-37; 45-46.
David looked back on what the Lord had done in life previously so that he could have the faith to face the current enemy - Goliath. David’s desire in defeating Goliath was that the Lord might receive the glory!
Importance of Meditating in Providences
Importance of Meditating in Providences
How important is meditation in God’s providences?
God commands that we meditate in them.
Come, behold the works of the Lord, What desolations he hath made in the earth.
Turn to and read Psalm 66:1-6.
This is the reason many historical events are recorded in Scripture.
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
All of Scripture was written for our profit, including those historical sections which reveal God’s hand in providence.
Meditation is the only way to discover providences.
God’s power is an attribute that is obvious even to the unsaved. (Romans 1:20)
However, God’s providences are not as easily seen. God’s had is always at work, but it is not always evident. Thus, we must learn how to meditate in order to see this invisible hand.
Example: God is not mentioned in the book of Esther. However, as you meditate on that story, you begin to see the hand of God.
In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king’s gate, two of the king’s chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those which kept the door, were wroth, and sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus.
Meditation is one of the best ways to increase our faith.
We are to thoughtfully consider what God has done in the past in order to help us know and believe confidently that He will do the same for us in the present. Biblical examples abound of saints who had great faith because they had focused on what God had done in the past. I point you back to David in 1 Samuel 17:
David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.
Categories of Providences
Categories of Providences
Where do we look for providences? How can we find them? Providences can be found in four places:
Personal Providences
Contemporary Providences
Biblical Providences
Historical Providences
Personal Providences are those that have happened in your own life. One of the most exciting exercises a Christian can do is to review his entire life from birth to the present and look for the hand of God.
Contemporary Providences - Read the stories and biographies of missionaries, pastors, Christian workers, etc. God’s providences can also be seen in the lives of friends and family. You will hear many stories of “answered prayer,” “divine intervention,” “luck,” and “coincidences,” which are nothing more than the hand of God at work in the lives of your contemporaries.
Biblical Providences - God’s providences can be seen in the lives of Bible characters.
And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.
What was Elisha doing? He was saying, “God, you worked in Elijah. Now, I’m expecting you to work in my life in the same way!”
Historical Providences - As I have said before, History is “His” story. It is the story of God at work in and through the lives of mankind.
Benjamin Franklin, at our country’s Constitutional Convention, said:
“I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- that God governs in the affairs of men.”
Discovering Providences
Discovering Providences
So, how does one discover and meditate in providences?
Search Backward
Search backward into all the events in your life as Asaph did in Psalm 77.
Personal example: My father, when he retired from the Air Force, moved our family back to Central Iowa to the town of Marshalltown, Iowa. My parents enrolled me at Central Iowa Christian Academy as a 4 year old in 1978, the same year that South Charlotte Baptist Church was begun.
Sink Deeply in Meditation
Too many of us have shallow thoughts. We float like feathers on the surface of the waters but never take the time to plumb the depths. We don’t think deeply but only have surface thoughts. (Technology certainly has not helped with that!)
Elijah’s servant in 1 Kings 18:43-44 is a good example of the manner of meditating.
And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.
And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.
He kept looking until he saw the sky filled with clouds of rain. In the same way, you may look at providences once and again and see little or nothing in them, but look “seven times.” That is, meditate often and deeply upon them; and you will see their increasing glory, like the increasing clouds.
Ponder Six Areas
The Timing
The Leading Edge
The Instrument Used
The Scripture Revealed
The Character of God Revealed
“What if?”
Timing: We already saw this but, for example, Mordecai, Esther’s cousin, just “happened” to be at the gate of the palace when two men were talking about a plan to murder the king. What if he had arrived at the gate 5 minutes earlier or 5 minutes later?
Leading Edge: The leading edge that set up David’s defeat of Goliath was when his father, Jesse sent David, with a “care package,” to check on his brothers.
Instrument Used: When we pursue our meditation, we will finally see the finger of God using a stranger, a friend, an enemy or a dead battery to bring about good. Joseph’s brothers intended him harm when they lowered him into a pit and sold him to the Midianites, but God “meant it unto good.” God used the Midianites to accomplish good.
Scripture Revealed: Remember, all providences are designed to drive us to God’s Word. David wrote:
It is good for me that I have been afflicted; That I might learn thy statutes.
David’s affliction made him look to God’s Word for answers. Thus, we must apply Scripture to every event in our lives. There are promises, warnings, and instructions in the Word that apply to the events of our lives.
The Character of God: Turn to and read Isaiah 41:17-20. God wants us to know Him. One way is by looking for His character in how He works in our lives.
“What If?:” We’ve already looked at this by these kind of questioning often opens up a providence and allows us the opportunity to better see God at work in and through our lives.
Record the Providence
As you discover God’s providences in your life, write them down whether for your sake or possibly for you children’s and grandchildren’s sake.
Developing Conquering Faith
Developing Conquering Faith
Life requires faith. It takes faith to tithe, faith to trust God when we can’t understand our circumstances, faith to make decisions that will affect our future, and the list goes on! In fact, 4x the Bible says, “the just shall live by faith.”
Tonight, we have seen how we can develop conquering faith as we meditate upon the providences of God.
Turn to and read Psalm 77:2-3, 5-6, 10-12.
God never changes. As we see His hand at work in our lives and the lives of others, we can be encouraged and strengthened in our faith to press on even in the face of difficult circumstances.