Obstacles to Faith
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A summery of the importance of Faith
A summery of the importance of Faith
We need faith to please God
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.
3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
38 Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”
The scripture make it clear that inorder to please God one has to have faith.
The lack of faith is displeasing God.
The people of God in the OT, like the patriachs were people of faith and therefore pleased God.
We need faith to get anything from God.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
If you want to recieve anything from God, you have to have faith
20 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
21 And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”
22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.
23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Faith is key to receive anything from the Lord
Faith is important for spiritual warfare
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
Notice the “Above all”
If a soldier has every other components of his armor except a shield. No matter how good he is with the sword, he is not going to last long.
If you dont have a sword but have a shield, you won’t be able to kill the enemy but he won’t be able to kill you either.
So as an emeny my target is going to be on the shield, To get it of you somehow so that you will be vulnerable to my attacks.
This is why Satan is always after our faith.
31 And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.
32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”
The enemy wants our faith to fail, and he will use all kinds of schemes to destroy our faith. he knows that if he gets our faith they he can take us out.
12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;
inorder for us to depart from the leaving God the enemy must turn our believeing heart to an unbelieving.
Therefore we got to keep our faith, guard our faith and be wary of the schemes the enemy uses to destroy or hinder our faith,
Things that will hinder your faith
Things that will hinder your faith
1. Fear
1. Fear
Matthew 14:23–33 (NKJV)
23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.
24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.
25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.
26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.
27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”
28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”
31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. (is Jesus in your boat)
33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
Notice that the othre desciples what kept them inside their boat is fear.
The enemy first and foremost will try to keep you from even starting a journey of faith by paralzying you with fear and keeping you in what is familiar.
If you manage to overcome fear and step out by faith and begin to go towards the calling of Christ, then he will used the wind and the storm to instill fear inside your heart, so although you started full of faith, now you slowly begin to doubt as a result you sink into depression and anxiouty and weakness.
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
We have to cast out fear from our lives, from our hearts and minds and homes.
8 “But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, The descendants of Abraham My friend.
9 You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its farthest regions, And said to you, ‘You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away:
10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
11 “Behold, all those who were incensed against you Shall be ashamed and disgraced; They shall be as nothing, And those who strive with you shall perish.
12 You shall seek them and not find them— Those who contended with you. Those who war against you Shall be as nothing, As a nonexistent thing.
13 For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’
14 “Fear not, you worm Jacob, You men of Israel! I will help you,” says the Lord And your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Tell your neighbour fear not,
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
2. Worldy wisdom
2. Worldy wisdom
1 Corinthians 1:18–31 (NKJV)
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—
31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”
18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”;
20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
21 Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours:
In God’s eyes in his Kindgom, the wisdom of this world is foolish in the eyes of God.
It pleased God that through the hearing of faith by the preaching of the word for people to know him rather than through the wisdom of the World.
If you become wise in this world and earn all kinds of degree, it will benefit you in the world, but in the Kingdom of God instead of benefiting you, it can actually hinder you.
It can cause you to see the things of God as foolishness or it can hinder you from living out the word of God by faith.
Jesus made the widsom of this world foolishness
He broke the laws of biology,
He was concieved of a virgin,
He made th lame walk, the blind see and deaf hear. restore withered hand.
He broke the law of chemistry
he turned water to wine
He broke the law of economics
he fed 5000 people with just 5 loafs of bread and 2 fishes
He broke the law of physics.
he walked and water
he ascended to heaven
He broke the law of nature
he raised people from the dead and he himslef rose from the dead
All of the above knowledge attained from the world is foolishness when it come to the kingdom of God.
It will hinder you from believeing in God.
the servants had to ignore their knowledge of chemistry to act on the words of Jesus
The desciples had to ignore their knowledge in economics to feed the 5000 thousands
Peter had to ignore the his knowledge of physics and the law of gravity fro him to walk to Jesus by faith.
The wisdom of this world can hinder your faith.
16 But Jesus called them to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.
17 Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”
We have to humble ourselves become like little children to enter the Kindgom of God, or else we will reject it as foolishness by being decieved by the wisdom of this world
3. Growth
3. Growth
We may have been called while we were poor, but it is not God’s will to stay poor, the lord will bless us like he did to Abraham
2 Look to Abraham your father, And to Sarah who bore you; For I called him alone, And blessed him and increased him.”
We may have been called when we were simple minded, but God’s will is not for us to stay simple minded but eventually grow in wisdom and knowledge.
We may have been called a people without (an aptitude) any kind of skill and ability, but it is not God’s will for us to stay unskilled without ability, God will train our hands to be skillfull.
17 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you by the way you should go.
What the enemy does
He will slowly try to shift your faith from being on God to being on the things you attian as you grow in God.
The enemy know that he has no chance at destrorying your or your faith as longs as your faith is in God.
Because There is no one more wiser, more power full, full of riches that God.
However, when he shifts your faith to what you have attained as you grow in God, he will be able to destroy you because he are bound to face an obstacle that is much more wiser, stronger than you.
King Saul and his army
The condition of the King and his soldier at the time of the battle was dire
22 So it came about, on the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan. But they were found with Saul and Jonathan his son.
They went out to fight an army which was numerous as the sand of the sea shore and with 30, 000 chariots without any sword or spear.
The people used their plowshare, their mattocks, the forks and axes .
They were compolete amutere fighters.
However their faith was in God, not in what they have
6 Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few.”
Jonathan and his armour bearer believing in God decide to attack the enemy and God gives them victory,
God created a confusion in the camp of the philistine by sending in an earthquake and they began to fight each other and multitudes of the soldiers began to melt away and israel went in to the spoils.
The army grows
the army can now make weapons, the solders are trained and armed in warfare.
They know how to use a bow and arrow, they knw excellent swordsmen and know how to use a shield
They were strong
1 Samuel 14:52 (NKJV)
52 Now there was fierce war with the Philistines all the days of Saul. And when Saul saw any strong man or any valiant man, he took him for himself.
They did not realise that, as they grew valiant in battle, they allowed the enemy to slowly shift their faith from being in God to being in the swords, spears, bows and the strong men that were among them.
Once the enemy had done that he placed before them, an obstacle, one of his soldiers who was more stronger, more skilled than they were before them. When they saw him their faith was shiprecked.
Their mentality is revealed in KIng Saul response to David request to fight goliath
33 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”
David did not put his faith in himself nor in his slingshot. He put his faith in the God of Israel. He knew what God was about to teach his people that day, so he said:
46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
47 Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”
Sometimes God has to take us back to the days of slingshots , to the days of plowshares, and forks and axes as battle weapons. To remind us that it he that gives us the victory not the things that we have.
David was carefull not to shifthi faith from being on God to being on thet things he attains as he grew in God.
34 He teaches my hands to make war, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
God taught his hand to be strong to the point that he could bend a bow of bronze
He became an expert in fighting with swords and throwing spears
But his faith always remained totally in God
6 For I will not trust in my bow, Nor shall my sword save me.
7 But You have saved us from our enemies, And have put to shame those who hated us.
His faith was on God.
Where is your faith?
Conclusion
Let us pray that our faith does not waver
Let us pray that God today will remove every snare that the enemy has laid to shipwreck our faith.
Let us cast away our fear , let us put aside our worldy wisdom and like little children beleive God.
Let us belief him for miracles, let us belief him for deliverence, let us belief him for salvation and breakthrough.