The Power of Faith

Faith is the central theme for Christianity. We have not seen Christ first hand nor do we see other than through nature, events, or others God. Faith is the center point for our every day lives. This shows in the way that we live our lives. Those who live by Faith make God a focus in their every day lives, believing and understanding that He is the ultimate purpose for our lives. Those who choose not to live by faith go through a constant cycle of slight success to ultimate failure. They run a cycle of trying to do the right thing and punishing themselves when they cannot meet the standard. They live in a cycle of trying to please God and doing things that they think please God. They feel a constant pressure of not meeting the standard. Today we will explore how Faith has the power to set our lives free. Do you want to finally experience a life with no stress and anxiety? No sense of failure? Faith has the key to relieve those feelings. To see a full scope of how Faith sets us free we must first look at the Laws curse.

Preparation of Faith

Matthew 14:22–25 ESV

22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.

Have you ever been in a place of preparing someone for a test or being prepared yourself? My son started public school this year and as apart of that in preparation for his tests his teachers send homework with him and we are there to help. This preparation is never a very fun process. This preparation causes him to cry, me to cry. He gets frustrated I get frustrated. It is a very tough task. It is tough for him because he is learning something he has never done before and it is tough on me because I am trying to google math answers without him seeing it. Preparation is a large part of our every day lives. You prepare to come to church, you prepare to go to work, you prepare your food for the day. Some of us have to prepare to walk as it is not as easy a task as it once was. Preparation is a large part of our every day lives. Preparation is also a part of God’s plans for our lives. Jesus in this scripture knew exactly what He was sending the disciples into. Jesus was not surprised to find that there was a storm that the disciples would run into, this was the plan. Jesus wanted the disciples to find a situation that they could not control. Do you ever find yourself in situations that seem out of control, like there is no way you are going to win? We all do and this is because our lives are not a surprise to God.

Psalm 57:2 ESV

2 I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

You see God is not surprised at anything that we run into. God plans our lives and is intimately involved in our every day. This is particularly hard when we are going through the death of a loved one, financial ruin, or physical difficulties to see the God has a plan in this. It is difficult to see that God allows things to happen to us to prepare us for His blessing. You are in preparation for your faith daily. God is preparing you for His rescue. You see Jesus continuously placed the disciples in these situations and it was intentional so they would reach a place where they finally understood that they must rely on God for their strength. We are being prepared today for God’s plans in our lives, just as the disciples were. But God does not stop at the preparation, He continues on to the Practice of Faith.

The Practice of Faith

Matthew 14:25–29 ESV

25 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” 28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.

In those tough moments when our lives feel like they are sinking that is when we must cry our. We must turn our eyes towards Heaven, turn our Hearts towards God. The disciples were fearful of dying from the storm then they believed to see a ghost and it says they cried out. Jesus heard their cry and told them not to worry because He was right there. When Peter heard the voice of Jesus he was ready to walk in faith on a truly uncertain ground. As a matter of fact it was no ground at all but an ocean. Peter was willing to do the impossible when he took heart and understood it was Jesus. How are you practicing your faith? When the tough choices are placed in front of you and you have to make a choice to follow God or stay in the boat. Are you prepared to take that step in Faith? What if that means losing everything? What if it means giving up your life?

Chip and Joanna Gaines are two amazing people. They have spent their lives flipping and designing homes. They ended up being so successful that TLC created a series called fixer upper that chronicled their success. As Chip and Joanna found their stride on TV they realized that they were limited on following through with the things that they saw God calling for in their lives and they were limited on how they could share their faith on a national network like TLC. Chip and Joanna made the tough and scary decision to leave TLC and to set up their own network. They were gambling their entire financial success on the network. But you see they would not be the ones building this network, it was bound to be a success not because of them but because they understood that if Jesus called them out on the water He would keep them above the water.

2 Timothy 2:13 ESV

13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV

13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

2 Thessalonians 3:3 ESV

3 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.

1 John 1:9 ESV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Deuteronomy 7:9 ESV

9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

You see we must practice our Faith in the understanding that God will keep His Word to us. The preparation designed by God for our faith should lead us to the practice of our faith, and ultimately leads to the purpose of our faith.

The Purpose of Faith

Matthew 14:30–33 ESV

30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

The purpose of our Faith is to lead us to the Worship of our God. I am convinced that any song can be felt to the heart of man when we are acting in faith in our lives. I hear people talk about wanting live guitar, wanting more modern music that helps them feel the worship experience. Can I tell you that if you are living Faith every day the music wont matter to you, simply being able to sing praises to our God will be enough to put you in that surrounded feeling that so many seek through the”worship experience” Can I tell you that Ken’s job is not to suit your needs? Do we all understand that? Ken is not here to make us feel good singing. Ken’s job here as the music minister is to honor God with our songs. When Ken is working on a worship service he is looking to reach the heart of God. To sing to the king, to raise our voices. Worship is to be an exciting proclamation of our love for a God who rescues us. The ultimate purpose of following through with faith is to being about the worship of our king. How about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? What did their faith lead too?

Daniel 3:28 ESV

28 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.

Faith leads to true worship. God prepares us for our faith by sending us into situations in our lives where we cannot depend on ourselves. He then calls us to follow through with our faith in trusting Him to be who He says He is, and He saves us like only He can for the purpose of our Faith which is to worship Him. There have been and will be situations in my life that only God can fix, these situations should not lead me to a point of despair but to a point of turning them over to the one God who can handle my problems and it will always lead to me worshipping God.