Your faith is your opportunities. All you can do after you have become a believer is the expression of your real faith. We all love this story from (Acts 3:6) — «Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you!» I have faith for your healing! This verse tells us tells that Peter and John gave all they had. Let’s speak about our opportunities as believers. Where do they come from, where they go to, and on whom they depend?
We often hear: «I can do everything in Jesus, who gives me strength!» or «There is nothing impossible to God!». And these are really the words of God. This is a good proclamation and confession of our faith. But we must put on weight our real opportunities: what we have and what our faith can do. Many believers have good and right intentions, which are coming from God. Many have realized the will of God for them for today, and what they must do, but regrettably they do so little, and their good intentions don’t go too far. Why does it happen? We do have everything — the Word of God, and the Spirit of God. But we are still lacking something. It seems we haven’t realized many things as we must. It’s evident that after we have been saved, our worldly wisdom and experience can no longer produce the former results. Why? Because another laws come into force: the spiritual laws. These laws that are working by our faith, or because of our faith.
EXAMPLE: the spiritual world is like a big supermarket, full of different goods: your prosperity, healing, your chance to get something from God, etc. But everything this has its price. It’s all very simple: first you pay, and then you get it (these are the laws and rules of the spiritual world). Your currency if your faith, based on the Word of God. Sometimes we see such a picture: just imagine you are in a car saloon, with 5 dollars in your pocket, and you are pleading the managers to sell you a new Mercedes. What will happen? They’ll send you to a psychiatrist. Then why do we want to get everything for free in the Kingdom of God? We pray just once: «O Lord, send Your workers to your field and cover the face of all the earth!» And then we put all responsibility for that on God. (We think: «There is nothing impossible for God!») .In reality, God can do only what your faith allows Him to do, and as for His opportunities — just leave Him alone. He has done everything what depended on Him, now is the time of your faith and your devotion. Regrettably, but sometimes people of the world are making fun of us, calling us «proclaimers», because the things we are proclaiming (including the Word of God) don’t become a reality in this life. Proclamation or revelation must only give a push to our real actions. Nothing happens without real actions.
Our maturity is our ability to pay the price of our faith for the sake of peoples’ salvation and the will of God in our own lives. In the beginning people are «burning» for God, and they are full of energy, but when they face the enemy who is fiercely opposing them, they say: «This is not my business», or «This is not my calling» or «Is this the will of God for me?» — to put it shortly, people refuse to fight in faith for their calling. I wish to help people, but I have nothing. I asked people from my parish: «When are you going to thank God by devoting your whole life to His purposes?» And they answered: «You are a pastor, but I am not! I was not called for that!» It’s hard for me to realize: do we believe the same God? Do we read the same Gospel? Or is it just that somebody doesn’t want to live by faith for His purposes? I met the believers who had faith. But they used it only for their own purposes and the result was a «zero». Only them were saved, but nobody else.
What do usually people mean by faith?
That is, we don’t see in these proclamations the real purposes and intentions of God! Problems and circumstances are just a good test for our faith, but not its final goal. Our final goal is to do His will in our life, and to fulfill the purpose which He put for our own life.
You must realize the there is a part which God does, but there is apart which we must do. Let’s discard all our illusions — we have to pay the price for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Your faith is your life saver, and is the power that God gives you to come through harsh times and severe obstacles. It’s not the power to live a luxury life. Faith is given to us with a special purpose. God didn’t come to your life in order to make you rich and prosperous. He does everything according to His own purposes — the purposes of the Gospel. And you MUST become an instrument in His hands, not just a wondering pilgrim, who is now saved, and who is using his faith to fight life challenges, and just waiting for a time of a sudden rapture to Heavens. For example, I go wherever I want to, for all the doors are opened to me, according to my faith. You must know ,that both faith and salvation have come to your life not for your own purposes, not for your dreams or lustful wishes, but for His purposes.The faith you’ve got for His purposes always has the price to pay. One sister came to me and told: «I want to build a church, but I have no money. What should I do?» I asked her: «What do you have?» She said: «A plot of land». I told her: «Sell your land and start fulfilling this vision from God using your faith». Naturally, it didn’t go beyond her dreams.. and it’s a pity. She wanted to leave this plot of land as a heritage to her grandchildren. Even the sinners are ready to pay for their dreams, but our Father promised us much more, than this — He promised Heavens to us.
Look, you faith means that you can do something at this very moment, it’s not what you would do if God gave you something. This is not faith; «What I have I give you!» Let’s live without illusions. We are the hands of God on earth. If the spreading of the Good News depended only on the opportunities of God, then we would have long ago been in our Heavenly dwellings. But the time is coming when the hell with all its demons (because it’s overcrowded, no spare places) will call out to Christians: devote yourself to God and to His will in your lives!!! Amen!
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