Seem’s like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? – to work on your faith. Faith and works are opposites. The bible says that we are saved by grace, through faith, and that not of ourselves and not of our works, but it is the gift of God. So, salvation doesn’t come through the good works that we do, but through believing in Christ and receiving a gift as a child.

But there certainly is a proper place for working. Jesus said it right here in the sixth chapter of John: “labor…for the food that endures to everlasting life.” (v. 27). But this type of work is different then the type of religious work that is typically thought of when we say ‘work.’ That type of work is things like visiting the poor, and helping widows, and giving offerings, etc. These things are definitely good and we should be doing them. However, doing these things will not give us brownie points with God, and doing these things will not award us a place in heaven. No, our righteousness (i.e. our good deeds outside of Christ) are like filthy rags. True Righteousness comes through faith, and these types of good works will lay us up treasures in heaven, but will in no way reserve us a place there. I’m talking about a different type of work. I am talking about the ‘work of faith.’ Paul told the Thessalonians that he remembered their ‘work of faith’ (1 Th 1:3).

What is the work of faith? I believe that the idea of the ‘work of faith’ encompasses the development of strong faith and the great works that accompany it.

Hebrews 11 shows us all the great things that have been done through faith. Faith in God unlocks the power to move mountains and to do mighty deeds. But this kind of faith is not being manifested in the majority of God’s people. Why is that? Its because they are not working on their faith.

Faith is like a spiritual muscle. The stronger it is, the more it can accomplish. Peter was able to walk on the water using some faith, but it wasn’t strong enough to keep him up when the winds blew. Even so, we have circumstances where we are able to trust God, and others were we have caved in. God is his grace has rescued us (as he did for Peter), but he also wants us to learn and to grow so we can overcome in the future.

Faith, like a muscle, can grow. Paul said to the Thessalonians, “your faith grows exceedingly” (2 th 1:3). But if we are to grow our faith, we must feed it and work it.

Competitive fighters spend lots of time in the gym working their muscles. The gym is a safe place to work their muscles and develop them in preparation for the fight. If they only worked their muscles during the fight, they would have to lose a lot of fights in order to become stronger. But no one wants to get beat up so badly. Its the same with our faith. We must spend time working our faith in preparation for spiritual battles. If we haven’t built up our faith we will be weak, and will be defeated.

David was a man that spent hours and days working to strengthen his faith. In the wilderness, while he was tending his sheep, he would, like a champion fighter, work this spiritual muscle. God then gave him sparing matches with a lion and a bear to prepare him for his championship bout. By the time Goliath came to fight, he was strong enough in faith to take out ten men of such size. He had worked his faith and built it up!

Jude 1:20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.

But how do we work our faith? How do we build the spiritual muscle?

1- Hear the word.

When we are speaking of faith we must understand that we are speaking of faith in God. Faith in God simply means to believe what God has said. This may sound like a no brainer, but the first step to building your faith is to find out what God says. This we do by going to the word. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:17). The more we hear the word the better. And even better if we speak it out of our own mouths to our own ears. Remember what God told Joshua? “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth” (Joshua 1:8). Hear the word by your own mouth continually. This is the spiritual protein that your faith muscle requires in order to grow.

2 – Pray. And pray in the Holy Ghost.

David spent countless hours in the wilderness praying to God. The bible says that we should pray without ceasing. We should never cease in our communion with God. Even in a busy place with many people around, our hearts can secretly be speaking to the Lord. Prayer exercises spiritual muscle because it causes your relationship with God to become more real to you. It causes God to become more real to you. You get to know Him better. And the better you know someone, the more you trust them.

Jude (in Jude 20) particularly mentions praying in the Holy Ghost. What does that mean? It means to pray in tongues (see 1 co 14 and acts 2). When you speak in tongues you begin to speak mysteries in the spirit, the bible says (1 co 14:2). I know that some people are contentious with this, but I can tell you from experience that my greatest victories have come after a prolonged time in personal prayer in tongues. As Jude has said, it builds you up in your most holy faith.

3 – Praise

Romans 4:20 He (Abraham) did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.

Praise and worship is another fantastic way to build and strengthen your faith. No wonder David was so strong in faith! Praise takes your eyes off of your little self and places them on your big God. Praise is simply taking the time to speak of all the greatness of God. You can speak praise directly to Him, and you can also speak of His praise to others. God loves this! Just like you and I feel good when someone speaks of our good qualities, so does God when we speak of His. And there are so many people that God has to listen to speak evil of Him, that it is truly refreshing when someone speaks good. God is a good God and has done great things! He is worthy of our praise!

But praise is good for us as well. Like I said before, it gets our eyes off of ourselves and our inabilities, and places them on an infinite God. When we remind ourselves, through praise, of His great power and delivering hand, we build ourselves up in faith and become strong, just like Abraham.

So work on building up your faith. The stronger your faith is, the greater works you will do. The promise must be fulfilled that Jesus spoke: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” Jn 14:12

Its a fearful thing to think about a day when the books will be opened and you find yourself standing in the grand courtroom of the universe. On the judgement seat will sit the Judge of all the earth in all His splendor. All around will be peering eyes and complete silence. The book will be opened, and the events of your life, that you thought had been forgotten, will be read before you. In your resurrected state you will have a clear memory of what had happened. Every detail will race through your mind. Every point at which you made a decision will be brought to your memory. A booming voice will then thunder through the courtroom, “Explain yourself.” But you will have no answer. The inner knowledge of your guilt will condemn you. Excuses will escape you. Eyes will stare as you shake with fear. Then the gavel will fall, and the voice will say, “cast him into the outer darkness.” A deaf ear will be turned as you plead, and the hands of creatures stronger than yourself will take hold of you. Your cries of agony will be the only thing to accompany you to your eternal place of torment.

It’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the the living God. Hebrews 10:31

I don’t really like begin the type of person who always brings up the judgement of God. But I am like Paul when he says, “knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” How awful that day will be for so many.

The whole bible can be briefly summed up like this: God has commanded us to do what’s right for His glory and for the common good of man; if we don’t, we are to be punished and made an example so that others may fear. However, Jesus died as an example of God’s judgement, and therefore will extend pardons to all who identify themselves with Him, and who embrace His commands.

Recently, I watched a documentary on Wyatt Earp. In the documentary there were certain cowboys that robbed a stagecoach and murdered the driver, along with another man. The town of Tombstone was outraged and wanted these murderers caught and made examples. Why? Well, the stagecoach was the life line of the town. Without the stagecoach, the town would suffer; thus the well begin of the town would be in jeopardy. If these man were caught and punished, then others would see and fear. Would be robbers would think twice about robbing a stage coach.

But what if there was a kind, fool-hearted judge who took pity on them? What if that judge heard their pleas for mercy and let them go? Would that deter would-be robbers? I don’t think so. They would be emboldened and worry little of being caught. Only a tear-filled plea would grant their freedom.  Such a judge would be worse than the criminals themselves.  He would foster a community full of crime.

This world and this time is only a speck of what is to come. A new heavens and a new earth will replace the one that now is. Everything will be brand-new and old pains will be forgotten. What won’t be forgotten, though, is the fierce judgement that will be brought upon the wicked. Look what the Lord says that those in God’s new creation will see:

And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against me. For their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh. Isa 66:24

All those who rejected righteousness will serve as eternal examples to those who inhabit the new heavens and earth. The deterrent to sin will be great, and will bring great peace to the new earth.

But, thanks be to God, we don’t have to be that example. We can embrace the cross and have our sins blotted out.

God will not jeopardize the well being of the universe by being soft in His judgement. He will judge with a fierceness unlike any earthly judge. Woe to him who puts himself on the receiving end of that judgment. It would be better for that man never to have been born. Don’t be that person. Now, as the window of life remains open, you can escape the danger of that judgement. This loving God has provided a way of escape. Forsake your sin and believe the message of the cross. Make Jesus the master of your life. In doing so, your sins will be erased and remembered no more. No record will be kept of them in heaven, and all traces of them will be burnt up on the earth.  The day you stand before Christ in judgement will not be a fearful day for you; your eternal destiny will have been determined. You will rejoice in that day with joy that is unfathomable. All earthly pain that you suffered because of the cross will have been worth it. The eternal joys that will await you will be many.

I’m not sure how so many can believe in once-saved-always-saved in the face of so much contrary scripture. Just a simple reading of the bible produces many verses that are contrary to such a notion, including this one above.

Just off the top of my head I can think of these:

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith…(1 Timothy 4:1 NKJV)

For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. (2 Peter 2:20, 21 NKJV)

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. (Hebrews 6:4-6 NKJV)

That’s four passages by at least two different authors. Then you also have the old testament example of the many of the children of Israel that were saved out of Egypt (a type of salvation), passed through the red sea (a type of baptism), and yet they perished when they turned their hearts from the Lord. In fact, the book of Hebrews speaks much if the peril of falling back into a previous way of living and uses the children of Israel as examples of what not to do. This is also spoken about in 1 Corinthians 10:

Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:1-12 NKJV)

The reason many people believe in once-saved-always-saved is because it is the logical conclusion of faulty theology. However, logical deduction based on pet theology is not the way to study and interpret the scripture. If the scripture does not support your theology, then you need to adjust your theology – not try to explain away scriptures that disagree with it. When I come to a verse that disagrees with a theological view that I hold I ask myself a few questions:

1. Is this verse an isolated verse, or are there others that say the same thing?

2. Is there a possibility that this verse is translated incorrectly?

3. Is it possible that the meaning of the verse is different than what I read at face value?

4. Do I need to change what I believe based off of the light of this scripture?

The bible says that every word must be established by two or three witnesses (Matthew 18:15, John 8:17, 2 Corinthians 13:1). That means that if you come across an isolated bible verse that seems to be contrary to a doctrine that you hold, and you can’t seem to find any other verses, anywhere in the bible, that have the same idea, then you need not change your theological view just because of that one verse. “BUT,” someone would argue, “that one verse is the word of God!” Yes it is, but because of the limitations of our mind and learning, we could easily be understanding that verse in a different way then it was intended to be understood. Remember that Peter said that Paul’s writings were hard to understand (2 Peter 3:16). It is very dangerous to establish any doctrine off of one verse. If God wants you to believe something, He put it in there enough times so we can be sure of it.

It’s very difficult to explain away all the verses that I have presented. And I have yet to find one verse that emphatically states that once your are saved you are always saved. But don’t take my word for it. Take all of the scriptures together. View all of them together and ask the Holy Spirit how they fit together, for they surely do. READ THE BIBLE FOR YOURSELF!

I personally do not subscribe to any particular theological view. I simply believe the bible. If I come across a verse that challenges what I have been taught or what I have held as true, I allow the idea that I could be wrong. It doesn’t matter how emotionally riveting a preachers preaching has been on a particular subject. If the bible says something different, go with the bible.

Anyway, I said all that to say that I honestly can’t find once-saved-always-saved in the bible. I would have no problem believing once-saved-always-saved. I have no prejudice against the idea. If it were true I would have no trouble accepting it. I just can’t read the scripture and find it. You’d have to be looking real hard for it while ignoring lots of other scripture in order to find it.

The truth is that you can be gloriously saved and then later cast into hell if you do not continue in the goodness of God:

Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. (Romans 11:22 NKJV)

This is simple to understand. Someone may ask, “So can you lose your salvation?” Well, it depends what you mean by that question. If you mean that if a saved person trips on a shoe lace and blurts out a profanity as he tumbles to the ground; then hits his head on a rock and dies – does that person go to hell? Certainly not. However, if you allow your heart to be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin you are setting yourself up to ‘depart from the living God.’ While it is true that no one can snatch you from His hand, it is also true that he doesn’t prevent those who willingly walk away.

So be watchful, be sober. Your adversary walks about as a lion, seeking whom he made devour. Stand fast in the faith and remember the words of our Lord Jesus: “And you will be hated by all for My names sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” (Mark 13:13 NKJV)

When I read this verse I get the mental image of a drunken man stumbling into the path of a mac truck. If you saw a man stumbling, would you try to rescue him? Even if he resisted you in his drunkenness, would you persist? I hope you would. I hope you would do everything in your power to stop him from stumbling into his death.

Drunkenness is similar to the sinful state that people of the world are in. In a drunken state a person is apt to do things that a normal minded person would not do. Even so, people that are bound up in sin are under the power of sin. Remember when Paul said, “It is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”? The power of sin begins to take over and begins to draw a person towards death. James said:

“Desire when it is conceived, brings forth sin; and sin when it is full grown, brings forth death.”

Now people make their own decision to sin. They are drawn away by their own desires and enticed. But after sin takes root, it becomes a controlling factor in their lives that is less of a choice than when it first began. Smoking is a good example of this. The desire to first smoke usually comes from some type of outward factor, like peer pressure, or the smell of the smoke, or the appeal of the smoker’s ‘cool’ appearance. It comes first as a choice, but then it wraps its dark tentacles around its victim to entrap them. Now you have many people who desire to quit smoking, who find it very difficult. It’s the power of sin.

This is why we must deliver people. Some of them don’t even know it, but they are stumbling towards the slaughter. Some know it, but have not been able to escape.

“He that sins, is a slave to sin.” Jesus says. Sin becomes the master of the one who commits it. The mad man of the gadarenes was an extreme example of this. He most likely toyed with the powers of the dark world. I’m sure he mingled with unclean spirits and practiced a form of witchcraft. He dabbled with spells and incantations. It was fun at first and exciting to play with this dark power. But he didn’t know what he was getting himself into. He didn’t know that these dark spirits where using him. Soon he began to lose control as the demons began to enter him one by one. They drove him into the graveyard. His inner turmoil was so great that he began to cut himself to try to deaden the pain. He would shout at night in fear. He could not be bound by earthly chains because of these dark powers, but the inner chains were too strong for him to break.

Just like this, people are bound up everywhere. Only the power of Jesus Christ can set them free.

How do we set them free? We must become skilled rescuers. Our job is difficult because we not only need to set them free, but we must do it for many people who are blind to the fact that they are bound, or else know they are bound, but unconvinced that we have the answer.

My dog Frank would often chew through the blanket that we left with him in his cage. When we would return from whatever we were doing, we would find that he completely chewed through the blanket and then would get his head stuck in the hole that he chewed. When we opened the cage to let him out he would not be able to come out of the cage, because he was caught with the blanket around his neck. I would get scissors to cut him out, but when I did it he would try to bite me!

Even so, sinners will get themselves into a terrible mess and try to bite you when attempt to help them out. We must be skilled. We must learn how to work like a surgeon. The surgeon applies anesthesia before inserting the knife.

It’s not an easy job, but we must do it. Look what the wisest man said, “If you say, Surely we did not know this, Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?” A plea of ignorance will not work. Nor a plea of powerlessness, because we can do all things IN Christ and greater is He that lives in us than he that lives in the world.

There is a world of chained people outside of our doors. You are not exempt from the duty to set them free. Lets do it together and, then, on the last great day, the Lord our God will look at us with delight and reward us; us and our spiritual children that He has given us.

The man in this passage of scripture had such great faith that it caused Jesus to “marvel.”

The word ‘marvel’ means to be in amazement at something or someone. The same word is used when the disciples of Jesus ‘marveled’ at how Jesus was able to calm the wind and the waves, and also in the instance when the disciples caught a huge catch of fish at the word of Jesus. But in this case it wasn’t the disciples marveling, it was Jesus! And the reason Jesus marveled was because this centurion demonstrated a faith that was not typical of what Jesus would see.

The story goes how this centurion (that is, a commander of 100 Roman soldiers) sent men to Jesus to beseech Him for his dying servant. As Jesus went with them this centurion again sent some of his friends to speak with Jesus. They delivered the message that the centurion did not feel worthy that Jesus should enter his house, but that He would only speak the word and his servant would be made well. This he understood since he was a man under authority and in authority. If Jesus would just give the command, that was all he needed.

The hidden message in all of this is what the centurion implied by the words that he said. His implication was that Jesus had such authority on earth that he could simply speak a word and all the powers of heaven and earth would move. Just as the centurion would speak to his servants knowing they would act, Jesus could speak to the elements of this world and they would obey. He spoke to the fig tree. He spoke to the winds and the waves. They obeyed. Certainly the sickness that plagued this man’s servant would also bow to the authority of Jesus. This centurion understood and believed the Man he sent to was in authority over all. No sickness could rebel against His word. The world was spoken into existence by His word and so it could also be altered when needed.

Jesus made it quite a practice to speak to ‘things,’ and order them around: He spoke to the fig tree and it withered. He spoke to dead bodies and they came to life. He spoke to demons and they fled. He spoke to the wind and to the waves and they obeyed. He spoke to eyes and ears and they would open. Amazing!

But Jesus doesn’t reserve this practice for himself. In Mark 11 he tells us to do the same thing. “Whoever says to this mountain, ‘be removed, and be cast in the sea’ and shall not doubt in his heart, but believes that whatever he says will come to pass, he shall have whatever he says.” We, too, can exercise the type of authority that Jesus did. The disciples did. They acted just like Jesus. They spoke to devils and commanded them to go. They spoke to the lame and told them to walk. They spoke to the dead, and commanded them to live. And in every instance they did something very important; they used the name of Jesus.

Remember that when Jesus was departing from this earth that He said, “All authority in heaven and in earth has been given unto me. Go therefore, and teach all nations…” (Matt 28:18-19). Another way you could say this is: “Because all authority has been given to Me in heaven and in earth, Go, and teach all nations.” Jesus is showing us that His name carries authority in all the world. And with that is the implication that we are authorized to use His name. It’s His authority, but any believer can exercise it as long as they do it in His name. Jesus further explains it in Mark’s version of this account:

These signs shall follow those that believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it shall by no means hurt them; they will lay hands of the sick and they will recover. Mark 16:16-17

The cool thing about this is that Jesus doesn’t say, “These signs shall follow you (the disciples).” He says, “These signs shall follow them that believe.” Sometimes we are tempted to think that these things are for Jesus’ disciples only, but the scripture doesn’t say that. It’s for all believers. If you can believe, you can have these things. Anyone can use His name to exercise authority in the earth. Notice this passage:

Now John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us.” But Jesus said to him, “Do not forbid him…” (Luke 9:49-50)

Here was a man who was not one of Jesus’ disciples. This man was ahead of the game, because Jesus hadn’t even let everyone know that they could do this. Nevertheless, this man understood authority in Jesus’ name and he used that name to cast out devils. If this man, who wasn’t among the 12 could use Jesus’ authority, then we can, too.

The name of Jesus is the key. It is His authority. We can use it.

The Word of God even takes it so far to say that we are seated with Him in the place of authority. At the end of the first chapter of Ephesians you will see that Christ has been risen to heaven and was seated at the right hand of God (Eph 1:20). But then you see in the very next chapter, that we are raised up, too! We, also, are seated in with Him:

[He} raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus... Eph 2:6

See! We are right up there with Him. This is figurative language, of course. It simply means that we are in authority with Him, through Him.

There are few Christians who understand this authority and walk in it. I’ve experienced it to a limited degree in my life, but I need to exercise it much more. Fear often hinders us from launching out into the deep things that God has for us to walk in. Let’s learn to overcome that fear. Let’s learn to exercise the authority God has given us. If we do, we will set many people free and bring much glory to God!

I don’t know about you, but I have become engaged in fear way too often. Sometimes I have feared what other people think about me. And other times I have feared the unknown, and the possibility of something bad happening to my family or me. I have feared the idea that I might not be able to provide for my family the way that I should. I have feared that I may lack the ability and discipline to complete the task that God has called me to do.

But I don’t like fear. Many times fear is unfounded, and it is definitely unpleasant. It consumes your thoughts and fear can paralyze you. It isn’t helpful at all, but rather a distraction that keeps you from operating at peak performance. For example, if you have to engage in public speaking of some sort you may be afraid that you will mess up; you may be afraid that you will say the wrong thing; you may be afraid of what the people hearing you might think of you. But you may not realize that fear itself is the thing that is causing you to mess up and causing you to say the wrong things and causing others to think negatively of you!

The bible has a lot to say about fear:

“Fear not” (Gen 15:1 and numerous other places)

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Mt 10:28)

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Tim 1:7)

“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Lk 12: 32)

“Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Lk 12:7)

“Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied” (Acts 9:31)

“The LORD [is] my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Heb 13:6)

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love” (1 Jn 4:18)

“Do not be afraid of their faces, For I [am] with you to deliver you, says the LORD.” (Jer 1:8)

The theme is clear throughout the entire bible: there is only One whom you are to fear and that is God.

But we fear so many things and we do it so needlessly. If only we were perfected in the love of God! Then fear of any kind would be a thing of the past! Don’t you know that God has every hair of your head numbered? If He knows and cares for you so intricately, then why should we fear anything at all? Is He not powerful enough to deliver us? Is He not strong enough to save us? Is He too poor to provide for us? Is He too far off to stand up for us?

I like what our title scripture tells us to do about fear. It tells us to switch our earthly fears over to a heavenly fear of the Lord. The passage says, “Let Him be your fear; let Him be your dread.” We submit to the one we fear the most. If we fear man,we will submit to the opinion of man, but if we fear God we will not be moved by the opinions of man because we will be too caught up with the idea of displeasing the God we love.

The times are too numerous for me to recount of when I have shied away from doing God’s will because I feared the opinions of others. The mistake I made was that I spent too much time thinking about how man may view me instead of meditating on how much God loves me. Perfect love casts out all fear, the bible says. We need to be made perfect in love and the fear of man will be dispelled.

Fearing God is different than fearing man. Although an unrepentant sinner should be in terror of His fierce judgment, we His children don’t fear Him in that sense. God is our Father and we love Him very much and He loves us, so we aren’t like those who are hardened towards Him, but we fear Him as a son would fear to displease his earthly father whom he loves. We fear His rod of discipline, we fear the rebuke of His mouth. But even if we are rebuked by Him and disciplined by Him, it is only for our good, that He might cause us to bring forth the fruits of righteousness.

“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.” (Jesus in Rev 3:19)

Let’s fear God instead of fearing man. Let us dread the idea of ever displeasing Him. If we really feared Him in the appropriate way we would run from sin and cast away the fear of man. Set your mind on things above and not on earthly things. The more real He is to you the more you will be confident in the face of earthly terrors. You will say confidently with David: The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?!

When we are born into the world we inherit this vile body from our ancestors. It’s a body that is bent on selfishness. It wants what it shouldn’t have. It wants to eat too much. It wants to be lazy. It wants to be mean to others. It gets sick. It gets tired easily. Everyday we deal with it, and everyday we must tell it, ‘No.’ Even today I had to tell my body ‘no’ in the first hours of the day when it screamed ‘I want more coffee!’

Our body is one of our biggest enemies. We must fight against it daily, and daily defeat it with three nails in its cross. If we do not conquer it, it will conquer us. “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, that you abstains from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.” 1Pet 2:11

In Paul’s masterpiece, the book of Romans, he dedicates much ink to this subject. In Romans 7 he describes how the mind wants one thing but the body another; and how the body seems to win all too often. What overweight person in his mind has the desire to be fat? No one. Only they have let the desires of the body overcome the desires of the mind. Even so, many of us desire to do good, we desire to be nice, we desire to pray, to read the bible, to study, to be more intelligent; but the desires of the body rule over us and conquer us.

You never hear anything good about the body in the bible. You only read about it’s lusts and it’s weaknesses. You read about the desire of the saints to finally be free of it. You read about the glory of the new body that is to come. The people of this present world will tell you to embrace the desires of the body, but not the bible. The bible tells us to put to death the deeds of he body.

This doesn’t mean that everything that we desire is wrong. Obviously we desire food because we need it. We desire touch and affection because we need it. We have sexual desires which are not evil, but of God. But notice that our desires so easily get out of control. Our bodies lust after much more than they need. Normal desires turn into addictions and excesses. Out of control desire plagues our entire world and every evil can be linked to it. We smoke and drink and drug and eat and eat. We fight and quarrel and hate and kill. We lust and rape and give ourselves over to unbridled passion. Surely you can see that it is everywhere with everyone. Truly this is a vile body.

But all is not lost! God has given us the tools that we need to overcome, and even though we will not be completely free from this body until the end, we can be its master and it can be our slave.

The key to overcoming the flesh is to go about defeating it the right way. You cannot defeat flesh with flesh (David could never defeat Goliath in the flesh). You cannot set a bunch of fleshly rules for your flesh to follow. It will not work. It will actually make things worse. Haven’t you noticed that the more you forbid yourself something, the more that you want it? Forbidding yourself something only leads to excess when your self-control runs out. Since we shouldn’t forbid ourselves, does it mean that everything is ok? No, it just means we go about overcoming sin in a different way.

A few key scriptures are:

(NKJV) Romans 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

NKJV) Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

The key word in these scriptures is the word ‘spirit.’ In this translation of the bible the word ‘spirit’ is capitalized. However, in the original Greek nothing was capitalized. When the translators translate the bible they do their best to determine if a word should be capitalized or not. Most of the time they get it right, but I believe they capitalized this word in error these times (and a few other times). By capitalizing this word they give us the impression that Paul is talking about the Holy Spirit when he is not.

Instead, Paul is talking about a way of living and a mindset. It’s called walking in the spirit. The word ‘walking’ denotes a way of life. The bible talks about walking in wisdom, walking in darkness, walking according to His commandments, etc. It’s talking about the manner you live your life or the manner in which you conduct your life. In this case Paul is telling us to conduct our lives in the spirit. Or we could say to conduct our lives in a spiritual way. This is the key to overcoming the desires of the body. The key is to conduct our way of life in a spiritual way. This primarily consists of setting our mind on spiritual realities (Col 3). Paul said in Romans 8 that those who live according to the spirit set their minds in the things of the spirit. These means that we take proactive measures to fix our mind on the things of God. It means that we mediate on the truths of the bible. It means that we give ourselves to prayer.

The bible tells us that this is the method we must employ to overcome the lusts of the flesh. When we set our mind and heart on the things of God we will automatically begin to overcome the flesh. ‘Walk in the spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.’  This denotes an ‘if/then’ type equation. If we put our focus and efforts on abiding in the Vine (Jn 15), then the power of Jesus through us will enable us to supernaturally overcome the works of the flesh. But don’t try to defeat the flesh with the power of the mind. You will lose. You will forever be stuck in Romans chapter 7. Move on to Romans chapter 8 and you will have the answer.

You must deal with this body as long as you are on this earth. Learn to overcome it and make it your slave. Yet, thanks be to God, we won’t have to deal with it forever.  Jesus will take this vile body and give us a new and glorious body that is just like His! It won’t be tired or sick or given to temptation. We will live for God unhindered by what binds us now. Oh happy day – its coming!

Fear and faith are opposites. You can’t have one and the other. One dispells the other. If you have faith, fear will be gone, but if you have fear, faith will be gone. This is why Jesus said unto Jarius “Do not be afraid, only believe.” Jesus knew that fear entering in would smother any faith that Jarius had. Fear is a sure sign that faith is not present.

We find numerous examples of this throughout the scriptures. When Peter walked on the water, he began to sink after he became fearful from seeing the wind and the waves. In another insistence, the disciples were fearful in the boat while Jesus slept. They woke Him, saying, “Master, don’t you care that we are perishing!” Jesus responded with, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?”

Do you fear? Are you in fear of danger, for your life, or for the lives of your children? You are not in faith. You are in a dangerous place. To dwell in fear is certainly a more dangerous thing for your family than any circumstance they might be in. When Job’s family was all killed, he said “Certainly the thing I feared the most has come upon me.”

Fear is a trust in the power of evil. It is an expectation of evil. When you fear, you begin to visualize evil coming upon you or upon those whom you love. You visualize death and despair. You play the images over and over in your mind.

Faith, however, is trust in the goodness of God. Faith is believing what God says, and God always speaks life, and life more abundantly.

We must be people of faith. However, you will find that fear comes much more naturally. Why? Because fear is what you have been accustomed to. Without God, there is plenty of good reason to fear. Death and despair is all around. But with God there is no reason to fear. God is our ever present help in time of trouble. He is our deliverer and our redeemer. He holds our life in the palm of His hand and He cares for us affectionately. There is no one better to watch over us. He is the keeper of our souls.

Yet we still give ourselves over to fear. It is because we do not know Him. If we knew Him, we would trust Him and fear would be dispelled. But when fear is present, faith is not, and we are in danger.

How can we overcome fear? Once again, we must know Him. We know Him by fellowshipping with Him. We fellowship with Him by reading and studying His word, and through prayer.

There have been many times when I have been fearful. Fear has gripped me and paralyzed me. I’ve had sleepless nights because of fear and worry. But during those times I have learned how to overcome, and I do it every time. I run to God. I find a place to get away. I cry out to God until His Spirit lifts me out of darkness. His light fills my soul and faith fills my spirit. I rise up in power. God’s mighty hand delivers me. I have experienced this many many times. Even this very day.

Do not fear. It will destroy you. Learn to destroy it instead.

Let faith fill your heart.

In Mark 4, Jesus had told his disciples to take the boat to the other side of the lake. On the way a tempest came that put them in danger of sinking. Jesus, however, was asleep on a pillow. The winds blew and the waves beat against the boat. Water splashed over the side and filled the boat. Yet, Jesus still slept. Finally the disciples woke Jesus asked Him the question that so many ask today: “Don’t you care that we are perishing?”

Thankfully, Jesus was there to rescue them. If He had not been in the boat, they most likely would have perished. Jesus did not fear or falter in His faith. He rose and spoke to the wind that it should stop and to the waves that they should cease. Calm came and they were rescued. Jesus took the next moment to rebuke them for their faithlessness, “How is it that you have no faith?” Jesus would later teach them (and us) that faith was to speak to the problem and command it to obey. He did it to the winds and waves, and to the fig tree, and told them (and us) that they could do the same to the mountain and the mulberry tree. What am I saying? I’m saying that they should have rebuked the wind and waves themselves, and not to bother Jesus while He slept!

We also must learn to overcome fear, and to rebuke the winds and waves that come into our lives. Jesus isn’t here to do it for us, so we must do it ourselves. He left us with plenty of instruction, and with His Holy Spirit, so we have no excuse.

Jesus said that the reason He spoke to us (instructing us) is so that we should have joy, and so that joy should remain in us.

What is joy? Joy is excessive happiness. Happiness could be equal to contentment, but joy is beyond contentment. Joy is the emotion you would feel if you discovered a hidden treasure in a field. It’s the emotion you feel when you see a loved one that you haven’t seen in a long time. It’s the deep feeling of happiness that causes a smile to be plastered on your face. Its the opposite of sorrow and depression. It’s truly what all of mankind seeks.

But too many christians are depressed. Too often I see sour faces and sunken shoulders. This should not be! Jesus came to give us joy, joy that no man can take away!

So where are we missing it? It is simple. We are not listening to the words Jesus has spoken to us. Too many christians see God’s word’s as bondage, when they are truly liberty. We disobey to our own peril and to our own unhappiness. We must simply repent and begin now to obey God and follow His word.

This truly reveals the heart of Jesus, and of the Father. The enemy comes to bring bondage, although he promises liberty. But the Father brings us liberty, which the enemy seeks to portray as bondage. Jesus’ words are not bondage! His words are spirit and they are life!

The biggest area that God’s people are missing it in is the very thing that Jesus spoke about in this 15th chapter of the gospel of John. He tells us that He is the vine and we are the branches. He tells us that we must abide in Him and let His words abide in us. I know for a fact that most christians are not doing this. How do I know? Because they are depressed and ineffective. Jesus said that if you did it then you would, number one, have joy, and, number two, bear much fruit. If you aren’t bearing fruit (i.e. being effective in whatever you are doing) and you don’t have joy, it’s because you aren’t abiding in Him and letting His word abide in you.

I look at many pastors and ministers and see SO many that have no joy. I see so many that are not effective. Why? They aren’t abiding in Jesus. They aren’t listening to what Jesus has to say. I know that for me, when I am abiding in Jesus, I am effective and joyful, and when I am not abiding in Jesus, I am depressed and powerless.

The question is then, why aren’t people abiding in Jesus? Why aren’t people letting the Word abide in them? Well, I know exactly why. It’s they same reason that I don’t so many times. We let the cares of the world seep in. We get distracted by things that are fleshly. We skip prayer times, because we have other things that we ‘must’ get done. We get too busy.

And many people just have no idea of what a vibrant relationship with Jesus is about! Going to church is all they do!

OH, if we could only get our priorities in order! We must crucify the flesh, go into the prayer chamber, seek the Lord. We must learn to wrestle with God as Jacob did until we obtain the blessing. We must learn to give Him the deep inner parts of our hearts. When we do, heaven will open and joy will fill our souls to overflowing!

It’s amazing to note the abundant love of the Father for the world as revealed in this passage and in the events following. Surely He didn’t want His Son to suffer. This wasn’t His will. It was, however, the means to accomplish His will, which was to save the world.

It’s not His will that any should perish, but it is His will that all should come to repentance. So strong is this will that He would turn a deaf ear to His Son’s prayer of agony. His Son’s request for another way could not be granted, because there was no other way. Only by Jesus’ suffering and death could God be righteous in forgiving sin and saving sinners.

And Jesus knew this. He prophesied many times of His impending death. Yet when the moment was close and the knowledge of what was to happen gripped His mind, He called out for some other way. But even in that moment of agony He offered the prayer of consecration. He would dare not demand God to deliver Him if His will was otherwise. He trusted that God knew what was best and submitted Himself to Him.

Besides providing for our redemption, Christ did this all for an example for us to follow; that we should not seek our own will, but to seek the Father’s will. The Father’s will is always worthy to be sought, because it is birthed out of His perfect, unselfish love. If His will was perfectly accomplished there would be heaven on earth (indeed there can be heaven on earth in your family and in your church if you do His will). His will always promotes the highest good of being for all mankind. This is what makes heaven heaven. Heaven is when God’s will is done.

Throughout my life I have seen time and time again the wisdom of God’s will. It is not just birthed out of perfect love, but also from perfect wisdom. He knows what is the best course of action in every situation. He demands that we follow it. If we do not follow it, things cannot turn out well for us, since not choosing His will is choosing a way less wise. Furthermore, we don’t know the vastness of the consequences of our unwise decisions, and how they may effect another person, or many people. Nor do we know the vastness of the consequences of our wise decision to follow God’s will and how it may effect another person. God may choose to will the end your life to bring about the salvation of many, as He did with Jesus and the apostles and the many martyrs. Would you accept that will, if it meant great blessing for many others and great glory to His name? I hope you would. Would you lay down your life to save your wife? Your children? What about the lives of other men and women and children? God sees the value in their souls. We should, too. He wills that we lay down our lives as a living sacrifice day by day to save them.

It would bring a great blessing to the world and to you, yourself, if you committed yourself to finding and doing the will of God. His will comes forth from His mouth through His Word and His Spirit. We must proactively seek the former through study and meditation and learn to be sensitive to the latter through prayer and fellowship. If you do, you will soon come to the place were God’s will can be ascertained, most of the time, in a moment. And if not in a moment, you will know the proper steps to finding His will. It is not a mystery that cannot be known.

He has ‘MADE KNOWN TO US the mystery of His will.’ He has revealed the secret things to us that were kept secret from the foundation of the earth. It is given to us to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Eye has not see, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him, BUT God HAS revealed them to us by His Spirit!

Jesus said, “I call you not servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I call you friends; for all I have heard from the Father I declare to you.”

Remember Abraham? How God said, “shall I hide from Abraham that which am about to do?” And Abraham was called the friend of God!

We are the friends of God if we will only do His will. His will is perfect and is always to bring about that great command: Life! And life to it’s fullest!