Live by Faith part 4
Here's the thing: You can't live without living by faith. The trick is choosing what to put your faith IN. Because, whether we realize it or not, we DO live from the inside out. What we believe is inside comes out. Always. You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. Or, again, what you believe you have. And that's what faith is: Faith is believing. That's why I keep bringing up Mark 11:22, "And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God." Have faith in God. Live by faith... in God. And the context of that verse in Mark chapter 11 is that Jesus had cursed the fig tree--the tree of knowledge of good and evil--and it had wilted and died. The disciples were amazed. Jesus told them where to put their faith. Basically saying what Revelation says where in Genesis, in the beginning, there were two trees. But in Revelation--after Jesus cursed the fig tree of human effort because it couldn't produce any fruit--there's only one tree left: The Tree of Life. Jesus was not only saying, "choose a more excellent way," He was literally taking away every other choice. When the Messicanic rebrith of the world took place on the cross... the consuming fire that is God--that is love--burned away everything but itself. Himself. It's the truth that Jesus not only laid His life down in order to give it to us... but took it back up so that we could be able to experience it as He lives His own life in us, and through us, and as us. He wants us to have it. He doesn't want us to miss out on it. And nobody can live Jesus' life except Jesus. So He lives it (again) in us, and through us, and as us. So what I'm trying to say, in my round about way, is that faith should be a conscious decision. Like I always tell my son, Logan, "Do what you do for a reason." Don't do things just to do them. Or because you think you're "supposed to." Your faith is such a powerful thing. What you do flows from what you believe. So make sure you're putting your faith in the right thing. Have faith in God. You are what you eat, so make sure you're on the right diet. Bread and wine. Lamb and the living water. Milk and honey. What you believe is inside WILL come out (I already said that, right?), so make sure the right thing is in there. By consuming it. When the Bible says "God is love," the word "love" means "love feast." Feast on His love by letting Him love you. Fill yourself up to overflowing with what you've already been filled with by knowing and believing that you've been filled with it! Learn how to love by learing how you are loved. You do live by faith. Right now. All of the time. So make sure your faith is in the right place. Listen, you don't have to believe everything you think. You can bring your thoughts under captivity by letting go of the ones that don't edify, and holding on to the ones that you know are true. Setting your affection. Setting you mind. Letting the mind of Christ (that's already in you) BE in you. USING the mind of Christ. And I'm telling you right now, there's only one thing ON the mind of Christ--love. So have faith in God. Have faith in love. The just shall live by faith, so just live by faith! Let what's really inside come out by knowing and believing it's in there. By receiving and releasing it. Receiving it BY releasing it. Releasing it by receiving it!