FAITH'S IMPACT

 

FAITH’S IMPACT

II Cor. 13:5 Examine yourselves to see if your faith is really genuine. Test yourselves. If you cannot tell that Jesus Christ is among you, it means you have failed the test. NLT

First, the Apostle Paul is addressing the church at Corinth. He is challenging them to take an honest look at themselves and determine whether or not the faith they profess and teach is for real. He reminded them of the fact that if Jesus was indeed the Lord of their church, it would show. Where Jesus is, there is a noticeable likeness to Jesus. What is true of the church is true for those who make up the church, you and me.

Are you up to the challenge? Are you willing to take a serious and honest look at yourself to see if your faith is genuine? How does your faith hold up in the daily grind of life? Does your faith make a difference in how you look at things, the way you handle things, and the way you approach things? Does your faith influence the reasons why you do what you do and say what you say? Does your faith determine what you are living for? Does it make a difference in how you handle the tough times of your life? Do others see Jesus in you wherever you are at?

Test yourself. If you cannot honestly say that Jesus has changed you and how you deal with living, then can you honestly claim that He is your Savior? Jesus is not an ornament we wear around our hearts; He is a changer of our hearts. Jesus always makes changes in us to make us holy in God's eyes. He never leaves us the same way He found us when we let Him into our lives. The old passes away and all things become new.

EXAMINE YOURSELF

 

EXAMINE YOURSELF

II Cor. 13:5 Examine yourselves to see if your faith is really genuine. Test yourselves. If you cannot tell that Jesus Christ is among you, it means you have failed the test. NLT

Here is a verse that should be put into practice regularly in the life of the Church and in our individual lives. We need to take a serious look at how well we are living out what we profess. We easily fall into the rut of coasting along in our walk with the Lord. We seldom are dissatisfied with our progress in the faith. We get comfortable with the way things are and seldom want God to rock our boat.

Self-examination is essential for a healthy soul. We need to see ourselves honestly through the mirror of God’s Word. We need to take seriously our sinful behavior, thoughts, and speech. We need to examine our motives for what we do in Jesus’ name. We need to be honest about the degree in which the Lord is impacting our lives.

If it is not clearly understood by ourselves and others that Christ is with us, then we have a serious problem in our relationship with God. We must identify where we have gone astray and sinned and then repent of it. We must restore Christ to His rightful place in our hearts. We must start all over again exercising our love for Him. A restored heart is a grateful heart and it shows up in the way in which we live.

WE NEED THE LORD

 

WE NEED THE LORD

II Cor. 12:8-9 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, "My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me. NLT

What are your weaknesses? Your weaknesses are an asset and not a liability. They are given to us to keep us close to God. The more we understand our need for the Lord's help, the stronger in faith we become. We learn to trust the Lord best when we are tried the best. In fact, I would call our weaknesses a badge of honor. They remind us of just how good, kind, and gracious the Lord is to us as He supplies for us what our weaknesses withhold from us. Our weaknesses are another person's strengths and vice versa. Together we make for a unified and strong team.

I can't sing. There is no way in the world that I can stay on tune, if I could even get there. As a pastor of small churches, I have been expected over the years to lead congregational singing. I had to learn how to lead without being heard for the sake of others. However, my wife is a good singer and musician. She has been able to compensate for my lack of music. Together we make a team that the Lord has used for His glory.

The Lord is a master at plugging us in where we belong in the body. He does not ask us to do what we can't do, but what we can do. The Lord never required of me to serve Him musically. As much as I would have liked to do it, He had other plans for me. He required of me to serve Him in the areas where I am gifted. His grace has proven to be more than sufficient for me. He has more than compensated for my lack of musical giftedness. It is more than okay for me to be weak and limited in what I cannot do.

It is not a bad thing to recognize and understand our weaknesses. We must know who we are and where we are and are not gifted. We must learn to honor the Lord in the ways we use our gifts and in the ways we trust Him through our weaknesses. If we let Him, the Lord will work through our strengths to let us serve Him. He allows us to understand our weaknesses so that we can understand that our strengths come from Him and not us. What we are able to do is a gift from God. We praise Him both for what we can't do and what we can do. It is by and through His power at work within us that we are able to serve Him.

Trying to do what we are not gifted to do is like trying to put a square peg into a round hole; it simply does not work. In fact, we usually do far more harm than good when we try to do it.

SUFFICIENT GRACE

 

SUFFICIENT GRACE

II Cor. 12:8-9a Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.” NLT

This verse is familiar to most of us. Most of us have been reminded of it many times. Let us not let our familiarity of it take away from us its powerful message to us.

The Apostle Paul was very intense and had suffered much for Christ. His whole life was a life of service. He had some kind of a problem that he wished he did not have. Speculation is that he had poor eyesight, but the Word does not tell us. Whatever it was, Paul asked the Lord for healing three times. He did not give up or stop believing that God could, and maybe would, heal him.

Notice that Paul’s prayers were not casual prayers. He begged the Lord to heal him. It was something that Paul wanted the Lord to do from the depths of his heart. He saw his problem as a liability and not an asset. He believed that he would be better able to serve the Lord without this problem.

However, the Lord knew better than Paul about what he needed. The Lord denied Paul’s request. He knew that he would be better glorified through Paul’s limitations than through his strengths. The power of God is seen more through our weaknesses than it is through our strengths.

The Lord also knew that we are at the best in our faith walk when we are aware of our weaknesses. When we focus on our strengths, we tend to rely on ourselves instead of the Lord. So, God did not take away from Paul his weakness. Like us, Paul needed to be constantly reminded of just how much we need to depend on the Lord.

When the Lord works through us in spite of our inabilities and limitations, He gets the glory and not us. It is not what we can do that matters; it’s what He can do through us that matters. He is the one who matters, not us. We must understand this important truth. It is Christ who must be glorified and honored, not us. We must learn to lean on His strength, not our own.

All we need is the Lord. He can and will work through submissive hearts regardless of our limitations. Don’t let Satan convince you that you are of no good to the Lord because of your inabilities. We are most usable when we rely on His strength and not our own.

BOAST NOT

 

BOAST NOT

II Cor. 12:6 I have plenty to boast about and would be no fool in doing it, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it. I don’t want anyone to think more highly of me than what they can actually see in my life and my message,…… NLT

If anybody had reason to boast, it would have been Paul. He was a very well-educated man and was well on his way to the top early on in his life. He was very passionate about his beliefs and it showed. He was highly respected amongst his peers and there seemed to be no end to his potential.

After his conversion, Paul could still boast about many things. He was the most prominent leader in the early Church. He was very passionate about the Lord and wise beyond his years. He established churches wherever he went and was a great disciple-maker. He taught people everywhere the deeper things of God and no one in the Church doubted his trustworthiness. He was a leader amongst men and wrote much of the New Testament.

Yet, Paul was not one to gloat about himself. He didn’t want the attention. His sole desire was to bring Christ to people. He wanted others to see Christ and to focus on Him. He wanted people to hear the message and not see the messenger. It was all about Jesus and not about himself.

We should have the same spirit as Paul. It can never be about us. Our sole purpose ought to make Christ known and not ourselves. We must guard our souls from wanting the attention. We must purposely direct the attention to Christ. It’s not about us; it’s about Christ. Our living should always be such that others can see Christ in us.

Don’t rob the Lord of His glory by letting yourself be the center of attention and not Him. Keep your soul in tune with God and you will always seek to honor the Lord.

FAKE LIGHTS

 

FAKE LIGHTS

II Cor. 11:13-14 These people are false apostles. They have fooled you by disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised! Even Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light. NLT

Stay alert. There are many false teachers and leaders in the Church today. There are those who claim to be who they are not, proclaimers of the truth of God. They may appear to be trustworthy, but they are not. They may be good speakers and have a lot of charisma, but they are not children of God. They may be able to gather a huge following, but they are not speaking for God. It's not hard for Satan to use people who are his to infiltrate the Church and lead many astray.

How can we know who are fakes from the real children of God? We need to examine carefully what they proclaim in light of the Word of God. We must think for ourselves and ask ourselves if what we hear actually makes sense in light of what the Scriptures teach. Do the teachings hold water with what the Church has understood and taught for centuries? Are the teachings backed up by the whole of Scripture? Is what is being taught even in the Bible? Is the Bible being quoted reliable? Is the application reasonable and useful for living? Is the teaching self-serving or Christ honoring?

What about the personal life of the teacher? It is hard to know much about the life that many church leaders live today. It's easy to hide behind the mass media without exposing one's personal life. Yet, it is important to know if a person's living backs up his teachings. Does the person use the Word or his position in the church for personal gain? Does the person get involved in local ministry to help those who need it? What kind of reputation does he have amongst those who know him? These are some questions that I believe should be asked of those whom we follow whenever possible.

The Word of God changes lives. Nobody has the power to change lives. Nothing anyone says changes lives, God's Word alone does. Whenever the messenger becomes more prominent than the Word, beware. Satan is not above disguising himself as an angel of light and he often does. Not everyone who purports to speak for God does. You can be assured that if more attention is paid to the messenger than the message, it’s not from God.

Satan loves it when Christ takes a backseat to the messenger or the message. He is not above using anyone to distract us from Christ. He often disguises himself as a messenger of God to undermine Christ in the world. Be discerning and let the Holy Spirit be your guide and revealer of truth.

He who stays prayed up when discerning truth from error will know the truth and it will set him free.

KNOW WHAT YOU SAY

 

KNOW WHAT YOU SAY

II Cor. 11:6 I may not be a trained speaker, but I know what I am talking about. I think you realize this by now, for I have proved it again and again. NLT

You don’t have to be an eloquent speaker to be a good communicator of the Gospel. The best speakers are those who speak confidently because they know what they are talking about. If you are not absolutely sure that what you are saying is true, you won’t be very effective in convincing others.

One of the things that made the Apostle Paul such a powerful speaker and servant of God is that he knew what he was talking about was true because he was living it. His life experience taught him that faith in Christ indeed works, just as God told him it would. Paul was in constant touch with the Lord and learned well at His feet. Paul knew that if it worked for him, it would work for everyone.

Paul knew well the truth because he stayed very close to the truth. He trusted the Lord with his life and often was in grave danger of his life because he refused to bend the truth. Paul knew the Lord so well that no personal sacrifice was too great of a price for him to pay for Him. Paul was so grateful for what the Lord had done for him that he purposely was totally committed to living for Him, no matter the cost.

You don’t have to be a somebody or be specially gifted in order to have a lasting impact on the world. You don’t have to do things well or speak well. All you have to do is to know Christ well and live well for Him and He will use you as you are. When your words are backed up by your works, you will be heard. The world needs to hear people who really know who and what they are talking about.