Naked Faith #5 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account, (Hebrews 4:13).
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth, (Luke 18:8)? Faith doesn’t have to be a great big thing that we huff and puff with all day long. Faith doesn’t require such due diligence that we never get anything else done. It can be quite small as long as it is consistent. Roller-coastering around with a lack of faith, unbelief, doubt, and mental reasoning is what knocks Faith sideways and keeps us from having what God would love to give—if only we’d stay steadfast in our Faith! 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" 20 So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you (Matthew 17:19, 20). Naked Faith #4And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account, (Hebrews 4:13).
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth, (Luke 18:8)? I don’t know about you, but my stalwart mind likes to ALWAYS be in control. It likes to explain away everything. If my mind doesn’t have an answer for a problem, it will make something up, just to keep the upper hand! But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread,” (Matthew 16:8)? Obviously the disciples were guilty of the same thing—reasoning out something they had no answer for. Jesus was talking about being soiled by the yeast, the boiling false teaching of religious leaders, and the disciples interpreted that as if Jesus were talking about actual bread. Reasoning indicates a level of little faith. How’s your reasoning level? Naked Faith #3And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account, (Hebrews 4:13).
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth, (Luke 18:8)? There are all kinds of levels of faith. We advance from faith to faith at our own speed, which may be why I’ve never found two people with the same level of faith. It’s kind of like revelation. God’s Word has a million layers of revelation, I’m convinced. That’s about the same with faith. It’s given to us like a little green shoot coming up out of the earth, and it’s up to us to make it grow—or not. And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt, (Mathew 14:31)? This, of course, is the recounting of Peter walking on the water until his attention focused on the wind and the waves, and he started to sink. Doubt indicates a level of little faith. How’s your doubt level? Naked Faith #2And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account, (Hebrews 4:13).
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth, (Luke 18:8)? I like the saying, “A believer receives what a believer believes.” We need to check up on ourselves: what do we really believe? Only that will come into our lives. The next mention of faith in the New Testament is the story of the centurion who so thoroughly believed Jesus that he only had to hear his words, and he knew what he wanted would be done for him. 10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you." And his servant was healed that same hour, (Matthew 8:10, 13). Faith is complete and total trust that God will do what He says He will do—every time! How’s your trust level? Naked Faith #1And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account, (Hebrews 4:13).
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth (Luke 18:8)? What is Faith? People often answer with something like this: Believing that God is our Father, Jesus paid for our sins with His blood, and the Holy Spirit guides us. However, the devil also believes that, so is he then a Christian? Of course not. Believing in the Trinity and their varied attributes is simply that: our belief system. 28 So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you (Matthew 6:27–33) Matthew starts the study of faith in the New Testament by establishing that God does and will take care of His own. Trusting God to see to our upkeep is the beginning of faith. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:13).
Remember that Christmas ditty, “he knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake?” I hope, sincerely, that you already know you cannot earn your way into heaven. You can’t be good enough. You must realize this. Those of you who shake out your laundry in front of the rest of us to let us know just how good and obedient you are, we know better. You’re just like the rest of us. Some parts of our lives are simply out of control. I know, you perfectionists claim differently; but just claiming your perfection is how bad you are. We’ve all got something to answer for. I know, by reading His Word and by my own experiences, that obedience is important to God. He is a Parent, however, and He knows His children won’t always obey. Does He love them any less? Of course not. Relationship is what He is all about. But being obedient really makes Him happy. A couple of months ago I decided I would strictly obey God. I wouldn’t make my bed till He told me so. I wouldn’t eat breakfast until He invited me to the table. For the whole day I only did what He asked me to do. In the middle of the night I got up for relief reasons, and when I got back in bed, something happened in the spiritual realm that has never happened to me before. My bedroom is pitch black, no light in it at all. But when I closed the light to go back to sleep, my room filled up with what could be described as balloons, small sized ones, but these were globes of light. They were swaying. The feeling in my room was one of happiness. I asked the Lord what they were, and He said they were reflections of angels dancing over my obedience. One would think, after such an experience, that I would do nothing but what He asks me to do. Sadly, that is not the case, however, I’m much more sensitive now to my obedience, not because it will get me to heaven, but because it pleases Him! And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:13).
This word naked makes us think of our flesh, going around with no clothes on. A Catholic friend of mine wanted his baby girl baptized in the biblical way, so instead of having the priest sprinkle a few drops of water on her head, he striped her naked and had the priest plunge her into a tub where she was completely submerged. Then he held her up before the crowd in triumph. The crowd enjoyed that. Everyone oohed and aahed, enjoying that baby’s freedom. When my own children were little toddlers, I let them run around naked in the summers on the beach of the Russian River. Passing canoeists would wave and tell the children how beautiful they were in God’s nature. If we adults would do such a thing, come into the church for our baptism stark naked, or loll by the river without a stitch of clothing, we’d be arrested. But consider, Adam and Eve were naked, and God didn’t seem to mind. He walked with them every day, unadorned. So what is naked in His sight? Anything that is hidden. I have a tiny picture frame that I have carried with me for years and years. It frames a little robin sitting on a branch and words are coming from his mouth. “He already knows.” Like Psalm 139 says, he knows our thoughts before we have them, so we might as well be honest. I have determined to speak the truth, no matter how much trouble it gets me into. Yet I am surprised at how the truth simply opens doors. Others can confess, “Oh, I do the same thing.” I might be forgiven when I tell white lies, but I’m really forgiven when I tell the truth. Just remember, He’s listening as well as watching! And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:18).
At the moment, I’m writing a book entitled “The Hot Seat.” Pastor Flo gave me the idea for this. She read my book “Buried Lies” and had her congregation do exactly what was in the book. Each member takes his or her turn sitting in a central seat where all can see and then tells the story of their lives. Then, of course, everyone prays for that person from a new depth. I’ve never seen a more loving church. Everybody knows everything the others would have wanted to hide, but since everyone knows those hidden things, nobody wears a mask anymore. They can all be who they are, and not who they would like to pretend they are. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:13).
As most of my family, friends, and readers know, I like to talk about my personal relationship with Jesus Christ; actually with all three of the Godhead, as they don’t mind being lumped together. They are VERY close. They’d like to see us be VERY close as well. In fact, I feel sorry for those who do not have a personal relationship with the Lord. In the days that lie ahead, between now and the Return of Christ, we are in the Birth Pangs or the Beginning of Sorrows. Only those who know Jesus on an intimate level will have any hope of making it through this time without direct or collateral damage. |
Marty DelmonWriter Archives
December 2018
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