Oh for faith that’s connected to God’s integrity,
Rather than to our life’s tests, trials and iniquity.
~~~
Many boast of America as a godly nation,
And one that was built based on immigration.
Now it seems both points are an aberration,
With so many gods, and immigrant discrimination.
America, cultural melting-pot, so we’ve heard.
Within each culture, is its god unique,
As God of The Bible takes a back seat.
And by many, His book, The Bible, is not preferred.
Yet He calls His Son’s followers, ‘Light of the world’,
To brighten folk’s paths from deception-to-Truth.
But among us, this point seems hard to dispute:
Much of our light dimmed or went out as darkness surged.
Now darkness, both within and without, shrouds our land,
While we refuse or are unable our lights to shine.
Thus, many on-looking cultures our faith malign,
When to them, the results of our ‘Truth-faith’ seem …bland.
As about this conundrum I prayed, ‘How can we bounce back?,
The Lord whispered this clear message in my ear, spiritual,
‘By seven things contrary to My Word, but anecdotal,
The faith of many of My followers has been hijacked.’ 1
As I share the list within me He sequenced,
Please ponder, then survey your own life, and then decide,
Whether to you any of these have ever applied,
And as a result, if your faith was then quenched.
Culture
Worldly culture contrasts with Heaven’s culture, undoubtedly.
It pulls us into conformity with shifting, downward trends,
Against all that our loving Father God for us intends.
Like strong magnets, its pull on us is strong, exceptionally!
Politicians
Politics acts like a 'floating column' of culture.
All politicians float and shift across issues of the day.
Putting faith and trust in them causes faith in God to fray.
They hijack minds and parties on their shifting altars. 2
Crises/Disasters
Now happening across the world’s disasters landscapes:
In crises, folks tend to become very spiritual,
If they have a seed or root within. How incredible.
But that’s not the time to develop faith to escape!
Sicknesses/Illnesses
Even for us in whom Godly faith may be strong,
Significant health issues might challenge our faith,
If/when it fails, we will have bitten devils’ bait,
Then be tempted to let our faithlessness prolong.
Financial Lack
‘Money makes the world go round’, so the adage goes.
When it stops coming ‘round, Godly faith might stop with it,
That is if, to this god you pay homage, bit-by-bit.
The spirit of money knows the souls …it controls!
Other’s Untoward Words/Actions
When faith in God is linked to what people do and say,
Rather than having faith in Him, you have cursed yourself. 3
Love and serve people, but faith-wise, keep them on the shelf,
And forgive them when their sins impact your righteous way.
Delayed Answers to Prayers
What an oxymoron since God promises prayer answers!
Rather, this may evidence lack of faith-to-receive,
Or perhaps lack of knowledge and patience-to-perceive,
Answers through His Word, or sent via His saints or angels. 4
~0~
Faith hijackers! We encounter them on life’s proving ground.
Best we be forewarned and forearmed for the fight!
Such things arrive to test our Godly faith’s might.
Either you’ll bind them, or by them you’ll be helplessly bound.
‘I have faith, so I am ok’, many people may think,
Thinking faith’s a monolith, one weapon for all fights in view.
If that’s true, The Bible would be thin, and God’s promises few!
Rather, like pay-per-view, God requires ‘faith-per-Truth’, in sync. 5
It is Father’s design that His Light within us,
Shines the brightest in life’s darkest circumstances.
That’s when He shows on-lookers the consequences,
And as they peer, in us, they may perceive Jesus.
----------
1 Anecdotal: not necessarily true or reliable, but based on personal accounts rather than on facts or research.
In the greatest test of Peter’s faith, Jesus prayed that his faith would not fail, e.g., be hijacked by opposing spiritual forces that would prompt him to focus on his circumstances rather than on what Jesus had said. (Luke 22:32)
2 In architecture, usually columns rest on the foundation to transfer to the foundation loads from slabs and beams. But floating columns rest on a beam. They are vertical members that rest on a beam, thus they do not transfer loads directly to the foundation. Rather, they act as point loads on a beam which, in turn, transfers the load to the columns below it. See: Floating Column in Buildings
My point: Politicians are not necessarily grounded or founded in existential reality, but in the shifting desires of their political base, and in the vicissitudes of political fights.
3 Thus says the Lord: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from The Lord.’ (Jeremiah 17:5)
4 Study and meditate on this: So Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Have the faith of God [have the God-kind of faith, applying it like He does]. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them (i.e., things conforming to God’s will for us). (Mark 11:22-24) By faith, we are to receive, when we pray, not believe we receive when we see the physical results of our prayers.
My tip: Practicing this, perfects God's faith within us....
Synopsis: God, through Jesus, created the Earth realm by and through faith, to work based on Godly faith. All things created BY God’s faith, are designed to RESPOND ...to Godly faith. Imagine that. Better yet, meditate on that!!!
5 See: Beliefs Oxymoronic (Poem) and also Hacked, Hijacked or Hack-Proofed? (Poem). A major reason The Bible is such a thick book (comprising 66 sub-books) is The Lord's obvious intentions:
(a) to give us, His righteous elect, a broad set of specific, faith-building and assuring promises covering every aspect of human life, and
(b) to back-up each promise with a series of clear, relevant, good and bad examples keyed to these promises. Since faith is not a monolith, we need to be intentional to develop faith for each promise that is relevant to our lives. These are intended to trigger His 'demonstration effects'.
Ever considered that?? That is very likely why He allows a wide diversity of tests and trials to buffet us. The object lesson is for us to search for, then develop, and apply faith in His relevant promises, specific to that test and/or trial. Got it??
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