Christian Faith Perspectives

Sometimes we can feel flat in our spiritual fellowship with God and our daily walk seems just a mechanical ritual. In the other personal relationships, there can also be a loss of spontaneity. The spark is that vital ingredient which restores the flame.

Have you ever gazed into the embers of a fire that seems to be nearly out? You get the poker, give the coals a stir, sparks fly upward and suddenly the fire bursts into life again. The analogy can be applied to partners and marriage but the focus here is the state of our Christian life which may have lost that vital spark.

So, what is the key to getting that spark back in our Christian faith? It is not a matter of having a great amount of faith, for a little faith is enough. Jesus used the illustration of the mustard seed to illustrate that a small degree of faith can be powerful.

Could it relate to the potential within a seed? I am constantly amazed at how the characteristics of a plant are all locked up within the seed itself. Plant the seed and something wonderful begins to occur, as that particular species starts to grow. Faith, like the seed contains the outcome of what we are desiring.

As we stir up our spiritual relationship and give Jesus room in our lives the spark will return. Our faith though small will fire up again, and the heart felt goals of our prayers will start happening!

Ref. Matthew 17:21 NIV.

The aspect of faith in life gets its fair share of criticism, but perhaps the problem is more about understanding how faith works. The designation of some evangelists as “faith healers” is a failure to appreciate what faith is all about. The Lord himself was an unashamed faith healer! In his ministry of healing, faith had to be operative in the individual. When a person is not healed it will never be a reflection on his ability, for faith is our responsibility.

So how do we operate this principle of faith in our lives? I like the picture of the swimmer on the springboard who then springs up to get the extra hight and energy before diving into the water.

Jesus gave us the clue when he explained that we must expect that what we pray for will actually happen. The person about to dive must leave the security of the diving board. As they do, uncertainty and doubt are replaced with the reality of faith.

Believe you have received what you are praying for, and it is yours! There is a sense of visualisation here; it is where we can actually picture doing what we cannot do or having what we do not have. It is, a moving through the barrier of impossibility!

Ref. Mark 11:24 NIV.

In our modern age of Information technology, physical tickets are still important. To have a ticket in your hand for a show or sports event feels so good. There is a seat number, your number! Having the ticket gets you so excited as you look forward to the event.

As a Christian it is good to reflect on the fact that we have secured a ticket to heaven. The ultimate event of eternal life has a future aspect, but we are in a sense already booked in. There is already a place reserved in heaven for each believer in Jesus.

Remember those words of Jesus when he said, if we listen to him and believe we have eternal life now! We have already crossed over from death to life! It is all locked in! But the main event is when Jesus Christ returns for us at the resurrection. Whether sleeping in death or alive at his coming we will all be changed.

But the closing note is this, spiritually we are already in God’s presence. We are geographically where Jesus is… seated with him in heaven beside the Father. The moment we received Christ we were transported in spirit to the place where he is, we were all instantly elevated into the intimacy of God’s presence. Our ticket secured by faith is for eternal life now, but heaven awaits!

Ref. John 5:24, 1 Cor. 15:51-52, Eph. 2:6. NIV.

We have all experienced the lifting of a morning mist. The mist hangs in the air, you even feel it as it blocks out the surroundings. But soon the sun is shining through, and the mist disappears.

It is reassuring to know that when God sweeps away sin, He does a thorough job. I recall, travelling one morning along the Murray Valley Highway when we ran into a thick low fog, it was so thick it seemed surreal. But as the morning progressed the fog lifted, and we enjoyed a sunny day. The Bible tells us that God has swept away our offences like a cloud, our sins like the morning mist.

Sometimes we forget the magnitude of what God has done for us in removing our sin. We may feel that we have to do something to regain God’s favour toward us. No! it has all been done. We need only accept the fact that mankind’s sins were swept away when Jesus died. We can now enjoy God’s kindness every day!

Ref. Isaiah 44:22 NIV.

The thing that amazed me as a young Christian, was my immediate boldness in prayer. I found that I was praying for others with new energy and conviction. It was like something had changed… it had; I had become a BELIEVER PRIEST!

Prior to my Christian commitment to Christ, I would have thought it audacious to talk to God in such a manner. My past prayer life was so negative and self-deprecating, a constant confession of sin. What had brought about this change? At the time I did not fully appreciate the spiritual dynamics that had occurred in my life. The moment we receive Jesus as our personal Saviour, God changes us from sinner to saint. In that moment of spiritual change, we become a child of God and we are elevated into his presence to be a priest. Praise & Prayer become the norm.

Jesus Christ is of course our eternal high priest. He is available at God’s right hand to forgive and remove our sin. “…. we do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ” Ref. Hebrews 8:1 NIV. Jesus has dealt with our sinful condition so conclusively that God no longer remembers it anymore.

God planned that each believer should become part of his royal priesthood. Each of us in Christ now belong to a holy nation a chosen people. It is God that has chosen us! He sees us as holy and without blame, the perfect credentials for a PRIEST!

Ref. Eph. 1:4, 1 Peter 2:9 NIV.

Most of us have had near death experiences of some sort; those real-life incidents which could have resulted in us losing our lives.
It could be a car accident, maybe at the beach getting caught in a rip or nearly drowning. So many times, we could have died, but we survived. They were as it were, those brushes with death.

As Christians we do have protection from God, but we still are responsible to not put ourselves in danger. It is not wise then, to engage in activities that clearly put our lives at risk. If we live sensibly God will protect us as we live life under his care.

My own recent brush with death was quite literal and occurred when I was recently in hospital. I had a significant internal bleed, and the doctors thought they may need to operate. The reality was that I might not survive. I was told and my family were also informed. I was aware that this could be the end of my life. Yet there was a strong conviction within me that God would enable me to stay alive. In the extremity of the situation, all I could do was trust. After a month in hospital, I am now back home.

Our hold on life is so tenuous at best and none of us know what could happen tomorrow or next year. What encourages me as a believer is to know that God is in control of our lives. As we daily trust God he will not let anything happen to us that is not in his will. I do not understand why I experienced my brush with death. Perhaps it is this one thing… LIFE IS SHORT AND PRECIOUS! An encouragement surely, to commit each new day to God.

We live in an age where COMMUNICATION has become so amazing, enabling us to talk to anyone anywhere at the press of a button, or simply at our voice command! Radio telescopes and satellite dishes scan and probe the heavens for signals. We have come a long way from the first telephone patent granted to Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. The equipment in those days was simple yet the sound wave principles remain unchanged.

There is of course the tin can or string telephone, a simple but great way to demonstrate the way a telephone works. Two people hold tin cans linked by a taught string attached to the base of each can. As one person speaks sound waves are created by the base of the tin acting as a diaphragm. They then travel along the string and are converted back into audible sound as they reach the other tin causing it to vibrate the same way.

Suddenly it becomes feasible in our understanding that we can talk to God. When we audibly pray, we are actually sending God communication waves. Even our silent prayers are generating powerful mental or telepathic waves which also reach God.

In the extremities of life, we can talk to God; he created us which means we are on the same wavelength. He has given every human being the capacity to communicate with him. Make no mistake, when we CALL upon God, He hears us loud and clear!

Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he made the most powerful declaration to Mary of Magdala; ” I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” As believers we are elevated into an identical relationship with His Father and His God. This means we can communicate with God in the same manner that Jesus did and cultivate the art of talking to God.

Ref. Joel 2:32. John 20:17. NIV.