When you read Hebrews 11 in the Bible, you’re reading what
is commonly referred to as the "Faith Hall of Fame." Those who are
familiar with the Word of God know that Hebrews 11 is almost an
abbreviated synopsis of the Old Testament. In this chapter, we read of
Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Sarah. We read of Isaac, Jacob, Joseph
and Moses. We understand that we are being told of Joshua when we read
of the falling of the walls of Jericho and we read about the harlot
Rahab. We read about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthae, David and
Samuel. The writer goes on to tell us that there are many others who
acted with faith toward God and through God even when they did not see
the promise of God, Jesus, in their lifetimes.
We ask ourselves, why aren’t we seeing the miracles they saw? Why
aren’t we getting the testimonies of Faith that they got? Jesus told us
we would see better things than they saw, experience more powerful
manifestations of God than even what He experienced. Why aren’t we
seeing that?
Jesus, during the time He walked on this earth, told his disciples
and those who received healing, "Only Believe." And "Your Faith has
made
you whole." What I am conveying to you here is this: All of these
people
had something that you and I don’t have but which we should have. These
people had a belief system in God. That is, they believed first and
foremost in God and in His absolute power on this earth. Today, we
believe in anything but God. We believe in Wall Street. We believe in
the Dodgers or the Bulls or the Cowboys. We believe in Hollywood. We
believe in AT&T or Chrysler. We believe in a religion. We believe
in
"A God," or a "devine force."
You don’t often see everyday people happily declaring on the street,
"I believe in The God, and in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and in
the
Holy Spirit!" You don’t hear this as a normal part of converstion in
church, down at the local truckstop, in the offices of huge
corporations
or on the internet. You don’t come across people who calmly and
rationally announce, "I Believe."
We’ve become an educated bunch, believing in the environment, in
insurance, in the latest brand of toothpaste, in the tabloids, in the
Democrats or the Republicans. We believe in the government educating
our
children, in the welfare system, in credit cards, in social security,
and in evolution.
So why aren’t we seeing miracles? Why can’t we just believe in
healing? Why can’t we believe in prosperity and in the promises of God?
It is because we have replaced our belief system in God with a belief
system in anything BUT God!
Now would be a good time to have a fit! I could kick
and holler and scream, "I wanna see miracles! I wanna see healing! I
wanna see burdens removed and yokes destroyed!" (another sermon)
~~~~~~An Example~~~~~~
Let’s reason this problem out by applying it to an example. Say,
for instance, I am very, very ill. I understand that illness. I talk
about that illness. People ask how I’m doing because of that illness.
Other people take care of me and worry about me because of that
illness. That illness becomes my occupation, I wake up in the morning
and think about it. I get annoyed by it during the day. I get
depressed over it in the evening and it wakes me up during the night
to remind me it’s still there. That illness takes on character and
definition. I learn to plan my days around it and take it for drives
when I go show it to the doctor. I take special medicine for it and
eat or not eat certain foods because of it. It’s my illness and I
understand it. I am intimate with every facet of its character. It
becomes more important than my body, than my family, than my job or
my
education or my future. In short, I believe in that illness because
I’m very well acquainted with it and it has become very interesting
to
think about and to talk about.
Now here comes along some "hot-shot" do-gooder or some minister on
TV who says, "BE HEALED - IN THE NAME OF JESUS!" First of all, who is
this Jesus fellow who is supposed to get rid of my illness? Second of
all, I really don’t remember the sensation of "being healed" or
"wholeness," so how am I supposed to all of a sudden replace the
familiar with the unfamiliar?
~~~~~~An Answer~~~~~~
This is often a stumbling block for those of us who believe.
Especially those of us who see people suffering so terribly and we know
they can be healed and become walking miracles, living testaments of
the
presence and goodness of God.
Here’s how Jesus teaches us about this problem. In Mark 11:22-23, He
tells us
"Have Faith in God. For verily, I say unto you, that
whosoever shall say unto this mountain, ‘BE THOU REMOVED AND BE THOU
CAST INTO THE SEA!’ and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe
that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have
whatsoever he saith."
As a very young girl, when I first read this scripture, I thought,
"Wouldn’t that cause all kinds of problems, if we went around moving
mountains and then even more problems when we started filling up the
seas with mountains?" I didn’t have anyone I could ask about this. I
just figured God would show me what in the world he was talking about
when I got older and, "Praise the Lord" He has shown me what this
means.
People have all kinds of mountains in their lives that need to be
removed. We generally refer to whatever mountan we have as THE PROBLEM.
The problem might be illness, it might be debt, it might be depression
or a broken home or unforgiveness or anger. Whatever IT might be, it
always needs to be removed. And we say we want the problem removed -
but
what in the world do we put there in its place to think about when it’s
gone!
In the example that I gave earlier, about the very ill person, we can
move the problem out immediately, by miracle, which of course is always
the best way - - - or is it? What will this person have once the
illness
is gone? Many of you might say, "A LIFE!" That’s just exactly what
Jesus
says in John 10:10
"I am come that they might have life and have
it more abundantly."
But before we can BELIEVE IN LIFE, we need
to STOP BELIEVING IN THE ILLNESS, or in the poverty, or in whatever
wrong circumstances we have. We take the Word of God by actually
reading
the Bible. Jesus tells us that His Words are Spirit and They are Life.
We "eat" the Bread of Life by reading His Word, by listening to His
Word, by speaking His Word and by acting on His Word. We ask Jesus to
come into our life and take over as we literally make Him Lord of our
life.
Every day, for as long as is necessary every day, we replace the
belief system we knew with a new system of belief, one that actually
works. We read the Bible, at first not comprehending much, just like a
little baby learning to say new sounds and learning to hear and
understand new words. Then somehow, it becomes clearer - when that
which
we didn’t understand at all last year suddenly takes life in our spirit
and frees us from the shadow of that mountain. We realize one day that
the mountain of illness or poverty no longer seems as big as it once
did. And then, even if it takes months or years, that mountain is
simply
gone.
It’s been replaced by the Word of God. Now we realize we are no
longer subject to any illness, to the poverty of the world, to
unforgivness and fear and pain. We’ve been loosed from the bondage of
all that and the yoke that we’ve been burdened with for years is
destroyed. Then we know why Jesus came. He came here for each
individual
man or woman or child who chooses to have their particular mountain
removed, and who chooses to establish a Belief in God in its place.
By the Leading of the Holy Spirit and to the Glory of God!
Merrellee Moore 7/28/98
I pray that you who read these words will be blessed by them and let
them take root and grow in your heart. I Believe that your burdens WILL
be REMOVED and your yokes of bondage WILL be DESTROYED according to the
will of God. I pray that His Kingdom will be established in your life
in
place of the mountains which have been removed. I pray this with FAITH,
that is BELIEF in the Name and in the Blood and in the Love of Jesus
Christ.
