Tonight, while listening to Kenneth Copeland’s grandson, Jeremy Pearsons talk on faith, I was moved by the power of some statements that often find their way into our minds, but we seem to look at them from the wrong perspective.  The message is basically trying to force us to keep our eye on the fact that our faith is in Jesus the Christ and is where it needs to stay.

In his teaching, Jeremy would take the word Faith when used and add “In Jesus the Christ” to the end of it.  So, instead of “have faith”, it would be “have faith in Jesus the Christ”.  Sounds simple enough with many common phrases, but then he hit one that opened my eyes a bit to point he was making.  In his example, instead of saying “I am not sure I have faith enough for .. “ would be replaced with “I am not sure I have faith enough in Jesus the Christ for ..”.  This is really what is being said, but it is much more palatable in the former method as it does not directly invoke Jesus.

One of my recent eye openers over the last six months was the passage in Mark 9:24 where the man who had a devil possessed boy brought him to the disciples, but they could not cast the devils out.  Jesus said to him “if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth”.  The man then replied (out of the new Living Translation), “I do believe, but help me not to doubt”.  When I came upon this translation it made more sense since the other versions which typically translated like “I believe but help my unbelief” which did not seem clear.  When I saw the use of doubts, I realized that you can believe in something but still have doubts that you need to work out.  The only problem here is that it still leaves an open door for that “who knows” feeling and that someday, just maybe we will overcome our doubts.  We do not really consider what we are doubting about or doubting in.

By applying the above principle, we would have to ask ourselves doubt in what?  We have faith IN something we also have doubts IN something.  In the end of the day, it comes down to doubts that Jesus will do as promised.  So, we then see the problem is that we do not trust that God will fulfill His Word.  This gives us a direction to seek God to eliminate error in us and forces us into His Word to find more proof so that we will believe.

Way back when in the 40’s and 50’s, my grandfather was a minister and I managed to get a few of his services that were on reel-to-reel tape.  In one service, he was talking about what we have placed our faith in, that all of us walk in faith, but what is that which we place our faith on.  This moved around in my mind back a number of years ago and I realized that many people have built for themselves there own gods.  For some it is a god of supposed science where evolution and the unknown allows them to live without worry of what comes after this life.  Others have made a god of desire, living a hedonistic lifestyle merely to fulfill their own pleasure without regard to others or a greater good.  There are even those that may call themselves Christians that have created a god they claim is the God the Bible describers, but they leave out the attributes that are unpleasing to them, in the god they have created, often making a god that allows a believer to live as they please without any demands upon them and in the end, their god is not a god of justice nor morality, but one that leads again to a hedonistic lifestyle washing you from all conviction.

Anyone can create whatever kind of god they so desire, but when this life is over and often even throughout this life, they miss out as their god is nothing more than a thought they cared to imagination.  They will at one time or another come face-to-face with the true God of the Bible and it will not matter how good they were nor what they did in the name of their imaginary god, they will move into eternity without God and face everlasting damnation.

So, in what or whom have you placed your faith?  May it only be on the God of the Bible without modification nor emulations, for it is only this God that will give you peace and life with Him.