February 8 2007

Joel Akin

Faith is on the stand

 Time is on your side. Time is not the evil of the time but time is of God. So if you think there is a bad time remember it this way, "time will be no more" isn't referring to the end of time but the end of time loss.

 The end of time loss is the end to time speed. So think of us as caught into a time when things oxidize and things rust and things corrupt. We are in a time when all things fall apart quickly. We think this is normal but it is not. Things are meant to last but the oxidation of things is the curse of this time.

 So when time is not more it doesn't refer to time life but time death.

 So if there is a Time Life then it would be the most valuable of all things in the world. It would be the equivalent of owning the value of all stock. It wouldn't necessarily be Time Life books but if you had a chance to own that it would be valuable. Yet the greatest value would be owning stock in Heaven.

 Stock in Heaven is like owning stock on earth. If you own stock in Heaven you are rich. Rich means that you could provide for everyone on earth if you needed to simply by asking God to supply enough to sustain man for a day. Now one day of sustenance is equivalent of one day of air. One day of air is all it takes to sustain man for one of Gods days; or one thousand years of life.

 Lets say the story had an ending. And the ending was one of faith. Now I could say I have faith and like Paul tell you how my faith is like yours or perhaps bigger then yours. But lets say your faith was one that didn't need an introduction. Lets say that my faith wasn't in myself or my great works but was in God.

 Now lets say that lack of faith means that there is some lack of God in your life. So how then do I, as a man of faith, encroach upon the circle of the earth or above the face of the deep, in order to ask God for help?

 Now I know the answer is partly of faith and partly of Hope. Hope is the key to faith but faith is the providence and province of God. In other words I could pray till I'm blue in the faith or face asking God to return to earth. I might be surrounded by ten million men asking the same thing day after day. Now lets suppose right now on earth there are ten million men praying and they pray with faith but not hope. Hope to them is only a stepping stone to faith and once you've grabbed faith you don't need hope.

 Now lets say I'm the only man who says faith without hope is worthless. And I need faith but I also need to have my hope in the one who holds faith. Now some might think if I have hope and God has faith then he doesn't need me.

 Lets suppose that God has always had hope and always had faith and in the length of time looked for a man who wanted both. Now a man approaches God with hope but along the way he's told to cast off his things and his dreams and his love and everything he owns.

 If faith is the beginning then men stomp their way to it, grab it, grapple with it, and then shout "I have faith". But what about me? I have faith but I state its not my own. Yet if I have faith, and Paul and others talk about a personal faith, then how can I have it and yet not have it.

 To answer that requires a little theology but it is related to what Jesus said. That as our faith increases so increases our riches in Heaven. Now obtaining faith on earth is the desire of every man out there who prays for it but seeks it so they might have riches on earth as well as in Heaven. The problem is, in a way, that men seek riches on earth first from God as in the path to faith and the path to riches.

 Well, the problem isn't impossible with God just unlikely that God will give us faith without understanding of it. And the problem is that most of us learn from men and therein lies the stock of the broth. And sometimes that means we fall into a circle we can call confusion based on teaching of men.

 Think of it this way. A man of power on earth, as in men of riches finds that his power to charge per hour goes up the more wealth and wisdom he has. A president might charge 100,000 an hour. A millionaire might charge 10,000 an hour. And so it goes because we want to learn from them how they got rich.

 Now lets put faith in the place of riches and now lets see who on earth is the richest man. Hmmm. I know many who state they have faith and many who are sure of it but some don't know what to do with hope.

 Well I do. So I'll charge myself into this story and say I have Faith but its Gods. And thus time I spend with him goes into a treasury of riches based on faith. And my faith in God is my belief there is no one else on earth that has his measure of faith. Or his understanding on faith. So I don't just turn to scripture or to men but I turn to God. And when I turn to God I spend my time in prayer listening for understanding on impossible situations.

 Now I'm not saying I don't get discouraged. The most likely reason is men who try to create shadows of doubt. And that would mean Sin or the spirit of doubt and fear. God never gave us that spirit of fear. He comes into the picture to try and cloud our understanding. He goes wrong because he tries to fight against one who knows what true faith is. And that is hope.

 Now hope doesn't sound like faith but it is. And therein lies the mystery to hope which most of us cannot conceive. I will give it to you quickly. And then you must decide if you will believe.

 Hope is the belief that good things will happen. Faith is the one who can make them happen. But if I call him father of hope as well then there is truth. And if I say God will supply my needs according to his great riches therein also is hope.

 I reach for prayer as a weapon yes but to me prayer is more then a weapon. If I want to fight hard myself I have a mouth. I can shout and yell with the best of them. At least inside. Yet I don't let that stop me from believing that God will fight the war for me. I have no reason to fight even though he has given me anointing and authority. My war isn't with God. My war is with the enemy. Yet I have the ultimate battle simply by listening. Why? Because as a man I am wearing out. I can't fight except by prayer. So do I spend an hour in fighting and an hour of prayer? Sometimes but I find my best success is when I listen. And in listening I hear God speak. How? The answer is simple. By faith.

 Now faith is a mystery to those who have none. If you have doubt and fear you are up a tree because you can't understand. Faith is the absence of those attributes. Now sin might send them to bother you but they are struggling not you. Their doubt and their fear are their downfall and not my own.

 Now that might not make sense to any but it does make sense to those of faith. For no doubt and no fear need enter the picture. Now one of ultimate faith. Well, lets just say that it is based on Gods time. And yet God knows my needs and desires and therein is help.

 So for the door to open requires God and time. And that is the key to success and walking not just in faith but in ultimate faith.