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Saturday, March 24, 2012

Simple Faith

"My God's not dead, He's surely alive and He's living on the inside roaring like a lion."
                      -From God's Not Dead by the Newsboys

I've never been to India or to any of these countries that we write about; in fact, I've hardly ever been out of the state I live in. But the more I read about the Holy Spirit bringing people to faith in Jesus in these countries, the more excited I become about what the Lord is doing over there. I don't know if we could really call it a revival because many of the people that are coming to believe in Christ have never even heard of him. God is moving into the untouched regions of the planet; the tiniest nooks and crannies of the earth, to shine His Light into the darkness. Perhaps, because the end is drawing near. Jesus said, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come"-Matthew 24:14. Ministries, such as Big Life and Gospel For Asia, were developed out of a conviction to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ within the nooks and crannies of the earth, where the name of Jesus had never been heard, in order to save the unreached as well as to advance Christ's return. They long for the return of Jesus; to spend all of their days in his holy presence, and are therefore taking action. We should all desire such things.
I'm convinced that the Holy Spirit is moving so powerfully throughout other countries of the world because of the faith of the people that reside there. Again, I've never been to those places, but from what I've gathered from all of the articles and books that I read, is that most of the people in these places have some sort of belief in the supernatural. They believe in supernatural powers and spirits, whether they are from a god they believe in or from something else such as witchcraft or magic. Because of their beliefs, when they hear that Jesus loves them and has the power to heal and to give new life, they are more readily available to accept that Jesus is God Almighty. They believe that God is all powerful and is worthy to be worshiped and praised, especially when they pray to their gods and their prayers are not answered, so they then turn to God who will answer their prayers. Many times, this is how God wins them.
The Apostle Paul writes that in the last days people will have a form of godliness, but deny its power (2 Timothy 3:5). That's what I'm observing taking place here in the U.S.- well in my own little part of the world anyway. While the opposite is taking place in other parts of the world, Christians here seem to, maybe not deny the power of God, but maybe not realize the power of God. It could be because it's not being taught in the Church or because so few people read the Word of God, or maybe it's a combination of both. Non-believers are looking to other sources of spirituality because they long for it, but they don't see it demonstrated in the lives of the Christian. Many of us proclaim in our Christian circles that, "with God, all things are possible", but it's not really lived out in the real world. How often do we seek out those opportunities in day to day life to offer prayers to non-believers in order to demonstrate our genuine faith in an All Powerful God? I know that I don't. It's usually not on my daily To-Do List; the thought of it is actually rather intimidating. But maybe we could win people to Christ if we ourselves believed more in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. We need to take note of what's going on in areas like Asia, the Middle East and other parts of the world where sharing the Gospel is in many cases illegal, and where intense persecution takes place. These are the places where God is rapidly moving like wild fire and where people are experiencing true joy that comes from the Lord as they share the Gospel despite the circumstances and by doing so God is reaping a harvest of souls for eternity. Where it may not be a revival in other parts of the world where Jesus has never before been heard of, it could be a revival here when our faith is simply lived out by believing that what God says is true; by simply believing God.





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