ROOTED RENEGADE

Psalm 100:5 “For the Lord is good; His mercy endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations.”

As I was reading this verse of Scripture, some questions came to mind that I felt like Holy Spirit was asking me to share.

1. When we think of the Lord’s goodness, is it only defined by the miracles we see or experience?
2. Do we define His goodness only by the things we experience that aren’t hard or trying?
3. Do we think He is only good when we are not being tested and life is peaceful?
4. Do we see mercy as simply a word or a complete sentence?
5. What do we think about His faithfulness?
6. Where are we lacking as the bride of Christ when it comes to believing God’s faithful to all generations?

It seems as if many in the church have skated by on their parents or grandparent’s faith. Yet now it’s time for their own faith to arise and they really don’t have any – because what they think they have is borrowed from the generation(s) before them.

Many foundations are being shaken right now, to their very core. Why? Because Christ’s bride is going to be displayed in all her glory. In order for that to happen, there has to be a level of purity and holiness. Meaning – you can’t borrow someone else’s faith to get to heaven.

Just because your mama believed and your grandmama believed, doesn’t mean you don’t need your own faith – even if it’s the size of a mustard seed.

This leads back to the questions. If we are borrowing faith, how would we understand God’s goodness for ourselves? God is good all the time. Through hardships, tests, trials, tribulations, miracles, signs and wonders. There is not one area of our lives that God is not good. Yet in the church, there is a great lack of seeing God’s goodness outside the context of a miracle, and even then, some still struggle. Some just want the signs and wonders in order to believe, yet Jesus found great faith in those who believed without these things. For instance, the Centurion who knew that Jesus didn’t even have to come to his house, but just speak the words and his servant would be healed. The Centurion didn’t need to see it to know it could happen. He didn’t need to see his servant healed to know that God was good. His faith is what led him to this knowledge. His and the faith of those of his household.

Matthew 8:5-13 “When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, ‘Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.’ And he said to him, ‘I will come and heal him.’ But the centurion replied, ‘Lord I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go, ‘ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it. When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, ‘Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ And to the centurion Jesus said, ‘Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.’ And the servant was healed at that very moment.”

This man, who came to Jesus in faith, didn’t come with someone else’s but instead, had purposed in his heart to believe that Jesus could heal by simply speaking the words without being in the same room. He knew that God was good and brought that faith to the very man who could demonstrate His goodness. I have to stop and question…why do we as a church not do the same? Why is there such a perception that God is all about the blessing but not the trials. The centurion was facing a perilous situation in his home and he, simply put, understood what many don’t. Your faith is all He needs. You can give lip service to your belief, but you have to actually believe in your heart. You can give lip service to your friends at church, but you have to actually believe it in your heart. Even the pagans acknowledge that God is real, but they deny the power and presence of who He really is. They don’t have faith.

What would it look like if the church stopped preaching feel good messages to get you lit on a Sunday morning, yet forget by the time 9am rolls around on Monday and your boss is demanding things of you, or you have a meeting that didn’t go as planned, or your hours were cut unexpectedly, or you were let go because your job did cut backs? Feel good messages, messages that lack building up one’s faith won’t expose and convict the heart of those who are borrowing faith and cause a stirring in the spirit…instead they continue to stifle a Christians growth each week and are not Biblical. Jesus didn’t preach a feel-good message to his followers or anyone else he spoke with. He preached the truth as God gave it to him and as he was led by Holy Spirit.

Jesus showed great mercy on those whose hearts were pure and open to receiving him. His words cut the bone and marrow of a person while piercing the heart, not in condemnation, but conviction and love. His mercy sought after the 1 who went astray. His mercy endures today even in the midst of heartache and tribulations. His mercy is for you and for me. It can’t be borrowed from someone else. It can’t be negotiated. It is not for sale. We can’t pass His mercy on to the next generation, because it is His to give and it is already there for those who choose Him. His faithfulness follows a generation and never fails, just because we don’t see it with our physical eyes, doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Over and over again, God weaves His mercy throughout scripture. His faithfulness starts in Genesis 1:1 and is seen all the way to Revelation 22:21.

It’s time for the church to wake up. It can’t live on borrowed faith anymore. Not teaching people about true faith and preaching a message that just itches the ears yet has no lasting effect on the heart and life of a believer, is ERROR. Error that cannot go unchecked.

I encourage you, to search the Word of God for yourself and answer the questions. Ask Holy Spirit where your faith needs fortifying. At some point in our lives, we have all borrowed the faith of a parent or someone in our family that truly believed in God, especially as children. Yet, it is not sustaining. The faith we build in Christ will strengthen the foundation of which we live on.