Thomas Christian vs. Abraham Christian

We all know that prayer has the power to change things. "Prayer is onipotent it can do anything that God can do because he hears and answers the prayers of his saints" When we pray we must not be moved by what we see, or how we feel. This is what the deal was with a dude by the name of Thomas. He was one of the twelve disciples. He refused to believe that Jesus was the Christ unless he could see and touch. How many believers and even preachers are like this Today? Were commanded to walk by FAITH and not by sight(2 Cor 5:7) Four times in the word of God, the Lords like THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH(Hab 2:4, Rom 1:17, Gal 3:11, Heb 10:38) God never wastes words. Hes not like a "chatterbox" speaking useless utterences. Everytime theres a declaration from his lips, its imperative that we are of the utmost highest attention! What is faith? Hebrews defines it with crystal clear clarity. Faith is the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for and the EVIDENCE of things NOT SEEN(Heb 11:1) Our faith is creating the substance of what we are hoping for. Hope is like a goal setter and our faith is giving it substance. Another translation of this verse says that faith is the TITLE DEED! Think about it. When we have the title deed of the house, we dont have to see it to know that its ours. Its the same thing when we are excercising our faith in what we are hoping for. Too many are moved by their feelings. When they pray and there isint change right away, there is this temptation to recieve that as the will of God, Listen the will of God is found in the word of God. When there is an area in our life where were potentially shady concerning the will of God, its impossible to have faith. Why? Its because "Faith begins where the will of God is known" God says through the mouth of James that if we are double minded, we'll become unstable in all our ways and WILL NOT be able to expect to recieve anything from the Lord(Jms 1:6-8) We must be direct with divine difinitive! Lets contrast the faith of Thomas with the faith of Abraham. Abraham waited for twenty five long years for the promise but was not moved by the time. "Faith always is the daring of the soul to LOOK BEYOND what the natural eye can see" We find that he was FULLY PERSUADED that what GOD PROMISED, he was ABLE TO PERFORM(Rom 4:21) How was he able to do that? We find the answer in verse number nineteen. He CONSIDERED NOT HIS BODY, NEITHER THE DEADNESS OF SARA'S WOMB! If he wasent considering the circumstance, What was he considering? It was the PROMISE! We have discussed alot in recent blogs the importance of persistence. Theres like a reason Jesus spends so much time going into detail in two majior parables about persistence. Its the day for grit and guts. Lets face it, we all have feelings. We WILL BE TEMPTED to be lead by them. However the bible says that were to be led by the spirit of God(Rom 8:14) Folks they are like oil and water. It would be like thinking that sweet and bitter water can come from the same spring(Jms 3:11) Were unable to be led by two things at the same time. Jesus said Man cannot serve TWO MASTERS(Matt 6:24) We must remind ourselves when our feelings begin to rise up demanding to be heard, what Jesus said to Thomas. You believe now that you see, but BLESSED IS THE MAN THAT BELIEVES WHEN HE DOES NOT SEE(John 20:29) Most of us have heard the saying "God is never early or late, HES ALWAYS RIGHT ON TIME" However its in that process of time between the promise and provision that what we do, say, and act means absolutely everything. This word from the Lord today is not meant to condemn but to CHALLENGE and than CORRECT! All of us have had seasons where we've missed it and had the "Thomas faith", but its a new day with new direction. "Doing the same thing, expecting something different is the definition of insanity". Without FAITH its IMPOSSIBLE to PLEASE GOD(Heb 11:6) The bible says that many of the saints died in FAITH(Heb 11:13) There is a statement that goes like this concerning this verse. "Its better to die in FAITH than LIVE IN DOUBT!" When we read of the healing of the woman with the issue of blood and blind Barthameaus, each of them were made whole by THEIR FAITH! If their faith made them whole our faith can and WILL make us whole! Heres the thing if they would have went by feeling or sight they would have never been able to recieve! One of the biggest enemies to faith that exists is feelings. Listen to the litney of conversations coming from the confessions of people and sadly Christians. They begin with I just feel, This is how I feel... Right? What does it matter how we feel? What do feelings got to do with it? Its time to enter into that level of full growth and maturity, so that we can have our senses excercised to DISCERN whether were being dominated by feeling or faith. Be willing to examine yourself. The bible exorts us to EXAMINE ourselves to see whether we be IN THE FAITH(2 Cor 13:5) People I DO this DAILY!!!! Please understand the enemy will continue to work in getting us out of FAITH Faith is the VICTORY that OVERCOMES THE WORLD(1 John 5:4) Its what ensures his total defeat! It says in the LAST DAYS MANY will DEPART from the FAITH(1 Tim 4:1) This is not just talking about someone departing from Jesus, its talking about the pressure that we'll be under to surrender our faith and get into feelings. When we do that we become "rollercoaster christians" up one day and down the next. What kindof witness is that? Than we'll become "circus christians" and will only be moved by the priming of the pump. Forget that!!!!!!!!!!!! The christian life is one of consistency! Jesus said himself that its the kindof faith thats built on the rock and cannot be moved or shaken(Matt 7:24,25 Luke 6:48,49) Comeon and join me in being an "Abraham Christian"! lets not come behind in the things that have been planned and purposed for our lives since before the foundations of the world