During bible study, a comment was made that Christians don’t exercise their faith but often lean toward being practical or realistic rather than declaring the Word of God. For example, the word of God says that you were healed by the stripes of Jesus, but rather than declaring wholeness, we consistently declare the illness, the symptoms, and the realistic aspects of the experience.
I pondered on it, and as I flipped through my Bible, I landed on the story of the parable of the Sower, specifically, the verse that illustrates the seed being sown on stony ground.
Receiving a word or a promise of what God is doing (or going to do) is great. We all receive it happily. But we are often unprepared for the challenges that come with the growth of that seed. Our faith has to both receive the word but also withstand the challenges against that word. And the challenges against God’s word of promise are what often breaks us down. The pain from various ailments can be such that the Word, which declares that it is spirit and life, doesn’t feel like spirit or life--just black letters to encourage our hearts, rather than heal the body.
Hardship doesn’t allow the word to be rooted in our hearts; that’s why we can be excited about a prophecy one minute and carelessly disregard or discard it the next. It has no root. A tree with deep roots in the earth is impossible to pluck. Even if you destroy the stem, the roots almost always remain. The Word of God is supposed to be rooted in us in like manner. The purpose is that even if unexpected occurrences take place, it’s like the tree planted by the river—its roots will draw from the river and will grow again. However, without roots, one is easily dissuaded and destroyed.
It is why we have to make war with our word of prophecy. Afterall, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force (Matthew11:12). Is it easy? No; I think it’s easier to give up and not have expectation than it is to believe God. We have to build ourselves such that our faith is able to withstand hardship. Faith goes beyond believing what has been said. It has to be strengthened to withstand challenges, discomfort, failures, disappointments. It has to be strong enough to believe again. If the woman with the issue of blood had decided there was no hope, hearing of Jesus’ healing miracles would not have moved her to seek out her restoration.
Why did the woman, bound by a crippling spirit for 18 years, continue to come to the synagogue to hear the word, if she didn’t have a measure of belief that the God she worshipped would do something for her?
The kingdom of God doesn’t thrive on realism, but in the power of God. But it’s not a place of microwave miracles either. Many people endure harsh cruelty, but their faith is built up and continues to endure. Their faith becomes like the house built on the rock; that when the storms of life come, it’ll continue to stand. This is where our faith needs to be: that we receive the word on good ground, but also, we are able to remain rooted regardless of affliction or persecution, to see the power of God, and the deliverance of His right hand.
