SENSE KNOWLEDGE FAITH!

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MOMDAY JULY 6, 2020.

SUBJECT : SENSE KNOWLEDGE FAITH!

Memory verse: "Therefore they said to Him, 'What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will you do?" (John 6 vs 30.)

READ: John 20 vs 24 - 29: 

20:24: Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 

20:25: The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them,  “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

20:26: And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!”

20:27: Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your fingers here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

20:28: And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

20:29: Jesus said to him, 'Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet they believed."

INTIMATION:

One of the greatest dangers that we face as believers is sense knowledge faith. Until we see or feel we are not convinced. That is no faith. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11 vs 1). God demands that we accept His Word as it is, the very Word of God; and that we act upon it, independent of any feelings or any evidence that the eyes can see or the ears hear or hands can touch or mouth can taste or nose can smell. We should have confidence that God will bring about His promises because He has made them on the basis of His existence and His oath (Hebrews 6 vs 18 - 19).

In the passage we read today, Thomas believed because he had personally touched the body of Jesus. Those who believe without having touched and talked to Jesus have greater faith. They are blessed because they have believed without the empirical evidence for which Thomas sought. Therefore, those today who would seek a miracle from God in order to believe are actually struggling with their own faith. They are asking God to take away what blessedness they have by believing without seeing. 

Those who would truly believe today will ask for no miracles from God because they do not want God to take away their blessedness. They seek to walk by faith not by sight (Second Corinthians 5 vs 7). They are assured that God is pleased with their faith because they continually allow Him to lead them through His Word. Therefore, have your own faith in God. Believe the Word without reservations, speak out your believe with full assurance, and in Jesus’ Name claim the promise in the Word, and you will have what you say!

Most believers are engulfed in Thomas' kind of faith; "Unless I see and touch, I will not believe." That is sense knowledge faith (sense of sight and touch). The Jews then had faith in what they see and hear or feel. Up to now, this enemy continues to be bane of many Christians. For instance, someone comes to a pastor sick. He is in great pain. When the pastor prayed for him, using the Word in Isaiah 53 vs 4 - 5, the pain leaves him instantly,  he says, "Thank God I am healed." When he is asked, "How do you know you are healed?" And he replies, "The pain is gone." Can you understand that? He has no faith in the Word. It is meaningless to him. He only believed he is healed because the pain is gone, not that the Word said he is healed. 

Had he believed the Word, instead of going to the pastor, he would have looked up and said, "Father, you laid this disease on Jesus, and it is unseemly for me to bear it. I dishonor You in bearing it. So, in the name of Jesus, I command it to leave me, and I command Satan to take it with him. I have no use for it, I refuse to have it."  In trusting the Word, and Jesus’ name, he gets his personal deliverance. He would have honored the Word, and the Name, implied lukewarm honored the Father and Jesus. And he would have learned to take his place in Christ.

The instance given above indicates that the person is healed either by the faith of the pastor, or better still by his faith in the pastor's faith. Such persons are like the one in James 5 vs 14 who calls for the elders to come and pray over him and anoint him with oil, and prayer of the elders heals him. The only faith he had was in the elders. This is typical of sense knowledge faith. He can see the elders, he can hear them pray, can feel their hands upon his head, and the anointing with the oil. 

Prayer: Abba Father, You mean what you say, and say what You mean. Your Word is forever settled in heaven. My complete trust and confidence is in You and Your Word, and no lies from the pit of hell can take this away from me, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!