AGELESS FAITH

“Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart,
Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old?”
GENESIS 17:17

Our God is Able! Our God is willing! Faith does not consider circumstance. Faith is not determined by what it sees; it is founded upon what it hears. I see many who by reason of age (it is also my own battle) begin to settle and weaken in the vitality and relevance of the vision and the hope we have in Jesus. We see indications of this all around us in the lack of our pursuit of HIM; the absence of fervency in our seeking of HIM. The grip of the living expectation of all that HE has promised becomes an ideal and a doctrine rather than the IMPULSE that propels us on to greater things in HIM.

The thought struck me the other day that no where do we read of the Kingdom of God coming to us while we sit in total passivity. Rather what we read about is the Kingdom of God being ENTERED into by faith, obedience and much trial and tribulation. The failure of one generation must not rob the next of God’s purpose and intent. It is a day to challenge, a day to exhort, and a day to summon up every last bit of resources we have to see this great purpose of God come to pass. Men have grown weary. They have settled for a vision that no longer inspires, invigorates or PRODUCES an ardent pursuit of God. We have settled for knowing about the Kingdom instead of ENTERING INTO the Kingdom. We have allowed age, experience and comfort to rob us of the ONE THING…

“Seek ye FIRST the Kingdom of God…”

It is time to awaken out of our slumber for the Day is upon us, the hour has come, and the Bridegroom stands at the door looking for a Bride who has made herself ready. The Church that has rediscovered that it is in fact the BODY OF CHRIST, it is ONE and it is HIS,  and it will no longer tolerate the secularization and division that has rendered her powerless and ineffective. It is time for the true ministry of God to minister out of a heart that desires that HE WOULD HAVE THE PRE-EMINENCE in our midst that men might see the Body of Christ come to the “unity of the FAITH”. It is time for the true ministers of the Grace of God to be caught up with the burden of the Lord that we would LOVE ONE ANOTHER IN THE SAME MEASURE, THE SAME PURITY AND THE SAME INTENSITY THAT THE FATHER HAS LOVED THE SON. For if that is the prayer and heart of Jesus (John 17) should not that same burden and purpose burn within our hearts?

“Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD. Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of MINE HOUSE that is waste, and ye run every man unto his OWN HOUSE”

Until we are more concerned with HIS house than we are with “our” little fellowship, “our” church and “our” ministry we will not see the blessing and the power of God! As long as we are content with what is, the new will not come forth. As long as we are content with a gospel that is not breaking forth with power and reality, as long as we are content with relationships that are in ruins, until we are broken with the things that break the heart of God, we will not know HIS GLORY in our midst.

“Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited. Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it. Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock. As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the LORD”
EZEKIEL 36:33 – 38

  Brian Troxel