MAGNIFY THE LORD
“… Thus says the Lord, your creator, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel, ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Since you are precious in My sight, since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life. Do not fear, for I am with you; ‘You are My witnesses,’ declares the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen, in order that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me. ‘I, even I, am the Lord; and there is no savior besides Me. It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, and there was no strange god among you; so you are My witnesses,’ declares the Lord, ‘And I am God. Even from eternity I am He; and there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?’ Do not call to mind the former things or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. The people whom I formed for Myself, will declare My praise. Yet you have not called on Me, O Jacob; but you have become weary of Me, O Israel. ‘I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins. Put Me in remembrance; let us argue our case together, state your cause, that you may be proved right. Your first forefather sinned, and your spokesmen have transgressed against Me.'” Isaiah 43: 1-5, 10-13, 18-19, 21-22, 25-27.
A.W. Tozer said that the vibrant note of triumph is missing in our witness. A sad weeping Jesus offers us His quiet sympathy in our griefs and temptations, but He appears to be as helpless as we are when the pressure is on. We give Him our sympathy, but scarcely our confidence. The helpless Christ of the crucifix and the vacuous (mindless)-countenanced Christ that looks out in sweet innocence from the walls of our evangelical homes is all one and the same. The Catholics rescue Him by bringing a Queen of Heaven to His aid. But we Protestants have no helper. So, we sing pop choruses to cheer our drooping spirits and hold panel discussions in the plaintive hope that someone will come up with the answer to our scarce-spoken complaint.
Faith is the great principle of life. All men live by faith; the only difference is the object of their faith. The natural man has faith in the natural, the things he can see, touch, and follow logically. He has faith in a chair because logical experience tells him that it is worthy of his trust. He does not walk around with his eyes shut. He has faith that if he opens his eyes, he will see. His amazement would be if he didn’t see! The spiritual man has faith in the spiritual. These are elements he cannot see, though he believes they are. These elements also defy the logic of the natural order, operating in a law absolutely unique from the physical world.
A phenomenon of spiritual awareness has broken out upon our globe, launching our world into an unprecedented spiritual revival. From science to medical treatments and religion to political influences, the evidence of faith in the spiritual realm has taken a firm hold on our generation’s psyche. A growing number of people believe that certain entities exist in another realm or dimension. Furthermore, many think these entities can be contacted through new-age techniques and that this higher order of intelligence will be able to guide us and protect us in our personal lives as well as globally. Therefore, an explosion of occultist religions has excelled in the general public as well as in churches once considered conservatively Christian! These occultist religions are hiding behind the guise of science, technology, and advanced intelligence.
Contrary to the natural and the spiritual, the godly man has faith in God. By God, he lives and moves and has his being. This faith is not proportional to doctrine, for many from the “Spiritual faith” would claim a similar belief, but this faith is proportional to intimacy. If Moses had challenged Egypt with a theology of God, Pharaoh’s magicians would have embarrassed him. Godly faith requires no sign of strength; it is the evidence of things not seen. He knows God, and by that alone, his faith is confident. The performances of God do not strengthen our faith, or Judas would have been a giant of faith and all Israel would have become believers after seeing so many miracles. It is our knowledge of God and His Word that gives strength to our faith. Faith grows as our knowledge of God grows. The more we know Him, the more we believe Him!
Many people struggle with faith. For them, it is a fleeting feeling that struggles for existence. But faith is only as strong as the object it believes in. Many are wounded because their faith is not in God but in His things. Also, followers of the occult are often discouraged because this form of spirituality has reality but not omnipotence.
Therefore, in referencing A.W.Tozer’s thoughts on the distorted Christ that many seem to behold today, our God and Lord Jesus is both omnipotent and immutable. We must not bow to the distorted Christ, who is presented as weak and accommodating. He is the King. He is the power. He is worthy of our trust and worship. He is not helpless to help you. When the pressure is on, He is the power that keeps you from imploding. He has held you together, sustained your faith, and kept your feet from slipping. No intelligence will rival His omniscience. No creation derived from the created creature will challenge the Creator of all things. No occultic religion or deception will win the day. Jesus has triumphed and will triumph. His kingdom is everlasting. And for all who put their faith in the Christ of God, listen to Paul: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39).
A living faith in the Living God is the key to life! Without living faith, we are reduced to mere naturalism. One man of faith is more helpful than a thousand faithless volunteers. I think any one of us would rather the assistance of a Moses than a hundred Aaron’s. A living faith upsets the whole life. Faith in the Living Christ will command all or have nothing to do with you! This faith yields to no experience; are you the man of God or not? This faith is not found in the showman who keeps an escape route. Godly faith defies the obstacles, laughs at devils, and triumphantly lives before death! It cries, “Let God be true and all men liars!”
Faith is the witness of God. The man of faith knows and believes in the God that stops the mouths of lions, quenches the fire, calls fire down from heaven, and receives the dead raised back to life! The man of faith expects God because he knows God. Expectation has always been present in the church in the times of her greatest power. Every great movement of God in history, every unusual advance in the church, and every revival has been preceded by a sense of keen anticipation. Let us live with a fiery spirit of anticipation that springs out of the promises of God. You do not serve a timid Savior; therefore, don’t be a timid believer. Jesus does not give you the spirit of timidity, but the Spirit of power. Let us declare war on the mood of nonexpectation, for those who know their God will do mighty exploits! Our God is on the move, move with Him. This is the hour. Today is the day. Now is the time.