Intensive Faith Therapy

In Chapter 19 we begin to look at a different aspect of our therapy. Up until now, we have focused on ourselves; our trust in God, our hope in God, our faith in God, and our thoughts. Now we are going to turn the focus away from us and towards God.

The book of Job has comforted many Christian people throughout the centuries. We often look at Jobs situation to justify why bad things sometimes happen to good people. However, as we looked at Job in our lesson, we discovered something. The book of Job is not so much about Job as it is about God.
Think about it. The reason we read about Job is not because of Job but because of a wager between God and Satan. What a remarkable story. Satan wasn’t thinking about Job. God is the one that suggested Job. Furthermore, as the conversation progressed, Satan predicted that Job would curse God if God would remove his protection from him. Satan basically said that God’s people are materialistic and that our praise is predicated on what we get from God.

What an accusation! Unfortunately, it is true sometimes. We discovered in our lesson that we often allow circumstances to dictate our praise and adoration for God. We must realize that God is in control and that He knows what is best for us. When we accuse God of being unfair, unjust, slow, uncaring or unresponsive to our needs, we are not praising God. Let us not let Satan be right about us. We are to demonstrate that we can go through tough trials and tribulations and give God awesome praise.

Hallelujah!

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In chapter 15 of “Intensive Faith Therapy“, we are reminded that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. No matter how smart we think we are or how “deep” in God we perceive ourselves to be, we will never know or understand all of the ways of God. Even when we flow in the gifts of the Spirit such as prophecy, we are told that prophesy in part. Therefore, we may not always know “why” we are going through a particular situation.

Fortunately, there are times where God will reveal to us “why” something is happening. However, more often than not, we generally do not know all of the details. We may not know why a particular relationship going sour will benefit us. We may not know why losing our job at this moment is in God’s plan.

Our assignment for this lesson is simple. We will not deal with what we don’t know. Let’s deal with what we do know. We know that the thoughts that God has towards us are good. They are thoughts of peace and not evil. We also know that all things work together for good to them that love God and are the called according to His purpose. What a wonderful thought to dwell on!

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In Chapter 10 of “Intensive Faith Therapy” we received a better understanding of Hebrews 11:1, particularly the last part of the scripture, “the evidence of things not seen”. We looked at the meaning of evidence in the judicial system to get a better understanding of what exactly our faith is. We compared the credibility of factual evidence and hearsay. We discovered that in a court setting, you will have a better chance winning your case if you have factual evidence as compared to hearsay or circumstantial evidence.

We concluded that the best evidence that we have is the Word of God. What does the Bible say concerning your situation? Do you see it as credible?

We also looked at other types of evidence that is used in the judicial system, particularly the testimony of witnesses. Witnesses that can testify that they saw the incident happen are the most credible. Those that only think they know or was told by someone else that something took place are usually considered circumstantial or hearsay.

What is your faith made of? Remember, your faith is the evidence. What evidence are you working with? Do you have scripture that apply to your situation? Are you building your faith with the testimonies of people that are telling you that God can indeed make a way?

Court is now in session. We know that our faith must be tried and the evidence must weigh out. We know that we have solid, truthfully evidence of God’s goodness and faithfulness to his people in the Word of God. We are going to search out the scriptures and find our evidence. We believe that God is a faithful judge and that He is no respecter of person. We have no time for doubters and unbelief. We believe God’s Word and we are building strong faith in Him. God is faithful and He faithfully takes care of his children.

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In chapter 5 of “Intensive Faith Therapy“, we learned that hope is the initial element of faith. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for. We also learned that the biblical definition of hope is very differently than the worldly view of hope. Although the word “hope”, according to the dictionary means “to desire with expectation of fulfillment”, we often use the word in a tone of defeat. We will say, “I really hope something works out me”, in a way that speaks of defeat and failure. Many of us rarely us the word hope to mean great expectation.

Has your hope been destroyed? Are you at the point where you don’t expect anything from God? Get up from that place!!! That is not a good place to be. If we do not have hope, there is nothing for our faith to be the substance of. When that happens, we become depressed and hopeless. Hopelessness leads to faithlessness.

Well, that is changing today. We are going to recommit our “hope” to the Lord. We are going to have GREAT EXPECTATION of all that God has for us. We are going to line up our thoughts and our speech with our new found hope. When we say, “I hope it works out for you”, we are expecting to here some praise reports. We are not going to entertain doubt and unbelief and we will not act like those that have no hope. Each day we are eagerly looking and receiving the wonderful changes in our lives and circumstances.

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The promises of God are exciting. However, many times in our excitement, we fail to read and understand the entire promise. Some of the promises given to us in the Word of God are conditional. That means that the promise is valid as long as we satisfy the requirements that are given. We are often disappointed and our faith is injured when we try to stand on conditional promises without fulfilling the conditions.

As we read in the lesson, there are four conditions or commands that are given in this passage. One command is so important that it is mentioned twice. That condition is to trust God. The other conditions include:
• Doing good
• Delight in the Lord
• Commit our ways to the Lord

However, if we do not trust God, we will not be able to do the other commands. It is only when we meet these conditions that we can boldly stand on the promises.

So, before we stand on this promise, let’s do some soul searching. Do we trust God or do we put our trust in the economy? Do we take pleasure in God or is it a chore to get up and pray or spend time with him in worship? What about committing our ways to the Lord? Since none of us are perfect, there will always be areas that we need to commit to God. However, are there areas in our lives that God is trying to get you to address now? Are you listening to His leading or just trying to do your own thing?

We are people of promise. God wants us to live in His Word and to abide in Him. We have three new promises to add to our list as well as some new conditions that we must strive to meet. Don’t panic! We are well able to do that which the Lord has commanded.

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