CENTURION CONNECTION
Every day we read or hear about faith from prominent people, leaders and it seems everyone who wants you to believe whatever they have to say or sell. The importance of faith to this ministry is evident from the name, Faith Walk. It is important to understand exactly what faith is and isn't. For starters, an expression of faith should also reveal the basis of that "faith." It is the basis of your faith that is all important, and controls what you may expect from that "faith."
An outstanding example of faith is found in Matt. 8:5-13. This is lengthy scripture, but we need to carefully examine all these verses, because it tells us what will happen when we take the
word "faith" lightly. "Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, 'Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented..' And Jesus said to him, 'I will come and heal him.'" A centurion was a very important Roman citizen, who commanded 100 soldiers and frequently was in charge of a political district. "The centurion answered and said, 'Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, "Go," and he goes, and to another, "Come," and he comes; and to my servant, "Do this," and he does it."
Let's examine this closely before we continue. The centurion understands FULL authority. The Roman government was cruel with punishment, but it was a society of law. The Romans had their various gods, but not the true god. Therefore, citizens held the belief that an authority over you was in effect the instrument of god with power including life and death. They had courts of law, but positions of authority ruled. Their religious faith may have been non-existent, but their faith in leadership direction was clear.
To resume, from verse 10, "When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven . But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Then Jesus said to the centurion,'Go your way, and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.' And his servant was healed that same hour.'"
First, we see the centurion had full belief that Jesus could act as the true God. There was absolutely no doubt. He had total faith, not just ideological words used by so many "Christians." You may not have realized the centurion prayed to Jesus/God for the healing. His
words were a prayer, and he did not "expect" an answer--he KNEW his prayer would be answered. His words were REAL faith, not just what we see from so many professing Christians today. Their claims are frequently words without heartfelt impact. Unfortunately, many prayers fall into this category.
Secondly, we see that God acts according to His will, and there is no limit on time or location. Prayers for healing or other things may not necessarily be fulfilled. But, without total FAITH, you should not be surprised when nothing seems to happen. There is an element of time, varying from instant to longer periods of time. You must also understand that if doubts creep in, the healing or answer to prayer may be withdrawn. The word "faith" should be understood as "belief," because we may misunderstand another verse of scripture.
This explanation may seem confusing, but if you read Hebrews 11:1-3, you will see the clue that separates faith and belief. The Apostle Paul (or whoever wrote this epistle--there is some differing opinion on this) wrote to explain the difference between creation and the history of man. To do so, he had to explain that no one saw the process of creation, and that doesn't mean we should always expect to see God's work. A good example is radio waves. Paul said, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible."
Still sound confusing? This verse (1) is not a description of faith, but a description of what faith does. "Hoped for" relates to the reality of things (substance). Faith (belief) treats the prayer substance as reality, even if the unseen faith proves what may be unseen is real. This
is not always the situation, because often you can see the result. It is interesting that many Christians have a problem believing in "miracles," but that is often the case. The best example of this is faith healing. Some good bible teachers don't believe in faith healing. They have seen fake situations, especially where a fee was charged. Real faith healing should not be about any money. You see, God does the healing, not the person praying. The person praying is only reinforcing the prayer of the person seeking healing. That is why both people involved in faith healing must not doubt results. Healing does not always happen, because God may have other plans. That doesn't mean He didn't hear your prayer or doubt your faith; it just wasn't
timely.
God is in control of everything; it's His universe. All material blessings belong to Him. That includes land and buildings. It also includes the leaders in government. Leaders in the remainder of the world serve at the Lord's pleasure--even dictators and ruthless bigots. God has His reasons and has explained them in scripture. The problems faced by leaders in both the church and government are with us because these leaders don't know, understand or follow scripture.
There are two problems in particular religious leaders fall prey to: not realizing practically the entire Old Testament records punishment when people bastardize worship; and people can't be forced to follow any particular brand of religion. Even secular history bears this out.
You can't force anyone to be a Christian or Muslim short of laws or physical punishment (jail or death). Don't our pastors and religious teachers know scripture tells us we must be called to respond to Christ's offer of salvation? Christ never taught that people had to follow any man-made laws to be His followers. The key word for Christians is "choice."
Now that we've taken a hard look at faith, hope and belief, let's look at prayer. We can separate prayer into three categories. Yes, not all prayers are equal. We have the "casual" prayer that Jesus describes in Matt. 25:31-46, where people have needs and prayers are given, but nothing of material substance. It's summed up by the comment, "I'll pray for you." If you are at a long distance away from the person in need, a serious prayer carries weight. If you are in personal or close contact, and something material will help, that is required if possible. It's "putting your money where your mouth is." The third category is the after effect of answered prayer. Christ talks about this in Matt. 17:11-19. Ten lepers asked Him to heal them, and He did. Only one of the 10, who were all healed, returned to Christ to give thanks and glorify God. This man was a Samaritan, not a follower of Christ, and a religious "foreigner." These verses
indicate that God expects a recipient of special blessings to at least recognize the work of God.
Do we recognize the little frequent blessings each day and wait for something with bells and whistles? Do you attend a church that features bells and whistles, placing true study of the word as a secondary feature? Music and special events are not wrong, but they should not be the main reason for worship. Worship is to thank and glorify God, not to have amusement and fun. The switch from bible study to fun was clearly pointed out recently by a pastor of a
mega television ministry who said God wanted us to have fun and enjoyment. We are to worship us, not God. And this ministry takes in six figure amounts in its weekly service. It seems that a large number of American Christians must agree with this directive. I pray
you are not caught up in a fun and games ministry.
Rev. Walbear
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