I hope you’re enjoying this month’s programs on faith. I’m personally inspired every time I teach about faith because my heart comes alive to this incredible journey we’re all making with God. My mind always goes back through a forty-plus year history of walking with God and experiencing the supernatural.
Choosing what you’ll remember is, in fact, choosing on what you’ll meditate, because remembering is a form of meditation. What you meditate on determines what comes alive in your heart, so remembering your past victories is a powerful prescription for keeping yourself alive with faith. As I recount and relive those experiences I’m so encourage about my future. I know that even though there will be great darkness ahead, the same God of the Bible, the One that worked in Jesus, the same God who walked me through a miraculous life will work in me exceedingly, abundantly above all I ask or think.
When facing a fear or feeling “down” we have a tendency to allow our emotions to guide our thoughts. Since every seed bears after its own kind fearful emotions will produce thoughts that cause fear to grow. This is when we must choose to remember all the things that have worked out in our favor. As we relive those moments of victory our emotions will change, our understanding will open to God’s provision and possibilities, and we’ll realize we can always win!
There’s this thing I call “spiritual amnesia.” Spiritual amnesia is what happens when we face difficulties, our emotions begin to lead us, and we suddenly forget all of our past victories. Before long we’ve forgotten all God has done for us in the past. I’ve seen people reach a place where they deny all the great things God has done for them. They say it never really happened. I especially see this with teachers and preachers who abandon their prayer life; they lose intimacy with God and, sadly, when their heart becomes hard and their understanding darkened they can’t find their way back.
We sometimes forget that this thing with God is a relationship. Our relationship with God is no different than our relationships with people; the same dynamics are always present. When a person stops having intimacy with their mate (not just sex, but intimacy) they begin to lose their emotional connection. As that connection gets weaker they experience fewer benefits, and in the absence of benefits it seems like a burden. Eventually, hardness of heart sets in, which is the real cause of all divorces. In time the person reaches the place where they will convince themselves they never were really in love. That’s the “jumping-off place” for massive dysfunction. That’s the same process that occurs in our relationship with God.
But what’s worse, as we lose that connection we forget how incredibly good God has been to us. We forget the millions of little things He has done – how He has comforted us in trouble, how He has led us through difficulties, or how He has delivered us from sin. As I pointed out a couple of months ago, the Passover feast (a celebration of being delivered from wrath) should always be observed with bitter herbs because the bitter herbs remind us of where we came from and what God delivered us from.
When we forget how good God has been we lose faith; we lose touch with God’s character and motives. When we lose faith, confident trust in God and His faithfulness, we have no connection with Him.
Please remember all of our programs are available for your viewing at www.impactministries.com. Please invest in yourself with these timeless resources. And please continue to invest in us as we take this message to the world.
Don’t forget Impact Magazine is now sent to you as individual articles. They’re the same great types of articles I’ve always provided for you; we just send them one at a time now (as a blog post). We know you may not have time to read an entire magazine but you can read one article at a time. I want to keep you encouraged and abounding in faith, hope, and love! Watch for my next blog: Mountain Movers, Giant Killers, and Overcomers. Regardless of how you have lived your life up to this point, this is your true potential!
By the way, it isn’t too late to register for World Changers Weekend July 17-19! It’s going to be life-changing! I hope you can make it!
Together we are changing the way the world sees God!