Crazy Faith

CRAZY FAITH

How many of us would describe our faith as “crazy?” I believe God expects this of us, but too many of us are scared to stretch our faith that far. We worry about whether we are doing it right. We worry about others’ opinions. We worry about scaring others away from the saving truth of Jesus. We worry that we will become one of those “Jesus Freaks” who take the whole faith thing way too far. Name your excuse – we use them every day.

But what if? What if we quit caring about what others think and just concentrated on our own personal relationship with God? What if we realized and acknowledged that there is no secret formula to dictate the “right way” to worship God? What if our true, honest, “crazy” faith is the one thing someone needs to see in order to finally surrender their life to God and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior? What if?

Let’s look at the Scriptures. Turn to Matthew chapter 17:14:20.

And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to Him and kneeling before Him, said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not heal him.” And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

I won’t get into the discussion of moving literal mountains now. Here, Jesus is speaking about the problems in our lives. We all have them – financial problems, a failing marriage, a broken dream – all of those are mountains. Unforgiveness, depression, mental or physical illness – these are all mountains. Name your mountain – we all have them.

What if all it took was faith, a spoken word and our belief that our God is the God of the impossible? Go back to verse 20. Jesus clearly states that if we have faith and speak to the mountain and tell it to move, it will move!

I have learned through my own personal journey that there are several facts about “crazy” faith – and solidified my belief that this is the type of faith God wants each of us to have.

*Crazy faith presses on – expects, hopes and knows without doubt that nothing is impossible with God. It is undaunted… endures. It believes that what seems impossible IS possible with God.
*Crazy faith grows from a personal experience in Christ. Now is the time to make Jesus the Lord and Savior of your life – for without that, you cannot have a personal experience in Christ.
*Crazy faith stays focused on God – not on circumstances, not on the mountain in front of it, not on the opinions of others.
*Crazy faith doesn’t pretend to know how God will answer nor does it demand God answer in a certain way. It simply knows God will answer and that God’s answers will be the best, meant for good. Faith patiently waits for God to answer.
*Crazy faith believes God regardless of what it sees in the natural.
*Crazy faith is bold, confident and positive through the power of Christ Jesus.
*Crazy faith doesn’t mean a lot of faith – remember the mustard seed – how tiny it is – can move a mountain.

There are three steps I think will help you have what I call “crazy” faith. Each one of these is essential to live out our faith and see it moving the mountains in our lives.

FIRST: BELIEVE IT - SPEAK IT
I believe the first step in practicing crazy faith is to believe it and speak it – Look again at Matthew 17: 20. Jesus states clearly here that if we have faith as a mustard seed (belief) and tell the mountain to move (speak it,) the mountain will move. Both are equally important – if you don’t believe it, your words have no meaning. If you believe it but don’t speak it, the mountain doesn’t know to move. There is power in our words. Proverbs18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat their fruits.” Do your words speak life? Whatever you speak will bear fruit. But, as in Matthew, you must believe that what you speak will be done. Look at John 14:13. Jesus says whatever we ask in His Name, He will do so the Father may be glorified in the Son. Stand on the promises, believe and speak them out!

SECOND: BE BOLD – BE CONFIDENT
When you believe it and speak it, be bold. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Be confident in God’s power when you speak to your mountain, be confident and bold in Christ when you believe that the mountain will move. God will never leave us nor forsake us – so why be timid about coming to Him when we have a mountain that we need moved – we may not be able to do it by ourselves, but by bringing it boldly and confidently to the throne of God, we place it in the hands of the One who speaks and mountains move – and by our speaking out His promises and being bold in believing Him, we are showing that we are confident in our faith.

THIRD: BE RELENTLESS
Once you believe it and speak it, are bold and confident, this is when the real test begins. This is when obstacles come and Satan tries to distract you. He will try to plant seeds of doubt. He will throw your past mistakes up at you. He will do whatever he can to get you back into carnal thinking. Be relentless! John 10:10 states, “The thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Satan knows that if he can distract you from your faith and from your pursuit of God, he can steal your joy, he can kill your faith and he can destroy you. Cast down seeds of doubt. Cast down seeds of accusations. Quit letting your past mistakes haunt you – if you are saved through Christ Jesus, then your past mistakes mean nothing to God - they’re forgotten… why allow the devil to throw them at you?

It amazes me how so many of us allow our past mistakes to define us. Yes, I am guilty of that, too. But look at what Jesus went through for mankind – the beatings He took…the spitting in His face…. stabbed by a spear…the crown of thorns…. hanging on the Cross to die - alone and forsaken by men….just so that we can have an intimate relationship with God the Father, through Him. When we allow our past mistakes to define us….when we mentally and emotionally (and sometimes physically,) beat ourselves up over past mistakes, we are telling Jesus that the beatings He took….the price He paid…wasn’t good enough to cover our sins…And that, my friends, is just a lie of the devil…..if he can get you to believe that, then he can destroy your life. Quit beating yourself up for your past mistakes and get them covered under the blood of Jesus!

Everyone has problems or mountains in our lives that need a miracle of God to get our breakthrough….but what if God is waiting on us to have the faith that unties His hands to perform that miracle? Think about the miracle you need – whether for you or for someone else…Then believe it, speak it, be bold and confident in bringing it to God, and be relentless in your pursuit of God to perform that miracle.

In closing, I want you to listen to this song…And, if you haven’t received Christ as your Lord and Savior, today’s the day you can make it happen. If this message has spoken to you, has struck a chord…and you need to rekindle your faith, I invite you to come to the altar and we will pray for you. Make the commitment today and watch your life and your perspective about your life change!

(Play the song Crazy Faith by John Waller.)