Here is the revelation that is shaping my life today – the faith life is a life of awareness and responsibility.
Hebrews 12:1-2 TPT
[1] As for us, we have all of these great witnesses who encircle us like clouds. So we must let go of every wound that has pierced us and the sin we so easily fall into. Then we will be able to run life’s marathon race with passion and determination, for the path has been already marked out before us. [2] We look away from the natural realm and we fasten our gaze onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection. His example is this: Because his heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be his, he endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation, and now sits exalted at the right hand of the throne of God!
Observation
My woundedness, my sin, my lens, my focus. As I assess these areas of my life I will be able to “run life’s marathon race with passion and determination.” The challenge for me is that I do not create priority and space for self-awareness. I relinquish the control Jesus has given me to shape my life and allow life to roll over me and shape me. The faith life that God invites me into requires a responsible awareness of the shaping influences of my life and that they are addressed in order to release the life of faith.
“I must let go of every wound that has pierced me.” Knowing my woundedness and knowing a pathway to healing is essential if I am to walk in the fullness of the faith life. Wounds inflicted in traumatic circumstances of life create some truths that shape me. If I have been wounded by a lover who told me I am unloved, hearing that God loves me will not shape me, I must be healed of the wounded core truth in order to have shaping God truth restored. This healing is essential and available. I invite God into the circumstances of my woundedness and allow Him to reshape the truth I formed in that place. The faith life is more than “I believe….” it’s I believe and have been healed so I can live according to what I believe.
“I must let go of the sin I so easily fall into.” Often it is my sheer laziness that opens the door to behaviour and thinking that does not align with the life that God intends for me. Sin is deceptive at times, and I need Holy Spirit revelation to show me its presence. At other times it’s just sheer laziness, fear of man, or my brokenness that has me walk sins path. The faith life of heaven becomes aware of sin and addresses its presence. I die, repent, to that which traps me, and I am resurrected, renew my mind, with the life of God’s intention.
“I look away from the natural realm.” The lens through which I interpret life is critical. I do not live by the shaping systems of this world. I do not live based on the principles of possibility of this world. I do not live by the confines of this world. I look to the supernatural realm from where I derive my citizenship as the lens through which I shape my life. The faith life is a supernatural life that references the promises, resources and ways of heaven as the source of shaping truth. It’s difficult to look away at times when the natural realm is so in your face. But faith is the invitation to look beyond, to look to heaven where my help, my truth, my home, is.
“Because his (Jesus) heart was focused on the joy.” My focus is critical. I live in a microwave culture that has trouble seeing past the bing of the next moment. ‘I want it and I want it now, and I deserve it,’ is the theme of the thief that our culture has established as its mantra. When my focus is on the soon-to-be reality of my heavenly home then the joy of living in God’s presence to establish Heaven on earth, that His glory might be the mantra of my life, becomes possible. The faith life looks forward to the joy of Heaven being established here and now, and enjoyed then. The faith life is not rapped in the small story of now, it is a life lived in the boldness of the future. It lives as a prophet from the future shaping the present.
Application
I will run this marathon life from a position of responsible faith. I will passionately and determinedly address the areas of my life that need to be brought to the intimacy of the presence of God for awareness, inspection, healing and deliverance. I will not allow my life, or its overflow blessing to my family and community, to be robbed by a lazy approach to life that sees it be swept up by the current of an unfocused, out of control, culture and worldly system. I will live bigger than the life it offers.
Response
Thank you that you invite me into the faith life of your presence. Thank you that you walk with, enable me, love me into the faith life, but you also charge me with the responsibility of freedom of choice. Thank you that you call me beyond my brokenness and sin, into your realm of life and the joy and passion that flows from supernatural living. The way is not difficult to follow, it’s been marked out for me by those who have gone before, and is a journey of following as you walk beside me. The brilliance of the faith life that you offer me humbled me in gratitude and excites me with awe. I am blessed, and I am so grateful!
Meditation
What areas of life keep you from the faith life that God calls you to?
What needs to be adjusted in your lens, your mindset and your language to walk by faith in the fullness of the life God intends for you?
JOURNEY DEEPER
