Category: Faith Fix

I’ve heard of special faith and I have been trying to figure out what is special faith for weeks. 1 Corinthians 12:9  we’re all given faith it takes some form of faith to walk in this life, but in reading the Bible it speaks of faith given in spiritual gifts. So my question is what is special faith? 

A mistake that is easy to make when reading scripture is in identifying words. What we have to remember about the Bible is that it was not originally written in English. Perhaps if it were many things would be worded differently. For example, there are at least 4 different Greek words in the New Testament that are all translated love. We see it lumped together but the writer chose specific words to portray a point. Some things can truly be lost in translation. 

There are many places where these types of things can be misunderstood. That’s why we are thankful for scholars who study these out and teachers who teach them and churches to sit and learn. Did you know that simple translations of our Bibles are done by teams of scholars? This is why I believe it is important when studying scripture to review multiple sources.

With what it referred to as “special faith” it is not different. To throw a little curiosity bone to you, faith is like tongues. The “gift of tongues” is talked a lot about, however there are different forms and some people get confused thinking one is another. When it comes to faith, faith is always a gift but it comes in different forms.

Firstly, basic faith is trust in God. That’s it. In Hebrews 11:1-6 we see a great definition of basic faith. Psalms 37:3 says, “Trust in the LORD and do good…” This is basic faith. When ever you see the words as a command, either to trust or have faith, this is speaking of simple faith. It is within our control always or we would have never been directed to do it. Some people miss this and refuse it. Simple faith is easy and comes through our determination to trust God and His word. Simple faith is what saves us. Simple faith grows as we feed it and won’t grow if we don’t. We feed it by immersing ourselves in His Word. Romans 10:17 clearly tells us this, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

The thing you call “special faith” is different. I’m not sure if the phrase “special faith” is ever in scripture but it’s concept certainly is. I would present to you that there is at least two different types of special faith. There may be more but I think this will give us a good start. They are found in Romans 12:3 and as you said in 1 Corinthians 12:9. Now let me say this, neither of these “faiths” are things you can just have or muster up. These are God given and for specific purpose and they are different than simple faith. 

While simple faith everyone can have, God determines these other two. First let’s take Romans 12. These scriptures are talking about things that equate more to God given abilities. I can draw. Some people can sing. Others just are able to recognize and fulfill a need. Still others possess a mass amount of wealth. These are all things that we didn’t necessarily conjure up but we know we have them. The ability to use these and to implement them into God’s kingdom requires a certain amount of faith. In fact, God requires that believers locate those areas of faith and also to utilize them. These are basic Christian operations. A Christian not utilizing something for God’s kingdom is just simply not a good Christian. We are all made to be used!

Now the faith talked about in 1 Corinthians 12 is different still. This is a faith that comes on a person that enables them to do something they couldn’t do before and may not be able to do again. In scripture, Jesus and Peter walking on water took special faith. Jesus didn’t make a habit of walking on water, there were plenty of times He was just in a boat. Directed by God, He was able to and so was Peter. I fully believe we have the example of Peter to encourage us. When the Lord tells us to step out, step out with assurance! I actually had this happen in my life, it was how I was able to marry my wife. In this case, it was God’s plan for us to be together and faith that I never knew rose up in me to bring it to fruition. I didn’t even know why I was so empowered but I can assure you I was. When it’s God it proves out!

So to answer the question, special faith is faith that God puts on a person to do something that was otherwise impossible. Special faith is how miracles are performed. The thing we need to absolutely stress however is that special faith is not something you can just make happen. It is God ordained and Spirit led. How do you know if you have special faith? If you’re wondering, you don’t. Though special faith is contingent on us acting (Peter stepping out of the boat and also sinking), God calling us to it is mandatory. In my case, I didn’t know it was special faith at the time but I was so empowered I didn’t need to know!

In closing I want to add that though we cannot make special faith happen, faithfulness will open the door to the possibility of it. God gives all gifts as He wills but He is always looking for places to give them. As we practice walking in simple faith God will open the doors of greater faith. Remember that the base word of faithfulness is faith. Faithfulness to God is an open door to the supernatural! We are the ones who decide to enter but He decides what we get when we do!

Be Blessed,

Pastor Jeff 

Would you agree or disagree that Jesus initiates and maintains the weather patterns? This is a question stemming from a book I’m reading and in reference to Psalm 102:25

Psalms 102:25 (NASB)

Of old You founded the earth,

And the heavens are the work of Your hands.

The simple answer is, I wouldn’t agree at all, not in the sense that I think this question is coming from. To understand this, we need to understand what is commonly referred to as the sovereignty of God.

Have you ever heard the common Christian phrase, “God is in control?” This is up there with another of my pet peeve Christianese phrases, “The Lord works in mysterious ways!” Any truth that is in these two phrases is far less than the untruth of how they are commonly implied. There is a truth to the idea that God is in control meaning that He may let things go on in a certain direction. Ultimately though, if God said stop, it’s all going to stop. In this sense, yes nothing in of itself has more power or authority than God. However, God has chosen that things don’t operate according to His constant control. We see this in the first direction He gave to man. Genesis 1:28 (NASB) says, “God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” In this instance, we see that God gave a certain amount of authority to man. When He did this, He purposely took His hands off of these things.

When it comes to other things, the universe is not a wind up toy constantly needing to be manipulated in order to run. Though God may know where every breeze blows, this does not equate to Him controlling where every breeze blows. He has set things to work, and then lets it work. If God were constantly controlling things, there would be no need for natural law. Natural law, the reasons we can have science are the processes and boundaries that God has set up. If God were just controlling things, they would be impossible to measure.

Job 38:33 (NASB) says something interesting, “Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, or fix their rule over the earth?” God asked Job this when He was rebuking him. It pointed to the idea that there are natural laws that govern things and that these laws are already established. Now some people might point to the idea that Jesus rebuked the wind in the waves when the boat was sinking. I would say, let’s look at this logically. Do we really believe that God kicked up a storm that threatened their lives just so that God could also rebuke the same storm? That seems a bit crazy doesn’t it? Further more, Jesus addressed this very idea in scripture.

When the Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons because He had a demon He answered in Matthew 12:25-26 (NASB) with, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand?” God does not need to create a storm to have something to rebuke, He simply dealt with the one that came. Actually, many believe that the storm was demonically inspired anyway, trying to stop the plan of God from going forward. This would be a much better understanding of it in my opinion.

With that said I want to say this, read books, watch videos, or take in any information about the Bible carefully. Matthew 24:24 (NASB) says, “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” Also 2 Timothy 4:3 (NASB) says, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.” It’s a good thing to get information and hear things about the Word, but it’s a bad thing to embrace wrong theology. I know this is probably why the question is asked, but spending a lot of time on things that don’t really feed you can make you choke. I’ve learned that it’s important to renew our mind in truth and then be renewed mind mindful as we grow in our faith. 

Be Blessed,

Pastor Jeff 

When witnessing to people questions arise, such as why did God make evil or why does God allow bad things to happen? I know God made everything. I want to be able to answer the way God wants me to answer when these kinds of questions come up in conversation. How do you answer when people ask why did God make evil for the day of evil? 

Proverbs 16:4 (NASB)

The LORD has made everything for its own purpose,

Even the wicked for the day of evil.

Believe it or not, scriptures like these are the subject of much debate. Some people use these type of scriptures to back up the idea of predestination. Atheists try to use them in their arguments as well. What it amounts really is just a misunderstanding of scripture. 

The first thing we have to realize, is that all the scripture that we have today, all the Bibles that we have, are either translations from other languages, or they are interpretations of translations of other languages. That shouldn’t scare us, but it should give us the knowledge that there is potential to miss some things. Now before anybody throws stones at me, let me say this that the simple message of the Bible is very easy. It is very translatable. However, sometimes things can be missed a little bit in translation, and we need study and get greater understanding.

There are some key rules to accurate Bible interpretation. Some of these rules I know, and some of them I don’t. The reason is, though I study I’m not a scholar. True scholars study the texts in part in their original languages and I simply don’t know Greek and Hebrew. It’s not enough just to have a concordance and say this word can mean this and that. Context matters, grammar matters, and also word usage matters. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this, but just so that we all understand there is a lot that goes into interpreting scripture.

We rely heavily on scholarship to understand the scripture that we have. As someone who does study, there are times that I read commentaries, there are times I read books about subjects, there are times I listen to sermons, and of course, I spend time in the Word itself. I think that one of the greatest rules of interpretation is to understand the character of God. It doesn’t take long, reading the word to see his character, especially in the Gospels and the New Testament epistles. God is our Father, He is the greatest example of a father, and He is love. Knowing these things, when we come at scripture, especially ones like the above mentioned one, we have to see that something seems weird. How could a loving God create evil? 

While the answer should be self evident, it’s not always. Let’s look at this a few ways. Firstly, God created everything and every human was created with free will. Though we were not created evil, we were created with the potential to be evil, and that because of free will. God wanted free will creatures like Him that would choose to love Him, and would choose to do right. He could have made robots but then we wouldn’t have been created in love, because love always has choice. Could you ever imagine saying to someone, you have to marry who I tell you to because I tell you to? We all know that it is only right when it’s a choice. If one can choose good, then by default they can also choose bad. So in this sense, when God created free will man, He created the potential for evil. 

Now, when we look at Proverbs 16:4 and it says that God has made everything for its purpose, we need to understand the phrasing here. The word made is also the word commit. You could say if this way, God commits everything to what it purposes. If something is going to be wicked, then it will have destruction in the end. This scripture was never implying that God created evil so that it could be evil. That would be completely against the character of God, and one of the number one ways that we can know that it wouldn’t be the correct interpretation of this scripture. In fact, we can understand this more by reading the scripture before and the scripture after it. They both point to the fact that we have choice in either doing good or doing bad. Therefore, if we have a choice in the matter that cannot mean that God created anyone specifically evil. It would nullify the rest of our knowledge of scripture.

In closing, whenever I come across scripture, that doesn’t make sense I always remember this, the reason has to be in the way that I understand it. I always take rest in the fact that if I don’t currently understand something, I have the possibility of finding out. One of God’s greatest desires for us is that we have a relationship with Him. We do this with His word, and with His Spirit, and if we will be faithful, His character will be so ingrained in us that we don’t even have to ask certain questions. 1 John 2:27 (NASB) says, “As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.” What an awesome God we serve that He doesn’t just want us to know about Him, but to know Him personally!

Be Blessed,

Pastor Jeff

I recently read a post that said: “because the Bible is not inerrant/infallible as we have it today. Its language and grammar and intention have been affected by the wills and desires of men over the centuries…”How do we respond to this belief in a loving way?

One thing is as common today as it was when Christ walked the earth. There have always been and will always be people who try to diminish the deity of both Christ and His Word. Firstly, before I go forward with this question, it’s important instruction and wisdom to PICK YOUR BATTLES. I simply don’t respond to posts that try to refute the truth because I realize the social media platform isn’t the place to do such things. Besides this, most people who write or say these things are doing so in order to cause a debate but they’re never actually intending to change or learn. They think they have it figured out. Someday they will learn they don’t. 

John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Of course we know that Jesus is the Word, but that means the Word is Jesus as well. The Bible IS God in that it’s His Words to us. Now look at 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.”  Yes, scriptures have been penned by men, and yes, grammar and dialect have changed over the centuries, but the heart of the Lord and the intent of His Word have not changed. I am actually grateful for the constant discovery of more and more accurate understanding of the words and cultural context of the scriptures. Things like the Dead Sea Scrolls have proven greater accuracy and honed scholarly understanding of what was originally in the text. Many Biblical scholars have combined their intellects to unfold as much truth as they possibly can and their pursuits only continue to this day.  But even despite humanity’s imperfect understanding of the Bible, the heart of God remains perfect. His heart and intent is for us to be taught, reproofed, corrected and trained by it. 

Look at 2 Corinthians 3:5-6, “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” The thread of the scripture, that which ties it all together, is the Spirit of the Lord behind it all. It’s less important for us to understand the grammar than it is for us to understand the heart of God. We must remember that. One thing that I started doing early on as a Christian is looking for the heart of God in each parable, in each book, in each verse that I read. I knew I couldn’t possibly understand every detail or every context or every historical symbol, but if I went to the Word searching for God, I’d find Him. This still rings true today! 

Look at Proverbs 2:1-5, “My son, if you will receive my words and treasure my commandments within you, Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; For if you cry for discernment,

Lift your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will discern the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God.” 

I guess to sum up the answer to your question, I’d say, don’t use social media as a debate platform, and if the discussion is genuine and face to face, respond with the Love of God. His heart is for all to know His love for them, His hope for them, and His salvation. Let them know 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” 

Be Blessed,

Pastor Renée 

I know we are not to compare ourselves with other Christians, but how do you stop yourself from getting down on yourself when you feel others, even those who are newer to the faith, are walking God’s walk better than you are?

You can’t compare apples to oranges or cake to cookies. Let apples be apples and let the cake be the cake. What I mean by this is sometimes we look at someone else and try to compare ourselves to them,  but maybe you’re an apple and they’re an orange. Your walk with the Lord will always be individualized. This is not to say don’t press in more with God, or that you’re fine where you’re at, but rather to encourage you to stop looking around at others wondering why you’re not like them. Who cares?!

Believe it or not, we all go through this, even as pastors. I find that as a mom and the organizer of our lives, distraction with everyday life is HUGE. It might take me 10 times more to read the same scripture sometimes because I notice the dishes, someone asks me for something, or I’m trying to figure out that night’s dinner menu… all while wondering if the laundry is ready to be dried and this and that and this and that… you get what I’m saying. If we tried to compare ourselves with others through the lens of always feeling like we’re falling short, we’d never get anywhere. If we’d look clearly, we’d surely find we’ve all got different stuff and nobody has it all figured out. 

The Bible warns against coveting in both the Old and New Testament. (Deut. 5:21, Romans 7:7) I believe this incorporates even coveting other’s walk with the Lord. No relationship is going to be the same. That’s ok. What we need to focus on is seeking Him, with our eyes on Him, not others. Proverbs 8:17, “I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me.” If you want to walk more closely with God, it’s up to you. It doesn’t depend on others, or even on God, but it depends on your diligence to seek Him. 

That being said, as we grow with God it requires a lot more stirring ourselves up. (2 Tim. 1:6) We can equate it to a honeymoon stage of a relationship. It’s super exciting at first, but as time goes on, it’s more about a partnership than the thrill of it all.  If you’re married you understand this, a lot of days, life looks like you’re business partners or even prison marshals if your have teenagers! My husband and I make it a point to spend special alone time together, date each other and step away from the work of life in order to stay stirred in our love for one another. We know that relationships take effort and we put that effort in! With the Lord, it’s very similar. If we think walking as a Christian is always easy and always makes us feel excited, we’re mistaken. There’s a partnership involved that requires our effort. 

What does seeking Him look like? Well, it requires us to continually commit our hearts to His Word and Spirit. Come to church, take notes, reread those notes, ask questions. Read your Bible, ask questions. Surround yourself with godly friends who build you up in your faith and ask questions. Get the theme here? Look at Luke 11:9 in the Amplified Bible, “So I say to you, Ask and keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and keep on knocking and the door shall be opened to you.” The deeper things with the Lord only come by continually seeking Him. Let that be your focus. Be continually stirring yourself in your love and desire for Him and pretty soon you won’t even be looking at that person sitting next to you. 

Be Blessed,

Pastor Renée 

I’ve heard that some people can have a sort of “recruiting spirit”, where they are getting people saved; but they are led by the devil. I’m not sure where this is in scripture (I haven’t studied it out), so I wondered if it is truly possible for someone who’s winning people for the Lord to be working for the devil.

My short answer to this is no, someone winning people for the Lord is not working for the devil. However, that doesn’t mean that someone winning people to the Lord is never working for the devil either.

Let’s look at an often misunderstood scripture. 1 Corinthians 12:3 says, “Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed”; and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” I once heard a minister say that someone who was accusing him of being inspired by the devil once came to him demanding, “Say Jesus is Lord!” They we’re trying to prove this scripture out thinking that it would be impossible for him to say it if He was indeed acting inspired by the devil. To my amusement he said to them, “No, I won’t say it!” Now, let me put this in a little context. The people were trying to trap him with their misunderstanding of the Scripture and he wasn’t playing their game. I commend him for that. Certainly I have heard this minister declare over and and over the lordship of Jesus. 

What this scripture is really relating is the idea that the words a person uses, if inspired by the Holy Spirit, will always truly point to Jesus and His teachings. If they don’t they are not inspired. It’s actually the only way sometimes we can spot false teaching or bad doctrine. If it doesn’t line up with the Word (Jesus is the Word), then it can’t be Spirit inspired. I once had a man tell me confidently that the Holy Spirit told him to stop going to any church and just seek Him on his own. He was excited but he was also completely deceived! How do I know? It completely goes against the principles of the Word. 

Wait! Did Jesus ever say you have to go to church? Maybe not that specifically but the whole of scripture speaks to being “connected” to the Body. If you don’t go to church you aren’t serving your brothers and sisters in the Lord. God didn’t constantly bring His people together so they would be separate, and the miracles of the early church were found in the coming together of the Body.

As to this man, he was and I’m sure is a brother in Christ. I have no doubt he loves God and has a certain desire to follow him. However, in this case he was following the unction of an evil spirit, that was not exalting Christ! God gave humanity local churches and He gave them pastors. Without either, you simply cannot flourish in the Lord. You may think that is a bold claim but the truth is, that is God’s design not mine. I don’t always like it either, but I get my thinking in line because God does.

So to answer this question, I don’t think that someone inspired of the devil will be winning souls for Jesus. However people trying to win people for Jesus may do things that are inspired of the devil. An example of this is people that focus on judgement and hell never bringing the love of Christ into the picture. Yes it’s important to tell people the truth, but often times starting with you’re going to hell is not a great way to get someone to listen to you. I’m not saying it could never be, I’m just saying that if that’s the method you use you better be sure it’s God!

When I was on a mission trip in Europe, I heard in my spirit, “These people will not be won without relationship.” How true that statement is! Honestly, that applies everywhere you go. I am not saying there is no place for street preachers, I am saying that relationship is God’s desire. Some will be won that way but most will not. Romans 2:4 tells us, “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” Let me ask you, how many people have you ever seen won to a side of anything through arguing and yelling?

If you read about the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5 you will see what’s lacking is negativity, anger, and the ability to win an argument. Furthermore, the Bible doesn’t tell us to condemn people in our speech but that, “…everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.” (James 1:19) We are called to preach the good news to the world, that Jesus came to save people because God loved them. It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict of sin (John 16:8). That is not to say that a pastor or minister should not teach on sin, they should, but the purpose is to help. We cannot, as good Christians, be motivated by sin. Our motivation always has to be love! 

In closing, there certainly can be “recruiting spirits” at work in people. I believe that the principle is solidly founded in scripture. The idea that they are winning people for Jesus I don’t think is scriptural at all. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 12:25-26, “And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them,’ Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand?’” This was in reference to the people of accusing Him of exactly that.

Be Blessed,

Pastor Jeff