Personal Awakening
What is a Personal Awakening? Why do we need it? What will it do
for us?
Simply, it is a matter of awakening to what we truly believe and letting our
actions follow those beliefs. So many people today say they have certain
beliefs but their actions do not show those beliefs.
Yes, it is possibly to have a belief and take no actions based on that
belief, but in this, do we not become hearers of the Word only and not Doers?
Are our beliefs only there to occupy our minds or are they meant to be followed
with actions?
There are several possible reasons why we may not follow our beliefs with the
appropriate or even limited actions. However, we need to overcome these
problems and move on a new level with God. It is time to grow and stand
strong in God and His mighty power, not sitting on the sidelines consumed with
our daily lives just trying to survive one more day. We were put here to
grow unto the fullness of Christ, not just live and die.
The first step in the life of a believer should be to figure out just what
you believe and all the rest of the steps of a believer's life are acting upon
those beliefs. It is really that simple. However, figuring out
exactly what you believe and why, can be quite a bit of work.
We all need to know just how important we are in the Body of Christ and that
each one of us has a place, we are not just "pew potatoes", going to church only
to warm a seat, we are to grow unto the fullness of Christ. We need to be
awakened from "pew bondage" and understand we are all workers, not just those
that have a salary in a church, we are the church! Once we have obtained
knowledge, it is our job to share that knowledge with others and encourage them
to move forward.
There is so much more than living in a pew. Even if we having a job and
a family, we are still to be busy about the Lord's work until the end of our
lives, when we hear that "well done, good and faithful servant". It is not
just the job of the ministers alone to build the body of Christ, we are all
share in the work.
There is a lot of work to do and the first step again, is to focus on what we
really believe and make our actions follow those beliefs.
Do our actions show our beliefs?
Beliefs
What is a "belief"? Where does it come from? Why do we have a
given belief? Do our actions follow our beliefs?
As an example, there is the belief of the coming of Jesus for His believers,
what many call the "Rapture" or "catching away". While many of us believe
His return can be at any moment, do our actions follow that belief? If we
really believe the Lord was coming back tomorrow, we would be out in the streets
trying to get everyone to hear the message. Most of us often fail to even
share our beliefs to the public or even at times with our own family.
What about Hell? Many of use believe it is a place of eternal torment
for unrepentant sinners. If we allow our minds to think on this with heavy
seriousness, how can we fail to warn people? If, like the prior example,
we thought the Lord would return tomorrow, how many people close to us, family,
friends, or even neighbors, would we warn of the coming judgment, but again, we
find ourselves failing to warn everyone. Why?
In Luke 16:19-31, it says the rich man begged to go tell his brethren to warn
them, but it was too late. He (as did his brethren) heard the writings of
Moses and the prophets warn him before but his actions never followed what he
read and possibly believed.
Then there are those Scriptures we tend to try not think on too often such as
1 Corinthians 6:9-20 and Galatians 5:16-26, which clearly describe the works of
the flesh and of the Spirit. Do we really want to enter the Kingdom?
Do we truly live a life of Love, Joy, Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness,
Faith, Meekness, and Temperance? Life is but a vapor, we need to be about
the work, reminding ourselves daily of our beliefs and holding fast to them,
that our actions prove we believe what we say we do!
We need to keep some beliefs in our mind throughout the day. For an
example, the two worlds we live in, that of the flesh (what we see in our
material world around us) and that of the spirit. We must keep in mind
that there is a Kingdom of God where Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father
currently interceding for us. People are currently worshiping before the
throne of God, it is not something that will happen one day, it is happening at
this very second! As real as this world is, so is the spirit world, we
need to remember this belief and let our actions in this world reflect that
fact.
With just the basic belief of the spirit world, how much should that change
our daily lives? There are currently demons all around us, as well as
angels. We cannot see them, but we see the results of their presence.
If we believe this, how much should that affect our lives?
The Scriptures as well as history are filled with examples of people, who
although held to certain beliefs, did not have actions that followed those
beliefs. Today's Christian world has the same problem, if our actions
followed every one of our beliefs, we would not cease to do the work of God day
or night. Our actions need to show our beliefs!
We all need a personal awakening to what we really believe!
Proofs
To believe in something just because someone told you it was true or it
happens to be a tradition, is not enough, we need to research and validate that
it is true. To this end we need to build a list of "Proofs" on each
of our beliefs so we are ready when they are challenged either by people or by
need.
Proofs are Scriptures or experiences, we or others have had, which supports
our beliefs. If we have no "proofs" of a belief, why do we still hold on
to the "belief"? If the belief is true, we will find "proofs" in Scripture
or by experience that support them. On the flip side though, if we have a
belief that counters what the Scriptures say, then this is clearly a false
belief.
Here is a good exercise for everyone! Take some time and write out
every one of your beliefs. Then build a list of "proofs" for each of those
beliefs. Are you holding beliefs that have no proofs? If so,
you might want to explore those beliefs with others and see if you can find true
"proofs".
Now, look honestly at your life and see if your actions reflect your beliefs?
I know some of my actions do not follow my beliefs.
Once you have a list of beliefs, along with the proofs, focus on these
beliefs and continually remind yourself of the proofs for these beliefs.
In doing so, our actions will begin to follow our beliefs.
What stops our actions?
Probability
Believing something is not enough, we need actions that follow our beliefs.
Often though, our actions do not seem to back up what we claim to believe.
Does this mean we really do not believe what we claim? Sometimes it may be a
problem of "probability".
How does probability apply to a belief? Many people (like myself, at
least in the past) excel at the art of "procrastinating". I used to think
I was a procrastinator, but I decided I would figure that out later. It is
easy to put off until a future time all those things we "should" do, if there is
a low probability of a consequence for doing so.
In the previous example of the coming of Jesus for His believers, why would
our actions not follow our belief that He could come at any time? One
possibility is due to "Probability". How probable is the Lord to return
tomorrow? Very slight, but yet possible. So, our actions so to say,
move to the back burner.
Another example, is smoking cigarettes. I was addicted to them for 15
years starting at the age of 12. Yes, the package said that they "could"
cause cancer or other health issues, but I still continued to smoke them, until
the doctor told me that I must quit or develop chronic bronchitis.
Why did I quit after he told me to and not when I read the warnings?
Simple, it was "probability"! I did not think it was probable that I would be
seriously harmed, so my actions did not follow the warnings. While I
believed it was possible, it was not probable. After I found that they did
seriously harm me, I quit! Although over the years since, the temptation to
start again, comes every now and then because that warning is not so fresh in
the mind anymore, the lungs do not hurt and the cough long ago departed.
Faith is also hindered by probability! Most of us believe followers
have the power of physical healing through God. But how often do we see
someone sick and not ask to pray for them, not to mention the times we ourselves
are sick and make excuses. Healing is one of those areas, if we take what
the Scriptures say about it, whenever we see a sick person we would be asking to
pray for them, not to mention, we would no longer desire medical coverage.
It is back to probability, we may have prayed for people in the past and did
not see the healing manifest and now we have a lower probability factor that the
people we pray for will be healed and thus our actions do not follow our
beliefs. If however, we still pray for everyone we meet that needs prayer,
we would see healings and those would continually raise our probability factor
thus increase our faith or removing our doubts.
Focus
Focus is yet another problem that can hinder our actions. If we do not
keep our focus on our beliefs our actions tend to stall. In Romains
12:1-2, it says that we are transformed by renewing our minds. We need to
keep our beliefs in our realm of focus that our actions continue to follow.
Most of us believe God answers prayer. But how many of us
actually apply prayer daily to every aspect of our lives? How many of us
left up our government in prayer? How about our local church body in
prayer? Do we pray for those who have charge over us in our work?
What about for all the unsaved people we see on television or in film?
Sadly, most believers pray very little and when they do, mostly for things
that apply to their lives or people around them, such as in times of need.
The Body of Christ does not seem organized when it comes to prayer, more than
likely due to focus, we put it on the back burner, it is something we know we
should do but get sidetracked and put it off another day, week, month, or even
years. This is yet another area I know I have failed, but that will
change!
It is important that we keep our beliefs in focus. In Romans 10:7, it
says that faith comes by hearing. In Mark 4 we have the parable of the sower
and the seed being the Word of God and the ground bring our heart. We need
to regularly plant a large crop of Godly seeds of faith, the proofs of our
beliefs, which can only bring forth what is planted, that is faith and thus
increase our probability factor in our beliefs. Colossians 3:1-3, says
that we need to set our affections on the things above, not on the carnal things
of earth. By keeping our beliefs in mind, it helps to focus our affections
on the Spiritual and not the carnal.
We need to remember to renew our minds daily bringing our beliefs into focus.
Quite often, problems that arise in our lives are due to our lack of focus on
our beliefs, possibly something that we have put off.
Do you dare to believe?
That might sound a bit scary, but when you really examine the Word of God,
you will find passages that suggest we should be walking in a high level of
supernatural ability. For a few:
James 5:14-15 ~ Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the
church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the
Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall
raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
John 14:12-14 ~ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the
works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do;
because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I
do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my
name, I will do it.
Mark 11:22-24 ~ And Jesus answering saith unto them, have faith in God.
For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou
removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but
shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have
whatsoevery he saith. Therefore I say unto you, what things soever you
desire, when you pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
Mat 21:21-22 ~ Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If
ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig
tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou
cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in
prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
John 15:7 ~ If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what
ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
1Jn 5:14-15 ~ And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask
any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us,
whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
Mat 17:20 ~ And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I
say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto
this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing
shall be impossible unto you.
Some might tend to say this is not for us, but if you read these in the
Bible, the only qualification is that you be a believer with faith. Rise
to the challenge and believe! I really like that last one “and nothing shall be
impossible unto you”!
We need to take God at his Word and follow Him. Do not wait until your
back is against the wall, let us all awaken now!
Motivation!
What will motivate us grab a hold of our beliefs and actually press into
them? Do you wait until you or a loved one has receive the news that you
only have a short time to live or some other of dire circumstance that forces
you to embrace your beliefs? I pray you will wake up today and not wait!
If you believe in healing (if not or you happen to somewhat believe in
healing, I suggest you get “Christ the Healer” by F.F. Bosworth or at the least
“Healed of Cancer” by Doddie Osteen), do not wait until you are in great need of
healing. Try finding terminally ill people where you live and get around
them, share their need. Visit a children cancer ward or burn center and
see the need that is all around us all the time. Many people make excuses
why a person is not healed, but in reality, if there is faith and there is no
sin in the person praying, then the result should always be 100% healed.
If you do not believe this, please, read “Christ the Healer” and find out the
truth from the Word of God.
Call of the Lost
If you are a Christian, then you must have the belief that people should be
“Saved/Born Again”. We need compassion on for those that do not know God
and a desire to see them come to him. If we fully embrace our beliefs on a
daily basis, then we should have a heart bursting with desire for the lost come
into the Kingdom.
As mentioned earlier about the doctrine of the “Rapture” where the Lord could
come at any time, if we really hold to our beliefs of what will happen to the
lost on the Day of Judgment, we would look at everyone differently. All
those we come across that are lost, we would want to warn as we do not know if
that person even has an hour left on their life before they walk into eternity
by one cause or another, they could walk in front of a bus or have a heart
attack, etc. We need to reach them while we have the chance. Again
if we really take our belief of judgment seriously, we would want to warn them.
Conclusion
Until our actions follow our beliefs, we will not live a victorious Christian
walk. As I mentioned before, researching our beliefs and holding fast to
those that are true is the first step of a believers walk. Without actions
upon those beliefs, a believer cannot move forward and grow. We need to
put action to our beliefs and let the world know what we believe, not by our
words, but our actions!
It does not matter what level you are in God, it is never too late to begin!