Just a Little Bit of Faith

“You don’t need a whole lot, just use what you’ve got…faith, faith, faith…just a little bit of faith.”  The old Sunday school song ran through my head.

I was on my way to church and thinking on faith. The Sunday school lesson I would be teaching was on the “shield of faith”.  I live about a 30 minute or so drive from church, so once I was on the highway, I thought I would listen to Hebrews 11.  As I listened, the repeated phrases, “Through faith” and “By faith” got my attention.  I realized what I was hearing was what these individuals did with their faith.

“4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain…” “5 By faith Enoch was translated (taken up to heaven without dying)”  ” 7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; “8 By faith Abraham,…obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.” “11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive … a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.” “17 By faith Abraham,…offered up Isaac:…his only begotten son,…(Believing) that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead;” “20 By faith Isaac blessed … 21 By faith Jacob… blessed… 22 By faith Joseph…” “23 By faith Moses…was hid three months of his parents, because they… were not afraid of the king’s commandment. 24 By faith Moses… forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. 28 Through faith he kept the passover… 29 By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.” “30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.” “31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.” “32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

I thought, if God has given each believer at least a “measure” (Romans 12:3) or a “little bit” of faith…what could I be doing with my measure? The Bible says it doesn’t take much faith to move mountains, (Matthew 17:20 “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” That intangible Faith is able to move the tangible. What a powerful mix faith plus obedience must be!  Jesus said, “Nothing will be impossible for you.”   This got me thinking… if I obey the little nudges of the Holy Ghost, even if it seems, “out there”, what might I see happen? There are the nudges that don’t cost me much, like when God put an old hymn book song on my heart while I was loading groceries into my trunk not too long ago, and I began to whistle it. I don’t usually whistle in public, but when I would have quit whistling after a phrase, I KNEW I was to keep whistling the song. I happened to have a large cart full of groceries, so  by the time I went to return my cart, I had gotten through the whole song (key change and all). I KNEW I was supposed to whistle that song, so I had my eyes peeled as I took the cart back. Sure enough, as I headed back to my car I spotted a lady paused by her car and she was smiling at me. I smiled at her and she quickly stepped to me and asked me if I was Assembly of God. I said no, I was United Pentecostal which was as Apostolic Pentecostal organization.  As I was saying where the church was located, she said she knew of it. It turns out, this lady was the old across-the-street neighbor of some dear church friends of mine.

Some nudges, on the other hand, do cost something.  I was planning on getting a great deal done over my vacation recently to try to increase interest in my house which is up for sale, but on the second day of my vacation, God emphatically placed on my heart that I needed to put all of my previous plans aside and go to the whole week of our Minnesota district camp. I had already planned to drive to camp for all of the evening services, but God let me know that would not cut it. This required many details to be worked out and lots of packing to be done on short notice but I felt strongly that God was sending me to camp to receive the direction from Him I had been seeking and to commission me somehow. Camp started on Monday evening and every service seemed to confirm I had been called to camp by God for this purpose.

On the Thursday evening of camp though, I got a message that my son who lives in California had been able to change his business return flight for a quick visit home.  I hadn’t seen my son for two years and though I missed him badly, I simply could not leave without receiving from God what He had called me to camp to receive. We were finally able to come up with a time on Sunday to get together and though it was bittersweet knowing he was home and I wasn’t, it would have to do.

Friday morning of camp, during prayer, God put on my heart that there were some things that I must not have in my life if I was to serve Him. 1. I could not have the spirit of Jezebel. 2 Kings 9:30 “When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it, and she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out the window.” In other words, I wasn’t to have a desire, “to be seen”. 2. I must beware of the spirit of Balaam who used his gift for his own profit and was full of self-pride. 3. I must not have the spirit of Hagar who despised her mistress. (or elders) If I allowed any of these a foothold in my life, I would have the same end as these. After taunting Jehu, Jezebel was cast down out of the window and was eaten of dogs. In other words, the world loves it when Pentecostals get all puffed up and then fall into sin and like dogs they will eat you up when you do. In that same vein, when Hagar saw that she was able to conceive after being given to Abraham, she scorned her mistress, Sarah who had been unable to conceive. The end result? Hagar was treated very harshly by Sarah until she finally ran away. The angel encouraged her to go back, but the son she bore to Abraham had the same disrespectful attitude and treated the son Sarah was eventually able to have with disrespect also. Once again Sarah was angered which caused both Hagar and her son to get cast out of the camp. In other words, if you think you are better than what you really are and cause trouble in the camp, you will be despised by those living the promise and will become an enemy of the people of the Truth. The end of Balaam? He loved the world and was destroyed along with the world. All of this instruction came before Bobby Killmon’s 10:00 am message where he spoke of 1 Kings 14, of Egypt taking away the treasures of the House of the Lord including the gold shields and to cover up the fact that the House of the Lord was now bankrupt, Rehoboam had bronze shields made that he had painted with gold to imitate the lost gold shields. Brother Killmon spoke of the posturing or pretending those that have broken covenant with God do to cover up the loss of the blessing of God and their forsaken relationship with God. Form with no substance. The look, but no power.

Finally, Saturday evening, Brother Lichtle, the Minnesota district superintendent spoke of this being our D-Day. We were being sent. I was not surprised to hear the intent of the message as I knew I had been called to camp by God to be commissioned into His service.  I received from God what I was called to camp to receive. I felt it come on me when I was prayed for…I don’t know exactly what it is yet, but I will know more in time. Until then, Faith is sometimes spelled W.A.I.T.

My faith is yet to be, as Lee Stoneking says, “Tried, Tested and Proven”.

Nancy