This message was just prepared 2 hours before my sharing at YM
GAP last night, it all started when I was just throwing out some of my
thoughts with Hans& David who randomly dropped by my office in the
afternoon. Decided to discuss with them over tea of this inspirational
faith book by "SUN STAND STILL" by Steven Furtick, which i've been
reading the past week. After that, was walking back to my office and
praying out loud to myself if I should share this topic on "Faith" to
the gappers and as soon as I step back into the office, The song “Walk
by Faith” by Jeremy Camp was played on random on this Christian radio!
And it just hit me! Is this a sign from God? I took it by Faith & it
has let me to what i’m about to share with you all today.
What is Faith to you?
Let’s first define what FAITH is from scripture...
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen means the persuasion is not the outcome of imagination but is based on fact, such as the reality of the resurrection of Christ ... 1 Cor 15 (a summary of 1 Cor 15 talks about the many witnesses of Christ Resurrection during that period), and as such it becomes the basis of realistic hope. So there are evidence to it, people have seen it, and it is a fact. But we do not see it because it happened many years ago. E.g. of World War 2, we weren’t there, we didnt see it, but we knew it happened. There's an evidence and facts of it.
"Faith always has been the mark of God's servants, from the
beginning of the world. Where the principle is planted by the
regenerating Spirit of God, it will cause the truth to be received,
concerning justification by the sufferings and merits of Christ. And the
same things that are the object of our hope are the object of our
faith.
It is a firm persuasion and expectation, that God will perform all he has promised to us in Christ. This
persuasion gives the soul to enjoy those things now; it gives them a
subsistence or reality in the soul, by the first-fruits and foretastes
of them. Faith proves to the mind, the reality of things that
cannot be seen by the bodily eye. It is a full approval of all God has
revealed, as holy, just, and good.
Below are 3 points adapted from Steven Furtick (Sun Stand Still) book, added with personal testimonies! :)
1) Hearing the Word initiates Faith
The Word is so important, if we want to know God
deeper, if we want our Faith to grow; we need to read the WORD. There’s
so much new insights you can get reading it over and over again. Do not
let similarity of a passage affect new revelations that God can give to
you. Once heard from someone when you do your QT. If God doesn’t speak
to you then, do not just stop, but wait and seek God until God speaks!
“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17
2) Speaking the Word activates Faith
We proclaimed what we believe in our Hearts based from the promised of God.
Here’s a quick account of what happened, was praying for this
Crosstrainer event at Pulau Ubin after a divine revelation of God from
His Scripture.
One of the biggest faith building moments came in my time serving with the cross-trainers.
STORY 1
Testimony of Ubin event @ Destination Again 2008
Was looking back at an old email which Adriel sent to the
crosstrainer comm after that event, Breakthrough 1 & 2 was added by
me, the rest was from Adriel's email.
The amazing BREAK THROUGHS!
Break Through 1- 19 Jan 2008- God
Revealed to us Pulau Ubin from that rainbow after we prayed at YM GAP
the day before our first recce on where to hold our march event. 
Break Through 2- Second recce 17 Feb 2008- Called
the manager of ubin resort, shocked us with a budget of $18 000, the Xts
gathered to pray, call again on same day. Brought it down to $10 000.
In the midst of these planning, was rushing a school assignment, and at
the back of my mind was this event, I decided to take a break from my
sch work, & get some encouragement from the Word, and God just
showed me this verse…
Romans 4:20-21
New International Version (NIV)
20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
(Below extracted from Adriel Email's to the Crosstrainer games comm In 2008)
Breakthrough 3 - The event was still too expensive
as the guy initially wanted a minimum of 300 pax for $10k. YM Comm then
took the decision that if could not get at least 150 signups by that
sunday, we would not go to ubin. We polled the ministry last sunday and
got 180 replies. We then spoke to the manager and he agreed to reduce
the minimum sum to 200 pax. The final figure at ubin yesterday was 208
persons.
Breakthrough 4 - Next then the ferries broke down, and God provided the ferry through Emmeliene's parents.
Breakthrough 5 - By thurs, we still had no port for the ferry. And God again, God provided the port arrangements.
Breakthrough 6 - Then it rained. I remember as I was
driving to punggol yesterday morning and it started to rain. A YM
leader who was with me said, "Its raining!" I said, "Dont worry, it will
stop." He replied, "You sure are confident". I said, "Yes, the number
of breakthroughs God has given us over the past 2 weeks, I am absolutely
confident the rain will stop." The moment we stepped foot on ubin, as
we all saw, God stopped the rain.
Breakthrough 7- After the event, Sandy and I met up
with the manager and we pressed him, and guess what, we got a 10%
discount on the price! So you guys are well within budget!
Here’s another amazing story of Faith and prayer that happened just couple weeks ago.
STORY 2
Here’s the recollection of this divine miraculous story
of an incident that happened just couple weeks ago before our Disciple1
retreat, where God created certain circumstances and use various people
for us to see God’s amazing divine hand in answering a prayer. This is
one of the most amazing & faith building testimony I’ve experience
of God’s faithfulness in a while. :)
8.25pm: The rest of us went to Cheers to buy some
snacks & than we headed later to the SeventyNine retreat centre
opposite GMC. After settling down awhile, Song & Me decided to get
our stuff from Xunliang’s car which we left earlier in the day. As we
walk towards his car, Xunliang noticed… ayeeee! WHERE’s MY CAR
KEYS!!!!!!!… did he left it at the 79 centre, cheers? or dropped it
along the way from seah im?… ”We said a brief prayer, Dear Lord, Please help us find Xunliang’s car keys”…
we walk back to 79 centre,and told Ps Raymond, “Mmhmm, we think
Xunliang might have left his car keys in Cheers”…and Ps Ray EXCLAIMED IN
EXCITEMENT!!!!!!!!!! And rannnn out of 79 centre and brought us across
the street to GMC where that “Metal Cabinet” was and said is it THISSSSSSSSS!!!!! And
we were like!!! WOW!!!!!! God actually answered our brief prayer
within just 5mins! And his car keys was actually left there in the open
for more than 3hours!!! And he didnt know he actually left it there at
around 5pm when we were standing around there.
FLASH BACK (The detailed account of what happened prior to this divine revelation)
4.50pm: Xunliang, Song & me came
earlier via Xunliang car park near 79 Retreat centre, before meeting Ps
Ray & Mattho at Grace Methodist Church (GMC) (Advance Party)
8.00pm: Walk back to GMC from Seah Im Market…
8.15pm: Ps Raymond & Matt ho went ahead to get things that was kept in their cars at Grace Methodist Church (GMC).
8.20pm: While Danette & Ronda was waiting for them at this
“metal like cabinet feature” outside GMC. Danette noticed, “aye someone
car keys are left on that cabinet?” … Ps Raymond came to find them there
later, and they all tried testing whose car it was around the area,
they couldn’t find it, so decided maybe just leave it here until the
owner comes back”…
Looking back on hindsight, it was really by pure coincidence that
God somehow led our very own people, Danette to randomly spot that small
car keys on that metal cabinet that was right open in the public, and
for Ps Raymond to actually bump into them there later if they didn’t had
grab something from their cars, and if we didn’t have mentioned to Ps
Ray… all these series of circumstances, can only be foreknewed and by
our Omniscience God who just allowed us to see his DIVINE hand
throughout the series of circumstances!
3) Doing the Word demonstrates Faith
We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 5:7)
“There is a difference between standing in hope and walking in faith.
Faith is not an abstract theoretical proposition. It’s not
wishful thinking. It’s substance. It’s action. Most of my life I
imagined faith as some kind of force field. And the way we talk about
faith dematerializes it. By most definitions, faith is synonymous with
hope. But the more I study Scripture, the more I detect a sharp
distinction between hope and faith.
Hope is a desire. Faith is a demonstration. Hope wants it to
happen. Faith causes it to happen and acts as if it’s already done.
Faith is not content to want it really, really badly. Faith
consults the drawings and gets busy building. Hope is the blueprint.
Faith is the contractor.
Some of the impossible things we’re believing God for will never
happen in our lives if we stand in hope instead of walking in faith.” -
Steven Furtick
“ Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.” James 2:26
In Conclusion
Having shared all these! We do not always need to know the final
plan! Oh how to get there! It’s going through the process of walking by
Faith daily that matters...
Have you ever considered that, in the overall scheme of God’s design, the process is the point? “Every big dream has small beginnings. Between the promise & the payoff, there’s always a process. And that process is the breeding ground of faith. That process has the potential to draw you closer to Jesus than you’ve ever been before. The process is the point.” - Steven Furtick (Sun Stand Still)
“Hearing the Word initiates Faith, Speaking the Word activates Faith, Doing the Word demonstrates Faith”
With this certainty and assurance of what God convict your hearts
of from hearing his Word! Let’s learn how to pray in such audacious
Faith today!
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