While a friend and I were driving in the car one day, we were talking about all the electromagnetic frequencies going through the air that we couldn’t see and the impact they may be having on our bodies. It’s something that we rarely think about. Even as we send a message on our phone, there are all these unseen, yet real, things happening in order for that message to send.
This got me thinking of the spiritual reality in which we live. There is all this activity happening in the spiritual realm; things that we can’t see yet are very real and impacts our physical lives. I heard a podcast a couple of months ago where that spiritual reality became very evident for a young woman who was a medium and involved in the occult before giving her life to Christ. What she thought was once good (a ‘spirit guide’) revealed its true colours of evil (a demonic spirit) once she started exploring Jesus and Christianity (you can listen to the podcast here - July 5, 2022, Christine).
The thing that enables us to have access to the spiritual weapons and authority we have in Christ is something simple yet can be complicated by our own minds - faith.
"Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses]."
Hebrews 11:1 (AMP)
Here is an excerpt from day 16 of Intimacy, Intercession and Increase: A 31-day adventure with Jesus to explore a life of prayer on faith:
The Greek word for faith is pistis, meaning “assurance, belief, faith, and fidelity.” It is a conviction of the truth. But it is not a faith in anything; it is a faith in the person of Jesus Christ that is of importance here. Notice that in John 14, Jesus said “Whoever believes in me” will also do the works He has done. That is what it means to place full confidence in Jesus. Often when Jesus talked about faith, He coupled it with the opposite—lack of faith or doubt (e.g., Matthew 17:17, 20; 21:21) and Paul described Abraham as one who had “no unbelief,” “fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised” (Romans 4:20–21).
When Jesus rebuked His disciples for not being able to heal a boy, He said it was because of their “little faith” (Matthew 17:20). However, I don't believe Jesus was referring here to the size of their faith; I believe He was talking about their confidence. Other translations say “unbelief” or “lack of faith,” and the word in the Greek comes from the word oligopistos, which means “lacking confidence.” They weren't convinced God could do it. Jesus said that if they had faith the size of a mustard seed (which is tiny), they would be able to move mountains, so it's not so much the size of your faith that's important; what's important is fully believing Jesus is wholly able to do all things. Another way it could be put, as Saint Therese of Lisieux so eloquently put it, is “confidence in God's mercy." After all, we are calling upon the mercy of God when we call out to Him in prayer. (Intimacy, Intercession and Increase: A 31-day adventure with Jesus to explore a life of prayer, pp. 63-64).
As we engage in this spiritual battle, we must also engage our faith. Faith that God is who He says He is and faith that He is able to do ‘exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think’ (Eph 3:20, NKJV). Next time you send a text message, think about the simple faith you have that the unseen realm is doing its work to achieve the task. Then ask yourself the question, ‘do I have the same simple faith that God is working on my behalf in the unseen realm?’.
Manuscrits Autobiographiques, dedicated to Mother Mary of the Sacred Heart, Office Central de Lisieux, 1956, 237.
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