Faith Knows the Final Score
Let’s say our favorite team is in the Super Bowl. Due to more important agenda items, we can’t watch it, so we decide to record it. This analogy also works for World Series, World Cup or even the season finale of The Bachelor or American Idol!
The Big Question: How would you watch a game (or show or movie) if you knew beforehand that your team or favorite had already won?
It’s almost inevitable, right? Between Facebook, (or Instagram, Twitter, etc…), Text messaging, TV, or even the conversation you overheard at the grocery store, it’s almost impossible to get to your recorded show without hearing the final results.
Maybe the curiosity gets the best of you and you cheat? But that’s a different sermon- lol!
How would you react if your team played poorly in the first half? Now they’re down by two touchdowns- Would you get nervous? Not if you were confident in what you had heard. You would know that a turnaround was on the way. You would have the knowledge and confidence, that no matter how bad it may look, something would have to happen to give your team the victory.
In fact, instead of becoming nervous, you would become excited, anticipating that miraculous turnaround moment. You would know that something awesome was about to happen because your team had already won!
You have this confidence because you are now watching the game from the perspective of the known ending. Everything now is being viewed in relation to the knowing that your team has already won. The only remaining unknown is the manner in which it will happen. This is a game changer!
The moment you found out that your team had won, winning stopped being just a hope, and instead became a known fact, which is the basis of faith. How silly would it be to watch a rerun of a game where you already knew your team had won, and still worry about the outcome?
The Life of Faith is much like watching a recorded sports event.
We watch the players sweat and strain and run back and forth. There are moments when things look good, and moments when things do not look so good, but in the end, it is all irrelevant, we know who wins.
Everything in life is filtered through the lens of knowing that your team has already won. The cat is out of the bag, right? Once you know something, you can’t ‘un-know’ it!
Our trust in the victory is determined by our level of trust in the source of the news. If the source was credible, we could be extremely confident. If, on the other hand, the source was, say, a stray comment overheard from a stranger, we could have room to doubt. What matters is how well we heard and how trusted is the source. Everything depends on that and that alone.
So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said. Acts 27:25 (NLT)
Faith is not something you muster on your own from within, it is something you receive from without.
Faith is not merely being able to watch a game with confidence or with a positive attitude. Faith is not mustering up confidence or trying to ignore the losing moments. It is not trying to speak courageously of victory through personal strength and discipline when all appears lost.
So Faith is:
Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)
Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.
Faith is determined by what we know prior to the event. If we know no more than anybody else before the game, then we are the same as everybody else during the game. True faith knows beforehand what will happen.
Faith is a pre-knowledge of the coming victory, and this knowledge gives us peace. We may know the coming victory in detail or we may know it simply by the peace in our heart. Either way, it communicates a knowledge of victory, and by it we have faith.
If we know no more than anybody else before the game, then we are the same as everybody else during the game. But we DO know more than everybody else! We’ve read Revelation- Jesus wins.
This knowledge of victory that gives us faith is based on a ‘knowing’ Word from God.
Faith is God’s Word becoming alive to us in a real and personal way, concerning a real and specific situation or thing.
Faith is the result of God speaking the outcome to our heart. And when we hear the outcome, we know the outcome. It is when we stand on this knowing that we are standing on His Word in faith. This Word that we heard is now a knowing that we must receive and act upon.
Romans 10:17 (NKJV)
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The victory and peace we can walk in during the game is determined by our hearing from God prior to the game.
To have this knowledge of victory we must spend the time necessary to hear solidly from Him. The stronger the trust in the ‘hearing,’ the less of an impact the so called ‘facts’ of the game will have on us. Once we know the outcome, we own the outcome. Then we are expected to protect and retain the ownership of that ‘knowing’ till the end, through patience.
If we had knowledge of God’s will in every area of our life we would have peace in every area of our life.
Let‘s determine to hear from God, and then we will be able to watch the game of life with peace. The things received from God in private determine the victories accomplished later in public. We are told ‘not to lean to our own understanding,’ but rather, our ears are only to be on what He says. Nothing else matters.
But life is not that simple.
Granted, in real life it’s not as simple as this. In life, we are not merely watching a game; we are in the game. We are the ones going back and forth, sweating, straining, and getting hit.
Our loved ones are playing and they are also getting hit. Some of them may even be playing for other team, and that really hurts.
Moreover, our main opponent (the devil) is a very talented player, and he doesn’t play fair.
He is a great deceiver and he knows how to use our own weaknesses against us. Nevertheless, the principals are still the same, and with God, we are capable of winning. The Bible tells us that we are more than conquerors through Him who strengthens us. To win, we must practice and practice till we are able to play the game of life with love and faith and peace.
Matthew 17:20 The Voice
Jesus: Because you have so little faith. I tell you this: if you had even a faint spark of faith, even faith as tiny as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and because of your faith, the mountain would move. If you had just a sliver of faith, you would find nothing impossible.
And:
What else is the kingdom of God like? What earthly thing can we compare it to? 31 The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, the tiniest seed you can sow. 32 But after that seed is planted, it grows into the largest plant in the garden, a plant so big that birds can build their nests in the shade of its branches. Mark 4:30-32 The Voice
The thing about seeds is that they grow. And they go full cycle and become mature and then they bear fruit! The fruit of faith should be like the fruit of a tree- hanging on the branches for all to see!
I love this passage from Mark, it takes the Mustard seed and lets it grow:
The Bible tells us that we win, and that is all there is to it. Now, let’s go out and throw a victory party, and give Jesus the MVP award.
