EXTREME FAITH

By Sharron Scott

May 15, 2012

This message is one of 2 core messages God gave me to speak to the nations. It is extremely important, and has a very strong impact wherever I am asked to preach it. The scriptural references mentioned in this are part of this blog, as separate pages. Please take it to heart, and take the leap.....

God wants each of us to know that he has extreme faith in us. He believes in us! It’s important that we remember that.

I have such a sense of urgency to speak to you today on a subject that I know in my “knower” to be close to God’s heart. The Spirit often wakes me in the middle of the night to chat, and over and over again he tells me “You must teach this, because so many of my people live like they don’t believe! They live as if they don’t KNOW.”

Each of us is created to fulfill a specific destiny from God. Reading books such as David Crone’s “Your Life Message”, and many of Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton’s books has helped me find mine. Working through a series of questions from Dr. Creflo Dollar has also helped. But more importantly, I feel it is absolutely impossible to walk in our calling, or fulfill our destiny, if we do not take the “Leap of Faith”.

Did you know that the devil has boundless faith in God? He believes and has absolute faith in Jesus? This isn’t blasphemy…it’s true. The enemy has been in the Presence of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t have to guess. He KNOWS. I had never actually even thought of this until one morning when I was vacuuming. (The Spirit thinks it’s funny to give me downloads when I am vacuuming, I guess. I have to say “Really, Lord? NOW? So what do I do, stop and type this up, or just vacuum faster??!!”) What I mean is this; the devil KNOWS God is always truthful. He ALWAYS fulfills his promises. The enemy knows that everything that scripture tells us, including and ESPECIALLY of God’s signs, wonders and miracles, ACTUALLY HAPPENED, AND CONTINUES TO HAPPEN, because we are temples of God’s Holy Spirit. He knows God always protects his beloved. Satan knows who God is, and what to expect from Him. Can we say the same? Really?

How many of us struggle with depression, anxiety, fear, loneliness, powerlessness, and don’t understand why? Or don’t know why we can’t make it go away? Let’s search for the source of that problem.

You have in your hands a page of scriptures entitled “I tell you the truth”. There are about 78 passages listed there. I was recently viewing the film “The Gospel of John”, and found myself becoming almost irritated at the fact that the actor portraying Jesus was saying “I tell you the truth” over and over and over. So I decided to investigate the Gospels. Jesus actually said this 78 times. Why would he feel the need to do that? Ponder that for a minute, and look at the printout I gave you. My heart hurt over this. Amazing, isn’t it? That God would love us so much that he would go to such extremes and more?

You will also see two pages of scripture passages, entitled “Believe”. These are just some of the passages which contain “believe in God” or “Believe in God and his son” or something similar. We are called to simply “believe.” In John 6:29 Jesus tells us “The work of God is this: TO BELIEVE in the One he has sent”

You also have two pages of scriptures entitled “Have Faith” that list many times when Jesus found it necessary to remark upon the little faith (or lack of faith), or the necessity of having faith, to his very own disciples. You will see that one passage is boxed for my emphasis.

Mark 11:22-26 is an amazing passage. Jesus has cursed a fig tree the day before, for not bearing fruit out of season (think about THAT one), and the disciples were surprised that it had died.¹ Let’s read the passage to see what he said in response to their remarks.

Notice first that he said “Have faith in God.” Then he says “truly I say to you (or I tell you the truth)” whatever we ask for in prayer (providing we have forgiven everyone who has wronged us FIRST), if we ask EXPECTING and believing WITHOUT DOUBT, it will be done for us.

Now, answer this question silently, and be 100% honest in your heart. CAN YOU HONESTLY SAY THAT YOU BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU JUST READ WITHOUT DOUBT? The enemy really does NOT want you to answer that “yes”.

Why did Jesus say “I tell you the truth…” so many times? He said this over and over, because he could see into the hearts of mankind. He KNEW that they didn’t automatically believe in what he told them, nor did they have faith. Even when they acknowledged and confessed him as Messiah and Lord! Over and over again the Lord who shed his precious blood for us tried to tell us to believe, trust in Him and God the Father, and have faith! And in His Word, He is STILL telling us! He still sees into our hearts.

As Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

So how do we get to that place? The place of extreme faith? Faith is believing without seeing. Here’s what happened to me, and how I reached this point.

Bill Johnson and Randy Clark say “Faith needs an action”. Here is a piece of yarn, just like the one attached to your notes. This yarn represents the line between disbelief and faith. I am placing it on the floor in front of me. Here’s what God showed me: If we are to move forward in life as God planned for us, overcoming anxiety, fear, depression, hopelessness, etc. and move in our calling, we can’t stand with one foot on one side of the line of yarn, and the other foot on the other side. Nor can we stand on the line with one foot poised in the air! WE MUST STEP OVER TO THE SIDE OF FAITH. Just as Peter had to step out of the boat. You must CHOOSE to believe in God, in Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, in the Living Word. You must CHOOSE to have faith. You must CHOOSE to trust God. I encourage you to take that leap of EXTREME faith!

“That’s easy for you to say” you might be thinking. Well, no, it wasn’t. But here’s the deal. We must love God with ALL OUR HEART, ALL OUR SOUL, ALL OUR MIND, as it says over 14 times in Deuteronomy. And as Jesus tells us in each of the Gospels. We cannot fully love God unless we fully believe and trust and have faith in him. And as we said above, it is impossible to please God without faith. When you confess your faith and belief, the Holy Spirit dwells within you. You will begin to recognize and experience God’s love and radiate your own love for Him.

So where does that leave us? In Luke 9:50, Jesus says “whoever is not against you is for you.” And Luke 11:23 says “He who is not with me is against me”. And again in Matthew 12:30, Jesus says “He who is not with me is against me”. Our point is this: We either believe in God, in Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, in the Word of God and all it states as true, or we don’t. THERE IS NO GREY IN THE WORD. Remember, we must not stand on both sides of the line. Let’s read what Jesus said to the Jews regarding believing the lies of the enemy, and hearing His truth in 

John 8:42-47:

 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. ⁴³ Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. ⁴⁴ You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵ Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! ⁴⁶ Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? ⁴⁷ Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

And again in John 10:25:--²⁵ Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, ²⁶ but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. ²⁷ My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Jesus is telling the Jews (and us) that we either believe Him (Truth) or we believe the enemy (lies). God is not an “option”. These are the only two choices. (it’s ok to say “ouch”. I did.)

Please hear my heart. I am not insinuating that you do not believe in and love Jesus. Nor am I questioning your hearts. But it is vitally important that we each come to a point of decision. It’s time we put on our “big girl panties” and decide what we really believe. We must be the Good News. We must let our actions speak our belief and faith. In extreme faith there is no room for depression, fear, anxiety, hopelessness, paranoia, loneliness, anger.

If we are unable to truthfully say we believe without doubt, we must pray for faith. What if we are “afraid to live without fear”? Seek counsel from elder Christians who you know will treat you with love and respect, and from the Holy Spirit, our Intercessor.

Once we decide that we truly believe, have faith in, and trust God, our lives will change. We will have incredible breakthrough. COURAGE WILL COME.

Bill Johnson teaches that our job here on earth is to bring heaven to earth NOW. It is to bring Kingdom living here NOW. In Matthew 3:2 we learn that “the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”. Kingdom living is to bring Heaven to earth and into the lives of others. It is to be baptized in the Holy Spirit until the power that was promised (by Jesus) is manifested through us. Ask God to manifest His Presence to you.

But remember this: GOD WILL NOT DRIVE A PARKED CAR! We must do the work. Get in the Word daily. Ask questions. Set aside time with the Lord each day. Ask Him for insight, wisdom, discernment, gifts and fruits of the Spirit. Then prepare yourself to RECEIVE. It is impossible to know God’s heart if you do not have an intimate relationship with him. Get to know him through his Word. LISTEN to his heart. Speak to non-believers and to doubters gently. As Graham Cooke says, “Jesus shows God to us, and we show Jesus to the world”.

What do we do with all that? How do we know exactly what God is calling us each to do? Walt and I teach and help people to discern their calling. We have tools to help you with this journey. And we will pray and intercede for you. If you’d like help, we’d love to help you.

Think about what this world would be like if every person who SAYS they are a Christian believes without doubt and walks in faith! Think about it… kingdom living means the end to sickness, suffering and pain. Anything that does not exist in Heaven does not belong here on earth. And God tells us this is all possible, if you walk in your calling with the power of the Holy Spirit!

It is a responsibility we each have. Out of our love for God, and for each other, we need to take a stand and take our place in the Kingdom now, here on earth. We were created to change the world. We were all created for greatness. Are you with me? Take your notes and your yarn home, pray, then lay the yarn on the ground and look at it. Which side will you take a stand on? For me, it’s EXTREME FAITH. And I hope and pray you will join me. Together we stand strong!

God bless you!

1 (an aside: notice that Jesus was grumbling because he was hungry. Our words are powerful, and that’s why scripture warns against grumbling! Remember, He is our example!)