Todd Engwall, a fellow spiritual traveler, submits his journals with
our Lord to me for verification. Recently, he asked our Lord to tell
him more about faith, after watching the movie, The Bible, where he saw
the faith of Abraham in action. Todd agreed to share this journal with
others, so here is what he received:
Lord, do you want to tell me more about faith?
Yes Todd. Faith is not hope. It is the substance of things hoped for.
Do you ever visit other churches? Do you think that yours does things the way they should be, so doing them another way is wrong? There is more than one way to do things right. In my Father’s house there are many mansions, and in my church there are many local assemblies. I want you to feel at home in my Father’s house because you are among brothers and sisters of your own kind. There is liberty in the expression of observations and worship. I am willing to accept things that may not fit your taste or comfort level. I still receive them as worship in spirit and in truth. I want you to grow to share my joy in every manner of worship that is pleasing to me.
Does it bother you to encounter closed doors, both in the physical and figurative sense? You sincerely ask me for guidance and want to receive it. Do you realize that encountering closed doors is a form of guidance? This is not what you were looking for but it is a part of my plan. Timing is as much a part of my plan as pathway. When the time is right the right doors will open. The patience you develop in the mean time is a fruit of the Spirit. Are you impatient because you think that events around you are not happening fast enough? What about events inside you? Trust me to complete my work in you and through you on time.
There was a forbidden tree in a garden and eating from it was the first mistake. It was desirable to make one wise, but it brought separation from me. Prior to this my children walked with me in my garden. I put my redemptive plan into action to restore this relationship. The world is full of the consequences of this mistake, those who reason by themselves apart from me. You may claim that you didn’t eat of this tree, but it is possible to partake of it in a figurative sense. Do you try to figure out right and wrong on your own? Come and let us reason together. Come and walk with me again in my garden.
You know better than to curse other people. Do you know better than to curse yourself? For it is not socially acceptable for you to curse others, but it is considered modest and humble to belittle or denigrate yourself as if to prove you are not boasting, yet this is not true humility. You are my child, and every parent hates to hear his children pronounce defeat or failure upon themselves. You can limit and disqualify yourself by making such statements and reap a bitter harvest of your own words. Don’t deny the reality of your family heritage that you can do all things through my strength within you.
Jesse works in Florida on a paramedic team and rides the rescue vehicle that goes out in response to 911 calls. Jesse comes face to face with cardiac arrest along with a host of other calamities, so as a Christian, he has lots of opportunities to pray for those who are in crisis situations. I met Jesse for dinner two weeks ago and was blessed by his humble and passionate heart. He shared that over a two-year period, every single person he delivered to the hospital was alive. Because, in fact, God had used him to raise at least eight people from the dead in the ambulance on the way!
For some of us the very idea of praying for a stranger is enough to make us sweat. For others, it’s the idea of praying for a specific need or illness that causes us to quake. Specific “mountains” that make us wonder if our God is indeed big enough.
Do you understand the need for balance? Balance is not a middle position between excellence and mediocrity. In a physical sense balance keeps you from falling over one way or the other, and balance has a spiritual counterpart. Even unbelievers understand the need for balanced lives. There are many situations in which there is a tension between two positions, and to do things exactly right you have to avoid excesses on both sides. There is a proper emphasis and time for everything. Ask of me and I will give you wisdom to achieve this balance. Learn to be comfortable with the dynamic tension that produces it.
Do you think of survivalists only as those who acquire arms and food and build fortresses in the wilderness? My word says that I send rain and sun on the just and the unjust alike. I provide the blessings they need to live even if they live their lives apart from me. This probably includes most of those you know as neighbors even if they don’t have an apocalyptic vision. They are surviving on my blessings from afar rather than coming to me that they may have life. This may endure for a normal life span, but the end of it is still death. Even if they appear to be prosperous it will pass away. I want you to understand their true condition that you may declare the gospel to them that they may come to me and have eternal life.
I have given you my Great Commission to preach the gospel message to every creature. What are your ‘selling points’? For a dispassionate presentation is rarely effective. You want your audience to respond. Forgiveness of sin is central, but will this create a deep hunger to know me in an audience in darkness, not as aware as you are of sin and consequences? I heal and provide but will this be effective in reaching an audience that is not sick or needy? The universally appealing aspect of the gospel is that I am a God you can know. When you call I will answer. This is a word to bring forth hunger in the human heart for me, as I said, this is life eternal, that you may know me.
