The word “believe” shows up in the Bible over two hundred times. You can’t have faith without believing, and you can’t believe without faith. Do believe and faith mean the same thing? I don’t know what the answer is, but I do know that both are needed to satisfy God.
The ‘B’ in believe could denote the word; become. The ‘E’; everlasting, the ‘L’; loving, the ‘I’; immortality, the ‘E’; entrusted, the ‘V’; victorious, and the ‘E’; enduring.
To become, simply means to change. But change into what? Most of us would most likely agree that we are not all that Jesus would have us be. There are things in our life that we have not corrected and are always there as a blaring example of just how far away from being like Christ we are.
The argument could be made that becoming something else is a step we must take to be willing and able to ask Jesus to forgive us. And this step of becoming something new begins with the realization that we have not kept our part of the bargain.
So; when we decided to give ourselves over to Christ, does that mean that we can remain the same person that we were before? Or; do we dust off the old, and welcome in the new life that Jesus, so mercifully, has offered us.
And if we accept God’s gift of a new life, then who does the hard work of making us a “brand new person”? And as a brand new person, how do we handle the sin and the demons that have made your heart its home for so long?
Sin will constantly be looking for a new back door to sneak through. You can tackle the sin, and even rip the ball away, but if you let it up, you will only be letting it free to sneak up on you once again. Holding it down, tying it up, and locking the cell door behind you, is the only way to become someone new.
When sins of the past call your name, you must not answer! Old habits must begin to disappear, and new ones must be practiced. If you believe, you must begin by becoming someone new!
The second letter represents ‘everlasting’. Once we have asked Jesus to forgive us, we must understand the consequences of choosing, and accepting, his sacrifice which joins us to Jesus forever in a way that was not possible before ‘Calvary’. Once you join this click, your everlasting life is under the ownership and eternal control of your master; Jesus!
He can’t be fired, and he will never take ‘no’ for an answer! But you can still mess it up if you don’t become someone new, because you believe, ‘his truth’s’. Trusting him with your everlasting future is the second step in ‘believing’.
The third letter in ‘believe’ represents loving. For most people, admitting that true love is something the majority of us never experience, is not something they are willing to accept. So, how do we know if we are loving the way Jesus wants us to? There is only one example of true love that we can look to; and see love in a way that is selfless and true. And this love is the ‘tough love’ of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the knowledge of the Holy Spirit. I speak of knowledge and the Holy Spirit in this way because we all know that all ‘true knowledge’ comes from the Holy Spirit.
And knowledge is a direct link to love, and the secret truths about the way God loves you. And the only way we can learn to love in the way God loves, is to tap in to the powerful examples of his ‘tough love’. Love can be very painful. I am convinced that God’s love for his children is a huge source of pain and suffering for God. And if you don’t believe that this is true; then just look at Jesus on the cross and that should convince you of the truth.
And Jesus has already prepared a beautiful mansion for you where every step to the door, and every flower in the vase has been meticulously picked and kept new and perfect for your homecoming. But most of these heavenly mansions will go unoccupied as a painful reminder of the loss of billions of souls. Yet; Jesus keeps on loving you in ways that you, or I, cannot possibly understand.
We can ‘only aspire’ to love like Christ does; yet this is exactly what he demands! Asking and praying every day; over and over again, we must ask our Lord to help us learn how to love in a way that pleases him, not us.
My Lord and teacher; please teach me how to love you, and those you choose me to bless with your truth and great forgiveness. Teach my heart to submit to your love, and recognize it when I see it, so in this way I can learn it and share it.
The letter “I” is the next in line and it has a life of its own that creates mystery and controversy. “Immortality” has, in the past, been seen as a, not so likely possibility. But more and more as time goes by, the reality of its existence is beginning to come into focus. Many things in the word of God have been scoffed at, and looked upon as impossible, then some new technology comes along and makes them think twice.
Information; for example, is a good place to start. It is a little confusing when you study the subject, but it seems to me that good science would admit that information cannot be destroyed. This is something that is still in the infantsy of discovery. So let’s just throw the ball around for fun!
Just take a look at computer information storage. In the distant past you would have been crucified for even talking about something like the smart phone, but today it is just another toaster! Nothing mysterious here; right!? Don’t be so sure. Many times; things that are evil will end up being a witness against itself. The smart phone and the internet are a perfect example. The phone has become a way for the beast to reveal its image to the world, and the internet, and social media have become a weapon against God and his children.
On the other hand, the phone has given rise to images, not noticed before, all around the world. Ghost’s and goblin’s, UFO’s and strange cryptids have become commonplace, and unexplained sightings have removed the stigma from things like ghost’s, spirits of all kinds, and cryptids like bigfoot.
The dream of immortality would become an awful nightmare, if a everlasting universe of heaven did not exist. What would you do if God’s creation was not there for you to be immortal inside of? Would you just float around in limbo forever with nothing to touch or smell or see with your now useless body? Hell can come in many forms, and forever alone is one of them!
Better to die, and slip into the arms of nothingness, than to exist forever without God’s love. The companionship of our Father in Heaven is the only true way to eternal happiness. Immortality of the flesh should be feared not desired. The only immortality available to us is the immortal soul. And immortality is not part of an afterlife with Satan. To be immortal is a privilege reserved for those who believe God and wish to forever worship him and love him in ways that we can’t yet understand. But, you can be sure of this; being with God will be far, far better, than any life we can possibly create for ourselves on this ‘mortal’ planet.
“E”; is next in line, and ‘entrusted’ is the word it will represent. Not only do we need to trust God, we must also be trustworthy ourselves. How easy it is to trust God in comparison to trusting ‘any human’! We are inherently not trustworthy and incapable of loyalty to anything or anyone that does not agree with our earthly desires. We find ourselves; all to often worshiping mortality and the ‘worldly way’, more often than not. Our eyes are locked upon ‘things seen’ instead of the things unseen, wrongly believing that things unseen do not really exist.
This is when we find ourselves walking a completely different path than God. Our flesh eyes are not open to the things of the spirit world, and only when we close them to everything worldly can we then begin to see. Your eyes cannot be trusted, because nothing of this world of flesh and blood is compatible with the eternal nature of the spirit world.
To truly be trusted by God, we must deny the powerless flesh and absorb the reality of God’s secret hidden world. A world hidden only because mankind refuses to shut off the flesh, and turn on the spirit!
So how can the body become more like the spirit, without the death of the flesh? The Holy Spirit is always speaking, every second of every day, longing for us to listen. And the more time we spend listening to the Holy Spirit, the more we can take on its attributes. In other words, we can model ourselves after the things we see and hear the Holy Spirit revealing to us. But beware; there are other spirits waiting and watching for the perfect moment of your weakness!
And these other spirits, ‘or voices’, are very, very good at what they do! Many people have spent their entire lives not understanding that they have been listening to the wrong voices. And if you have been untrustworthy in this way, you have failed to recognize the voice of God, and have turned the truths of God into the lies of Satan. Leaving out any part of believing is a thrust to the heart of Christ.
The letter ‘V’ is the next letter and it might represent ‘victorious’! Victory can never really come without being ‘claimed’. Christians must stand on the mountain and cry out to the world; “Victory is mine through Jesus my only hope and Savior”! And by what means do we climb the mountain, and by what power do we fight our way to the top?
What does victory mean to Jesus? And how can we be sure we understand it in the way he would demand! Victory is ‘ongoing’ and is a lot like our forgiveness. Jesus forgives us of the past and brings us into ‘right standing’ with him. But; Jesus does not take away our choices. We can, at any moment, choose to reject Jesus and his truths. And victory is ours as long as we give our faith completely to his truth and love.
But most humans don’t know how to give themselves over to ‘anything’, but there own desires. True victory desires nothing for themselves. True victory is inside that one moment when you suddenly realize that you are a helpless moron, and God is your ultimate master! Without God’s presence, you would disappear like a puff of nothingness. You would be no more than a fart that you thought was there, but you weren’t really sure. And victory that has ‘meaning’, understands that you do not, without Christ!
“E” is the next letter, and ‘enduring’ is the next word. To endure is to finish the job you have started, and keep your faith from start to finish, even if you cannot see the end, or the middle, or even sometimes the very beginning.
God has a plan for all of us; every one who has ever lived has a list of tasks to complete, and these tasks God has assigned you are the things that make up what your life is supposed to be. They are the only reason God has allowed you to exist!
Life is not about having a good time at God’s expense! Our life is meant to be in the service of our Lord and Savior. And like any good soldier, we must earn our stripes. We must endure the basic training from God, and do our very best to learn his way and his truths before we can win any battles. Life is a fight to the finish, and the enemy is you!
Hebrews 3:10; regarding the people if Israel; God said; “I was very angry with them, for their hearts were always looking somewhere else instead of up to me and they never found the paths I wanted them to follow”. So; do you see it? God has built the perfect road for us to follow! The most beautiful of roads, with a level surface and a clear view of the destination. There is wonderful weather along the path, and the smell of roses in a warm breeze.
But you choose to follow a different road. A difficult road; harsh and bumpy, and a coming storm cloud ahead. Dark and full of lightning, crashing and flashing in the night sky. You walk straight at the storm and right into the arms of a tornado. Its evil growl whispers in your ear; “come with me and you will live forever inside my power, and be powerful yourself”. You are mesmerized by the flashing lightning and hypnotized by the voice of thunder. The black clouds seem powerful to you, and the powerful wind pushes you on down the path to darkness. No need to endure, because the wind will carry you easily to your destination, and a place where enduring becomes a eternity of torture and endless pain.
But, God’s road is a road of endurance ‘then’ happiness and rest. A short trip to heaven, and a small price to pay for an eternity of euphoria and a perfect world of unimaginable bliss and happiness. So, keep up the fight and endure with all your strength, and God will be there to travel with you along the road to true success. Enduring is a gift to your Creator, and a beautiful part of life, if you endure along the right path. Stop at the split in the road and look carefully into the future. What will you choose? Wealth and riches for a short life, or treasure in heaven forever and ever?