20 July 2008 10AM Apostle Aje Pelser

Luke 18:8 Men ought always to pray and not lose heart. Are we persistent in our faith and in our prayers like this widow? Could the widow not be a church in today's society that persistently asks for righteousness, justice, and for the government to change the constitution and bring the bible back into schools? People don't read the bible or open the parliamentary meetings in prayer anymore. They used to ask God's wisdom, but they don't do that anymore.

This persistent widow speaks to us. Why would that judge listen? He knew that she was not going stop. She was going to irritate him until he justified her.

Prayer interrupts the worldly way of doing things, and it offends the worldliness in us. People want quick solutions, and they want to figure it out with their minds how it's going to work. There is a persistence in prayer that God is looking for in us. There is nothing to fall back on – that is prayer. A prayer of faith is saying: “ this is it, if this doesn't work, then nothing will”. You have to fight the fight of faith. No one said that it was going to be easy. Who you turn to first in your crisis, is your god. 

In this time of the year, you have to trust God for healing, but even more for divine health. Divine health for yourself, your whole family, and even for the whole church. Once you get that right, extend it into the community and pray for people everywhere. “You will lay hands on the sick and they will recover in My name.” IF YOU BELIEVE! When He comes, will He find faith, or will He find us all looking for alternate healing?

You need to develop your own measure of faith. Some people can face things that you can't. What prevents our faith from producing the right kind of results? There is an enemy of your faith that wants to rob you. Why don't people pray? Because they don't believe. Prayer works! Faith also rises in your heart when you testify and hear other people's testimonies. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the word of God.

Dangers, deception, the deceitfulness of riches, desires for other things, double mindedness, demonic oppression, difficulties etc. all these things come against your precious faith. Peter talks of faith as precious, it is something that Jesus lived and also died for. It is also something that the apostles in the early church suffered for. The faith that we can freely profess and express today, somebody died for. Don't take it lightly. Don't let people speak against your faith, and say that your faith is meaningless. People died and bled for it; they suffered all sorts of persecutions for the things that we so freely believe today. Don't let these things rob you of your faith.

Sometimes we look at the things that we still want, and we get upset and repressed about it, and in turn it robs you of your faith. The word says: “with food and clothing, therewith be content”. All the other things are rubbish. It will all burn. We are supposed to be dead to our selves. Paul says: “all things are lawful, but not all things build me up”. Although we can do anything, why would we want to break down something that God has built up in our lives? Start discerning the things that build you up. It is different for everybody. Some people can watch violent films and not be affected, and other people watch violence and get nightmares. Phil 2:12 – work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

When Jesus comes, will He find us practicing our faith, or will we just know about faith? It is like a concrete mixer: the word preached to the Israelites did not profit them because they did not mix it with faith: throwing in cement, sand and gravel, but not adding water. You cannot build with it, it's just a big mess. You can hear a lot of teaching and preaching, but it's just a lot of dry cement, sand and gravel. It will do nothing for your building, unless it's mixed with faith. This means that you'll also need to put works to your faith. Faith without works is dead. Take what you hear and apply it.

2 Tim 4:1 – Demas loved the world more than being in the ministry with Paul. Remember, that people didn't know that Paul was busy writing the New Testament. They thought he was a wild apostle getting stones and persecuted from city to city. So Demas left Paul because he loved this present world so much, even more than God. He left because he didn't want to suffer for God anymore. What a missed opportunity! He must be kicking himself for eternity! He missed the ministry opportunity of the universe – to work with Paul when it was all happening! God is calling us to come out of our comfort zone and witness, but if you love the world too much, you won't mention Jesus. You have the opportunity of a life time to reach your country for the Lord. Demas's name means: popular. If you desire to be popular in life, you love this present world more than God. You will miss the opportunities that He has given you to shine as a light for Him, and be a Christian. Let's not fall for the things of the world, and let's not love the world. Let's love God's things. Let's not forsake the apostolic calling that we have, like Demas did. Forsaking the things of the world, and following the things of God has very great rewards. Choosing God is the best choice you can make. Decide rather to be popular with God than with your friends in the world. You must make that decision once and for all. Every-time that they will try and pull you astray, you've already made the decision.

The good news is that there is faith in the house. God has found faith in you. There is enough faith in you to accomplish what God wants in your life. Do you know that God believes in you even more that you believe in Him? We think it's OUR faith, but actually He's investing a lot of His faith in us! Jesus thought that He could leave His kingdom in the hands of 12 fishermen. That is a lot of faith! He left is in the hands of people that ran away when He died – only John stayed behind. He left it in the hands of people that denied His name. He believed that these men would 'turn the world upside down'. They didn't believe it. They didn't believe it until long after the Holy Spirit had been poured out. Then every one of those apostles became a martyr, even Thomas whom people always label as unbelieving had a lot of faith, because he died a martyr's death in the end. He is not an unbeliever anymore. God sees the end from the beginning, and how your potential has been reached, and then He deals with you now according to how He sees you then. We just can't see it. He has found faith in you. If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain: “ be removed”. God sees the little bit of faith that you have and decides it's enough. That faith that you are now using, that seems like nothing, God can make galaxies from it. He took nothing and created everything from it. The whole universe is created from nothing.

The Creator is saying to you today: “I have found faith in you”. Go and spread that faith to someone.