How often do you take a look at the foundations of your faith? Do you know a personal Jesus or a casual friend Jesus? Are you constantly looking for the right
church so that you can get your faith based in the right place? Is
your Salvation a personal Salvation
or is it lost in the Faith of those around you?
I ask you these
teeth-grinding questions because of the people I have run into here in Mukono,
Uganda. Our ministry month has quite a few different faces, one of them being
door-to-door evangelism in our neighborhood. We meet and greet so many different types of people, yet
there seems to be a reoccurring theme within all of them: a misunderstanding of
the origin of their Faith. So many people are unequivocal when it comes to
claiming the state of being born again, yet somehow I continually find people
confused about what it really means to have a personal Faith.
These Ugandans seem to
know that Jesus allows them to be born again, but not many seem to fully
comprehend that Christ targets them individually. Many of them believe that if
the Church isn’t right then they do not have a place to practice their faith. I
had several conversations with people who have chosen to stop praying or
believing because their Church was headed in a direction they didn’t particularly
like. It seems that if the place they went to understand faith has something
corrupt within its walls, they would lose any faith they had themselves.
After having several
almost mirrored conversations within our neighborhood, I began to seek the Holy
Spirit for guidance as to what encouraging words I could speak over these
people. Some of them have no idea what it means to really understand their
beliefs. I was shocked to see that the one true and personal God was being
lumped into a group category for the basis of their one of a kind Salvation. As
I rattled my brain for the words to speak and I began to pour out exactly what
each individual needed for where each one of them stood. It was almost like the
correct sentences were sat upon my tongue and sent out in the tone and manner
that was perfectly designed for every entity.
I was absolutely blown
away, not only by the fire that shot out of my mouth, but the way it spat out.
My individual Faith, my specifically designed destiny, my personally catered purpose,
my personage as a living embodiment of the Church was being used to exclusively
hit every soul right between the eyes. I was being used as a vessel for truth
and light into a place where faith has been watered down, snatched away from
the needs of so many men and women. Not only was I filling up walking temples,
but the church that I am was also being poured into as well.
What the hullabaloo does this
have to do with all of you? I’m just going to flat out say that I don’t want
you to forget just how personal Jesus really is. You were custom made and
custom fitted for a particular destiny here in our limited time on earth and He
knows exactly how to target everything you’ve got. It is a great thing to have
the unity that a church family can provide, but in the end it’s up to you to
act as the person He made you to be. Your faith is just that, yours. Your faith cannot be determined by anyone other than Christ and your obedience to Him. Your local church, your spouse, your friends and
your family are not the basis of your faith.
You are all pieces of the puzzle
that fit this existence together and losing your faith in the acts of humans will only slow you down. We can constantly learn from
our churches and fellow believers but we cannot allow human opinions to sway
our hearts. He is the ultimate designer of each one of us and I don’t want any
of you to lose your identity in Christ for the sake of everyone else around
you. When you are firm and standing strong in His favor, nothing is going to
turn you from what He wants for you. Our obedience can make our faith so great,
for in Deuteronomy 5:32 it says “So be careful to do what the Lord your God has
commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left”.
I want to encourage all of you to look at your relationship
with Christ and figure out just where your foundations lie. I want you to see
that your personal destinies are too great to base them around the words and
choices of men and should only be coming from the Higher Power. Christ is on
our team, on our side, never ripping the faith out from His faithfulness. God
is for all of us, but there is no us without the individuals that compile it
all together. Romans 8:31 says “What, then, shall we say in response to all of
this? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
