Today I would like to take a look at the most basic element of our faith in Jesus Christ

Today I would like to take a look at the most basic element of our faith in Jesus Christ. And what would that element be? Why, faith, of course. I'll start with a scripture that could be the most integral and significant saying that we have in regard to our faith: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding" (Prov. 3:5). We can see by what the verse says that if we ARE leaning on our own understanding, then we CANNOT 'trust in the Lord with all [our] heart.' To illustrate the powerful truth of this simple statement, I want us to look at someone in the Bible who DID trust in the Lord with all his heart, and did NOT lean on his own understanding. We need look no further than the great 'faith' chapter, Hebrews 11 to find this stalwart of faith in God. The man of the moment is Noah, who was faced with possibly the most challenging circumstance in the history of this world; him being God's bridge between the destruction of one world and the beginning of another (II Pet. 3:5-7). Here is what the scripture tells us about Noah's task: "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith" (Heb. 11:7). Noah was told by God of his impending judgment upon the entire world, that he was going to kill everyone and everything in the earth because of his immense displeasure with man's deeds in the earth (Gen. 6:6,7,13). God also told Noah to build and ark for the survival of him and his family, and every kind of animal in the earth; and to preach to the world of God's coming judgment (Gen. 6:13-20; II Pet. 2:5). When it's all said and done, Noah was left with the choice of just believing God's word to him, or trying to figure out how this could really be true.

If he had taken the matter to proving it by process of thought, then it very quickly would have become too much to bear, and too difficult for him to believe. God gave him the exact details of how to build the ark, with the exact measurements of it, and told him exactly who and what would be on it. God also told Noah when to come aboard the ark, but he did not tell him ahead of time how long they would be on the ark. There were so many things involved in the whole process, on so many levels, that if Noah had thought very far into it he simply could not have had faith to do it. It's easy to read about Noah and God's destruction of the world by water, but being in his place would be an entirely different matter. We're talking about a flood great enough to destroy every living thing in the earth. We're also talking about riding out this flood on an ark made of wood, with a whole bunch of animals riding it out with you, and caring for those animals in every way. We're also talking about this ark floating for months on the stormiest and most vast sea in the history of the world. Noah also had to deliver the word of God to the entire world, that God was going to destroy everyone on earth at a certain time. There was so much to think about, and so much to focus his mind on, and so much to talk about. But Noah did not go that route. Instead he trusted in the Lord with all his heart, and did NOT lean on his own understanding. He simply carried out the vastly challenging task in faith day by day, the exact same way he had lived his life in faith day by day, for six hundred years (Gen. 7:6). Noah was prepared for this challenge because of how he had routinely lived his life in strict faith in God long before this challenge was laid on him. The scripture does not lie when it says of Noah, "Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God" (Gen. 6:9).

Noah walked with God all his days, and was thereby prepared for possibly the greatest challenge in the history of mankind; even as his great-grandfather Enoch 'walked with God' and "was translated that he should not see death" (Gen. 5:24; Heb. 11:5). And to bring this whole thing up to date, we are about to enter into the actual end of this world, even as Noah was faced with the end of the old world. Like Noah, we are going to be faced with the greatest challenge in the history of the new world, which new world was established by Noah (Gen. 8:14-22). And like Noah, we are going to see the end of one world and the beginning of another (Mat. 24:29-31; Rev. 20:1-6). And like Noah, it is our task to warn the world of the oncoming destruction, and to enter the ark of safety which is Jesus Christ, while there is still time to do so. According to Jesus, we are going to see a time of "great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be" (Mat. 24:21). If that doesn't drive the point home well enough, Jesus gave us a little more in the next verse: "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened" (Mat. 24:22). In the same sermon he added a couple more sobering details for us to consider: "And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake... And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken" (Lk. 21:16,17,25,26). I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty challenging to me.

So how can we be prepared to endure such a time? Well, Jesus gave us a few pointers while still preaching the same sermon [Mat. 24 and Lk. 21 are the same sermon at the same time, only different writers]: "And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" (Lk. 21:34-36). If we are to "endure unto the end... [and be saved]," as Jesus said in Matthew 24:13, then we are going to have to be prepared for all of these things the same way Noah was prepared for his great challenge. I believe the most significant passage of scripture that describes how our faith is daily strengthened, thereby preparing us for the time to come, is a very simple but powerful statement made by Jesus. This statement of Jesus also shows us the same thing that Proverbs 3:5 shows us, which is to "Trust in the Lord with all [our] heart, and lean not to [our] own understanding." The passage I'm speaking of is this: "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? ...

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" (Mat. 6:25-34). WHOAAAH!! Just going through these verses to copy to the page here, I could feel the power in these words of sublime wisdom! Note that SIX times in this short passage Jesus mentioned the aspect of 'taking thought.' Note also that 'taking thought' was being spoken of as something for us to NOT DO! So does that mean we shut down our minds and live in literal 'blind faith?' Of course we don't shut off our minds, and of course we have to give SOME thought to everything we do, and need to do in our lives. When Jesus said to not take thought about all these things, he simply meant to not overthink and rely on our own understanding about how to work all of our circumstances out. Noah had to think about everything he did while building the ark and taking care of the task at hand. But Noah did not OVERTHINK and thereby get in a frenzy over it all, because HE BELIEVED WHAT GOD HAD SAID!! Whether we are prepared to endure faithfully in the time of great tribulation to come is going to be dependent on whether we are enduring our everyday lives faithfully now! The fact of the matter is we ARE preparing now, whether to endure or to fail. The things we are dealing with now, as compared to what's to come, are little things. Jesus told us something very integral about little things: "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much" (Lk. 16:10). And again he said the same thing: "And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities" (Lk. 19:7).

Noah could complete his task without fear and anxiety because he believed God, and what God had said. We can and must do the same. It is the only recipe for success in Christ, and to inherit eternal life at the end. We just saw that Jesus told us if we will seek after him and after his righteousness in our hearts, as our priority in life, then all of our earthly things will be provided and taken care of. He made it clear that God never neglects any of the necessities of the lesser forms of life in his creation, and that by no means is he going to neglect our needs. So we have nothing to be afraid of, and we have nothing to be overwhelmed by; we just need to stay our spirits and minds in that channel of faith in Jesus where failure does not exist. That channel includes a lot of prayer on an ongoing basis, as Jesus said in Luke 21; but it does NOT include an over-focus on every aspect of what is going on around us in our lives. Someone who is trusting in the Lord with all their heart is going to be doing a lot of praying, whereas someone who is leaning on their own understanding is going to be doing a whole lot more of their own doing. That channel of faith includes another all-important aspect, much of which comes through prayer: "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (I Jn. 3:3). Like Noah, we have things we have to tend to, but like Noah we can also tend to these things in the belief of what Jesus said. And again, Jesus said he would take very good care of us, as well as everything and everyone in our lives, if we will just take good care of our connection and relationship with him. I believe that just about covers the bases, so I'm going to close with what I believe to be the best admonition for the preparation of our faith for tomorrow, as well as for the time to come: "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" (Jude 1:20,21). PRAISE GOD!! I really believe that says it! God bless.