FAITH

We were blessed this past month to welcome Pastor Charles back as guest speaker after a lengthy recovery. His message was a living testimony of the power of faith and standing on God’s Word!

Why is faith so important, and what does faith really mean? What is behind it? Ephesians 4:23 says, “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” Do you have a faith attitude? Attitude can be defined as a manner of thinking or behaving that reflects a state of mind. So then, your attitude comes from your mind. Renew can be defined as starting over again, and we renew our mind by the Word of God. Filling your mind with the Word means you are filling up your mind with the way God thinks. The more you talk to Him and read His word, the more light comes, and oh how we need that light in this dark world!

How important is faith? Faith is the only way you can make it. You can’t work your way to Heaven. We must get there by faith. Jesus lived like us, but he had a good attitude. He had a mission and a purpose. He lived in joy. He knew He was building the Kingdom of God. Ephesians 4:23 in the Amplified Bible sheds further light, “…and be continually renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh, untarnished mental and spiritual attitude].” Our mind and our spirit must by synched. We must look at how we view something and how we behave toward it. As we read God’s Word, it can only put good

inside us. The good coming in will push the bad out. The Bible is the most powerful element in this earth, for JESUS IS THE WORD! Jesus came and paid the price, and He will one day make things just like he wanted them to be, fresh and untarnished.

Finally, in the NLT, Ephesians 4:23 reads, “Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.“ Thoughts and attitudes can sometimes seem like a giant to conquer, but we are not left on our own! We have the Holy Spirit! He knows just what to do. We can allow the Holy Spirit to renew our thoughts and attitudes. One of the best ways to get in tune with the Holy Spirit is to pray in tongues, for praying in the Spirit is speaking right to God. When we can’t handle something, we can “tag in” the Holy Spirit. He is our helper! We can learn to shut out the world. Much of the world has become vulgar and evil,

but we can learn to close our ears or use the off switch. We then must also constantly feed our faith.

In summary, it is very important that we maintain a positive attitude. We must love God’s Word. We must be careful to quickly forgive others, and we must be careful to never blame God for anything, for no matter what we may face in this life, we are considerably blessed, and we have eternity in which to look forward to seeing all of the goodness God has to offer!

By Pastor Charles Undercoffer