Revelation About Faith vs. Facts and Feelings

Faith is the evidence of things hoped for. It's not something that we still hope for.

It's something that has arriced.

Faith is the substance of things unseen. It's the recognition and reality of things that we do not see.

How did Moses survive and then thrive?

"By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible." (Hebrews 11:27)

We see by faith! Faith is not a feeling, and it is not based on unstable facts.

Faith is about seeing what is invisible, for what is invisible to the human sense is eternal in the most important sense:

"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18)

For a long time, I kept confusing feelings and the flesh with faith. My parents taught me to walk by flesh and sight rather than faith and spirit. They were so focused on themselves they didn't see a living Savior caring for them.

They really believed that they were all alone in the world, or that praying to God was something that they did as an exercise, an activity to earn some favor or support. But for most matters in their life, they lived as though they were on their own.

It's a tough life, that kind of self-imposed hardship. It's remarkable how I was able to get through the earlier years of my journey. Both my parents did not have the full and working knowledge of God's grace and peace at work in their lives.

God is real! Christ is Alive! We are not stock on this rock called Earth trying to live our own lives in our own effort. We have Him who has been from the beginning (1 John 2:13) and we are not alone in this fight:

"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13)

Faith is about recognizing divine reality apart of our limited senses. Faith is about recognizing truth based on God's Word, not man's world.

Consider the first example of faith in the Hall of Faith (Hebrews 11):

"3Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." (Hebrews 11:3)

God's Word spoke the worlds into existence. Before the world, there was the Word.

John could not have said it more plainly:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1)

Let's hear God's Word and believe that God has all the power that we need to get thorugh and thrive in this world. It's not about ourselves. It's about Himself. Christ Jesus died for us, rose for us, and lives for us after the power of an endless life at the right hand of His Father--and our Father!

Self-effort, man's striving, man's attempts to keep the law are NOT of faith:

"And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them." (Galatians 3:12)

Right before this point, writes clearly how the righteous live:

"But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith." (Galatians 3:22)

This verse is the Gospel in a verse, one of the most oft-repeated verses in the entire New Testament, and for good reason.

Faith is all about seeing Jesus, and seeing that He has Finished the Work. Self-effort, self, works, tiring and toiling under law, is all about man looking at his thoughts, his feelings, his efforts, his world, his own words and works -- and always coming up short. We cannot save ourselves. Man seeking to make himself wise became a fool, convinced that God was holding out on him, and thus partaking of a tree which was not good for man to eat.

The knowledge of good and evil, the knowledge of the law, does not make us live good and godly lives. The Tree of Life, the Gospel of Grace, seeing Him who is Invisible by faith based on His Word, that is how we live and reign in life.

Now more than ever, everyone in the Body of Christ needs to stop focusing on their feelings and the facts before their senses, and start seeking greater revelation, to see Jesus at work in their lives and around their environs, based on faith, not our feelings, not our fantasies, not our make-believe attitudes.

It's time for us to make these prayers our priority, that we would see more, not try to do more; that we would believe more, not achieve more. For the more that we believe in Him, the more that we can receive from Him, and the more that He can achieve through us! AMEN!

" [I] cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints," (Ephesians 1:16-18)

and

"That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." (Ephesians 3:16-19)

I Need God's Favor Even Where I Am Familiar

This Monday, I returned from an extended weekend stay in Arizona.

It's a great place, not as desert-y as I had feared.

It's really nice!

There is a great deal of desert, sure, but I saw so many homes with their own set of greenery. Phoenix, Arizona is a huge city. It takes 30 minutes on a major freeway to get from one of the city to another city.

And that's if there is no traffic to contend with!

I noticed that I meditated on God's Word a great deal. It seemed like every moment of the day, I was chewing, muttering, marinating in one or many sets of Scriptures.

It was a very fulfilling time that I shared with friends and fellow patriots there in the Phoenix area.

Then I came home, and I realized something:

What is preventing me from meditating at length here in my own home town, my own city? What has been holding me back from thinking that I do not need to ask for God's favor here in the place where I live, where I have called home for the last three decades?

For a long time, when by myself or walking about boldly yet singly in public, I would think out loud, let my mind wander and wonder onto so many topics.

I never really got settled. It was so easy to get upset about past slights or future fears. After five days of staying at someone else's home in another state, after the habit of repeating and meditating on God's Word in different passages, I found that my mind was clearer, and opportunities began to appear in great number.

I can ask for God's favor and receive His grace for every day. Why was I not doing that when back at home in the South Bay?

Just because I know the South Bay, just because I have lived in Torrance for the greater part of my life, that does not mean that I do not need God's grace, His favor for facing different challenges and issues from day to day, or from hour to hour.

I need His grace, I desire His favor wherever I go, whatever I do.

The five day excursion in Arizona really opened my mind, my heart to seeing more of Jesus and receiving more of his abundant gifts of righteousness and grace (Romans 5:17).

I want my loving Daddy God to surprise me every day. For the last four days back home, I have found myself really appreciating everything that I have lived in, that I have enjoyed for this great length of time.

What can I say? I need God's favor even in places with which I have been so familiar all of these years. Yes, I may know that so many things close to me are relatively the same, but who knows what may happen upon me when I trust His favor?

I want to get into the habit now more than ever, just as Ruth did when she joined with Israel:

"And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter." (Ruth 2:2)

Ruth landed in the perfect field:

"And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech." (Ruth 2:3)

She trusted in God's favor. She believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the same God who sent His Son to die on the Cross for us, to grant us His rightoeusness, His life, and His standing.

In the same way that Ruth trusted God's favor and found herself not just by chance, but by "her hap", in not just a good field, but the field belonging to her Kinsman-Redeemer.

Let's not hold back God from blessing us beyond what we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). Let's ask God to continue to show us through His Son how much He loves us! (Ephesians 3: 17-19).

Amnesty, Heresy, Insanity: "Jesus Was Undocumented"

Just to demonstrate who insane the regressive Left has become in this country, check out the video below, recorded by God-fearing, pro-enforcement activists We the People Rising:

They arrived an hour early on Wednesday, March 15, 2017

They gathered in front of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Station to protest SB 54, a piece of legislation forcing its way through the California State Legislation.

If passed this bill will turn the entire state of California into a "sanctuary state".

Except, it won't.

This "sanctuary city" status will actually ensure that every person in the United States illegally--an illegal alien--will be protected from federal immigration customs and enforcement officials.

The state of California will not deliberately cooperate with federal officials to deport illegal aliens. The state officials will also direct county and local officials not to cooperate with ICE.

This is amnesty. This is lawless heresy. This is insanity.

Does the California Democratic supermajority in Sacramento really believe that they can defy federal law? Do they really think that they can toy with established laws and deem every illegal alien in the state of California a "quasi-citizen" with a set of bills and the stroke of the pen?

Whatever one may call these extra-legal shenanigans, these desperate moves will not have a happy ending.

We the People Rising have slammed cities throughout the state, especially in Southern California, where majority-minority cities run by corrupt city councils have looked for every way to protect their careers through piecemeal de facto amnesty proposals.

City councilman Chris Garcia led the charge to turn Cudahy, California into a sanctuary city in 2015, even though his decision precipitated ICE agents entering into the city and periodically deporting illegals in the city since then. His media stunt did not prevent law-abiding citizens from turning up the heat on his pay-for-play relationships with private vendors--including personal friends of his.

Huntington Park, California is a third-world hell-hole compared to surrounding cities with better management personnel (including Bell Gardens and Downey, CA). The city council approved the appointment of two illegal aliens to city commissions! This is beyond outrageous!

It's amnesty. It's heresy. It's complete insanity.

The gravest irony of all? The city of Huntington Park's council chambers has emblazoned a scripture on its back wall: "Where there is no vision, the people perish." Evidently, that city is perishing, and all their prayers to God will go unanswered as long as the militantly refuse to recognize the truth.

Now that Donald Trump is President of the United States, our Modern Day Cyrus is protecting the rights and wealth of American citizens. He is laying down the law with foreign leaders (Germany must pay its fair share of NATO costs, for example). He is also drawing the line on state and local officials who have thumbed their noses at the rule of law.

California wants to go sanctuary state? Let's see how long they last without the billions (or is it trillions?) of dollars in federal funding.

This will not end will, considering that at the vast majority of cities are flirting with bankruptcy over pension debt and other over-generous, unfunded liabilities eating away at the dwindling local, county, and state coffers.

But instead of dealing with the basic demands and essential necessities of governance, California Democratic leaders want more amnesty. They will protect illegal aliens at all costs, all while taxpaying citizens fight back or flee the state.

Which brings me to the latest upset/outrage from the perverse open borders lobby.

San Bernardino County is fighting back against illegal immigration. Law enforcement in that county (among many others) does not want California to turn into a playground for illegal aliens.

Yet instead of standing with local law enforcement, amnesty advocates--with a Roman Catholic priest joining their efforts.

The words which stuck out and stung me the most?

"Christ was undocumented."

WHAT?!

This is amnesty. This is heresy. This is totally immoral, unjust, unbiblical insanity.

Jesus is not a piece of paper. He is the Word made flesh.

Jesus was not in this world against the rule of law or men. He is the fulfillment of the Law, having come to His own, even if they did not receive Him.

He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life--all of which is well-documented in the Old and New Testament.

Jesus never sanctioned disobedience to any nation's laws.

Borders and walls are well-spoken of and well-received throughout Scripture. Distinctions between truth and error define Jesus' ministry on earth, and His lordship forevermore at the right hand of His Father and our Father.

This is not just offensive, it's patently sad, even laughable that pro-amnesty forces must resort to such frauds.

What is really going on here? Why these massive distortions of Christ Jesus, especially among church "leaders"?

The glaring obfuscation is designed to make it seem as though supporting open borders, eroding the distinction between citizen and non-citizen is actually a godly act--and anyone who opposes this destructive undermining of our national sovereignty and character is a narrow-minded, xenophobic bigot.

Haven't they heard? Even heaven has gates, and there will be "Extreme vetting."

Any man who preaches any other Gospel besides Jesus Christ, and Himself Crucified for our sins--Let him be accursed. Jesus never expected guilt-ridden lawlessness to define a nation. The Gospel is for all people, for all who believe on the name of Jesus. The answer to the world's problems will not be found in breaking into another country or stealing their resources and identity.

It's time for the heretical, insane amnesty advocates (especially "religious leaders" to stop misusing Jesus and distorting His forever-mission of saving fallen man and restoring him to his divine place within Him. They need to respect the laws of all countries and stop aiding and abetting criminal international trespass, a.k.a illegal immigration.