"Agnus of God" by James Robert Kessler 2006
Faith vs. Religion: An Epic Battle of Good and Evil
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Heb 11:6
Faith in its simplest form is the pure and an unadulterated belief in God’s complete sovereignty over the things that are both seen and unseen. Faith and religion or man’s idea of religion is like oil and water, they simply do not mix. Yet, what is it about religion that destroys the greatest attribute that God finds in us the most essential? I truly believe "organized" religion is the enemy of man’s faith. I know that sounds a little bold to make such a statement but the established religious power’s in Jesus’ day were the very enemies of His purpose and mission here on earth. If we look at the Scripture through the lens of religion and law then we miss the spiritual applications of every story of faith found within the its pages. This is the standard definition for religion.
Religion >noun: the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.
By definition religion in itself is not a bad thing. The problem is that man has taken what was good in the belief and pursuit of God and added his own terms and traditions to it. The Bible is a testament to faith in its greatest form because it is spiritual in all its implication's and application's. The truth is that religion in its most basic form makes you take the Scripture as being literal in every word that is written within it's pages. Of course the historical figures we read about such as Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David were all real living breathing human beings but their stories all centered around the one thing that makes God so alive and real in the hearts and minds of all believers and that is Faith. Faith is the common denominator that makes us true son's and daughter's of God. These father's of our faith all had another thing in common that to this day still is very much a part of man’s own personal journey of faith. They all at one time or another felt all alone and separated from God but they endured through all that life threw at them and achieved the honor of being called the friend of God. Faith is the only thing that can do this not religion.
That Which is Common to Man: The Parable of the Tiny Woman from Calcutta
"When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul," Mother Teresa
We all struggle with our faith. We all experience feeling all alone and sense a seperation from God many times during our lifetime. Whether it be a King David or a Mother Teresa, no man is immune to the wide range of emotions and feelings that come with being human. Even Jesus experienced loneliness and seperation during His lifetime. It seems the last forty years of Mother Teresa life was lived struggling with her faith. Yet she pressed on and held on to her faith through all her struggles and heartache. Tell me if this quote from her has ever crossed your mind?
"What do I labour for? If there be no God — there can be no soul — if there is no Soul then Jesus You also are not true." Mother Teresa
If we are honest with ourselves we would admit to such feelings and questions concerning God. Why is faith so essential to God? Is the story of Jonah getting swallowed up by a whale and than after three days getting spit back out a miraculous fish story or can it be a spiritual reference to Jesus Christ dying on a cross and after three days in the belly of the earth being resurrected back to life? Was the ark that Noah built a giant shuttle bus that redeposited all the animals to their original homes all over the world or could the story of Noah be about having enough faith that God was going to preserve a covenant line through His chosen nation that His own very Son was to be born through to save this world? It takes a true faith to believe such things both literal and spiritual but it is possible if you can't put aside the traditions and laws that religion has placed upon the very freedom’s we call grace.
Mother Teresa: "Come Be My Light" Admiring the Tiny Mustard Seed
And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. Luke 17:6
Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, is a collection of letters written to colleagues and superiors over 66 years and complied by an advocate for her sainthood which will be released soon. I personally do not claim any denominational tag but I believe in the fellowship of all the saints. This can only be accomplished through the bond of a faith in God. I admire courage in any form so I like to write about believer’s such as this little woman from Albania. She was honest with herself about her relationship with God and she carried her cross as she felt Jesus instructed her to do. She always felt a darkness within herself but she answered His (Jesus’) call to be His light.
"There is such terrible darkness within me, as if everything was dead. It has been like this more or less from the time I started 'the work," Mother Teresa
Faith isn’t about being Catholic, Methodist, Charismatic or even Jewish or any other denominational title we wish to add to it. Faith is about pressing through the situations that deceive us into thinking that God is no where to be found. Mother Teresa felt abandoned by Christ, she even referred to Jesus as "the Absent One," and called her own smile "a mask." The nun, born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu to ethnic Albanian parents, coped with what she termed her "spiritual dryness" by likening it to Christ's doubt on the cross. And if we are truly honest with ourselves then Jesus cry from the cross of being forsaken of God is something we all had to wrestle with at some time in our lives. One of her quotes that strikes me the most deals with the subject of loneliness.
""Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty." Mother Teresa
One of God’s greatest warriors was no stranger to the feelings of isolation and loneliness out of which came such inspiring Psalm’s as Psalm Twenty Three verse Four.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. Psa 23:4
And than mighty David wrote many Psalms that sounded like this.
WHY do You stand afar off, O LORD? Why do You hide in times of trouble? Psa 10:1
God’s mighty David sounds a little bi-polar but that is exactly how our relationship’s play out with God over the course of our own lifetime. One of my favorite Christian musicians was a man named Rich Mullins. Nine days before he died in a terrible car accident he recorded a song that reflected his own personal feelings concerning the presence of God in his life. It sounds much like the things Mother Teresa was experiencing during her lifetime and it echo’s the things I personally deal with in my Christian walk almost every day. At least Mullin’s was brave enough like King David or a simple nun named Teresa to express them at a huge personal cost and sacrifice of what other’s might think of them.
Hard to Get by Rich Mullin
You who live in heaven Hear the prayers of those of us who live on earth
Who are afraid of being left by those we love And who get hardened by the hurt
Do you remember when You lived down here where we all scrape To find the faith to ask for daily bread
Did You forget about us after You had flown away Well I memorized every word You said
Still I'm so scared, I'm holding my breath
While You're up there just playing hard to get
You who live in radiance Hear the prayers of those of us who live in skin
We have a love that's not as patient as Yours was Still we do love now and then
Did You ever know loneliness Did You ever know need Do You remember just how long a night can get?
When You were barely holding on And Your friends fall asleep
And don't see the blood that's running in Your sweat
Will those who mourn be left uncomforted
While You're up there just playing hard to get?
And I know you bore our sorrows And I know you feel our pain
And I know it would not hurt any less Even if it could be explained
And I know that I am only lashing out At the One who loves me most
And after I figured this, somehow All I really need to know Is
if You who live in eternity Hear the prayers of those of us who live in time
We can't see what's ahead And we can not get free of what we've left behind
I'm reeling from these voices that keep screaming in my ears
All the words of shame and doubt, blame and regret
I can't see how You're leading me unless You've led me here
Where I'm lost enough to let myself be led And so You've been here all along I guess
It's just Your ways and You are just plain hard to get
How very powerful are these lyric's? God is just plain hard to get at times. It doesn’t matter what other’s think of you or how you feel at times. Ask yourself what God thinks of you and how He feels about you? My own testimony of faith is so full of contradictions and faithlessness that at times I even wonder how it is possible that God even exists. I have to remind myself every day that it is nothing I ever did to secure eternal life but that it is Christ’s own righteousness that gives me a measure of faith. It is important for me to express these thought’s because I believe modern day religion has destroyed the faith of many sincere and believing Christians. Victory in Christ is more than what we can see with our natural eye’s or feel with our five senses. True victory comes with the acceptance that at times God will not seem real in our walk through this life yet we press forward. Victory is overcoming the unseen so that our faith can persevere even in the darkest valley’s and severest trials that we may ever face.
So I will conclude with this thought and I will use another quote from Mother Teresa to do so.
"How painful is this unknown pain - I have no Faith. If there be God - please forgive me." Mother Teresa
Please forgive me also Lord. My unknown pain has been revealed to me and the world calls it religion. I am comforted to know I am in good company starting with Adam to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I also know you have forgiven me long before I was old enough to know any better. I guess Rich Mullins was right all along when he wrote, " I can't see how You're leading me unless You've led me here, Where I'm lost enough to let myself be led, And so You've been here all along I guess, It's just Your ways and You are just plain hard to get."
So I guess I may never fully understand who you are but does it really matter if I really ever do understand while I sojourn here? And maybe because of a simple faith it’s not important to put my fingers where the nails removed your flesh and you’ll explain my journey to me one day outside of time. I know if I am to please you I must start and end with a simple faith. I would like to see religion do that but we know that religion is your "dirty little secret" that makes men think they got you all figured out :-)
Faith has made known your secret Lord and it is no flesh will ever figure you out because it is just your way and to be honest, you are just plain hard to get. The beauty of it all is that faith is imparted by your own sovereign hand and it only grows in our recognizing it for what it really is every moment we are alive. Faith means a pleasing friendship with You and a relationship that no man can ever take away from us.
Forever In Christ Victorious!
James Robert Kessler
Because of Him art Ministry 2007
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Heb 11:6
Faith in its simplest form is the pure and an unadulterated belief in God’s complete sovereignty over the things that are both seen and unseen. Faith and religion or man’s idea of religion is like oil and water, they simply do not mix. Yet, what is it about religion that destroys the greatest attribute that God finds in us the most essential? I truly believe "organized" religion is the enemy of man’s faith. I know that sounds a little bold to make such a statement but the established religious power’s in Jesus’ day were the very enemies of His purpose and mission here on earth. If we look at the Scripture through the lens of religion and law then we miss the spiritual applications of every story of faith found within the its pages. This is the standard definition for religion.
Religion >noun: the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.
By definition religion in itself is not a bad thing. The problem is that man has taken what was good in the belief and pursuit of God and added his own terms and traditions to it. The Bible is a testament to faith in its greatest form because it is spiritual in all its implication's and application's. The truth is that religion in its most basic form makes you take the Scripture as being literal in every word that is written within it's pages. Of course the historical figures we read about such as Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David were all real living breathing human beings but their stories all centered around the one thing that makes God so alive and real in the hearts and minds of all believers and that is Faith. Faith is the common denominator that makes us true son's and daughter's of God. These father's of our faith all had another thing in common that to this day still is very much a part of man’s own personal journey of faith. They all at one time or another felt all alone and separated from God but they endured through all that life threw at them and achieved the honor of being called the friend of God. Faith is the only thing that can do this not religion.
That Which is Common to Man: The Parable of the Tiny Woman from Calcutta
"When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul," Mother Teresa
We all struggle with our faith. We all experience feeling all alone and sense a seperation from God many times during our lifetime. Whether it be a King David or a Mother Teresa, no man is immune to the wide range of emotions and feelings that come with being human. Even Jesus experienced loneliness and seperation during His lifetime. It seems the last forty years of Mother Teresa life was lived struggling with her faith. Yet she pressed on and held on to her faith through all her struggles and heartache. Tell me if this quote from her has ever crossed your mind?
"What do I labour for? If there be no God — there can be no soul — if there is no Soul then Jesus You also are not true." Mother Teresa
If we are honest with ourselves we would admit to such feelings and questions concerning God. Why is faith so essential to God? Is the story of Jonah getting swallowed up by a whale and than after three days getting spit back out a miraculous fish story or can it be a spiritual reference to Jesus Christ dying on a cross and after three days in the belly of the earth being resurrected back to life? Was the ark that Noah built a giant shuttle bus that redeposited all the animals to their original homes all over the world or could the story of Noah be about having enough faith that God was going to preserve a covenant line through His chosen nation that His own very Son was to be born through to save this world? It takes a true faith to believe such things both literal and spiritual but it is possible if you can't put aside the traditions and laws that religion has placed upon the very freedom’s we call grace.
Mother Teresa: "Come Be My Light" Admiring the Tiny Mustard Seed
And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. Luke 17:6
Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, is a collection of letters written to colleagues and superiors over 66 years and complied by an advocate for her sainthood which will be released soon. I personally do not claim any denominational tag but I believe in the fellowship of all the saints. This can only be accomplished through the bond of a faith in God. I admire courage in any form so I like to write about believer’s such as this little woman from Albania. She was honest with herself about her relationship with God and she carried her cross as she felt Jesus instructed her to do. She always felt a darkness within herself but she answered His (Jesus’) call to be His light.
"There is such terrible darkness within me, as if everything was dead. It has been like this more or less from the time I started 'the work," Mother Teresa
Faith isn’t about being Catholic, Methodist, Charismatic or even Jewish or any other denominational title we wish to add to it. Faith is about pressing through the situations that deceive us into thinking that God is no where to be found. Mother Teresa felt abandoned by Christ, she even referred to Jesus as "the Absent One," and called her own smile "a mask." The nun, born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu to ethnic Albanian parents, coped with what she termed her "spiritual dryness" by likening it to Christ's doubt on the cross. And if we are truly honest with ourselves then Jesus cry from the cross of being forsaken of God is something we all had to wrestle with at some time in our lives. One of her quotes that strikes me the most deals with the subject of loneliness.
""Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty." Mother Teresa
One of God’s greatest warriors was no stranger to the feelings of isolation and loneliness out of which came such inspiring Psalm’s as Psalm Twenty Three verse Four.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. Psa 23:4
And than mighty David wrote many Psalms that sounded like this.
WHY do You stand afar off, O LORD? Why do You hide in times of trouble? Psa 10:1
God’s mighty David sounds a little bi-polar but that is exactly how our relationship’s play out with God over the course of our own lifetime. One of my favorite Christian musicians was a man named Rich Mullins. Nine days before he died in a terrible car accident he recorded a song that reflected his own personal feelings concerning the presence of God in his life. It sounds much like the things Mother Teresa was experiencing during her lifetime and it echo’s the things I personally deal with in my Christian walk almost every day. At least Mullin’s was brave enough like King David or a simple nun named Teresa to express them at a huge personal cost and sacrifice of what other’s might think of them.
Hard to Get by Rich Mullin
You who live in heaven Hear the prayers of those of us who live on earth
Who are afraid of being left by those we love And who get hardened by the hurt
Do you remember when You lived down here where we all scrape To find the faith to ask for daily bread
Did You forget about us after You had flown away Well I memorized every word You said
Still I'm so scared, I'm holding my breath
While You're up there just playing hard to get
You who live in radiance Hear the prayers of those of us who live in skin
We have a love that's not as patient as Yours was Still we do love now and then
Did You ever know loneliness Did You ever know need Do You remember just how long a night can get?
When You were barely holding on And Your friends fall asleep
And don't see the blood that's running in Your sweat
Will those who mourn be left uncomforted
While You're up there just playing hard to get?
And I know you bore our sorrows And I know you feel our pain
And I know it would not hurt any less Even if it could be explained
And I know that I am only lashing out At the One who loves me most
And after I figured this, somehow All I really need to know Is
if You who live in eternity Hear the prayers of those of us who live in time
We can't see what's ahead And we can not get free of what we've left behind
I'm reeling from these voices that keep screaming in my ears
All the words of shame and doubt, blame and regret
I can't see how You're leading me unless You've led me here
Where I'm lost enough to let myself be led And so You've been here all along I guess
It's just Your ways and You are just plain hard to get
How very powerful are these lyric's? God is just plain hard to get at times. It doesn’t matter what other’s think of you or how you feel at times. Ask yourself what God thinks of you and how He feels about you? My own testimony of faith is so full of contradictions and faithlessness that at times I even wonder how it is possible that God even exists. I have to remind myself every day that it is nothing I ever did to secure eternal life but that it is Christ’s own righteousness that gives me a measure of faith. It is important for me to express these thought’s because I believe modern day religion has destroyed the faith of many sincere and believing Christians. Victory in Christ is more than what we can see with our natural eye’s or feel with our five senses. True victory comes with the acceptance that at times God will not seem real in our walk through this life yet we press forward. Victory is overcoming the unseen so that our faith can persevere even in the darkest valley’s and severest trials that we may ever face.
So I will conclude with this thought and I will use another quote from Mother Teresa to do so.
"How painful is this unknown pain - I have no Faith. If there be God - please forgive me." Mother Teresa
Please forgive me also Lord. My unknown pain has been revealed to me and the world calls it religion. I am comforted to know I am in good company starting with Adam to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I also know you have forgiven me long before I was old enough to know any better. I guess Rich Mullins was right all along when he wrote, " I can't see how You're leading me unless You've led me here, Where I'm lost enough to let myself be led, And so You've been here all along I guess, It's just Your ways and You are just plain hard to get."
So I guess I may never fully understand who you are but does it really matter if I really ever do understand while I sojourn here? And maybe because of a simple faith it’s not important to put my fingers where the nails removed your flesh and you’ll explain my journey to me one day outside of time. I know if I am to please you I must start and end with a simple faith. I would like to see religion do that but we know that religion is your "dirty little secret" that makes men think they got you all figured out :-)
Faith has made known your secret Lord and it is no flesh will ever figure you out because it is just your way and to be honest, you are just plain hard to get. The beauty of it all is that faith is imparted by your own sovereign hand and it only grows in our recognizing it for what it really is every moment we are alive. Faith means a pleasing friendship with You and a relationship that no man can ever take away from us.
Forever In Christ Victorious!
James Robert Kessler
Because of Him art Ministry 2007
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