FAITH IT TILL YOU FEEL IT

I was having a conversation with a friend and a topic arose that I spoke about once, about people like me who do not feel the spirit of God the way others do.  Those of us who don’t get the feeling, or the warm fever during worship.  And we talked about how that is OK, but the question arose …How does god know I am doing what I am supposed to do to get into heaven, if I can’t feel him how I can tell.  This is when the comment was made “Fake it till you Make it.”  Yes, It was in jest and not intended to be dishonoring, but it brought up an interesting point.  A question that, if you are on the fence or you are not sure if you are enough to deserve Gods love, can mean the difference between moving to him, or staying where you are.

It reminded me of a story I read about a youth pastor who went so far as to create a pie chart of guidelines to follow.  Go to church, read your bible, pray…essentially the 8 things you do to get to heaven. The kids Loved it, OMG we have instructions, we have a guide! But that leader went on to explain why he would regret that decision and wanted at one point to find all these young people and apologize to them.

We all wonder every day, are we doing enough?  Are we messing up too much?  If we follow Jesus, we worry so much about losing our salvation and if we are thinking about following him, we hesitate, wondering if we can be enough.  

The bible tells a different story.  

It is much less complicated; you see Salvation comes from Obedience.  

Here is where it gets interesting.  Obedience is a word a lot of people fear.  To a lot of people, it means letting someone rule you, or control you.  Which could draw a lot of people from God if they don’t understand what obedience to God really is.  I want to share with you one of the best examples of this obedience in action.  In the Book of Acts we find a story.  A story that finds Peter in Prison shortly after Herod beheaded James.

12 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. ² He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. ³ When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. ⁴ After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.

⁵ So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

⁶ The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, (sleeping?)

bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. ⁷ Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.

Make note here.  Notice what happened here.  Peter rose, then the chains fell off.  It did not say Peter waited for the chains to fall off to get up.

⁸ Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. ⁹ Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.

¹¹ Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.”

You see obedience comes when you trust God enough to do what he might be asking of you, even when you have no idea what the outcome may be.  Don’t wait for your chains to fall off before you move.  Don’t pray “God if you just take this away or help me get that, I will be able to Obey”  

“Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.

Fake it till you Make it?  Not quite.  When it come to our salvation it sounds more like  Faith it till you feel it! Try it for yourselves.  Do you feel like there is something you need to do, something you have been putting off that you know has to be done, something God might be asking you to do that scares you or makes you uncomfortable?    

Quick get UP, he rose….then.. the chains fell off.