Cultivating an Atmosphere of Faith:
The Heart of the Matter
by Pastor Ben Williams
This is going deeper in the message from August 16.
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Have you received a “Word from the Lord”? Has God talked to you through Scripture, in prayer or through someone else prophesying to you? When we receive something from God it is important to understand that it has the potential to produce the results in our lives but will remain only potential if it is not combined with faith. Being able to repeat it does not mean we are going to see it happen. We need to actively believe.
Hebrews 4:2 gives us an example about the importance of believing what God has said. This is about the Israelites who God intended to make it into the Promised Land but did not. The same idea applies to believing the Gospel and to believing any message from God.
Hebrews 4:2, “For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.” NASB
Jesus got to the heart of the matter in Matthew 13 with the parable called, “The Sower.” I have included the passage below the blog for those new to the parable. Jesus told about what happens at a heart level when the message about the Kingdom of Heaven heard. He compared this to a farmer sowing seed into four kinds of soil. This seed is the message and the soil represents the heart or inner world of the one hearing the message.
Jesus framed the entire parable with the need for people to have ears to hear in verse nine. The phrase of having ears to hear is a common one in the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and the book of Revelation at end of the Bible. This phrase has to do with having a spiritual understanding. Jesus told the disciples that they had been given the privilege of understanding the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven in verse eleven. In other words, it needed to be revealed to be correctly understood.
The first key in faith is supernatural understanding. Romans 10:17 says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. That passage is about the need to have Jesus preached but notice faith does not come by hearing the word of Christ. It says faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of Christ. Faith comes by the supernatural understanding and supernatural understanding comes by the word of Christ.
Ephesians 1 speaks about wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ. “Revelation knowledge” is where God shows us truth. Matthew 16 and Luke 24 record examples of revelation knowledge. Jesus told Peter that the Father had revealed to him that Jesus was the Messiah and the Son of God in Matthew 16:16. Jesus told Peter that this was not taught from people but revealed from the Father. Another example is that after His resurrection, Jesus opened the minds of some disciples so they could understand the Scriptures in Luke 24:45. This “opening of their minds” was giving them ears to hear or the ability to receive revelation knowledge.
Why would it not be simply understood? Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 13 that more would be given to those that have and others would have what they do have taken from them in verse twelve. What a person understands they become responsible for and will be judged by. Romans one tells us that people have no excuse to not believe in God because there is a certain level of revelation God has granted everyone when they look at creation. All will be responsible for that revelation. Ecclesiastes 3:11 states that God has placed eternity in the heart of people. This baseline of revelation beckons people to search for God and Acts 17:27 tells us that He is not far from them.
That being said, Jesus did not want people unwilling to repent to truly understand what He was teaching because they would be responsible at judgement day for it. See Luke 12:47-48 where Jesus speaks about understanding and being willing to obey even more. This sets the context for the place faith can grow. The conditions need to be one where God’s word will be obeyed.
Lesson number one: Pray for a willing heart that is good soil for revelation.
What if God is holding back understanding because of our lack of willingness to listen and obey? Before praying for understanding, let us pray for willingness to listen and obey whatever God tells us.
Pray this: “Father God I thank you for all the truth you want me to walk in. Please grant me to have a willing heart that will listen and obey. If there is any understanding I already have and am not walking in please show me that I may change with the help of Your Spirit.”
Psalm 51:12, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit.” NASB
Philippians 2:13, “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” NASB
Below is Matthew 13 in NIV translation.
Matthew 13
1That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
10The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
11He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13This is why I speak to them in parables:
“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
14In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
“ ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’ a
16But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
18“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”