Faith – Ask Jerry Mercer

Walking on the Water

Can we as people really step out on the H2O? Is there enough buoyancy in faith to sustain us above the pull of our body weight?

The disciple Peter found out about faith and buoyancy as we see written in Matthew 14:22-32 in the Holy Bible.

As the story goes, Jesus came walking on the water to the boat full of disciples. The sight of this miraculous happening terrified them; they thought they were seeing a ghost!

But Jesus immediately said, “take courage, it is I, don’t be afraid”.

This statement from Jesus gave Peter enough faith in his own words to say to Jesus (who was still out on the water, by the way), “Lord if it’s You tell me to come to You on the water”.

Peter’s faith in what he heard the Lord say propelled his faith into buoyancy! And Peter’s faith gave Jesus the opportunity to allow action to correspond to his faith by saying, “Come”.

At this point, there is nothing left to do except, get out of the boat! And that’s just what Peter did.

So Peter stepped out of the boat onto the water, “by faith”, weight and wind defying faith – buoyancy faith!

As long as Peter was looking at the source of his faith, I will say that again, “as long as Peter was looking at the source of his faith”, he was walking on the water. Amen!

Peter was walking toward Jesus on the water, then he noticed the wind and the waves, or natural happenings, he took his eyes off his source and looked at the obstacles… UT OH!

Peter focused on the obstacles and began to sink; here is where the graciousness of our Lord shines!

I have a personal story about God’s graciousness that I will share at this point.

About 14 years ago my wife and I left home and family to set out to serve God at a higher level, in another state.

My wife and I were moved “by faith” we knew there was much more about the Trinity than we were walking in.

We sought to learn about faith and how to be led by the Spirit of God. We soon found out there was a lot about faith that we did not yet understand. We started looking at the wind and the waves in our life; we took our eyes off of our Source!

As we began sinking, I remember asking God this question, “God what’s happening, why are we sinking, how did we fail”?

The next words from God were a marker time in my faith journey. God spoke to me, not in an audible voice but inside my spirit, saying “Peter was the only one to get out of the boat, I had to help him back in”!

This phrase still ministers to me some 14 years later. This is one of the most gracious times I have ever had with the Lord. I felt comforted, I felt loved, and I felt the caress of a Father, a Brother, and a friend. Amen!

God saw our stepping out as a faith victory, not a faith failure. Just as with Peter in verse 30, he cried out, “Lord save me”, and the Bible says in verse 31 that Jesus immediately reached out and caught Peter and saved him from drowning.

This was not the end of Peter’s story, nor was it the end of mine. You see, Jesus is thrilled when we trust Him and step out in faith. But His words to Peter, me, and you after we allow doubt to derail our faith is, “you of little faith, why did you doubt”.

Jesus wants us living out of the boat;

trusting Him with our every move
walking where few dare try
accomplishing what most fear
And taking courage that He will do everything He said! Amen!

Do you trust Him, friend? He is faithful, trustworthy, and true!

When we step out, Jesus steps in. In Him all obstacles disappear, all waves flatten out, and “by faith” we have what He says.

What we need to say as we walk this faith walk is found in verse 33, “Truly you are the Son of God”, and I trust you!

Let’s walk on the water today. If enough of us get out of the boat we can change our churches, our communities, our states, and yes even our country.

Walk “by Faith” today! Trust Jesus to change your life today. He is so gracious and faithful, let’s join with Him today.

If you need a faith boost today, please leave a comment and I will prayerfully respond.

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Scriptures of encouragement and content: Matthew 14:22-32, James 2:18, James 1:23-25, James 4:6, Hebrews 2:11, Matthew 21:21, Isaiah 26:3, 2 Corinthians 5:7, and Isaiah 30:18 TPT, ” For this reason the Lord is still waiting to show His favor to you so He can show you His marvelous love. He waits to be gracious to you. He sits on His throne ready to show mercy to you. For Yahweh is the Lord of justice, faithful to keep His promises. Overwhelmed with bliss are all who entwine their hearts in Him, waiting for Him to help them. Amen and Wow!

Faith Does Not Go By What We See

As we search deeply into what we are really seeing, as we look past what is just taking up space around us, we see the things that really affect our faith.

What we are giving the most attention to will definitely rise to the forefront of our seeing, and what we meditate on will become our focus of direction and translate into faith.

When we focus on God’s written Word it causes our doubts and unbelief to be changed into faith and gives us a foundation that leads to inner proof.

Proof leads us into a list of action words that become a part of our spiritual life and they include: Faith- what I believe about the Word of God and will hold onto. Trust- what I have experienced in the Word of God and what I believe about His character. And, Witness- a confirming, a guide, an assurance, and a revealer of the truth verified. Amen!

Revelations increase faith, praying in the Spirit increases faith, hearing from God through His word and receiving confirmations assures us that our faith is working and the Witness is real.

As we have more and more experiences in the realm of faith we can start basing our life choices on these experiences and stop many of the bad choices that we have made in the past.

Our character becomes the controlling factor in our decisions and as we listen to that inner man we will always be in the right place at the right time.

When we put our trust in God and His Word, we allow our character a better path and we get a holy or pure Witness.

Having an inner cleansing allows us to make life choices based on the consciousness of a pointed or guided direction. To stay on a course of Godly character we must take in the Word of God, give it place, and allow the Word of God to transfer to faith!

How again would the Word of God transfer to faith? By hearing, by meditating on, by applying, and by making changes to what we believe when the Witness shows us the truth of the Word.

The transfer takes place because of an openness to receive the truth, and a willingness to receive the truth as written, then an open heart to align ourselves with that truth.

We let our faith that realized the truth, align our character to the newfound understanding of God’s word.

We immediately put it into practice, because faith realized without a quick implementation becomes unbelief very quickly.

We must apply our heart and mind to receive the Word of Truth and believe that God had us in mind when He breathed the scriptures into an understandable solution for a devolving world. Amen!

When we are open to and willing to allow God’s word first place in our lives, He then sends the Witness, and the Witness, or Holy Spirit will guide us into all the truth. He makes a way for the Word of God to transfer into faith.

At this point we truly “walk by faith” because faith is the foundation of our character; we develop into a strong and courageous disciple of faith.

A disciple is someone who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrine of Another. Let’s spread the doctrine of Truth which is the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Amen!

If you need a faith boost today, please leave a comment and I will prayerfully respond.

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Scriptures of content and encouragement: 2 Corinthians 4:18, Galatians 2:20, James 1:18, Colossians 3:17, Matthew 28:19-20, and Romans 1:17 TPT, “The Gospel unveils a continual revelation of God’s righteousness-a perfect righteousness given to us when we believe. And it moves us from receiving life through faith, to the power of living by faith. This is what the scripture means when it says: we are right with God through life-giving faith!” Amen!

By Faith We Understand

As we look in the scriptures we see this truth that says; “By faith we understand” (Hebrews 11:3), understand what, we may ask?

Is understanding a core competency to our living a faith-filled life?

Since we are taught in the scriptures to walk by faith, live by faith, and now understand by faith. How are we to set out on our faith mission?

We are also taught in Proverbs 3:5, to lean not on our own understanding, so how does that fit into our mission?

I believe we must get past the mental to even understand what faith is, and how to use it.

The entirety of Proverbs 3:5 is; “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not to your own understanding.”

So we must lean on our trust in the Lord, lean on the revelation of the Word understood, not on our mental understanding.

This leaning into the Lord would allow our faith to be in His understanding, an understanding of the Word for every situation in life, and it would give us an internal picture or focus, instead of a mental or head understanding.

As the Word of God takes root in our heart, we are to have faith in that, by faith in our heart we understand the Word of God.

When we have faith to understand the Word, we now have faith to respond to the Word, a subsequent action to a received understanding.

By faith we understand the Word of God, by faith we understand the love of God, by faith we understand the love that God is! Amen!

We need to hear God’s Word, see God’s Word, and keep God’s Word in our hearts, because God’s Words are “life to those that find them and health to one’s whole body” Proverbs 4:22.

Understanding by faith also allows us to be more and more fruitful, because whoever hears the Word and understands it will produce a harvest, a harvest supplied by the Word sown! Amen!

A seam splitting, barn busting, spirit quaking harvest of the bountiful Word of God, unlimited in scope and reach.

Understanding faith gives you the full capacity to stay lush and green, stay full of fresh air, stay deeply rooted in the Word, and be carefree and productive.

Have you seen the High Striker game at a carnival? Where you swing a big hammer striking the base causing the puck to fly up the rail, hopefully striking the bell? This is how the Word of God increases our understanding strength, we keep “practice swinging” by reading and listening to the Word of God daily, and then when our time comes we can swing a mighty hammer, knocking strongholds off of ourselves and our family members.

We win the prize that God is calling us up to in Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 4:13 says, “It is written; I believed; therefore I have spoken. Since we have that same Spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak”.

The prize is won by having the same Spirit of faith that says, I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, I am with the Spirit because with Him is my freedom, I am alive to Christ and dead to sin. I am above and not beneath! Amen!

By faith, we understand from our hearts that all of God’s promises are true. By faith, we understand that things seen don’t necessarily reflect the things that are not seen. So we fix our understanding on things above the natural senses, we set out to understand more about what we don’t see.

Faith is the evidence of things not seen, so we understand before we see, I will say that again, “we understand before we see”. We need to jot this phrase down because it came into understanding by faith. By searching through God’s Word and writing about His wonderful character, deeper understanding comes up from within.

You see God’s Word is deeper than the superficial ink and paper we see in the Bible, the more faith we apply to get understanding, the more comprehensive God’s Word becomes. By more comprehending of the faith, we get more comprehending of God’s grace.

To truly find God’s grace we must truly understand God’s Word and not only His Word, but His character, His workings, His ways, and His will.

I pray that a fresh filling of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom would fall on all of us. Let’s get under the Word today, so it has a place to land.

If you need a faith boost today, leave a comment and I will prayerfully respond.

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Scriptures of content and encouragement: Hebrews 11:3, Proverbs 3:5, Ephesians 3:16-17, James 2:14-26, 1 John 4:16, Matthew 13:23, 2 Corinthians 4:18, and Hebrews 11:1-3: Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith, we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. Amen!

Wisdom is Open to All

Since wisdom is open to all then wisdom is available to all. Wisdom sits at the point of decision, waits at the place of beginnings.

If we are willing to adjust our lives to God’s truths she, wisdom, speaks, and what wisdom says to the open of hearts is; healing, health, authority, wealth, and power. Amen!

We must separate true wisdom from knowledge. Wisdom is not learned from textbooks and is not attained by any college degree.

Wisdom is not stored in that three pounds of gray matter we call our brain. The brain stores gained information but the heart is open to and receives wisdom.

Wisdom from above is first of all pure, and then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. James 3:17 NKJ Bible.

All of these attributes of wisdom are open to all of us who will yield our opinions and ideas, and our learned knowledge, and become subject to wisdom from heaven.

Yes, Wisdom from on high has the workings of God because Wisdom was the architect at God’s side when He created the world. Amen!

Wisdom was at God’s point of decision and was able to put into practice the workings and sayings of God! We also have this ability if we yield ourselves to the Spirit of God at the time of our decisions, if we call out to Wisdom with reverence and believing that God is always working on behalf of those who are seeking Him.

We then watch over our hearts, stay honest and steadfast, seek the right path and follow it, and stay out of hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy is feigning to be what one is not, so hypocrisy would lead to foolishness and false morality, instead of becoming wise you become a foolish pretender. At this point, wisdom is far from you and you start making poor decisions that lead to poor choices in regards to your life, health, proceedings, and your behavior.

To obtain and walk in the wisdom necessary to change behaviors we must understand the principles of wisdom because the Bible says in Proverbs that wisdom is the principal thing. Amen!

The principles of wisdom as defined in Webster’s dictionary are a comprehensive and fundamental law, a rule or code of conduct, an underlying faculty with which in lies the power and ability to walk in obedience to wisdom.

Yes, it takes obedience to yield to the Wisdom of God, and at the point of decision, we must obey to receive any change in our behavior patterns. If we never obey or change our behavior patterns wisdom eludes us and we wander along driven only by what we know and what we can accomplish.

“Wisdom isn’t open to the disobedient and prideful, their only means of survival is in themselves, and their creative power is limited to only natural occurrences produced by human knowledge.”

To me, that statement sounds like a life of defeat and a life leading to failures in all areas of life.

As we covered earlier, wisdom is not knowledge, so to get wisdom we must ask of God, and have faith that he heard our asking. Stay obedient to all we know of His Word, inquire of God at our point of decision and do whatever He says, His way!

Because Proverbs 3:16 says; “long life is in her right hand, in her left hand are riches and honor.”

In the hands of wisdom is where we find our life, prosperity, and value to God. As we honor God by keeping His Words, He will honor us with Wisdom! Godly Wisdom is open to all that are willing to yield to the Words and workings of God.

Look through the opening point of your decisions, into the heavens, and get your Wisdom, you will find your real-life right there because it’s in Him.

Our God has this Wisdom and He willingly gives it to us. So open up!

If you need a faith boost today, leave a comment and I will prayerfully respond.

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Scriptures of content and encouragement: All of Proverbs chapter 8, James 3:17, Romans 6:13, Luke 6:46, Matthew 15:7-9, 1 John 5:15 NLT, Proverbs 3:16, and Proverbs 4:7-9 AMPC, “The beginning of Wisdom is: get Wisdom (skillful and godly Wisdom)! [For skillful and godly Wisdom is the principal thing.] And with all you have gotten, get understanding, (discernment, comprehension, and interpretation). Prize Wisdom highly and exalt her, and she will exalt and promote you; she will bring you to honor when you embrace her. She shall give to your head a wreath of gracefulness; a crown of beauty and glory will she deliver to you. Amen!