CHECK POINT

A Leadership and Intercessory Letter written to those who desire Integrity in the Inward Parts  (Psalm 51:6)

"A Leap of Faith" Part 1

Written by Esther Dummer

Thirty-Forth Edition: August 6, 2007

 

“Against All Odds”

Odds – The ratio of the probability of an event occurring to the probability of it not occurring. 

Currently believers all around the nations of the world are standing united for one thing they all hold in common – revival and all the components of that venture.  We were all “doing church” when The Lord knocked on our doors and asked, “Can I come in?”  Multitudes answered yes and opened the door widely to Him.  This encounter with the Living Christ changed lives and earth’s history forever. 

God has intersected mankind at many points in the timeline of earth as seen by history – past and present. 

These God-Ordained Divine Encounters has changed…

 …cowards into warriors (Judges 6:12), jailbirds into princes (Genesis 41:41), princes into freedom fighters (Exodus 3:10), slaves into queens (Esther 2:17), old women (Luke 1:24) and a virgin (Luke 1:31) into mothers, a murderer into an Apostle (Acts 7:58 & Romans 1:1)…

…pew sitters into revivalists, preachers of all flavors into passionate forerunners, worship leaders into prophetic minstrels, teachers into Heralders of Truth, children and youth into firebrands, prayer meetings into places of travail, churches into lighthouses…

…and changed history forever.

God has been the initiator, coming to arrest man’s attention, to draw it from what he was doing to what God desires of him – to agree with Him for something beyond man’s strength or abilities. 

God meeting man for purpose - the divine meeting the mortal has brought people right up to the edge where God moves and man leaps in faith.

With that first step man enters into an arena where the mind can no longer figure it out. 

·        Ask all the forerunners of faith, those in the lineage of faith walkers, talkers and doers; they will testify that a lot of what they did had no map, made little or no sense to those around them, and took them right up to the precipice of seeming failure at times. 

Here is my definition of faith:  Stepping into thin air and believing God will lay the road under your feet.

Faith is running into thin air and “Enduring Faith” is the ability to believe God will keep you from falling, leading you step by step, providing all you need to sustain you, as you need it.

·        When you cannot see the road - it takes faith.

·        When you do not know the next step – it takes faith.

·        When the storm is blowing with great adversity – it takes faith.

·        When the enemy advances against you – it takes faith.

The early days of revival were outstanding in a powerful display of God’s Spirit in many places – but time has passed… 

Definition of the “Enduring Faith”: (as compiled from the dictionary):  “To carry through, despite hardships; sustaining and suffering without yielding, with a belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.”

Sheer human will, though an incredible force of human nature, is hapless against the “enduring opposition" to Christ and His Kingdom.

·        Stubbornness is not faith.

·        Dogged-determination is not faith.

Much of what we determine to do is bound to our mind, the part of us that does not like giving up without a fight.  But there are things that require us to reach to a deeper part of our being for the strength to endure when all is seemingly failing around us.

Without faith – many walk away in despair or hopelessness. Our self-determination is simply not enough to sustain us. 

The “carnal man” looks with the mind through the natural eyes at the spiritual.

This will never work, for the carnal mind can never understand the things of the Spirit. (Romans 8; 5-7) There are carnally minded people today within the religious world, which has been one of the biggest roadblocks to allowing God to move wherever and however He wishes. 

I wonder if God ever tires of hearing His people say, “God would never do that,” when He is working on their behalf to renew and stir their hearts afresh.

All that God is doing is filtered through their thoughts and concepts about God, how He works, moves and what He will or will not do. Because “revival” is the buzz word within the majority of the churches today, many are trying to figure God out, as to whether what is going on is of God or not and whether it should or should not be allowed in the church – and if allowed, to what extent is it proper or in order. 

• It is a truth – Saul’s armor makes sense, but a young boy with a slingshot makes no sense at all. (1 Samuel 17:38-39)
• It is a truth – A big army makes sense, but Gideon’s army does not compute, as it was whittled down in numbers. (Judges 7:4)
• It is a truth – All the best soldiers out in the front make sense, but the ram’s horn and a shout appear ridiculous and dangerous. (Joshua 6:4-5)

But all of these were of God’s doing and gained a great victory for God’s people.

There are a lot of things that man does while commissioned by God that does not make sense to the carnal mind of man. Even people who are more than willing to obey have to shake their heads at times and say, “huh?”  

While there are onlookers of this age who are saying, “This does not make sense, this does not compute, you have it all wrong,” there are witnesses who say “You are right on course – keep going.  You’re going in the right direction.”

It is a race of enduring faith, an uninterrupted line of believers that has never died out.

Heb 12:1

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

We are not going to catapult ourselves into success by any earthly standards of thought. 

We are not climbing the corporate ladder; we are building the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. This building has been going on for millenniums and we are just the ones who have the baton in our hand now.  We cannot segment our lives apart from the “past witnesses,” as if that was them and now this is us. 

·        We are of their lineage - the lineage of Christ. 

In the course of Biblical History there have been many God-Ordained-Events that have stretched the human mind, spent the human strength and silenced the human will. 

·        Stretched the Human Mind – “Lord, I don’t know how this could be possible, but yes, I trust you God.”

·        Stretched the Human Strength – “I don’t know how I could possibly do this, but with the help of God, I’ll do it.”

·        Silenced the Human Will – “My mind tells me this is going to require everything I have, but here goes, Lord!”

God chooses ordinary people who are willing and then stretches them to fit into places that the fearful and unbelieving would never go - something beyond ordinary, into the supernatural realm of faith.

Those whom God has used includes kings, prophets, judges and warriors, men and women of faith of low and high degree, not excluding all the time of Christianity from the Acts Church to today, and including all the revivalists of more recent days gone by who prayed in and saw revivals and awakenings, the pioneer pastors who stepped onto difficult soil to plant churches, the mom’s and pops of faith, some of them seemingly insignificant by all human standards, have been and are a people who stepped out from the norm and took a stand in a hard place, a peculiar place to do what God called them to do.

These are not all sophisticated people or people who are looking to have their name recorded in the continuing history of the Church, but many have been called out of obscurity – mostly unknown, and invisible to the world.

If we ever believed we were highly spiritual beings before revival we have had to learn this one thing above all things - we need God now, MORE than ever – because what He has asked us to do is virtually impossible with out Him!

The things God has asked mortal men and women to do have been incredible, impossible, improbable and implausible.

Zech 4:6 “… Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.”

Incredible - So extraordinary (think about what God has asked you to do) as to seem impossible; so implausible as to elicit disbelief. 

·        We believe for something that is so incredibly extraordinary that people simply can’t believe it – transformation in a certain area, miracles to return to the church, revival of a region, an awakening in our nation, a wave of righteous youth to rise up in the power of God… 

o       Extraordinary - beyond what is ordinary or usual; highly unusual or exceptional or remarkable; rare, phenomenal, special.

This is going beyond the status quo into the supernatural realm of faith walking.

o       Status Quo - The existing order of things; present customs, practices, and power relations.

To break the norm (a standard, model, or pattern) of church life is to agree with God to position and remain in a spiritual place for a supernatural event (though not to deliberately aggravate) which will challenge the present condition and existing order of things, even at times appearing as a challenge to the power structures in place.  (Examples – Jesus and John the Baptist) 

Impossible - Not capable of being accomplished; unable to happen, totally unlikely

·        There are a lot of things in the Bible that were not naturally capable of being done but were fully accomplished by God through a person who believed in and obeyed Him explicitly. 

·        While there are many unbelievers abounding on the religious landscape, there are people rising up in faith to believe that God wants them to “walk into a realm of the unknown to accomplish the impossible.”

Improbable - Having a probability too low to inspire belief; unlikely to be true or to happen; not likely to happen

·        Yes, you’ve heard it from others – “that will never happen; things have gone to far…”

·        The word for doubt (1365 distazo) in the New Testament means, “To waver in opinion.”

History is not only rich with people who obeyed God in the hard places but also those who doubted every moment others remained faithful to the call of God on their hearts.

Implausible - Difficult to believe; not having the appearance of truth or credibility

These adjectives that describe what God has asked us to do are a big mental barrier to one that doesn’t have faith that, first God said it, and then secondly that He will do it according to His Word.

There are people who, in spite of what their mind might struggles with and what others might say to refute what God has told them, that will proceed forward, not looking back with any regrets for “Taking a Leap of Faith!”

Heb 10:35-39

35     Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.

36     For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

37     For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.

38     Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draws back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

39     But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

You will only stand in the incredible, impossible, improbable and implausible places by Enduring Faith.

God Bless Those Who Believe God!

For the Love of Souls,

Esther Dummer

God Bless the Faithful Watchman on the Wall of the Church!

This newsletter is dedicated and written as an instruction and encouragement to a powerful and focused group of people who have devoted their life to a life of prayer for the Church.  It is written to incite them to move forward with decisiveness and purity.  It is written to stabilize and align the errant things that are occurring in intercessory and church circles.  It is written to break new ground in understanding our own hearts.

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