Focus: Faith Toward God
Greetings Sons of God:
Hebrews 11:1: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for
the evidence of things not seen.
Now we all have read this scripture, know it back to front
and can quote all day, but we need to dig a little deeper into faith because
much like repentance, we need to grow throughout our lives in faith. For many of us our faith hinges on God doing
things for us. In other words, we have
faith so that God gives us things and there is so much more than that to faith. Let’s first look at the different stages in
life, and these are Greek and then we will tie them into how our faith should
grow and what we should be looking for.
Stages of Growth in Life
Mapios (Nativity or newborne) = Introduction to Sonship
Paidion (Potty train or learning how to walk) – Cry for God
to meet needs
Teknon (Teenager) – Responsibility of the Kingdom Introduced
Huios (Young Adult or mature son) – Kingdom-minded and
mature
Pater (Father) – The Care of Others
Ok, for many of us we are sitting at Paidon. Now Mapios is when we are introduced or
should have been introduced to our sonship.
It is our spiritual birth through the Holy Spirit. You had to have faith to even enter into the
Kingdom. Now you may ask why do you say
we are at the level of Paidion or Potty training. Well at this stage in life,
babies are crying constantly for their parents to give them something. They believe and know if they cry they are
supposed to get something and when they don’t get what they want they cry even
further. This is how many of us are with
God. We believe if we cry to him all the
time, he has to give us what we want.
Now for a time that does happen but much like in our natural world, you
have to teach them that there are other ways and more important things in life
than food, clothing and drink. In the
transition of potty training to teenager, look at what happens and the
responsibilities that are given and required of the child. Now for those of us that are here at this
stage, you have been given responsibility in the Kingdom and are learning to
lean on the Father and not so much to worry about food, clothing and
drink. I call this the Assignment stage
of life. Now you may ask how do you get
to this stage? Well here is what God
does, he starts holding back from you and stop giving you so much of what you
want to help push you to another level of the faith ladder. See if God continue to give you in the potty
train stage that you are in, He then is stunting your growth. So not every prayer is answered in the
attempt to help you grow from asking for things all the time to dealing with
His priority which is His Kingdom. Now
you ask what is the goal behind all of this?
And here it is:
To know that you are His Son and He
is your Father to see his goodness working in your life!
Let me end this message with this scripture to really get
you ready for the next message:
Philippians 3:13,14: Brethern, I count not myself to have
apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind,
and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark
of the high calling of God, in Christ Jesus
In order to press forward, your faith has to look forward
and trust God. It is not all about God
giving you things, but knowing God is and has provided everything by His grace
fro you to accomplish His Will for that day.
All you need to do is listen to His Word and know for a certainty that
God has placed you here for a reason and has properly equipped you to do your
assignment.
Peace, Love and Grace,
Calvin Calhoun, Jr.
