A Crisis of Faith

I sense a holy jealousy in the heart of God for a bride whose eyes are fully fixed on his.

Posted on

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:11

Now more than ever are we seeing so many believers in Yeshua experiencing what I would call a “crisis of faith.” This current crisis will do one of two things; it will either usher those who wrestle to the point of surrender into an unshakeable faith or some will abandon the faith by which they were saved. My constant prayer is that not one person would abandon their faith.

I believe God has allowed this crisis, not to hurt his people but to shake the shakable areas so that we can recognize them and yield them to the firm foundation of our God.

Most of the Christian church in America has had at least a moment of disillusionment, disbelief and even a spiritual crisis as 2021 has begun. Of course, we do not know what tomorrow will hold but we do know who holds tomorrow. If these days of shaking or crisis have done anything for me (personally), it is to bring me into a greater surrender and dependency on who HE is rather than on how he does things.

Even the current “prophetic crisis” can turn eyes from the man (or woman) who has become known as a prophet to the One who created him. I sense a holy jealousy in the heart of God for a bride whose eyes are fully fixed on his. A bride who will put her faith and assurance in who he is more than what he does. A bride who doesn’t turn her face away when life doesn’t look like what she thought it would. A bride who has no other “lovers” but her beloved Jesus. This does not mean that we do not have prophets but that we do not elevate them to the point that they are exalted in any way.

So, maybe the question isn’t so much to be focused on if the prophets were right or wrong but rather it should be, “Who is the bride’s faith, loyalty, and focus upon?” I am not saying that there is not to be accountability in the prophetic but there also needs to be a personal searching of individual’s hearts if their faith was more in a prophetic voice or the desired outcome than in Christ alone.

We have not seen tomorrow, therefore we do not know what is ahead or what only God can do. We know that, without a doubt, some details and timings were wrong but we do not need to lose faith in God or despair because those who see in part got parts wrong. As most of my readers know, I truly believed that the president would be re-elected and although I never prophesied a second term or re-election by January 20th- I surely thought that it would happen and was not secretive about that. Does that cause me to lose faith? No, because my hope, assurance, and faith is not in my thoughts or the way I believe something will play out, but my faith is in Christ alone.

During my brother’s illness with Covid during the month of January. Many people wrote to me and encouraged me with notes, prayers, and even declarations that he would “live and not die.” Some even saw visions of his healing. Yet, on January 21st he died in the arms of his wife. Should I lose hope or judge those who sent me notes saying that they saw God healing him? Never!! God fully healed him and he entered into the fullness of joy that day. Their words were not wasted because they strengthened my soul through the day and night battle that we were in. In Christ, death has lost its sting and there is only victory.

I cannot tell you what is ahead for our nation, our world, or even my life. I don’t know for sure if an even greater crisis will come in 2021 or if a miraculous turnaround will suddenly appear. I tend to lean toward both being present simultaneously but both not looking anything like we’d expect. So what do we do? We put our faith in the absolute, unfailing love of our God! We surrender (let go of and repent for) every place of resistance, rebellion, idolatry, anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, unholy justice, wrath, and hatred. We stop pointing fingers at others for what we chose to believe and we fix our eyes on the One who is faithful and true. We humble ourselves before the Holy One and we join with heaven in declaring, “Worthy is the Lord!” He is sovereign and his dominion has no end. God has not been shaken— we have! Now we must put every shaken area upon the unshakable foundation of the Rock of Ages.

If you are in a crisis of faith then this is a gift to you so that you can cooperate with the Holy Spirit to shore up those areas of crisis and replace them with Christ. In the midst of my grief about our nation, the place that we live (in the Washington DC region), my brother’s death and so many more things— I have found that the one sure thing is JESUS! He is more than enough to believe in, hope in, and put my full assurance in. He holds every answer in his hand and has not turned aside from any prayer of faith that was prayed or that will be prayed. His ways are higher and he is calling us to a higher place. A higher and purer faith. An unshakable faith.

A crisis can take you to the place of “Christ is…” Christ is absolutely faithful, absolutely holy, absolutely sovereign, absolutely beautiful, absolutely worthy, absolutely pure, absolutely powerful, and absolute LOVE.

Let your crisis take you to this revelation,

Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war. His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself. He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God.” Revelation 19:11-13

 

THIS IS WHO HE IS! Crisis averted!

 

This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Inscribe Ministries

Featured Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

 

The views and opinions expressed by Kingdom Winds Collective Members, authors, and contributors are their own and do not represent the views of Kingdom Winds LLC.

About the Author

Jeffrey and Kathi Pelton understand our culture’s need for encouragement and hope. Through writing and speaking, they escort individuals into awareness of God’s profound compassion and mercy that heals brokenness, and they have a unique ability to help anyone seeking pathways into His kind embrace. For several years, the couple led a house of prayer located in Kelowna, British Columbia.