Faith
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May 20, 2018 |
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"Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water" (Hebrews 10:22).
Dr. Jaerock Lee,
Senior Pastor of Manmin Central Church
Chairman, The United Holiness Church of Jesus Christ
Permanent President, The World Christianity Revival Mission Association
Founder & Board Chairman, Global Christian Network
Founder & Board Chairman, World Christian Doctors Network
Founder & Board Chairman, Manmin International Seminary
Founder & Board Chairman, The Alliance Holiness Theological Seminary
Doctorate of Ministry, and Honorary Doctorate of Divinity
His sermons were broadcast by the Far East Broadcasting Company and the Asia Broadcast Station.
His Christian columns appear in The Chosun Ilbo, The JoongAng Daily, The Dong-A Ilbo, The Hankook Ilbo, The Seoul Shinmun, The Hankyoreh Shinmun, The Kyunghyang Shinmun, The Korea Economic Daily, The Shisa News, and The Christian Press.
He conducted crusades in New York City, Washington D. C., Baltimore, Maryland, Los Angeles, and in Hawaii of the USA; Japan; India; Pakistan; the Philippines; Argentina; Honduras; Peru; Russia; Germany; Kenya; Tanzania; Uganda; the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Jerusalem of Israel; and Estonia.
As Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 21:22, "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive," God's children can receive the answers to whatever they ask in prayer with faith. However, the size and speed of the answers will be different from person to person.
Some people receive the answer just with a single time of prayer, some others receive just by harboring a heart's desire, or still others need to pray for several days or offer up fasting and prayer to receive the answer. Moreover, there are some people who perform signs and cast out demons and heal the sick through the prayer of faith (Mark 16:17-18).
Suppose you have not experienced the work of God though you think you prayed with faith. Then, you should check whether your faith is true. We should show faith that is perfect enough to please God in order to receive whatever we ask with faith in prayer.
What, then, should we do to possess the full assurance of faith and thereby fulfill our hearts' desires?
1. Relations between a sincere heart and full assurance of faith
Hebrews 10:22 reads, "Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." If you come to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, God will answer whatever you ask in prayer as He promised.
'A sincere heart' refers to a truthful heart void of falsehood. 1 Peter 1:16 says, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." Deuteronomy 18:13 states, "You shall be blameless before the LORD your God." As recorded, to the extent that we achieve the heart of the Lord (Philippians 2:5) which is a sincere heart, we will be able to possess full assurance of faith.
God knows that what a person with a sincere heart says is confession of truth and faith. So, He quickly gives answers to such person's prayer. The extent of the truthfulness in one's confession differs from person to person though they all say they believe God. The extent of each person's truthfulness is consistent with the measure of faith recognized by God (Romans 12:3).
Let's think about trust between people. You may show different levels of trust to each person around you. Suppose you left home while your children stayed at home. You may have said, "Keep the home safe while I am out. I trust you." In fact, if you had really trusted them, you wouldn't have said that you trusted them. It rather shows your imperfect trust to them. You may have talked about what they should do several times before you left and checked what they did by phone after you left. However, if your children are obedient you don't have to say something several times. It's because you trust them.
As explained, you may trust one child but may not trust another child. If the former asks you for something, you are likely to do it for him without asking the reason. But to the extent that your trust is less, you may ask the child why he wants to have something and even feel reluctant to do it for him. The same applies to the relation between God and us as His children. How trustworthy do you think you are in the sight of God?
I hope you will achieve a sincere heart so that God can recognize your faith as perfect faith and say, "You truly believe Me."
2. Abraham's sincere heart in full assurance of faith
Abraham became the Father of Faith because he had a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. He did not doubt any promise of God in any kind of situation. He only believed.
He was given God's promise at the age of 75 that his offspring would form a great nation, but he could not have a child for the next over 20 years. However, when Abraham turned 99 and Sarah 89, though their bodies were unable to have a baby, God said again that they would have a son the following year.
Romans 4:19-22 states, "Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness."
It was impossible to have a baby in their situation in human thought, but Abraham did not doubt the promise of God and believed it completely. God recognized his faith, and as He promised, Abraham finally gained a son Isaac the next year.
To become the Father of Faith, however, Abraham had to go through one more test. God told him to offer up his loving and precious son who he had gained at the age of 100 as a burnt offering. A burnt offering is a form of sacrifice practiced in the Old Testament time, and in the sacrifice the animal sacrifice was skinned and the skin was consumed by fire.
He believed God is able to raise people even from the dead even though he would offer up his son as a burnt offering (Hebrews 11:17-19). So, in the obedience to the Word of God, he bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar. He stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
Right then, the angel of God appeared and said to him, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me" (Genesis 22:12).
In this test, Abraham's faith was recognized as perfect faith by God, and it was revealed all over the nations that he was appropriate to become the Father of Faith.
3. The fruit of a sincere heart in full assurance of faith
I have never doubted God even when I was faced with tests and hardship. My faith in God has increased day by day. I suffered from many diseases for seven years and was just waiting for death helplessly. But I met the living God and by His power all of my diseases were healed immediately.
Since I received such great grace and love from God, I earnestly wanted to know more about God. So, I attended every kind of worship services and revival meetings and diligently learned and practiced God's Word. I desired to listen to the Word more and understand more of His will. Right after I heard that it is not appropriate for Christians to drink alcohol and smoke, I stopped them. After I was taught to offer up a tithe and thanks-offering, I obeyed.
I also read the Bible and tried hard to do what it tells us to do, keep what to keep, not to do what is told not to do, and cast away what to cast away through prayer. If it was not easy, I fasted. As I prayed according to the Word and practiced it, I came to have a sincere heart free from falsehood and a pure and good heart that has no sin and evil. I came to resemble the Lord.
In the end, I came to ask God anything in prayer with confidence as 1 John 3:21 reads, "Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God." To the extent that I achieved a sincere heart, more of the full assurance of faith was given, and God answered what I asked with such perfect faith.
In February 1983, at the seventh month after the church's opening, my three little daughters were sleeping in the basement of the church building. They and a young man were found having no consciousness due to carbon monoxide poisoning. They were not likely to come back to life because they inhaled gases all night. We moved them to the sanctuary and laid them on the floor. I first went to the altar, knelt down before God, and offered up the prayer of thanksgiving.
And I came to them and prayed for them in the order of the young man, my youngest daughter, second daughter, and first daughter. Within one or two minutes, they all came around and got up. It helped my church members increase their faith, and my faith was also recognized by God and I received greater power from Him.
If you unchangingly show your genuine faith even in such tests of faith, God will regard your faith as true faith and surely repay it with blessing. Satan cannot bring any accusation against you receiving the blessing because they also see your faith is true. Since the incident, I have passed every test that came to me with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith and I received greater and greater power from above.
With the power of God given to me, I could lead overseas crusades beginning from 2000. It would have been impossible to hold such crusades when I had thought of the reality in front of me or used human wisdom. But we Manmin just believed the word of God, and as a result, great fruit transcending our imagination was borne and we greatly glorified God.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, a master key can open all the locks in a set; your perfect faith is like a master key. If you have perfect faith, you can make things that are impossible in this limited world possible in an instant. Therefore, I urge you to believe and completely rely on the power of God who can make everything turn around in a moment although you seem to be stuck in a situation of uncertainty and impossibility.
With a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, you can resolve any kind of problems no matter complicated they are. And you will be protected even in accidents, natural disasters, or infectious diseases. You can also glorify God as Daniel and his three friends did by surviving in the lions' den and in the furnace of blazing fire although any evil person tries to make you fall by evil schemes or snares.
2 Chronicles 16:9 reads, "For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His…" God's children sometimes meet some problems while living on the earth. In the problematic situations, God expects us to believe and rely on His power, pray with full assurance of faith, and stay dependent only on Him.
You can come close to God if you have your hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and your bodies washed with pure water, which is the Word of God. That is, when you live by the Word, you can cast off untruthful elements and evil from your heart and achieve a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. I pray in the name of the Lord that by doing so you will receive the answers to whatever you ask to God.
"The message gives us life and brings renewal and happiness to us!"
Dr. Lina Dabbagh, Jerusalem, Israel
"Manmin News is full of life energy. I learned the quintessential elements of a Christian life through the word of life. Moreover, the healing testimonies have moved my heart more since my son was miraculously healed of his disease by Dr. Lee's space-and-time transcending prayer."
Dr. Ruben Diaz, Former State Senator of New York
"I had never met any pastor other than Dr. Jaerock Lee who performs the power of God and has Jesus Christ at the center of his church based on the Bible. His book The Message of the Cross that explains the providence of Jesus Christ shook the whole New York city. This book will change our nation and make a great contribution to churches all over the world."
Pastor Sergey Stagneev, Bread of Life Church, Russia
"I was shocked by the fact that our heavenly dwelling places will be different according to the measure of our faith when I read Dr. Lee's book The Measure of Faith. His messages on 'Fleshly Faith and Spiritual Faith' and 'The Kingdom of Heaven Suffers Violence' increased my faith and comforted my heart."
Ms. Deborah Tang, CEO of Malaysia Manmin Publisher (MMP)
"Heaven used to be vague, but after I read the book Heaven authored by Dr. Jaerock Lee it came to me in a clearly image. Afterwards, I founded the publishing house to spread this pure gospel based on the Bible. I was surprised to know there are different heavenly dwelling places and glories given to each person according to the measure of faith. The description on New Jerusalem the best dwelling place in heaven fascinated me."
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