“Through Faith” was released a few months ago, and I have recommended it to family and friends, in person and online, but I’ve put off saying anything about it here on my blog because, every time I attempt to write something, my mind and my heart are so flooded with thoughts and feelings that it is difficult to find a starting point from which to organize them all. I will offer my apologies in advance for not even mentioning the book in the next several paragraphs. Stay with me, people. I’ll tie everything together at the end. I promise.
For as long as I can remember, I have known that God loves us—that this life has purpose and meaning, even when (and perhaps especially when) we are tempted to think otherwise. I’ve never not known it. I have always known that God is engaged in a marvelous work to help any and all who would come to him. Though I am admittedly slow at picking up on the finer details of that work, it has ever been a consuming desire of mine to be engaged in that work with him to the best of my understanding at any given point of my life. Thoughts of how to best do that race across my mind constantly. They have been the basis for every past decision in my life and every hope that I have for the future.
I think that this is why I love the Psalms so much. I’ve posted a few Psalms as blogposts in the past. I do that when I feel like the writer may as well have gazed into my soul and put on paper everything that I wish I could express as well. This morning, I read Psalm 25, and it was so identical to my own feelings that I made it my previous post. I’m not going to quote it here, but if you haven’t read it lately, you should, if only for context.
The whole chapter is a gem! It is, mostly, a prayer for the individual. When I read it, my heart is drawn out in the same prayer for myself, and I feel how much it has been all my life. But today, it was the last verse—verse 22–that got to me. Verse 22 is a prayer that is offered for all of Israel, and in reading that verse, my heart burst this morning with all of the love that I have for Israel and Israel’s role in the fulfillment of God’s work. That, too, has been something that I have felt all my life.
And before going any further, I need to make it clear that I have in my mind a particular group of people that I believe comprises “Israel.” It’s not a political state or a group of people who have been through temple ceremonies. It is a group set apart—made (or yet to be made) holy and sanctified and prepared in every way to bear testimony of our Lord and to engage in his work. That is the Israel I love and the Israel for whom I pray as I read verse 22.
When I think of those who belong to Israel, I feel a great joy in the belief that, somewhere, there are people who feel the same way I do when they read that verse and that they are just as anxious to involve themselves in the Lord’s work as I am.
So where are they?
Mostly, they are asleep.
14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. (Ephesians 5)
There are many scriptures that deal with the themes of sleep, awakening, and rising to accomplish the day’s work. Sometime, I’ll do another blogpost on that. For now, however, I’ll leave the scripture from Ephesians as an example and attempt to tie up all of my thoughts and how they relate to the book, “Through Faith.”
In editing and recording the audiobook, I have been blessed with the opportunity to read and re-read “Through Faith” several times over. I gain so much from this process. It would take me far too long to enumerate all of the things that I have learned, so I wish to mention here the thing that stood out to me the most:
“Through Faith” (as just one of its purposes) is meant to teach “Israel” how to correctly, and in greater measure, understand and apply the process of faith to their individual circumstances, which will result in their sanctification and the fulfillment of God’s purposes.
I can see the potential in what is written in “Through Faith.” God’s servants have been misunderstanding and misapplying faith for far too long. As they become aware of what has been written in “Through Faith” and apply its teachings, “Israel” will engage in God’s work more effectively and in greater numbers. Those who already belong to Israel, but are asleep, will read this book and recognize that their righteous desires also have a righteous means of fulfillment and that it is right before them if they will let the Spirit show them the way. They will take up the whole armor of God and use the Spirit as their guide to seek after those means, as their desire for certain outcomes has been inside of them all along. Those who have always had a desire for improvement will be led to improvement that is the most lasting, the most eternal in nature, and the most satisfying to the soul.
One of my favorite quotes from the book:
Faith is the process by which potential is transformed into existence. It is the means by which the information present in the spirit is discovered and instantiated into physical reality. It is the means by which the image of God is extracted and applied to the world to yield something in greater fidelity to the creator. (p. 8)
Who can read that and not see what lies ahead for those who have faith in God? Faith is what yields everything that is good—everything that is a manifestation of God. “Through Faith” outlines the process by which those who share the same sentiment as David in writing Psalm 25 will eventually encounter the fulfillment of all of God’s promised blessings.
Print copy can be purchased here.
Free ebook can be found here.
Free audiobook can be found here.
The audio recording can also be found in a YouTube playlist here.