Last week we talked about one way to evaluate if we’re walking in faith. Faith is revealed when our joy is rooted in invisible heavenly realities. Today I share more thoughts about what has helped me to walk in faith.

Faith And Worship

Faith is revealed by what we give attention to. The modern English word “worship” is derived from the old English word “worth-ship.” Whatever you attribute the greatest worth to is what will capture your attention. When we worship God, his power and his goodness capture our attention. We live a life of worship when God continually captures our attention.

What you have faith in is what you are impressed with. If you’re impressed with anything more than you are impressed with God, something is dimming your view of reality. If you see God as he truly is, everything else will look puny in comparison. When we are absolutely impressed with God, we attribute the proper worth to him, thus we “worship” him.

This should make it clear that worship is much more than singing songs. Certainly, singing is a way to express worship. It is a powerful tool to focus our attention on the Lord. The tongue is like a rudder, and we can use it to steer our whole being where we want to go. But worship goes far beyond singing. It’s a position where God constantly captures our attention. It’s a position where we attribute the proper worth to God as we learn to see him as he is.

We choose to take that position of worship by directing the focus of our thoughts and words. We also can ask God to open the eyes of our hearts so that we can see him as he is and be properly impressed with him.

Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV) And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,  may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Being in that position of worship is being in a position of faith. The more I focus my attention on the Lord, the more happens all around. It might start with healing and deliverance, but the more you continue to focus on God and what he is doing, the more happens. As I continued to minister healing to people, soon unexpected miracles also started to happen around me and I began to experience lots of angelic activity.

Worship changes your whole perspective. When you live a life of worship, you begin to walk in a heavenly wisdom which others cannot comprehend. It seems like foolishness to them. But you will see the foolishness of God confound the wisdom of the wise!

Faith For Difficult People

If you read part two of “Supernatural Rain,” you’ve already seen this principle in relation to healing. Elijah told the king the rain was coming as soon as he saw a small cloud the size of a man’s hand. When we minister healing we focus on what God is doing and bless it, and it increases. We can apply the same principle to personal relationships, gifts of miracles, faith for cities, and many other things.

Do you have a difficult person in your life? It may be someone you work with or somebody in your family. When we have a history with people and have experienced the same problems again and again for years, it’s very easy to focus on their faults. The faults of those who are closest to us often stand out the most. Frustration and personal offense can create a negative dynamic in a relationship.

As Christians who have received a new nature created after the likeness of Jesus, we feel bad if we lose our tempers or react out of hurt and not out of love. But again and again, the same issues come up and we fail. It seems the harder we try to be Christlike in these situations, the more impossible they seem.

Here’s what happens. We get sucked into fighting something. The more we fight, the more our focus turns on it. The more we focus on something, the bigger it becomes in our perception. We end up giving “worth-ship” to something that’s really not worthy of it!

Let me ask you something. Do you believe the Holy Spirit is working in your life to demonstrate Jesus’ love through you? Do you believe the Holy Spirit is working in the life of that difficult person you are having conflict with?

Yes, of course he is! And shouldn’t you be much more impressed with what the Holy Spirit is doing than your own failures or the failures of others? Is the work of the devil really worthy of more attention than the work of God?

Stop fighting the problem and start focusing on what God is doing. If you’re struggling with a difficult relationship, remind yourself that the Holy Spirit is working in their life and whatever the Holy Spirit is doing certainly worthy of far more attention than anything that’s wrong with them. Stop attributing more “worth” to the work of the devil in that person’s life than you do to the work of the Holy Spirit. Be impressed by God!

Faith For The Church To Grow Up In All Things Into Christ

This also applies to the body of Christ. There is so much that the church needs to grow in. There’s so much injustice and tradition that’s commonly accepted yet is contrary to God’s work. There was a time in my life where I began to realize how much of what I learned in church had hurt and hindered me.

At first, I continued to focus on what God was doing in the church. God helped me to confront lies, but from a healthy perspective of focusing on what He was doing. Then I encountered such injustice that my focus shifted to fighting and denouncing what was wrong.

I was right about what was wrong. But I began to give undue attention to it. It hurt my life. The miracles manifesting through me decreased for a period of time. We do need to speak up where there is injustice and we need to present truth. But please don’t fall into the trap of focusing more on what’s wrong with the church than on what the Holy Spirit is doing in the church. That’s a trap, and be careful about those who would lead you into it. What the Holy Spirit is doing in the church is far more impressive than all the problems we can find, and it is what deserves our attention. Give your “worth-ship” to the Holy Spirit and learn to be properly impressed and in awe of what he is doing. It’s so much bigger and so much greater!

I’ve had contact with many churches. I often see things that are wrong, but in every place I go, I choose to focus on “What is the Holy Spirit doing here?” As long as I continue to focus on that, no matter how bad things may seem, miracles happen.

Faith To Walk In Freedom Personally

Do you love Jesus but you’ve stumbled and struggled with a sin or addiction? Stop struggling with it. The more you struggle with something, the more you will focus on it. Reminding yourself of how many times you’re failed will never help you to get free.

Stay in a “gospel position.” The Bible teaches that Jesus won the victory by his death and resurrection. We receive it. The power is in the gospel. Let Jesus’ victory impress you! Isn’t God’s power more than enough to “save you completely” and to transform you into the image of Jesus? Never attribute more worth to your failures than you do to the power of the Holy Spirit within you to overcome!

Focus on what the Holy Spirit is doing in your life. He is working in you! The very reason that you’re so bothered by something in your life that doesn’t look like Jesus is because the Holy Spirit is working in your life. Don’t attribute more “worth” to your failures and weaknesses than you do to the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Faith For Cities And Nations

I live in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. People have become so frustrated with the violence and corruption in Brazil. I often hear Christians say “Brazil is never going to change. It’s never going to get better. It’s going to self-destruct.”

Whatever city or country you live in, do you believe the Holy Spirit is working there? Don’t you think that whatever the Holy Spirit is doing is so much greater than any puny little scheme of the devil? Are you giving the proper attention to what God is doing? Or is your perception of reality distorted because you are giving the devil undue attention?

As Christians, all of us say we worship God. But how many of us are more focused on what the devil is doing than on what God is doing? How many of us talk more about what’s wrong than we talk about what the Holy Spirit is doing? Doesn’t God sit in the heavens, laughing and scoffing at the devil’s schemes? Do you think your God is impressed with the devil? Is your God worried about him? If not, why should you be?

My friends, I hope this post has challenged you. Being challenged in a healthy way is good! Let’s turn our attention to Jesus and stop giving undue attention to other things. Let’s become properly impressed with God, and may our words and actions reflect it!

If you’d like to read more on praise, faith, and miracles, check out my book I Will Awaken The Dawn.