How do you spell Faith?

Unfortunately many people who 'have faith in God' are practical atheists. They live their lives as if belief in God has no direct correlation to the way they live.

So when we spell faith, we probably ought to spell it these ways:

Y-I-E-L-D

Faith is really about shifting from "My will and My strength" to "Thy will and Thy strength." There is no more important, and also no more difficult transition we can make in our lives than this. To want what God wants more than I want what I want and then to trust him to bring about what he wants rather than manufacturing what he wants the way I want is how we yield.

R-I-S-K

Unfortunately we've promoted faith in Christ as this feel-good-get-out-of-hell-Jesus-wants-to-cuddle-with-you Gospel. Jesus was in a spiritual and political insurrectionist and his way cost him his life. His way cost him the disciples' lives as well. Why do we presume that this is no longer the demand on followers of Jesus? Churches who don't take bold, Spirit led risks, are missing out on being part of Acts 29, the continuation of God's kingdom via His bride the Church. If you were to put my life into the book of Acts, say in like chapter nine...right smack dab in the middle of the powerful things God was doing...you'd read all these tremendous stories and then you'd read "And Ben Thompson got paid a good wage to fill a staff position at a local church." The gospel demands our lives. And the reason we don't experience Christ in the fullness that He desires is because we have never RISKED it all for His glory.

J-E-S-U-S

Too many embrace a spirituality that they learned from the Oprah show. They believe in some cosmic energy or force. And their goal is to center on the good forces and irradicate the bad forces. I do agree their are good and bad forces...Paul talks of being led by the Spirit or being filled with the sinful nature. But the good comes through the cross of Jesus Christ. If our faith is not Christocentric (Christ-centered), then it doesn't matter how much of it we possess.

So, what's holding you back from Yielding and Risking your life for Jesus Christ?