Real Faith

But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3:18)

Reality would tell us that faith-filled, genuine, Spirit-filled Christians get sick, suffer and die. That is a fact that no Name-it-claim-it preacher can deny. However, they have not been shy about preaching and teaching a lie. That lie goes something like this: “Learn this verse, say it over and over, send me money and you will become invincible… no demon can touch you!” That, friends, is a lie, and the Evangelist, lounging with his girlfriend at the pool behind his mansion knows that it is a lie…

Paul wrote to Timothy: “No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.” (1 Timothy 5:23)

Perhaps Timothy didn’t have a magic verse, or maybe he forgot to send Paul a check… Who knows?

In John 5, when Jesus healed the man by the pool in Bethesda, we are told that there “lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed” there… Jesus healed one man and left the rest lying there.

Acts 3:6 tells us, “But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” That man had laid there for years. Hundreds of times he had watched as Jesus walked in and out of that gate… but Jesus had never healed him… It was on this day, after the ascension that God decided to use Peter to heal him… Perhaps he had memorized a magic verse of Scripture and sent his tithe to the Disciples?

It isn’t about a magic verse… it is about a real relationship with a living God!

Perhaps it takes faith to stand up, quote your favorite verse in church and testify as to how God is not going to let you get sick. But what if you, like so many others, get COVID-19? What happens to your testimony? What have you done to God’s reputation?

I like the faith of the Three Hebrew Boys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Their faith was genuine, not fake and it took death as a serious possible outcome… Even if you know the story well, take a minute to read it again…

Daniel 3: 13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Emphasis mine)

“But if not”, I love that quote!!! They believed that God would save them, but there was a real possibility that He might have chosen them as Martyrs instead of survivors… Yes, there was and they knew it! With that reality in mind, they testified and showed that the strength of their faith included death!

I will insist that if your faith is not strong enough to handle death, it is not strong enough to bring healing. If you are not willing to die of COVID-19, maintaining your testimony to the very end, your faith is probably not strong enough to gain divine intervention and supernatural protection from the virus… and, that is a fact! If getting ill and dying of the disease would cause you to lose your faith and your testimony, you just might catch it…

Can we not offer a testimony of faith that takes reality into account? Paul and James lost their heads, Stephen was stoned, Peter crucified upside down and Spirit-filled Christians will die from COVID-19… No matter how often they have quoted those magic verses and irrespective of how much money they have sent to Benny Hinn. That is a fact!

Would it not be better to stand in front of the congregation, or post on Facebook a testimony that says: “My God is able to deliver me from COVID-19 and I believe that He will, But if not, even if He takes me home, I will serve him to the end and praise him forever in Heaven.”

That is the kind of real, strong and honest testimony I continue to look for, but never see…

Oh, for Christians who will demonstrate a real, honest and fearless faith… Please God, we need Christians who are not afraid to die…

David…