07.03.10 - Faith Is Spelt R.I.S.K.

Bruce Wilkinson was once rushing to an airport with no chance of getting there in time to catch his plane. He prayed, “Lord, please delay my flight!"

When he got to the terminal he ran up the escalator feeling embarrassed about even being there but there on the departure board was the word “Delayed!”

At the gate he thanked God for the answered prayer and then prayed, “Now I want to do something for you. Please send me on a miracle appointment.” He took a deep breath and turned around, believing, as he had often before, that the person God had in mind would be immediately apparent.

Standing next to him was a well-dressed businesswoman who had also just arrived at the gate. “It looks like you are glad the plane is late too,” he offered. She nodded.

Then he took a risk. “How can I help you?” he asked.

“What?”

“No, really, what can I do for you?”

“You can’t do anything for me.”

Wilkinson knew that this must seem strange to her but he also knew from experience that he needed to give the Holy Spirit time to work. They chatted about other things then he tried again. “I know my offer was unusual but perhaps there’s something bothering you. Is there anything I can do?”

The woman seemed to calm herself and then said, “Actually, I am flying home to divorce my husband.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. That must be why I am here.”

As they talked, her resistance melted. Sophie’s professional manner and dress couldn’t hide the pain. Tears welled up in her eyes. Her husband had been unfaithful. Even though he now wanted to make things right, she had had enough. In her mind the marriage was dead. They continued talking.

When the call came to board, they were the last to walk down the ramp. Sophie seemed concerned. “We haven’t finished talking about this yet,” she said.

“Don’t worry,” Bruce Wilkinson said, “We will sit together on the plane.”

“What do you mean?” she said. “You don’t even know what seat I have.”

“I don’t but God does, and He’ll put us together.”

“God?” she exclaimed.

“If you were God,” Wilkinson said, trying to sound calm, “Wouldn’t you want us to sit together so we could finish this very important conversation?”

She shook her head in disbelief. When they compared boarding passes they discovered they were 5 rows apart and the flight was full. Now he was in a real spot... and so was God! Sophie took her seat and Bruce went to his row but then the man in the seat next to Sophie caught his eye and said, “I’ll swap seats so you can keep talking. I hate middle seats.”

Wilkinson says, ‘I’ll never forget that flight. God showed Himself so strong and compassionate. By the time we landed, Sophie was a changed person. Even she could hardly believe what had happened. She had experienced a miracle of forgiveness and had recommitted to giving her marriage another chance.”

We have been looking at the book You Were Born For This which is about being involved with God in delivering miracles into people’s lives. Bruce Wilkinson has described three keys:
1. Ask God to use you
2. Have God’s compassion for people and be willing to go to whomever God selects
3. Partner with the Holy Spirit. Be willing to be led by the Spirit.
4. Today’s one is the Risk Key. It means doing things in spite of discomfort or fear to exercise your faith during a miracle delivery. When you can’t possibly engineer the outcome, act anyway, depending on God to come through. When God acts, He enables you to deliver His miracle and He demonstrates His glory.

Wilkinson took two risks. The first was asking Sophie how he could help her. That is slightly bizarre behaviour, but he had asked to be sent on a miracle assignment. The second was saying that they would be seated together on the plane. There was a huge risk of that not happening, in which case, he would look very silly and Sophie’s impression of God would go down, not up. Why even take that sort of risk?

It was an act of faith. If there is no risk, no faith is required. Without faith, miracles don’t happen. If there is no miracle, there is not real revelation of the compassion and love of God.

In Matthew 17, when the disciples had failed to heal a demon-possessed boy, they asked Jesus, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

He answered, “Because you have so little faith.” Without faith miracles don’t happen. But He then said, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’, and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Mt 17:19-21)

Another time we are told that Jesus, in His home town of Nazareth did not do many miracles because of their lack of faith. (Mt 13:58) There is a link between faith and miracles happening.

What is faith? People might say, “Have faith in God” meaning that, when we are in some distress, God will be faithful and will look after us and we need not fear.” That is great. It is true that we can trust God even in times of extremity. But that faith is passive, inwardly focused and comforting. The faith we are talking about today is not passive. It us about acting. It is not inwardly focused. It is about someone else. And it is definitely not comforting. It might be very, very uncomfortable because it is about taking risks. One type of faith is about doing nothing but trusting God. The other is about taking risks trusting God.

I remember John Wimber many years ago saying, “Faith is spelt r.i.s.k.” Faith is about taking deliberate risks such that we are completely dependent on God for a miracle. It was because of the risk and the resulting miracle that Sophie knew that God had intervened in her day. No risk; no revelation.

My definition of faith is: believing what God says and acting accordingly.

It is only faith when we act on it. Faith without works is dead.

But it is not any old risk. Jesus would have taken a deliberate risk where He would have been completely dependent on God for a miracle, if he had thrown himself off the temple as Satan suggested. But that would not have been faith because faith starts with what God says and God hadn’t told Him to jump off the temple. If we take risks that God hasn’t initiated, that is not faith. That is presumption. It is the thought that we can force God to act.

But Bruce Wilkinson believed God wanted him to deliver a miracle into Sophie’s life. God had already nudged so faith meant saying, “What can I do for you?” Because he believed God wanted the conversation to continue on the plane (i.e. God was already indicating a miracle opportunity) Wilkinson took the risk of assuming God would want them to sit together and of voicing that. Faith is responding to God, not forcing God.

I have a theory about this. It’s called the “V-Theory” and it looks like this.
       God offers           God delivers
               \                     /
                \                 /
                   I respond
When I respond, that is faith. When God delivers, that is the miracle.

Is our salvation entirely dependent on God or does our decision have a place? My view is that salvation starts and ends with God but we also have to respond to God’s offer before He delivers.

Likewise, faith is our response to what God is saying. When we act, God delivers the miracle.

Perhaps a classic example of taking a bold action and experiencing a miracle is Peter’s walking on water. Let me read that to you. READ Matthew 14:22-33.

Where is the V there? Jesus said, “Come.” Peter stepped out of the boat onto the water – and it wasn’t even calm water. It was in the middle of a storm. God delivered the miracle. Peter walked on the water.

We can see this as a double-V. Jesus’ walking on the water was perhaps a faith-inspiring invitation. Peter responded with “Lord, tell me to come to you on the water.” Where did he get that idea from? Even that is a faith response. Jesus said “Come.” Peter stepped onto the water. The miracle happened.

But what about the next bit? Peter suddenly noticed the wind again and he began to sink. Why? Because the faith gave way to fear. Fear is a product of unbelief. He began to doubt that this was possible. Even though he was already doing it, He began to doubt God. Unbelief leads to fear. Fear means we don’t take risks. When we don’t take the risks – in other words, when we don’t have faith – we don’t see the miracles. What we want is the V where God nudges, we act, God delivers a miracle.

Almost certainly we will experience fear if we are put in a place where dependence on God is required. Again, if there is no fear then there is probably no risk and if there is no risk there is no faith.

If we are afraid, should we stop? How should we respond to the fear? Maybe it is a signal that this is a situation where faith is required; it is a signal that we are on the right track. Then it is going to be a contest between our faith and our fear. Do we believe that God can and will? Do we believe that God will not abandon us in the middle of it but He does intend to come through? Do we trust Him enough to press through the fear enough to act?

What has God done in the past for you? Has He been there for you when you have needed Him? Have you seen prayers answered? Have you known His healing or His provision miraculously? Have you received salvation when you put your faith in Jesus? Think about what God has done for you in the past. Now ask: is He a God you can trust?

What is the truth? Is God compassionate? Does He want to reveal Himself miraculously in people’s lives? Is He capable of doing the miraculous? Does He want you to be the means of bringing miracles to people? If He starts something will He finish it? Don’t listen to lies about God. What is the truth? Can you trust Him enough to take those risks that enable the miracles to happen?

Wilkinson suggest we do five things:
1. Affirm that God is who He says He is.
2. Admit to God that unbelief is sin, and apologise to Him for breaking faith in your relationship with him
3. Recount and remember how God has come through in the past for you and for so many others in the Bible and history.
4. Keep your eyes on Jesus, not the circumstances you find yourself in or the feelings you are experiencing.
5. Pre-commit to purposefully exercising risky faith whenever it is called for in the course of delivering a miracle.

When we do those things we are intentionally resting our hopes on the record, character and promise of God. And we are signalling to Him that we are now prime candidates for delivering miracles.

The Bible says, “The righteous will live by faith” (Rom 1:17) – not just be saved by faith but live by faith. Maybe those five steps can help us all be people who live by faith. Do you know how to spell faith?