Solution-Focused Faith:

 

How To Believe God For A Miracle!

 

 

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Hebrews 6:12  … to be like those who believe and are patient, and so receive what God has promised.

 

 

Ten studies on how positive bible-based faith helps us to tap into
God’s practical and perfect solutions for our lives.

 

 

 

 

© Copyright, John Edmiston 2005

 

Study 1 – The Direction Of Faith

 

Matthew 9:28-29 MKJV  And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, Do you believe that I am able to do this? They said to Him, Yes, Lord.  (29)  Then He touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith let it be to you.

 

Matthew 15:28 MKJV  Then Jesus answered and said to her, O woman, great is your faith! So be it to you even as you wish. And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

 

Matthew 17:20 MKJV  And Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief. For truly I say to you, If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Move from here to there. And it shall move. And nothing shall be impossible to you.

 

These ten   bible-studies are on what I call “solution-focused faith”. Solution focused thinking focuses entirely on the desired end state and how to get there. Instead of worrying about what is not working “solution-focused faith” concentrates on what does work and how to do more of it.

 

Solution-focused thinking is the opposite of problem-focused thinking. It does not bog down in the “paralysis of analysis” or get into gloom and doom predictions. If you get a flat tire do you get out the jack and the spare and quickly fix it and move on, or do you say, “How did that nail get there” and get angry and blame people. The first person is solution focused; the second person is problem-focused. Solution focused people have faith and hope and move forward in life, problem focused people have fear, anger and despair and stay stuck by the side of the road.

 

God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all (1 John1:5) and that means God is POSITIVE. God never says “Oh that is just too hard for Me, I can’t do it.”  God calls into being that which is not. He is creative and creates wonderful solutions. Sometimes God does point out the problem – but only in order to fix it, not to grumble over it forever.

 

When Jesus came across a problem – sickness, disease, death, a storm or whatever, He did not call a committee to order and analyze it for six months. He just envisioned the desired end solution and called it into being (e.g., “Lazarus come forth”, “be healed”, “be made clean”, “little girl rise up”, “peace be still” etc.

 

Jesus does not say “leprosy I rebuke you be gone” he says “be cleansed”. He never says to someone “tell me your life history and why you are sinning” he simply says “you are forgiven, now go and sin no more.” The focus is always on the future solution not the current problem.

 

David and Goliath is another great instance, or the twelve spies, ten of whom saw the problems and two of whom saw the Solution. Or the feeding of the five thousand where the disciples saw the problem (not even ten thousand denarii!) while the little boy offered up a solution (five loaves and two fish). In the midst of the dark and terrible storm in Acts (Acts 27) when everyone is convinced they are lost and going to perish an angel comes to Paul, not with an analysis of the problem but with its solution.

 

Over and over again we see that faith has a direction – the future, and faith has content – the desired end state, the realization of God’s perfect will for that situation.

 

Do we truly believe that a good, wise and perfect God is interested in us and cares about our affairs and has a wise, good and perfect solution for them that can be known? The solution-focused saint believes there is such a solution, seeks God for it, then holds on to it by faith.

 

This is not an easy story to tell but shortly after we were married my wife and I were searching for accommodation near her university in Manila. Nearly everything was taken and we started looking at a place that I can only describe as a “terrible dump” little more than a converted garage. We were in need but this was dreadful. But I said “This is too dreadful it cannot be God’s place for us, this is the Devil’s offer!” After a bit more searching we found a clean place among good friends. This, we turned into a beautiful home. God’s place for us was perfect! The lesson I learned is that the Devil often offers a quick solution that is a disaster – the car that is a lemon, the wrong woman to marry, the wrong career, the cheap nasty lawyer, and Satan hassles us to take it to “solve our problem”.

 

But God’s solutions are good and perfect solutions! Look at God’s solutions in Creation from the neck of the giraffe, to the trunk of the elephant, to the wings of the bumble-bee – they are all good and perfect solutions.

 

Faith knows that God loves us and cares for us and that His long arm of power works everywhere for good and that His justice protects all our interests. (Psalms 23, 37, 73, 103 etc)

 

Faith knows that God is wise and creative and has wonderful perfect solutions that He can reveal to us who believe. (James 1:5-8, 3:16-18)

 

Faith knows the peace of God is His perfect “shalom” and is not just an emotion but is also a lifestyle, a concrete tangible realizable state of actual blessing and favor from God. (Isaiah 9:1-7, 26:3,12, 32:15-20)

 

Faith is confident that God is working all things together for good for those who love Him. (Romans 8:28)

 

Faith walks in those solutions. Faith sees the God-given perfect solution and receives it and believes it.

 

Unbelief sees the problem and denies that there is a God-given solution.

 

Presumption sees the problem and imagines some crazy solution that has nothing to do with God. Most prosperity gospel teaching on “visualize your desired car” fits here.

 

Faith takes one look at the water and sees wine, one glance at the mountain and says “where should I move it to Lord?”. Faith listens for God’s solution and does not cook up a human solution.

 

The first two verses from Matthew I opened this devotional with emphasize “according to your faith be it unto you”.  The third talks about mustard-seed faith moving mountains. Faith is our ability to believe in the good activity of the perfectly wise God.

 

Hebrews 11:6 MKJV  But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

 

Faith for ministry finances means believing that God will reveal a financial solution that honors His name and is adequate for His work and meanwhile making do with “five loaves and two fishes” and the power of God.

 

Faith for evangelism means believing that God will lead you to those He has prepared to receive the gospel. Faith sees the harvest not the hardness.

 

Faith for healing means letting God show you the perfect healing for that person (which may be passing to glory) and then believing it according to His Word.

 

Faith is when the human spirit is firmly set on the promises and power of God, and is not swallowed up by the waves of doubt and the sight of the stormy problems. Faith sees tangible real solutions coming from God in good and perfect ways – because there is no imperfection in God.

 

Faith walks in the light, where there is no darkness at all and dwells in the Truth of God’s goodness power and love, so the direction of faith is always TOWARDS THE PERFECT SOLUTION – which it calls into being! (And faith lets God decide what the perfect solution is!)

 

 

Questions

 

  1. What does it mean to be solution-focused?

 

 

  1. How was Jesus always solution-focused?

 

 

  1. How does faith see the God-given perfect solution and receive it and believe it?

 

 

  1. What is the proper and true direction and focus of effective faith?

 

Study 2 - The God Of Faith

 

Exodus 34:5-8 MKJV  And Jehovah came down in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah.  (6)  And Jehovah passed by before him and proclaimed, Jehovah! Jehovah God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,  (7)  keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the sons, and on the sons of sons, to the third and to the fourth generation.  (8)  And Moses made haste and bowed toward the earth, and worshiped.

 

Romans 11:29-36 MKJV  For the free gifts and calling of God are without repentance.  (30)  For as you also then disbelieved God, but now have been shown mercy through their disbelief,  (31)  even so these also have not believed now, so that through your mercy they may also obtain mercy.  (32)  For God has shut up all in unbelief, so that He might show mercy to all.  (33)  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!  (34)  For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?  (35)  Or who first gave to Him, and it will be repaid to him?  (36)  For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things; to Him be glory forever! Amen.

 

James 1:17 MKJV  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning.

 

God is not a philosophy or a concept, He is an active Being whose attributes describe His actions.  Thus when God creates “peace” it is not just mental peace or inner peace – rather it is tangible peace that is wars cease to the ends of the earth and the field blossoms and people live to a great age in happiness and contentment.

 

When God creates righteousness it is not just inner righteousness (though that is included) but also overall justice, fair systems, widows are protected from scams, orphans are sheltered, laws are obeyed, the world is put right way up.

 

When God gives grace then bondages are broken, life becomes free, healing breaks out, miracles occur, the Church grows and “great grace was upon them all”.

 

And when God sends joy then the whole of Creation is lifted up in celebration and rejoices with His rejoicing, life moves up a notch, sadness is banished, the city celebrates, the spirit of heaviness is replaced by the garment of praise and the flowers bloom and the wilderness breaks into song.

 

Because that which happens on earth is an extension of God’s character in Heaven we need to understand the nature of the good and wise God we trust, pray to and have faith in. The nature of God is the nature of the Being that controls reality. The nature of God is thus directly connected to how things are, how healthy I am, how much I am paid, and so forth. That is why Jesus could say:

 

Matthew 6:26-30 MKJV  Behold the birds of the air; for they sow not, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them; are you not much better than they are?  (27)  Which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his stature?  (28)  And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They do not toil, nor do they spin,  (29)  but I say to you that even Solomon in his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  (30)  Therefore if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much rather clothe you, little-faiths?

 

Jesus is saying that the goodness and faithfulness of God can be seen in fat sparrows and beautiful lilies. It is God who is feeding them, it is God who is clothing them. God’s nature is seen in nature and how it is organized.

 

It is God’s goodness and faithfulness that are feeding you and clothing you.

 

In Matthew 5 Jesus tells us to love our enemies. The basis for this is that our heavenly Father loves His enemies and the tangible sign of this divine love is that He sends His rain on the just and the unjust.  The outward circumstances – rain on the just and the unjust – matches the nature of God – He loves His enemies.

 

God’s nature and our circumstances are meant to be tightly connected. However we ended up disconnected from God and serving Satan instead, we wanted Las Vegas instead of Heaven. But being “in Christ” means reconciliation with God and being put back under His rulership where His nature manifests in all the circumstances of our lives.

 

Living faith is when we realize that God’s nature rules our circumstances and we decide to trust that absolutely. Faith says: “because God is good then my life will be good because God will make it that way. He cannot make it any other way because He is good to those who love Him.”

 

The fact that God is “abounding in goodness and truth” means that He has a great reservoir of good and that He will be true to us, solid, unwavering and eternal in His blessings in this life and the next. God is not just good in a distant philosophical sense. Rather He is “working all things together for good”. His outward actions “working” reflects His inner nature “good”. And this working of God is on our behalf – “for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28)

 

The fact that God is light means that He is perfect and there is no imperfection in Him at all and that all His gifts are good and wise and without repentance (see opening verses). We can trust God to give us what is right for us, in fact what is perfect for us.

 

Faith enables us to experience the nature of God in action. The blind man believed in a healing God and was healed, David believed in a powerful God and was victorious over Goliath, the thief on the cross believed in a gracious and merciful God and entered Paradise. Faith opens the doors to the reality of God’s character in action in our lives.

 

When Jesus and the disciples were at sea and the storm arose Jesus slept because he was confident about God’s keeping power, and when the disciples were frightened Jesus said “Why are you afraid o ye of little faith”. Jesus was totally confident of the goodness of God overriding the circumstances of the storm. Anxiety means we have stopped believing or are doubting that God’s goodness will rule over our circumstances.

 

Solution-focused faith sees God’s goodness and joy and grace and love and righteousness and providence manifesting powerfully in the midst of human circumstances to produce “peace, be still” solutions of total perfection. Faith calls on God to manifest His benevolent character in the midst of daily life.

 

If you are getting “shafted” at the office you can call on God to manifest His perfect justice and to protect the righteous interests of those who love Him.

 

If you are knee deep in debt you can call on God to make manifest His mercy and grace and cause your debts to be forgiven or removed from you and you can call on His wisdom to teach you how to be wiser in future.

 

If your relationships are a mess you can call on the God of peace to manifest His peace in all the relationship of your life for He “cause the righteous to be at peace with his enemies”. Proverbs 16:7 MKJV  When a man's ways please Jehovah, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

 

If your life is depressing and joyless and a grind you can call on God to make His joy manifest in all your circumstances so that you live a life of celebration. You can call on the God who removes the spirit of heaviness and replaces it with the garment of praise.

 

You are entitled to this for two good reasons. Firstly you are in Christ and you are blessed with all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms including those above. In a human sense you may not be so entitled but in a divine sense you are.

 

Ephesians 1:2-3 MKJV  Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.  (3)  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ;

 

Secondly all the promises in the Bible are “yea and amen” in Christ. They are yours by inheritance in Him.

 

2 Corinthians 1:20 MKJV  (20)  For all the promises of God in Him are yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God by us.

 

To activate your heavenly inheritance you may need to take some faith actions of your own. Firstly you may need to demonstrate your faith by speaking and acting in accordance with what you believe e.g. by deciding not to express fear in the storm, or by going and getting some stones for your sling in preparation for a victory over Goliath. Secondly you have to let God have His perfect way and not entertain panic-stricken short-cuts to grace that produce “Ishmaels”.

 

Learn to trust God’s perfect plan and perfect timing (this is a real spiritual training exercise and it often is stressful at first but leads to peace.)

 

Solution-focused faith believes that God will manifest His wonderful and holy nature in wise and perfect and good ways in the midst of our normal daily lives.

 

 

Questions

 

  1. Who controls Reality?

 

 

  1. What is the connection between the character of God and the actions of God?

 

 

  1. Why can we trust God to act in good and loving ways in our lives?

 

 

  1. What are some ways in which we can trust God’s perfect character to bring perfect solutions into our lives through faith?

 

Study 3 - The Faithful And True God

 

In the last study we saw that the nature of God is the nature of the Person who controls Reality. God is constantly tuning and tweaking and redeeming and intervening in this disorderly world according to His attributes and character and will. Thus because He is peaceful He will establish peace on earth in real and tangible ways. We finished with the statement that: Solution-Focused Faith believes that God will manifest His wonderful and holy nature in wise and perfect and good ways in the midst of our normal daily lives.

 

Thus faith is, at rock bottom, faith in the character of God. So today we will look at one aspect of His character – God is a  Faithful and True God.

 

Deuteronomy 32:4 MKJV  He is the Rock; His work is perfect. For all His ways are just, a God of faithfulness, and without evil; just and upright is He.

 

Lamentations 3:22-24 MKJV  (22)  It is by Jehovah's kindnesses that we are not destroyed, because His mercies never fail.  (23)  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.  (24)  Jehovah is my portion, says my soul; therefore I will hope in Him.

 

In Hebrew faithfulness and truth are related words: emeth (truth) and emunah (faithfulness/firmness), and together they mean that God is established, firm, true to His Word and faithful about carrying out His promises. Thus God can be relied on.

 

But what can solution-focused faith rely on God for? Do we rely on God to tie our shoelaces? Do we rely on God to make us a billionaire? Neither of course! We can only rely on God to carry out His perfect will - in us, through us, by us and for us. We can rely on God for the promised desired end state! We can rely on God for the perfect solution from the divine will!

 

When the father of the boy having seizures appealed to Jesus to cast out the demon he was relying on God for a certain outcome – the deliverance of his son. The expectation of an answer to his problem would have been put in the father’s heart by the Holy Spirit. The man knew that Jesus had a specific answer to his immediate problem and he trusted Jesus for it and saw the miracle.

 

The man had seen or heard of Jesus healing power and must have thought – “what Jesus has done for others he can do for me and more”. This is relying on the faithfulness of God. What God has done before, He does again. He is reliable. Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever.

 

We gain faith by witnessing God in action and gradually concluding that what God has done in the Bible, and what God has done in the Church, and what God has done in my neighbor’s life – He can also do for me.

 

We tend to take the promises of God at an emotional level rather than at a practical level. We tend to say “that verse warms my heart” rather than “that verse is true and I will bank on it and rely on it in my life.”

 

We sometimes shrink from this sort of practical reliance on God because we have been disappointed with God, or we have seen others who were disappointed with God. God sometimes seems unreliable, or slow in answering, or unavailable to those who pray desperately for the life of a young woman with cancer. It even gets to the point where we start making excuses for God!

 

There have been times in my ministry when I have really struggled to see the faithfulness of God. This is often either because of an academic calculating understanding of faithfulness or a great impatience with the circumstances.

 

We sometimes rip God’s promises out of scripture and apply them like abstract mathematical formulas. The promises of God are not abstract rules but are personal spiritual principles. God is Spirit and those that worship Him must worship in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:24). The Word of God and the Spirit of God must work together in the life of the worshipping believer. Only when the Spirit and the Word agree and witness together can you have faith in the promise of God. When we treat promises like abstract rules we set ourselves up for disappointment. Generally the promises of God have to be first “seen with the spirit” within the Christian.  You have to “know” deep within you that the particular promise A applies to the circumstance B being considered before you.

 

When God confirms His word to you, then you can rely on it, but you must wait for it to come to pass. Joseph was sorely tested as he waited for God’s word to come to pass: Psalms 105:17-19 MKJV  He sent a man before them, Joseph, being sold for a servant;  (18)  whose feet they hurt with chains; he was laid in iron,  (19)  until the time that his word came, the Word of Jehovah refined him.

 

God was faithful to Joseph, and God will be faithful to you. God has His perfect will, His wonderful creative solution, that He wishes to bring to pass in your life but you must keep on believing and keep on waiting for it.

 

God is faithful to His vision of the kingdom of God, and to the establishment of a perfect and good new heavens and earth under His rule, that is without crying or pain. God has a similar vision for your life. He wishes to establish His kingdom in your heart, your home and your circumstances.

 

You can trust God to make that happen or you can try your own foolish solutions.

 

Because God is faithful and true you can rely on Him to bring His promises to fruition in your life. You can see God solving your problems in good and perfect ways. You can believe that He will supply wise solutions to pressing problems. In your spirit you can sense the solution that God wants you to have. Deep within your heart you can see this solution emerging. You can see the mustard seed growing. You know that God will do it because He is faithful and true.   Abraham knew Isaac was “on the way” twenty-five years in advance.

 

Romans 4:20-22 MKJV  He did not stagger at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God,  (21)  and being fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was also able to perform.  (22)  And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

 

Abraham believed that God was faithful and true: “being fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was also able to perform.” And Abraham’s faith in the reliability of God in a specific practical circumstance “was imputed to him for righteousness”.

 

Questions

  1. What did Abraham believe about God? What did He believe God for?

 

  1. How long did Abraham believe for?  Was God faithful? Why did Abraham get credit for this?

 

  1. What two things need to line up before we can claim a promise from God?

 

  1. How can we rely on God for a specific practical outcome?

 

Study 4  - Faith In The Goodness of God

 

God is good, and He longs to do good to those He loves, and He works all things together for their good (Romans 8:28). Thus one of the great challenges of solution-focused faith is to believe in the goodness of God. We live in the midst of a sinful and wicked world, and at times it seems hard to believe that we can actually experience this goodness and be rewarded by God. Solution-focused faith truly believes that God is good and will work out a good and perfect and practical solution.

 

Hebrews 11:6 MKJV  But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

 

Psalms 27:13-14 MKJV  I would have fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of Jehovah in the land of the living.  (14)  Hope in Jehovah; be of good courage, and He shall make your heart strong; yea, hope in Jehovah.

 

Psalms 13:6 MKJV  I will sing to Jehovah, because He has rewarded me.

 

Psalms 142:7 MKJV  Bring my soul out of prison that I may praise Your name; the righteous shall gather around me; for You shall reward me.

 

There are those that sneer at the idea of God rewarding people, they say: “O you should not believe because of the reward, that is so primitive, true faith just believes in the abstract virtues of God.” True faith does nothing of the kind! True faith must believe that: “He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)”

 

There are three notable instances of faith being commended in the Scriptures - Abraham, the centurion, and the Syrophoenician/Canaanite woman:

 

The faith that justified Abraham was not abstract belief in the virtues of a philosophical God! The faith that made Abraham famous was faith that Isaac would be born to an old couple despite their infirmity (Romans 4;19-21) and later on the faith that Isaac could be raised even from the dead (Hebrews 11:17-19) !

 

And when the centurion was commended for his faith it was faith that his servant could be healed by a word from Jesus (Matthew 8:5-13).

 

The Syrophoenician/Canaanite woman was commended for her great faith in Jesus, because she believed Jesus could and would deliver her daughter from a demon (Matthew 15:22-28).

 

My first attempt to believe God for specific things was shortly before I went into bible college, it was a Monday early in 1980 and I asked God for a Young’s Concordance, a New Bible Dictionary and a pair of brown shoes, by the end of the day I had been given all three and none of the people who gave knew anything about my needs or my prayer. I soon learned the art of “living by faith” and seeing God’s provision in highly specific matters. Now hardly a day goes by without some small tangible answer to the prayer of faith. In fact I think it is better to have a real faith in a good God who provides parking spaces than a purely philosophical faith in abstractions that maintains the world is, for all practical purposes, untouched by God.

 

If you go to the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 they are all “looking to the reward” and believing God for quite real tangible things such as victories in battle, the resurrection of Isaac, deliverance from Egypt, the future of the sons of Jacob, the resurrection of the tortured martyrs, and citizenship in the future city of God. They all believed that the invisible and intangible would one day become the clearly visible and the very tangible. When we pray “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” we are asking for invisible things such as the Kingdom and the will of God to become tangibly present “on earth”.

 

Faith believes that God’s goodness is a present reality that orders our days and our lives. Faith believes that God’s goodness can undo the Devil’s badness and restore the years the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25,26). Faith believes that even our sin and folly cannot be so powerful to completely prevent us receiving some of God’s goodness for He sends His rain on the just and the unjust. (Matthew 5:45)

 

In fact it can be said that God is absolutely determined that we will experience His goodness – from beautiful sunsets, to cool breezes, to falling in love, to being saved, to being filled with the Holy Ghost. God wants to demonstrate His goodness to us over and over gain in bountiful and generous ways. Jesus never knocked back anyone who was determined to experience the goodness of God for themselves. In fact the determination of the Canaanite woman to experience grace is what Jesus praised her for (as he also praises the persistent widow in Luke 18 and many others like lepers and blind men who insisted on experiencing Gods’ goodness here and now.)

 

Faith in the goodness of God, experienced in the land of the living and also in Heaven, is absolutely fundamental to true Christian faith. If God is good all the time, then He is being good to me right now as I sit at this computer. Now experiencing that goodness requires faith. It is always faith that brings the goodness of God down to earth. It was faith that led to the birth of Isaac, the New Testament healings, and the miracles and revivals of Acts.

 

Faith is the persistent, “stupid”, stubborn opening of our hearts to the goodness of God despite all the contrary evidence that would make us cynical, defensive and unbelieving. Faith is asking for Jesus to provide wine at the wedding of Cana then just doing what He says and seeing the bountiful provision, faith is believing five loaves and two fishes can feed a multitude and then opening to God so he can participate in the act.

 

We have to believe that our God is bursting to demonstrate His goodness in the midst of our daily routine. Faith is simply opening up to this reality.

 

Though from time to time evil may blight a year or more of our lives we are never finished completely, slowly but surely God’s goodness will triumph, and our days will become filled with joy. No disaster can separate us from the love of God and His goodness to us. Even the martyrs find God’s goodness to them in the end and we are thus “more than conquerors”. (Romans 8)

 

I have recently read of the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70 and how dreadful the “siege and sack” was in the ancient world, but even in such awful situations God’s goodness is not absent: “Psalms 31:21 MKJV  Blessed is Jehovah; for He has worked His mercy wondrously in a besieged city.” No matter how “besieged” your life may be, God can still bring His wondrous goodness into it.

 

On a practical note we need to insist on the goodness of God, just as Job did, just as the Canaanite woman did, just as blind Bartimaeus did and just as so many others who have been blessed by God have done. The Psalms are a continual record of David going before God for justice, mercy, forgiveness, deliverance and the experience of His goodness. David did not take God’s goodness as automatically granted, he made it a matter of prayer.

 

In Christ we can come to the throne of grace for help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16) and we should do so placing our burdens on Him for He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). We need to go before God, in an attitude of trusting faith, and ask that His goodness, and His blessings will be poured into our lives at our points of need.

 

Psalms 31:19 MKJV  How great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You; You have worked for those who trust in You before the sons of men!

 

Psalms 37:3-5 MKJV  Trust in Jehovah, and do good; you shall dwell in the land, and you shall be fed on truth.  (4)  Delight yourself also in Jehovah, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.  (5)  Roll your way on Jehovah; trust also in Him, and He will work.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.      Why is it sometimes very hard to believe in the goodness of God? (e.g. the tsunami disaster)

 

 

2.      Can you give some examples of how faith brings the goodness of God “down to earth” from heaven?  Why is it essential that we believe that God rewards us? (Hebrews 11:6)

 

 

3.      How does God’s goodness restore broken lives?

 

 

4.      How can solution-focused faith lay hold of the goodness of God for daily living?

 

Study 5  - Faith In The Acceptance And Love of God

 

Romans 15:7 ISV  Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ accepted you, for the glory of God.

 

Romans 5:1-5 ISV  Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  (2)  Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing God's glory.  (3)  Not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,  (4)  endurance produces character, and character produces hope.  (5)  Now this hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

 

Sometimes the solutions that faith requires are internal – in our heart and mind and in our perceptions of the universe around us. Do we see ourselves as always rejected? Do we often see God as punishing us? Do we see the world as evil and scheming and out to get us and deprive us?  Goethe described the Devil as “He who always denies.” After living in this world, under Satan’s attacks we can become used to “always being denied” and end up feeling unblessed, deprived, useless and rejected.

 

The cure for this is to develop faith in the acceptance and love of God. For in Christ God has accepted us.

 

If God loves us, accepts us, justifies us and even desires to glorify us (Romans 8:28-31, John17:22) and that same God is the Creator and Ruler of all things, then He will be working to express that acceptance, love and joy to us, in practical ways in the midst of our daily life. The great saints of old have always beheld a “beautiful world” that is their friend, with for instance St. Francis speaking of “Brother Sun and Sister Moon. Because they were in harmony with God they also perceived themselves to be in harmony with His Creation. The whole world was accepting them and loving them because God had accepted them and loved them.

 

Proverbs puts it this way: Proverbs 16:7 MKJV  When a man's ways please Jehovah, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Christians need to wake up to the fact that God loves them and accepts them and the angels love them and accept them (Hebrews 1:14) and the whole of Creation loves them and accepts them – except the Devil, a few demons and those that serve the dark side. When the bad guys are finally vanquished we will discover that we belong in a Universe of love.

 

God’s love is based on us being in Christ, not on our spiritual performance. As long as you are born-again, then His life and His Spirit dwells in you, and you are acceptable to Him.  We are “accepted in the beloved”:

 

Ephesians 1:4-6 KJV  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:  (5)  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,  (6)  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

 

The cross has put an end to the wrath of God and we are reconciled to Him. (Colossian1:19-20)

 

Colossians 1:19-20 KJV  For it pleased [the Father] that in him should all fulness dwell;  (20)  And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, [I say], whether [they be] things in earth, or things in heaven.

 

Given this we are reconciled to God, who has also reconciled all things to Himself, so God, Christians , and “all things’ belong to the one vast community of reconciliation.

 

I am emphasizing this because we live in a world where we are informed daily about terrorist attacks, Internet scams, sexual predators and various plagues and poisons. This can lead to a semi-paranoid state of utter anxiety about “the state of the world” and indeed the person without Christ is perhaps justified in this perception.

 

But the Christian lives in the light, in a state of grace and acceptance and at peace with God and with the entire Universe that He rules. We are accepted and acceptable not just in a theological and religious sense but in a practical sense for we dwell in complete acceptance by all things from trees to angels to God Himself. We must not anticipate rejection, we should by faith anticipate favor and love and blessing (and persecution from a few).

 

Evil is not ultimate, God is ultimate and His love and acceptance is ultimate and final. At the end of our days we shall be surprised by joy and dwell in perfect love. Terrible things may occur in this life but they will eventually be forgotten at the moment when every tear will be wiped away.

 

Jesus was rejected but that rejection was not the end of the story for the Stone that the builders rejected became the Chief Cornerstone and it is marvelous in our eyes. (1Peter 2:6,7) In Christ we share in His victory over rejection. We are accepted in the beloved.

 

Lets look at some practical applications of this. Say “Joe” is looking for a godly Christian wife but he has experienced rejection by women before.  He is now terrified of dating. He can bring the problem to God like this:  “Lord you love me and have accepted me and I am reconciled to you and to your Universe. By faith I believe that that You see me as lovable and acceptable. I pray that You will work in the perfect woman of your choosing, speak to her at the perfect time and help her to see me through Your eyes – as lovable and acceptable. Also help me to see myself as loveable and acceptable and cast out all my fears for your perfect love casts out all fear. In Jesus name. Amen.”

 

Learn to dwell in the perfect love and acceptance of God, not in the fickle approval of people. If God says that you are lovable and acceptable, and that all your sins are forgiven and that you are justified in His sight – then you are loveable and acceptable, as a fact, as an eternal and immutable fact – and no opinion of any scarecrow man of straw can change that!

 

Say you are seeking a promotion at work. You can come to God and say: “Lord I am terrified of being rejected for this promotion. First show me, teach me, instruct me that I am lovable and acceptable just as I am, and that my self-worth does not depend on this promotion. Show me that human rejection is not final and does not affect me. Give me great peace and joy in the interview O Lord. But Lord I also ask that You will cause the interview panel to see me through your eyes, and that the love that You have for me will come to me through them, for the heart of the King is in your hands and you can turn it as you wish (Proverbs 21:1). May your perfect will be done in Jesus name. Amen.”

 

The people blessed by God dwell in unusual favor – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Daniel, Esther, Mordecai and many others. They all had both great favor from God and great persecution from man. But God always won in the end!

 

God has a solution to your rejection - for He has accepted you and will make you acceptable to others, acceptable to the right people, at the right time. Now enter into that solution by faith.

 

 

 

You may wish to try the following prayer of affirmation:

 

I am a born-again believer and I am accepted in the Beloved, God accepts me just as I am.

I am spotless in His eyes, since I am cleansed by the blood of the Lamb.

God loves me therefore I am fully lovable, God accepts me therefore I am fully acceptable.

God loves me and accepts me and by His divine power He will make others to love me and accept me also.
God has reconciled me to Himself, God has also reconciled all things to Himself, therefore I am in harmony with God and in harmony with His Creation and am loved and accepted by the entire Universe that God has made.

God’s favor is upon me and as I go through life I will generally experience a loving and accepting world.

God’s love and favor and protection is upon me and I shall rise up and not go down, I shall overcome all trials and tribulations and I shall be more than a conqueror for His powerful love is always with me and works all things for my good. I shall triumph, I shall rejoice, both in this life and in the life to come. Praise the Lord!

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Questions

 

  1. What makes us acceptable and lovable?

 

 

  1. What could you do if you knew for certain that God’s favor would always be upon you?

 

 

  1. How can God influence others to accept you and to favor you? (Proverbs 16:7)

 

 

  1. Is human rejection the end of the story? (1 Peter 2:6,7)

 

Study 6 - Faith In The Coming Kingdom

 

Matthew 6:10 KJV  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as [it is] in heaven.

 

Matthew 25:34 KJV  Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

 

Luke 10:9 MKJV  And heal the sick that are in it, and say to them, The kingdom of God has come near you!

 

Revelation 12:10 MKJV  And I heard a great voice saying in Heaven, Now has come the salvation and power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers is cast down, who accused them before our God day and night.

 

Luke 23:42-43 MKJV  And he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.  (43)  And Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, Today you shall be with Me in Paradise.

 

Solution-focused faith believes in the arrival of the Kingdom of God. For when the Kingdom of God arrives all relationships are put right and all problems solved. Solution-focused faith believes in the arrival of the Kingdom both in the present “repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand” and the future “inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”.

 

One of the keys to this is a well-known phrase that is part of the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”  (Matthew 6:10) In this prayer we are asking for God’s Kingdom to come “on earth” as in the verse in Luke above: “And heal the sick that are in it, and say to them, The kingdom of God has come near you!”  The arrival of the Kingdom had a tangible effect in the real world, in this case healing. When the Kingdom comes there is healing, exorcism, revival and great joy. (see the previous series on Acts 1-8 mentioned above)

 

Solution-focused faith envisions the arrival of God’s Kingdom both in the present and in the future.

 

The Kingdom arrives in the present most often as a “mustard-seed” – that is in a small group, a church, a rescue mission or a prayer meeting. These mustard-seed beginnings are places where people are totally given over to doing the will of God “on earth as it is in Heaven.”

 

We need to pray and believe that the Kingdom will arrive in “mustard-seed form” in our midst and renew our lives and bring us great joy and healing. We need to believe for the arrival of the Kingdom even when lukewarmness, friction, division and apathy surround us. We must not ever give in to cynicism or despair.

 

The Kingdom seldom arrives “all at once” but comes one spiritually hungry person at a time. We need to kneel down and say “Lord I believe Your kingdom will come here, You will send streams in the desert and cause the wilderness to bloom, and the barren lands to rejoice. I ask You to open my eyes to what you are doing and send me people who can join with me in living in obedience to You.”

 

If all you see when you look at the Church is hypocrisy, politics, and traditionalism, then you are problem-centered and you will remain miserable in your Christianity.

 

Solution-focused faith looks around for where things are working and seeks to do more of them. It goes to where things are happening in God and joyfully joins in. Wonderful things are happening in missions, in urban ministry, in Internet ministry, in the urban slums of Asia, in house-churches and in many other areas as well. It is frequently when we go among ministries to the poor that the Kingdom is most evident.

 

When the Kingdom comes there is a marvelous feeling of lightness and joy. There is a releasing of old grudges and bitterness and an outbreak of Christian love. If you want the Kingdom to come you must forgive others and be merciful and compassionate. The kingdom never came to the Pharisees because they played spiritual status games, such games belong in the world , not in God’s house.

 

Laying hold of God for the arrival of the Kingdom requires a strong interior vision of what the Kingdom will look like when it arrives. The development of this strong interior vision of the Kingdom was part of the purpose of the parables of Jesus and the sayings of the prophets. An example is one of Isaiah’s pictures of the Kingdo