Faith cometh!

Faith in God does not come from feeling. 

Paul tells us in Romans 10 that it comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God.  The Word of God - spoken, written, and breathed.  And we have someone who speaks the Word of God to us and through us.  He teaches us how to pray.  We can speak these words to those who don't know about God.  Acts 2:2 talks about a SOUND of a mighty rushing wind surrounding the apostles.  And continuing down in verse 4, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. 

So quickly, our imaginations turn to the feeling of the rushing wind, but it is so important to allow our ears to hear the message and our minds to discern the truth. 

Why should we listen before we feel?  Because our hearts deceive us (Jeremiah 17:9).  By reading the Word of God, we are like the trees planted by the rivers.  The river remains our constant guarantee that we will never thirst.  Even when the heat comes (trials in our lives), the Word will continue to be life-giving.  Truth-revealing.  We cannot rely on our hearts to rightly divide the Word of truth.  We must study the Word (2 Tim 3:16). 

My Savior had no place to lay His head

Ownership and possessiveness is a crazy thing.  It is something that is conditioned in us from our beginnings.  The first time a child reaches for a toy and yells, "Mine!", he stands condemned before God. And look at what happens as the child ages.

Anything I love in life, I find myself wanting to place ownership over it.  (**Except the trees.  I more want to just dwell among them.)  I go to a theater and enjoy the movie.  I should buy the DVD.  I see a piece of art in a gallery.  How much for the painting?  I want to display it in my house for my select few friends. 

I buy into my company to own part of it.
I find that I am unknowingly trespassing in nature if that particular piece of ground is state-owned.
You can own a parking spot.
Possess a degree (or two or three)

Taking ownership is not the transgression.  It is unlawful to take without payment.  But who possesses whom?  So shameful to think of times when I have been possessed by an object or an idea.  Look at the beginning of Revelation 21.  After the time for endurance and abstinence, down in verse 7 - now we are talking about an inheritance and a much better possession.  Wow.  "I will be his God, and he shall me my son."

The OT makes mention of a few men coming from "his own place".  And I don't believe it was an accident how the authors used this same phrase in each event:
1.  Gen 31:55 with Laban - who tricked Jacob, renegotiated his wages 3 times, and kept him away from his homeland for 20 years - after a hot debate, he kissed his sons and daughters and departed to his place
2. 2 Sam 18:18 - Absalom had no son to bear his name.  So called a pillar after his own name, calling it Absalom's place.
3. Job 2:11 - Job's 3 friends came everyone from his own place.  And what did they tell Job to do?
*Common denominator in all these stories - these men were not highly esteemed by the authors of each passage.

Now look at Christ:
1. Luke 2 - Born in a dirt-nasty stable because there was no place for Him. 
2. Luke 9:58 - During His time of ministry.  Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
3.  John 19:38 - Even in death, Jesus lay in a borrowed tomb.

I've quoted this before, but I cannot get enough of this guy.  "The blessedness of possessing nothing." (AW Tozer)