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Are We Leaning on God in Absolute Dependence?
Episode #535
March 5, 2017
With Martha Kilpatrick and hosted by John Enslow
This is the continuation of a series of Podcasts started in Episode #533.
Are we leaning on God with all that we are and have? Join Martha and John as they explore the relational aspects of faith that are easy to overlook.
(John) I never really thought about it. I just never laid it out like that, that the faith that He’s requiring and the faith that brings Him pleasure is the faith that is dependent and in relationship. I mean, it’s obvious, but I’ve never laid it out that way, never to see it, you know. I just said, “Oh, well,” you know, “It’s impossible to please God without faith.” I just thought it was… “You just believe Me, because I said so,” kind of thing. You know, how the parent…
(Martha) Umhmm. It takes the relationship out again just to say, “Ok, You said it, I believe it.” No, it doesn’t work that way, except in the flesh. It’s always, “Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word (rhema) of God.” It’s so simple. Oh, and it’s so simple too, because Jesus lived that way. He said to the disciples, I think it’s John 14 somewhere. He said, “If I judge… As I hear, I judge. As I hear, I judge.” In other words He didn’t judge until He heard. That’s how He lived. That’s how He will live inside of me if I let Him be the Existence instead of me.
(John) How tragic that I pulled the relationship out of faith though. That’s frightening.
(Martha) Yeah. It’s taking the Life out of it. The Life is His Life. “The just shall live by faith.”
(John) But I could say that I’ve at times seen it as, “You just believe because I said so.”
(Martha) Umhmm.
(John) Rather than entering into a hearing, diligently seeking, pleasurable relationship.
(Martha) Umhmm.
(John) That’s a totally different way of looking at faith. Oh, how the enemy would really love it to be something cold, something…
(Martha) Logical.
(John) Logical.
(Martha) Knowledgeable, the tree of death is the Tree of Knowledge.
(John) But even to take what you said and then to just believe You because you… rather than to take it into relationship. That’s tragic.
(Martha) I love the definition of faith in the Amplified, except that the process to this is not stated. It’s the leaning of the entire human personality on God in confident trust that He is God. It’s something like that. The definition of faith in the Amplified is leaning, absolute dependence. But to come to that, that’s when you have faith is when what you’re talking about. That’s when you have faith is when you’re totally dependent on Him. There’s no other source of help. There’s no other source of wisdom. There’s no other source of life. That’s when you’re dependent on Him.
(John) The Amplified says of faith, it says, “Whoever believes in, trusts in, clings to, relies on…” That’s faith.
(Martha) Is that the New Amplified?
(John) No, that’s the Classic. Yeah. “Faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses.”
(Martha) Ummm um umm. Yeah, yeah. God says, “You are well. All the evidence to the contrary is a lie.”
(John) Leaning of the entire—
(Martha) Of the entire personality.
(John) Yeah, there you go. “Hold fast to faith, that leaning of the entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence.”
(Martha) That’s— What’s the reference, 1 Timothy?
(John) That was 1 Timothy 1:19.
(Martha) Yeah. Do you remember when you wrote a post, and you talked about leaning on the breast of God? That was a rhema Word for me. That became a living Word from God. And even in this moment it’s such a terrific image He gave me through your words. That was a rhema, and there are times when that has deeply comforted me and been very real. And that’s what that verse evokes for me now, leaning of the entire personality on Him with faith and confidence in Him. You know, John, that just is an example of that you live life listening for His Word. You’re not listening for knowledge. You’re not listening for information. You’re not listening… You’re listening for His voice everywhere. And His voice came to me through your writing, and it has stayed and it’s been a seed of light within me a seed of life and comfort. It was a living Word. See, it’s living. God’s voice is a living source for life to us. If we can hear Him speak, we have life. That’s what Jesus meant when He said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” It’s life. There’s a difference between His divine life and just human existence. To hear Him is to obtain life. Faith is living. Real faith is living. It’s vibrant. It has its own power. It has its own growth and its own pathway. And when His voice enters you, it grows in dark inside of you. And sometimes it isn’t evident that you have the faith that you’ve heard, because all life begins in darkness. Think about it. It’s so true, even the seed of God’s voice. But see what happened in that… You got a Word from Him of life. We’re not supposed to give knowledge. We’re supposed to impart life to each other. When a speaker speaks, it is supposed to impart life to others, not words or information or facts or explanations. We’re supposed to have such life in us that it goes out to others just as His life goes out to us. Isn’t that wonderful?
(John) Absolutely!
(Martha) That’s what happened. You heard Him. You wrote His Word in that post.
(John) I heard Him, and that’s what He said, and then I wrote it. And then, yeah.
(Martha) Umhmm. And then…
(John) And then it impacted you.
(Martha) And it came to me as life. So, that means that’s why you can read a book by someone that lived 200 years ago, and it will absolutely be as fresh as this minute. It’s because if a person writes from the Spirit, that cannot die. That writing is full of capacity of the Spirit to use for life, because the Spirit originated it, then the Spirit continues it.
(John) It’s source, isn’t it?
(Martha) Umhmm. It’s all about source, and the source is God. And He conveys life a number of ways, but by His voice He actually imparts life into you. That’s what it all means. It’s wondrous, and we settle for less. I thank Him. I just want to stop and thank Him for speaking to us, for being willing to, for being such a Father. “How great the love of God that we should be called the children of God.” And a Father speaks to His children. He parents His children. Whew! Glory!
Are We Leaning on God in Absolute Dependence? – Episode #535 – Shulamite Podcast
What is faith? “That leaning of the entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence.” Are we leaning on God with all that we are and have? Join Martha and John as they explore the relational aspects of faith that are easy to overlook.
Thank you dear Martha and John! I enjoyed listening to the podcast.It is very rich.
The point that you make that taking the relationship out of faith, that’s not faith at all.
As you both said, how the enemy wants to make it something cold….something logical…. Yes, something detached, ” you said it, and I should believe it, so I do” it is very independent… and it’s not faith after all, it’s an illusion only, therefore not pleasing to Him. How very tragic indeed.
Jesus challenged all belief in Himself, that is very relational and only relational. And they would not have that. They killed Him. They wanted an “it” something detached…and they failed to enter Faith, which is Him, which is Life. What a warning for us!
And how Martha said that she heard the Lord’s voice speak through John’s writing, and it became living to her. And that listening to God’s voice, His word to us is living, It’s life.
I am reminded of Hebrew 4:12 ” the word of God is living….” The word of God is the thought of God, and it is also the act of God. “He spoke and it was done…”
Heb 4:12 ( the Amplified) ” The Word of God is living…”
It is:
Active
Powerful
Sharper ( than the sharpest thing)
Penetrating
Dividing
Exposing
Judging
Wow! Nothing dead about this. It’s Life, it’s Life! The Word is Life! Oh Lord, how very desperately we need You! You alone are Life, we have nothing, nothing without You!
I join with you giving thanks to the Father for speaking to us in His Son, imparting Life into us, Himself!
Marsela! How wonderful is your bringing in Hebrews 4:12! By your deep listening you made it all the richer… thank you