July 26, 2010 Bridge Over the Chasm of Doubt

I often have to be reminded of what I already know.  Although I may feel ashamed for having "forgotten" something I had revelation on, and really felt I understood, I am grateful for the prodding I get from the Holy Spirit.  He gently reminds me, and somehow gets across His desire that I do what He's saying.

Today He used this passage to do that kind of prodding with me:
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):  that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” Romans 10:8-11 NKJV

I'm not suggesting that I used to be saved but now I'm backslidden and need to be reinstated.  No, there's more to salvation than becoming born-again.  We tend to use the term "backslidden" to mean "become unsaved," and that's a debatable concept anyway.  Just because I might get close to a slippery slope of sin doesn't mean I've lost my salvation!  But that's not what I'm talking about here.  What I mean is: I'm not walking in total salvation because I forget to cross the bridge from believing to overcoming.  What is that bridge anyway?  We see the chasm, if we're honest, but we can't see the bridge.

Perhaps we don't see the bridge because whenever we reach that chasm, there is no bridge.  We are put in the position of having to build it.  We build the bridge over the chasm of doubt by speaking the word of truth that we believe and walking on it until we reach the actuality of our faith.

I'll use myself as an example.  Through faith in Christ, I've overcome many obstacles in my life.  Depression is one of them.  Even though I was a born-again child of God, I still had chronic depression and bouts of severe and debillitating depression-- as I had suffered throughout my life-- until the last several years, where it has diminshed to only an occasional temptation.  Quite a process and lots of help from others helped me understand how to overcome the depression.  But I had to overcome it myself by walking on the bridge over the chasm of doubt. 

All the Word and faith about who I was in Christ, His love for me, His purposes in my life,  knowledge of the fruit of the Spirit, etc., wasn't going to defeat the darkness of depression if that truth stayed locked inside my heart.  Only by speaking out loud the truth I believed in my heart, and walking upon the bridge it created, would I be able to exit the gross darkness I lived in and into God's glorious light.  Declaring what I believed inside my born-again heart was the only thing that could dispel the lying reality that colored my mental and physical existence.  Every time I did this, I was able to take another step into freedom from depression.  Believing alone could not do it; faith demands action, and speaking is the first action we take.

Sometimes our cultural adages steer us away from believing the word of God.  All our life we hear "actions speak louder than words," and so we believe we don't have to speak, only act.  This is like saying "the car engine revving is louder than the turn of the key."  Well, of course it is, but try getting the engine to rev without turning the key in the ignition switch!  And just because the engine is revving doesn't mean we're getting anywhere.  We do have to shift gears, release the brake, and put our foot on the gas.  Our declared words of faith are like the key that gets it all going.

I'm saying all this to help you, as well as myself, so we can get our heart beliefs out where they can activate our salvation.  I'm believing God for healing and restructuring of some physical problems that are hindering my life progress.  The things I'm wanting to receive from God are stated clearly in the Word-- they are not gray or cloudy.  I have complete faith in their truth, and in God's will for me.  So why am I not getting saved in those areas?  Because I forget to declare the truth out of my mouth.  I forget to put the key into the ignition and turn it.  I forget to build the bridge and walk on it.

Understanding and practicing this concept can save us a lot of frustration, disappointment, shame and even anger with God.  The above Scripture tips us off as to how to get saved, and keep on getting saved.  We believed the truth, and we confessed our faith when we were born again.  We have to keep practicing that to get to where we're walking in all that Christ bought for us by His death and resurrection.  Christ is the Word, and He is the Salvation.  We unveil Him once again in our lives at every point of decision whenever we speak the truth we heard and believed.

What hinders you from confessing your faith?  Ask the Lord to show you the things that keep you from speaking the word that's in your heart, so that you can walk on the bridge of faith until you own salvation in that area of your life.