Leon Fontaine - The Process of Faith
There's an interesting phrase in the Bible. This phrase is not understood by the church, not understood by the world. And because of the development of English and the way words mean different things. It is been lost to the church. You know, in the King James Bible, there is something like 80 words that no longer mean what they meant when it was interpreted. A simple example is charity. When you see in the King James, the word charity. It means love. The God kind of love. Well today, it simply means helping somebody out, being charitable. And so in the Bible, there is a reference to heart.
Now, it is so different than how you use the word heart. Today you use the word heart in two ways or maybe three. And that is your heart, physical heart. You might mean that I love somebody with my whole heart. You might look at a football player who is determined and say, "He's got heart". None of those are really what the Bible is referring to. And often as I have touched this subject in the past, people will think, "Well, yeah. I get it. I get it. I get it". And you don't get something until you can do it. You don't get it. You know, your mom can show you needle point and you can teach it. But if you don't do it, you don't get it until you can get it to work. As never before, this message is needed about dealing with your BS. All right? Dealing with your own BS because it's, BS stands for belief systems. Because your belief systems meaning of the heart, is what determines every outcome through every storm, through success. It determines that. And, you know, the heart is designed to do a couple of things that you've got to understand. When under attack, when you are facing storms. That these deep inner heart beliefs is what determines the outcome. For one, they will be utterly destroyed like Luke 6 says. And for the other, it says they cannot be shaken. It can't! And so there is no storm on the planet that Jesus has not overcome. But contrary to popular belief in the church world where He's got the whole world in His hands. And then all you got to do is nothing. If it happens, it's God's will. It's so ridiculous. But yet even brilliant people adhere to this teaching.
Now, there is things in the Bible that it says God is in control of, and the time frame on this planet. How this planet goes into the future. I'm not worried about asteroids or World War III because I've read it. And I've noticed that God is in control of the physical planet. And He is in control of many things in the solar system. One thing, He is absolutely not in control of is you and your decisions. And your decisions determine your future life. To not make a decision is a decision. To ignore the teachings of God's Word which are designed to make you wise in life and to make you sensitive to the voice of God who guides you in storms and in situations is there. So the heart determines how you handle storms. The heart also determines how you handle times of peace. During times of peace most people just get into a stagnant rot of maintaining.
And so in other life doesn't go, but God's designed you to build with the gifts and the wisdom and the favor of God. He's designed you to build and to be successful. So, and even during storms, by the way, that you will be growing. In fact, during times of storms when you believe, you will be growing faster than times of peace because storms have an ability of coming against you. Then the promise that you're believing comes into effect. That what the enemy has meant for harm, that God has turned around for good. So as you think this thing's going to blow you a thousand miles off course. God turns its result and it blows you a thousand miles further in your destiny. And so storms could get you there quicker depending upon heart beliefs. Not head beliefs, not your church's beliefs. Heart beliefs.
And so this is a crucial thing. That during times of peace, that you are building. During storms not only are you building. Nehemiah is a great book in the Bible that shares how they built. And it says that they built with a trowel in one hand grouting in the rocks and bricks, and in the other hand was a sword. So that people who attacked them would know that you're not coming against a passive little group of, "Oh, no. We're being attacked". And today one of our problems in the church is that many religious groups over the years have felt that the passivity of Christians is crucial. And they'll grab certain verses and teach on it. And what it has done has caused a church to rise up that has no ability to influence the world, doesn't even know how to fight and, so they'll fight wrong. They'll get, they'll get in fighting in the flesh, and we as a church need to understand how to rise up.
The Old Testament simply comes through the cross. It doesn't mean that we hold an actual sword today. It means that the wisdom of God's Word. How we pray which is prayers. The sword of the Spirit praying the Word. But it's also the wisdom of God upon you to take you through a political issues, healthcare issues, school issues, government issues. You prospering in a world that is hostile against getting big and it's for every, that this is where you and I need to have some of our beliefs changed. Some Christians, they think the only thing they should work on is morality, okay?
Now that, I'm not saying you shouldn't. But it's Jesus that gives you that ability. And if all you do for the rest of your life is know the Bible better, get to church, and your church attendance gets gold stars. But you don't use the giftedness that's been placed within you to rise up in politics, to rise up in areas of school education. Then you may as well drop this promise because it's not, it's not what you really believe. That we are the head and not the tail. Now the head of a dog makes all decisions. The tail doesn't make decisions. You know, one of my daughters has this dog. It is the most lovable, gorgeous dog. And it's got this long tail, and it's so powerful. That as it walks into the room, that tail if it hits you, it will leave a bruise. It's totally oblivious because it's licking us. And once in our lap, and it's a huge dog. The tail is not making the decisions, the head is.
And if the church is the head and not the tail and other promises say it is above and not beneath. It is saying that to the church has been commanded from God's Word. Rise up and lead. Lead with a sense of love and value. Lead with your selfishness gone. Lead in business. Lead in education. Lead in healthcare. Lead in politics. In a way that people are attracted to the love of God that flows through you. So if you are not rising up and building a life that has influence. Then you're missing the book. He's not looking at you and then say, "Okay, how many bad thoughts did Billy Bob have"? Only three today. He gets a bigger mansion in heaven. Oh, you know what, 4 years later he's down to one bad father day. Man, he's going to make heaven and just get so much reward. And then somebody else gives their life to Christ and they're still struggling with swearing in their thought life. And, but they just start sharing Jesus with their families, and with the people around them. And they never stop, and hundreds are coming to church. And thousands to begin to be affected. And they're still working on their stuff but they're finding an ability to get.
And you think, "Well, what does God want"? God wants you and I to fall in love with Jesus. And while we serve Him, to recognize He created you to be a success. People will say to me, "Well, you know, Leon, I got a real problem with the success message". Oh, I get it. There are selfish people who use that to abs, and I agree with that. But for every mile of road, there's two miles of ditch. So I'm not going to stay in the ditch on the poverty side because somebody in the ditch who's selfish and self-centered, on the other side gives it a bad name. I still need to fulfill the Word of God and live my life in a way that is a success. The Bible word is a success word. And the Bible says that you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
Now a lot of the church world believes that power is, "Well, you know, it's just a power to be redeemed. The power to be born again". Now that's a stunning miracle. But when you look up the word that was used there. It means power in finance, power in government, power in armies, power in morality to live morally. It literally means every area here. And it's the area that if you've been raised in a religious background, and you, now you see the changes up here. But you've not done the heart work. If you've not done the heart work for beliefs, then you are still being controlled by a deeper belief even though your head knows it's wrong. And here's something I want to get to all of you believers that have heard me teach on this, but still not been able to put it together, is that your head can know truth. But that your heart needs to be convinced. And that's two different process.
Now, the Word's very clear that you and I are to have dreams. In Acts chapter 2, it teaches us that when the Spirit of God comes upon us, that your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. The Spirit of God will be on your sons and your daughters. And it's talking about an inspiration to use your gifts and abilities in your unique time. All of us are called for such a time as this. We've got to recognize that we're called to rise up. One person talk to Jesus in Mark 9, and he said, "Help me! Do something. Help me! Do something". Which is the way most people pray. And in verse 23 Jesus said something astounding. He said to him, because he just said, "Jesus, help me. Jesus, do something. Jesus, it's up to you. Why won't you move? Why am I like this? Jesus, Jesus". In other words, you've got the whole world in your hands. Jesus turned to him and said, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes".
Now, it's not how much you believe. So that you are spending the rest of your life never getting the graph high enough. It's what you believe. And did you know that that man changed his beliefs within 30 seconds and received the miracle that he was seeking. So yes, to studying of Scripture is important. Yes, it's important to obey the Word and keep growing in it. But heart change isn't what, isn't you earning something. It isn't you striving for something. There're some kind of a fine tuning that many believers miss. In 1 Peter 5:8-9, listen close to this because the Bible talks about the devil as he not he isn't, he is as a roaring lion. So that means he doesn't have the qualities of a roaring lion. He acts like he is a roaring lion.
Now when, you've got to understand something. When the enemy is able to keep generations believing stupid beliefs, those beliefs roar at you. You know, a lion when it roars, it will just, oh, man. It's just petrifying. Everything scrambles. And when your heart beliefs speak up, they will keep you in fear or they'll raise you up into courage. Your heart beliefs will keep you literally in failure mode. They'll keep you oblivious. The Bible says they'll keep you asleep at the wheel of life while all this stuff happens to you. And what you have to understand, that if you can believe all things are possible. Now Jesus is teaching this man this and with what he knew, and with what the correction from Jesus was, there was a correction. Who I am? This man saw a miracle.
Now this lion of doubt and unbelief is always going to scream at you. I've met with people been to our church now for a while and they'll say, "I didn't know what peace was because I never had it. My family, I was raised up in fear. I was raised up in discouragement. I was raised up in critical things. I was raised up afraid of everything. As an adult I became that way, and the spirit of fear that harassed my family as a child has harassing me and my wife and now our kids". And they don't recognize that the enemy doesn't have to waste time on them because the present beliefs of the heart. Your brain can go up and down and learn all this stuff but until you get to the process of faith, which is heart changes, deep changes. And it doesn't take years if one man can do it in 30 seconds. It doesn't take years if God can train 12 disciples in 3 years to overcome the world. And if you want somebody steeped in religion, oh, man. It was, it was those men back then.
So there are people listening to me today, it's your beliefs that roar fear, roar insignificance, roar and make you feel weak, roar and make you give up. But now if you begin to allow the Word of God to change you. There's a verse that I love so much and I meditate on, first it says Matthew 16:19, "I give you the keys to the kingdom". Who's got the keys? You. Me. And he says, "Whatever you declare to be improper and unlawful on this earth must be what is already declared to be unlawful in heaven". So it shows us what the boundaries are to use this authority. And we must declare it. What we have been given the key, we're the one that can start up an area of your life. A key can start a car. A key can start a lawn tractor. The word key is powerful. It opens the door to prosperity. It can open a door to Pandora's box in your life.
So this heart, this inner part of you, it says you've got to guard it. You've got to keep it. Because what you believe at the heart level, and that is where you are usually unaware what you believe. You're aware of what you think, what you think and believe in the head. But most people are unaware of what the heart beliefs are because it comes from our parenting. It comes from our culture. It comes from years of religious indoctrination. And so Hebrews 4:12, this is what it says. "God's Word is alive and full of power". All right? It's active, energizing, effective. It's so sharp. It penetrates not just through physical things but it is able to penetrate the difference between soul, immortal spirit, and the joints and the bones of the body. And here's what it does. It judges the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.
Now you know the thoughts and the purposes of your head. But the thoughts and the purposes of the heart only God knows and He must reveal them to you. Or let's put it another way. You don't need inner healing and someone to tell you all your messed up heart beliefs. If you begin to meditate and study in God's Word, you begin to get a heart transplant. And the beliefs of Almighty God, He makes tremendous change.
Now, I like to study the Word and help renew my mind. But I found that in my times with God, that I'm asking Him, "Change my heart. Guide me in this". And as I meditate and spend time in His Word, it'll go in this most incredible way into my deep, deep, deep core. And that is where, by the way, my identity and my future is. It is the auto pilot of the plane of your life. And as the Word goes in there, it gives me an ability to grow in faith. And Jesus said, "According to your faith, it will be done to you". So then He's placed this in my court. That he died on the cross. He provides every promise. His grace is sufficient for anything that you deal with. But grace must be believed. God's, and grace is God's incredible favour. His incredible ability. It's a, your disposal in every area, if your life and your response is one of believing God's Word. And so I never stop taking the Word, getting it in my heart, speaking it out loud. All the things that we've covered so many times in the process of faith. But it's a process of heart faith.
One of the things that has destroyed the church a lot is when they begin to think that mental faith, which we've often called mental agreement. You mentally agree with the Word but you haven't seen it deep down into the very core of your being, this heart. And it's not your subconscious. It's a billion times more powerful than your subconscious. But psychologists they've learned a little bit about the subconscious. Not much. And they, but it kind of relates to it. But it's far beyond what doctors in psychology have ever been able to understand. The Bible is so clear. And if you would just make a decision today, that every day God's Word is so powerful and alive. And I need the thoughts of my heart. I need my motives. Holy Spirit. And I'm telling you, you just be, I can't put into words what's in my heart to tell you other than to say get connected to Jesus. And not as just fire insurance one day when you die. Get connected to Him and focus on Him.
And if you do, the transformation on the inside is so powerful that rather than the devil as a roaring lion where all your fears roar at you. All your insecurities roar at you. Anytime someone rises up around you and the fear, it just shows you what's in there. But instead you switch over to the lion of Judah which is talking about Jesus. Who is when you look at Him, not the cute guy in a dress, with flip flops, long brown hair, and big precious moments eyes going, "Peace. I love you". Go to the book of Revelations the first two chapters, and take a look at what Jesus looks like today. And let that Jesus, that Jesus that has conquered everything.
That's been given all authority, all power. He needs to flow through you and I. And it will transform you. It will transform your children. It will transform your grandchildren. The people around you to rise up with such courage and faith. That it's not you but it comes out of the very heart of your being and Holy Spirit. As a born again believer will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth. To be the head and not the tail. To be above and not beneath. To overcome in every way. He will be your rearguard. He will make a way where there is no way. On and on these promises go, but you need and I need to get it deep in our heart. If you're watching me right now somewhere or you're here with us. If you don't know this Jesus, then you need to simply right now. It says choose Him. Our choices are so crucial. Every day we make about two thousand choices and every one of them has a consequence or a blessing. The most crucial choice any human being will ever make is the choice to choose Jesus, to believe on Him. So right now if you'd like to do that, just say that. Say:
Jesus, I choose You. I choose You as my Lord and Saviour, and follow You the rest of my days. Guide me, lead me, and let me become the person You created me to be. In Jesus' name, amen.