S2E14 — How Do You Use Your Faith?

Video link: https://youtu.be/MY4j7JIrGE4

Opening: Welcome to another installment of Almost Ordained. I am your host, David, the guy who went to seminary but never got ordained.

0:12 The Televangelist

When I was twelve years old, I discovered the phenomenon known as the televangelist. What fascinated me most about them was how they spoke to God, and God answered! I mean, according to them, they had regular conversations with God. I wanted that. Here’s an example. I don’t remember how it started, but according to my favorite televangelist at the time, the conversation turned to him asking if he could do anything that would give God joy.

God said, “Use your faith. I get more joy out of that than anything.”

Then he turns to the audience and says, “Well, doesn’t the Bible say, ‘Without faith, it is impossible to please God’? So using our faith must please God.” I said, ‘Okay, what do you want me to believe for?’ And he started naming off some things that I wanted, but I didn’t ask for because quite frankly, they looked too big for me. But since it was God telling me this, I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll go for that.’

“God said, ‘I’ve been wanting to give you that.’

“I found out my Father in heaven had been wanting to give me a lot of things, but I was too irresponsible for them. Just like my father on earth, he’d wanted to give me a motorcycle for a long time, but he knew if he did, I would drive it off a cliff or something stupid like that.”

That was a very bad impression. I apologize for that. And I didn’t mean for it to sound mocking. Because at the time this did make sense to me.

But it ended with him talking about driving his motorcycle off a cliff. I don’t know if he meant that literally, but he has said in his testimony he was really a wild child before he got saved. So giving him a motorcycle probably would have been dangerous.

Isn’t this a beautiful testimony? He used to be a wild child, dangerous to himself and others. But since he met the LORD, he’s calmed down, and he has this wonderful relationship with his father on earth, and his father in Heaven, where he not only talks to God, but he hears God speak to him. And he found out God is not this cosmic killjoy who doesn’t want him to have any fun. God is this loving Father who wants to give him nice things that will make him happy. And God wants…