Feed Your Faith . . . Feed it!

Some years ago, Lorraine and I saw a certain commercial on television repeatedly. It was for lawn care . . . fertilizer, I guess. The spokesman was a Scottish fellow with bright red hair and beard. At the end of the commercial, he put his face down next to the grass and said, “Feed the lawn! Feed it!” with a heavy Scottish accent.

We thought it was funny. We would mimic him and laugh.

However, the point of the commercial was that if you want a healthy, lush lawn, you need to give it the right food.

The same is true of your faith. If you want a healthy, strong faith you need to give it the right food. Psychology says the human mind is wired, so that it is six times more likely to believe the negative than the positive.

It is the result of the fall. It has to be.

It is much easier to be a negative person than a positive one. Griping and complaining to most people comes easily. If you are a born again Christian, Satan is busy hurling negative thoughts at you, because he doesn’t want you to grow in Christ. You could become dangerous to him.

To be a positive person takes effort. Society as a whole is largely negative, and you live in it.

The news media overall is negative. Most of social media is negative.

When you visit a restaurant, listen to the people around you. Usually, the conversation is more negative than positive.

So, if you are going to be a positive person, it will take some effort. You have to swim upstream. You have to shake off the continual negative influences all around you and feed your mind with the positive. You have to create your own atmosphere. It starts with your mind.

How do you get your mind on the right path?

It’s not just one thing. It’s a lifestyle.

So, what feeds into your lifestyle? A whole bunch of things, but if you were to boil it down, it’s two things . . . sight and sound, what you see and what you hear.

I don’t know what the average number of hours is for screen time now, for the average person, but it’s a lot. Screen time, television and social media. This is now the main source of information in the American culture. So, what you take in through screen time is likely going to shape your beliefs, attitudes and character, more than any other influence. We’ve already established that American media is more negative than positive.

So how are you going to build your faith if you are taking in huge amounts of negative information?

Good question. Maybe you need to adjust your lifestyle.

So, if you are going to take in large amounts of negative information, to keep your faith alive and feed it, you will need to take in more positive substance than negative.

It was Billy Graham’s practice to rise at 7 a.m. The first thing he did was read five Psalms and a Proverb. He said the Psalms taught him how to relate to God, and the Proverb taught him how to relate to man.

Then he ate breakfast and showered. Then he read all the major newspapers.

You see what he did? The news is mostly negative, but before he read the news, he read five Psalms and a Proverb. Obviously, he was able to keep a positive frame of mind and his accomplishments were vast. He kept God first and the world second.

In your battle to feed your faith, let me refer you to Psalm 1. Verses 1-3 say it all. If you will follow this roadmap, you will, by your lifestyle, feed your faith.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night.

He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. Two directives stand out: 1) Don’t hang around with the wrong people, and 2) immerse yourself in the Word of God.

A few years ago, I was acquainted with a young man who excelled in network marketing. He became the CEO of the company. In a speech, he said this: “You will become the sum total of your five best friends.”

Your best friends will have tremendous influence on you. If they are negative people, they will drag you down.

Lorraine and I have people all over the United States who we have developed relationships with. I try to keep up with them as much as possible. Last week I was on the phone with one of them for about 35 minutes. After the conversation, I was troubled and frustrated, at the views he kept spewing out. Finally, the Lord said to me, “Don’t call him anymore.”

As I sifted through the conversation we had, I realized two things: 1) He thinks he knows it all; though he is a baby Christian, he was talking down to me, and he didn’t listen very well, when I spoke. A “know it all” is unteachable, so I can’t help him until God breaks down his pride. 2) He continues to speak bad things for the nation.  

I won’t listen to such garbage. God has good things in store for America, and we are responsible to pray accordingly.

The second part of the equation in Psalms 1 is “Feed on the Word of God! Feed on the Word of God! Feed on the Word of God!

John 1 says that Jesus and the Word of God are one and the same. When you feed on the Word of God you are taking in Jesus!

Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the Word of God is living and powerful . . . “

The Word of God is alive.

The Bible is not just a book.

It is living!

It is alive!

So, in a nutshell, this is how you feed your faith: Limit the negative information you take in, be careful who you hang around with, and

Read the Word! Read the Word! Read the Word!

READ IT!

What’s Happening?

I have a procedure on my prostate scheduled for Wednesday, September 2 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. There is no cancer! The issue is my prostate is four times the size it should be. Actually, I was told it is about the same size of a grapefruit. There is no medical explanation or reason for the size. It just is that large.

The size of my prostate has created an issue for me to be able to urinate. I will be having a procedure done in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The urologist will be removing some of the mass out of the center of the prostate. This will take the pressure off the urinary tract. It is a pretty risk-free operation. I will be there in the hospital for a couple days. Lorraine will be staying in a hotel on the location of the hospital.

There is a reason we are doing it in Sioux Falls. It is the best option. Space will not allow me to explain all the details but mostly a combination of finding a medical facility that had the equipment to do the procedure and insurance qualifications.

We plan to be able to do the following Sunday service. We appreciate your prayers. This has been a battle that we have dealt with for about two months and are happy that we are now getting something done to help me be well again so we can continue to move forward with the work the Lord has put before us.

In His Service,

George and Lorraine Halama

Photograph designed and taken by Lorraine