We often would develop silly tricks together, as in the picture to the left. Look at the larger version of the picture at the top of the page and notice the face of this child. It is the face of total joy - and absolute security and trust. That child loves to be secure in the strength and love of his fathers hands. That's how every child should feel. When the norm for a child is the secure love of a caring dad, as seen in this picture, confidence to achieve is the norm as well. That confidence built from infancy can last a lifetime.

There are a lot of places I could take this story right now. We could lament how sad it is that so many children don't have a dad in their lives now-a-days. We could tell dads that the play they like to do with their kids is not just nonsense, but is actually vital to the development of their child. We could encourage dads to be active in their children's lives, and encourage moms to let them. Each of these is an important message to think about.

However, this message is about our Father in heaven, and how secure we are in our Father's loving hands. From that foundation of love and security we can live joyful, confident lives. Amen?

What we are talking about here is the most natural thing in the world - faith. Many times, when people talk about faith they are really talking about a sort of blind hope. An act of simply willing our desires to somehow come true, for no other reason than that we "believe" in them. This willful wishing has been dubbed "the Secret" by Hollywood. This is the stuff of Disney movies - not real life. In real life, if your faith is not grounded in the reality of your Father's love, it is not really faith at all. Such "faith" is no more solid than a cloud or a puff of smoke. It WILL fail you when you need real faith to stand on.

Look at the picture. That kid has faith! Faith in his father's love and strength. There is not the slightest doubt in that child's mind that his father might fail him and let him fall. Knowing how secure a foundation he has, he is free to achieve! Is this child's faith based on himself or on something more solid than himself? More real and strong than himself? His faith is based on a RELATIONSHIP with his father, whom he knows will not let him down. Faith is the most natural thing in the world, since it is based in something real.

Listen. Messiah showed us this is exactly why we have the Torah. The Torah sets forth our Covenant with our Father. This defines the parameters of our relationship with Him. That covenant is a foundation for our lives, being full of promises from our Father, guaranteeing the many ways in which He says He will bless us and meet our many needs.

Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: the blessing,  if you shall listen to the commandments of YHWH your Elohim, which I command you this day; and the curse, if you shall not listen to the commandments of YHWH your Elohim, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which you have not known." - Deuteronomy 11:26-28

“Remember the Torah of Moses my servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances." Malachi 4:4

That covenant - that solid relationship - is something our Father has bound Himself to on the strength of His own great Name and reputation. He even sealed the deal by giving us His own precious Son. With so solid a foundation, why would we ever doubt?

Unbelief is a sin against our Father. When we will not believe we are saying our Father is not trustworthy. We are saying we can't be sure that He will keep His word. We are saying that His love for us is defective. We are saying we will ignore Him and do things our own way. Is that any way to speak to your Father?

Unbelief is our single biggest problem, and the reason why we fail.

Yeshua said.., “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Mark 9:23

Do you believe that? Think about it.

In Mark 9 Messiah teaches us a lot about unbelief and a lot about faith. You need this. We all do.

Join us tonight at 8 PM CST at Tsiyon.Net for our online meeting. Get Messiah's perspective to build up your faith.

Eliyahu ben David
Tsiyon.Org