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faith acts.
faith has actions.
if we believed what we believe in we would act upon it and do it.
faith obeys.
faith jumps.
sometimes we need to jump off the cliff only to discover that we will fly as God does the impossible and empowers us.
“The quest for His face is the ultimate quest. But to embrace the quest for the face of God, one must be ready to die. Thus, this quest is not a journey for the faint of heart. It is far too costly to pursue from mere curiosity”. Bill Johnson
But without faith no one can please God. We must believe that God is real and that he rewards everyone who searches for him. Hebrews 11:6
One thing I have desired of the LORD,That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple. Psalm 27:4
“The challenge is to make sure that faith remains faith even when we experience delay. We must not slip the car into neutral and begin to coast. We must keep the gear of faith fully engaged, especially when we encounter unexpected curves in the road”. Terry Virgo
oh that is good!
that is very very good…
for me i define faith as trusting God – simply believing that He is who He says He is, and that that can be trusted.
that is why reading the bible is SO important! how can you know the promises to stand on if you dont know the promises you can stand on?
God is God. good, all knowing, all wise, all powerful, all seeing, all good, all loving, compassionate, gracious, loving, good, glorious, powerful, radient, creative and so much more. there arent enough words in all the languages of the world to describe how awesome God is.
He is always at work in our lives.
He is at work refining and shaping us.
He is at work encouraging us.
He is at work teaching us.
He is at work leading and guiding us.
He is at work using us and demonstrating His love and grace through our lives.
faith says we will trust God in all situations and at all times and trust that He is good and God and at work. it leaves our lives in His loving hands. it believes that He is at work exprsesing His love and grace and power in all situations.
faith allows for hard times and difficult situations because it trusts that God is with us and will never lead us and also trusts that God is working because He has said he will refine us and test our faith and make it stronger and faithful.
faith doesnt look AT the circumstance but at the Lord of Lords and King of Kings who is always on the throne and is the mighty creator of the universe and our Heavenly Father.
faith keeps driving.
the truth of God sets us free from our sins and our fears – and fear is rooted in the lies we tell ourselves – we do not need to be afraid of people, we do not need to be afraid of pain/loss/evil, we do not need to be afraid of death. these are rooted in the lies that God is not with us and not almighty God and not at work with purpose. if we confront the lies with the truth of the Word of God and who God is then we will walk in freedom from fear! God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind! We need to be people that have FAITH not fear. Faith is trust in God, that God will protect us, that GOd is at work, that God is in control, that God is Lord of our life. Dont live in fear. Dont let fear restrict. Live in freedom!
Proverbs 29:25
The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe.
Psalm 23:4
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 27
A Psalm of David.
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When the wicked came against me
To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and foes,
They stumbled and fell.
3 Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.
2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Hebrews 13:6
So we may boldly say: “ The LORD is my helper;I will not fear.What can man do to me?”
Matthew 10:31
Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
About this time the disciples came to Jesus and asked him who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus called a child over and had the child stand near him. Then he said: I promise you this. If you don’t change and become like a child, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. But if you are as humble as this child, you are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And when you welcome one of these children because of me, you welcome me. Matthew 18:1-5
what are the qualifications of the greatest?
what works do the greatest do?
what feats and wonders and talents do the greatest do?
you can just see the disciples standing around together, staunch, boasting about who will be the greatset and what they will do to get the prize….
does Jesus encourage them to be men of faith and power?
no he says:
BE LIKE CHILDREN
children just want to BE with the ones they love. they love generously. they delight in relationship and with-ness. they trust with no reservations. they believe what you say and they enjoy people and friendship.
BE LIKE CHILDREN
BE LIKE A CHILD
BE LIKE A CHILD WHEN YOU’RE IN RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
love generously
delight in relationship
trust unreservedly
enjoy the Lord!
its not about works and wonders. its about relationship and trust.
“God created the world out of nothing, and so long as we are nothing.
He can make something out of us.”
– Martin Luther –
it always amazes me that God CHOOSES to use us – his creation – humanity – frail and flawed as we are to demonstrate his love and grace and to spread his message of salvation and good news! yet in us yeilding to his will and his plan – in us surrendering our desires and ways and taking up our cross and following him – his power and his nature is revealed. God gives life. He gives eternal life. He gives life in this time we live and breath in. He gives us hope and purpose and peace and ecnoruagement and courage. He heals our brokenness and strengthens us when we fall. He forgives us and dwells within us. Amazing. Wow.
of myself i know i am no one special. just a girl. just a person. just a mum. just a justa… but i know that with God within me and him speaking to me and through me i am his vessel for him to shine through. he is making in my life something unique and amazing – even i stand back in awe at what he is doing in my life!
i was blind, but now i see.
i was broken, but now i am healed.
i was a sinner, now i am saved.
i was even shyish and now i want to stand up on the highest hill and declare the great things that God has done.
God has taken this lump of clay and shaped it and transformed it and put it in the firey kiln and created, if i may honour him so, something for his glory.
i pray that i continue to be transformed and used.
you hold my whole world in your hands…
“Faith is the heroic effort of your life. You fling yourself in reckless confidence on God. God has ventured all in Jesus Christ to save us. Now he wants us to venture our all in a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering….Again and again, you will get up to what Jesus Christ wants, and every time, you turn back when it comes to that point until you abandon resolutely….Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold by common sense–and leap into what He says….Christ demands of the man who trust Him the same reckless spirit….that is daring enough to step out of the crowd and bank his faith on the character of God.”
– Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest –
Luke 18:1-8 Jesus told his disciples a story about how they should keep on praying and never give up:
In a town there was once a judge who didn’t fear God or care about people. In that same town there was a widow who kept going to the judge and saying, “Make sure that I get fair treatment in court.” For a while the judge refused to do anything. Finally, he said to himself, “Even though I don’t fear God or care about people, I will help this widow because she keeps on bothering me. If I don’t help her, she will wear me out.” The Lord said: Think about what that crooked judge said. Won’t God protect his chosen ones who pray to him day and night? Won’t he be concerned for them? He will surely hurry and help them. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find on this earth anyone with faith?
Parable of the persistent widow
So lets break it down… The story is about a woman, whose husband died – she was a widow – and was done some injustice and so goes to court to sort the stuff out.
Anyway she gets this judge, who doesn’t care about God and doesn’t really care about what people think about him either. He didn’t care about his reputation and didn’t care about his character. In commentaries he is often called the UNJUST JUDGE…. Really not the type of judge you want to go up for justice to see….
Now the widow had a strategy and some determination.
“its not the size of the dog in the fight
but the size of the fight in the dog.”
This woman may of being a widow – implication being that she was weak and powerless and downtrodden and grief stricken and alone and unprotected…
But she had a big fight on the inside and she was not going to give up.
She kept on going and seeing that judge and presenting her case until he got to the point where he said ENOUGH!
“Even though I don’t fear God or care about people, I will help this widow because she keeps on bothering me. If I don’t help her, she will wear me out.”
The widow had FAITH in the judge that he would grant her justice if she persisted.
Now lets make one thing real clear…. The judge is NOT God
Who do we have faith in?
God
The parable is comparing the VAST DIFFERNCE between the unjust judge and our God.
It says in verse 7:
Won’t God protect his chosen ones who pray to him day and night? Won’t he be concerned for them? He will surely hurry and help them. CEV
And shall not God avenge His own elect who cry day and night to Him. I say to you that He will avenge them speedily. NKJV
Sometimes I think we put God in the same box as the judge. Uncaring. Unlistening. Unjust. God is a just judge. He has compassion on us and loves us. He knows the number of hairs on your head and the number of hairs on your toes. He hears your every thought. His every thought towards you is more numerous than the sands on all the beaches of the world. His love for you is everlasting and he gave his son to pay the penalty of our sin so that we can know him and be called his children. he is the same today as he was yesterday and will be tomorrow. His word is truth and alive. He holds the universe in the palm of his hand and everything together with his word. Our name is engraved on the palm of his hand.
How do you see God? Who is God to you? How do you see him spending “his days?”
Is he sitting up in heaven twiddling his thumbs and making cheese toasties?
NO!
Romans 8:31-32 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Truly He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
God is personal. Near. With us. Close.
Okay what about all the times it seems that God is not answering our prayers?
There are times when it seems God is not answering our prayers, let alone listening….
Sometimes we go through hard times and it seems that nothing is working and God has taken a vacation to fiji or is in quarantine with the swine flu… right?
Does he not see? Does he not know? Of course he does! Of course he knows! And of course he is doing something about it all…. Which may include using it to transform us and shape us and refine us and all that behind the scenes stuff that on paper we say yes to but in real life hurts like spit.
Back in the days, when Israel just crossed over the Jordan and was taking over the land God kept some of the bad guys in the land so that the Israelites would learn war – and learn faith in him.
Judges 3:1 And the LORD had another reason for letting these enemies stay. The Israelites needed to learn how to fight in war, just as their ancestors had done. Each new generation would have to learn by fighting CEV
He kept them there to teach the Israelites how to fight and stand and have faith and overcome.
He was always teaching. He was transforming them.
Just like he is with us.
Where is God in the hard times?
With us
Teaching us
Shaping us
Refining us.
Transforming us.
Romans 8:30 For whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son.
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God.
Even Miley Cyrus gets that (and I’m NOT trying to be cool and relevant here…) but as I was writing this miley cyrus came on tv and was singing a song about “keeping the faith, its all about the climb” and I was good on ya girl. That is so true…. Its all about the climb. Its all about the journey. Its all about learning and growing and faith and trust.
In the hard times God has given us each other. Serious! We are ment to be like family, encouraging each other, giving practical support, helping. Nothing any of us face needs to be faced alone.
Faith in God is not about gritting your teeth and bearing it. Its not about faking it till you make it. its not about a cliché. Its not about happy happy joy joy on the outside but pain and worry on the inside.
God is real and his help is real and his support is real and his solutions are real.
Remember….
He has compassion on us and loves us. He knows the number of hairs on your head and the number of hairs on your toes. He hears your every thought. His every thought towards you is more numerous than the sands on all the beaches of the world. His love for you is everlasting. He is the same today as he was yesterday and will be tomorrow. His word is truth and alive. Our name is engraved on the palm of his hand.
In the hard times we need to remember who God is. This gives us faith. This keeps us going. This keeps us putting one foot in front of the other and saying Yes God – I trust in you.
This is how we’ve been really learning and living this message in our lives…
The widow in this parable was going through a hard time. Her husband was dead. She was alone and struggling. Without the judges intervention things were just going to get worse. Her situation was hard. She kept on persevering and bringing her case to the judge though. She didn’t give up.
It is a challenge to have faith. Life is hard. Things happen. But remember WHO your faith is in. Does he not seem big enough to work it out? To know what is going on? And to walk with you through the hard time, making good come out of it.
The purpose of this parable, the purpose of what Jesus says here is to encourage us to have faith, to press in, to believe in God, to trust him – to pray and NOT GIVE UP.
We need to be people who will dare to trust God!
We need to be people who will dare to have faith!
Nothing is impossible for the Lord!
He created the universe.
He laid the foundations of the world.
He breathed out he stars.
That circumstance in your life that you are worried about is not impossible to God!
Your future is not impossible for God to work in and work out!
Your past is not impossible for God because we know that he forgives us of all sin and that he then uses all things and turns them for good and for glory and his plans and purposes.
Your today is not impossible for God.
Your past is not impossible for God.
Your tomorrow is not impossible for God.
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD!
Never give up.
Never give up.
Never give up.
Keep having faith. Keep trusting. Keep standing.
“This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” Winston Churchill – wartime prime minister who led Britain to victory in World War Two.
The word believe means more than just intellectual faith, because the Bible says, ‘The devils also believe.’ The devil is a fundamentalist, and he is orthodox. He believes in Christ. He believes in the Bible. Intellectually, he believes in the dogma. He believes in the creeds. But the devil has never been saved and he is not going to heaven. You may be able to recite theology, but I tell you that is not enough. Billy Graham
go and read more on what “faith” and “belief” really are at Tough Questions Answered Blog
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