March 2010

Heb 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Faith is difficult; difficult to understand and difficult to walk in.  Faith is having confidence that the things you hope for are going to happen.  But faith should never be blind.  Faith grows when practice, prayer and the promise of God intersect.

When we read the Bible and see all the miracles God has done and read the promises He has made, we begin to see that God is capable.  God can change any situation; whether it’s water into wine or the wise men’s return trip to the Far East, God is capable.  I have found that most people believe that God is capable.  However when it comes to having faith that God will work a challenging personal situation into a good thing, people often say it, but they don’t wait for it and if they won’t wait for it are they being people of faith?

In Hebrews chapter eleven, we read a long list of names of people who demonstrated their faith, each one having suffered in order to advance in faith.  By faith, Abel offered a better sacrifice and was killed because of it.  By faith, Noah built the ark and then watched his neighbors drown.  By faith Abraham left his home and went to a place no one in his family had ever been.  By faith, Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt and by faith, he led them for forty years wandering lost in the desert even though with a map they could have easily made the journey in four weeks.  By faith, the soldiers shouted down the walls of Jericho, but they still had to fight a battle after the walls fell.   When a believer walks in faith they are not walking apart from adversity, they are walking through and beyond it.

This is why quitting is never an act of faith.  By faith, we believe the situation we are in is going to work out for good.  “And without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb 11:6).   It requires little faith to trust God when things are going our way and it requires great faith to trust God when things are going against us. 

A timeless quote that applies to faith is, “God promises a safe landing, not a clam passage.”  Our faith in God allows us to live with confidence knowing that He is always at work in our life.  When we keep in mind that “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28), we are able to relax in the most difficult and complex situations.

By keeping our focus squarely on the Lord during the storms of life, we can host an unbreakable attitude.  Read what Romans 8:31-39 says, ““What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.  Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:   "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.””

My daughter used to have a poster on her bedroom wall.  A picture of a beautiful ship and a caption that read, “Ships are safe in the harbor, but that’s not what they were built for.”  We are safe when life is smooth and times are good.  Those are beautiful and blessed days.  But we are also blessed during the hard times, because we have hope and faith in the God who can carry us.  After all, we were built to be carried by God!

Kneeling beside you,

Pastor David