Faith... yeah, I struggle too...

Faith is a tricky thing. In the lives of all Christians there comes a point in time where we really want something badly. So we close our eyes, clench our hands together and we pray with all the fervor we can muster… and then? Nothing happens.

We cycle through this again and again, and then we resign ourselves to the fact that we have faith that God exists… and somehow, that is enough.

But the question that I always ask is: “What do you have faith in?”

Abraham had faith that God told him he would be a father of many nations. Even when he was old, and his wife was barren, he held on to that promise and as a result – we all benefit from that promise.

God told Joshua that he would give the people the city of Jericho and all they had to do was march around the walls. They did, and the walls fell.

God told Elijah that it wasn’t going to rain and to go to a brook called Cherith where God sustained him.

Jesus told Peter that he could walk on water… and he did! … until he had a lapse of faith.

Jesus put clay on one man’s eyes and told him to wash his face in the pool of Siloam, he did and received his sight.

I could go on with many more accounts, but the way I read it in the Bible, we’re supposed to have faith in what God tells us – what he assigns us to do as we have fellowship in him through grace and empowered by his Holy Spirit.

He wants to set us right with him… make us fit for him… follow HIS plans… and in order to do that, we must listen to his voice and have faith that we will accomplish what HE wills for us.

Romans 5

 1-2By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

 3-5There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!