Faith

You and I both know that faith is more than a feeling. It’s action. Steps. Moving forward. Progress.

Everyone has faith in something or someone. We place our faith in the vehicle we drive to work and the simple appliances that we use. It is truly amazing how many things that we place our faith in throughout our daily lives.

This year, my church’s theme is taken from two passages of Scripture, one in the Old Testament and one in the New. The first is Psalm 46:10 which says: “Be still and know that I am God.” This verse is especially applicable to those of us in ministry. If we do not know God well, we will struggle with trusting God fully and submitting ourselves to Him.

The Shunammite’s promised son had died, but his mother still believed God. Through Elisha this lady had been promised a son from the Lord, and she decided to believe God again when her child breathed his last breath.

To some degree, women deal with issues related to trust on a daily basis—can I trust the waiter who says I ordered the best thing on the restaurant menu? Can I trust the teacher who said my child is progressing socially? Can I trust my friend to keep my secret? Or can I trust my kids to have good manners when I’m not with them?

Recently, I read an article that used an ancient metaphor of a man that asked God to make him stronger in order to be more useful.

I’ll never forget my first roller-coaster ride. Neither will my sister, Michele—my unfortunate companion. Poor Michele. She, who even at ten years old loved roller-coasters, didn’t know that during our hour-long wait in line, my second thoughts were multiplying. This was my first roller-coaster, and I was beginning to think this wasn’t such a great idea. By the time we were being seated, I was truly afraid.

Lot had made his greedy choice. He and his flocks and family would move to the plain of Jordan. There was a nice spot that overlooked the city of Sodom. It was a bad choice—one of many. But it left his uncle Abram with some moving of his own to do. Where would he go? Were there any good spots left?

I asked the Lord to come into my heart at the age of fifteen in the fall of 1975. My family had been attending church for about four months, and the Holy Spirit had been convicting me of my sin.

For years, a small group of believers burdened for an independent Baptist church in the Oakland Bay Area prayed for a miracle.

When we are going through trials it is of great comfort to know that we are in the hold of Heaven. God’s grip of grace clings to us through the trials of life and leads us day by day.

Our world is filled with uncertainty, on any given day we awake to news regarding economic issues in places like Russia, China or some other major place in this world. Those issues cause the economies of the rest of the first world nations to shudder and shake. Add to that news a level of uncertainty regarding our nation’s economy because of our political leaders’ unwillingness to deal with the national debt.

There is a God in Heaven who knows where you are, what you’re grappling with and how much longer you can take it. David cried in Psalm 119:176, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.” God is coming after you dear friend!

I almost drowned once. It was at a friend’s birthday party, of all places. I think I was six. Thankfully, I was rescued, but I still remember that sense of helplessness as I was engulfed in the water and knew I couldn’t swim.

Faith is seldom developed in comfortable surroundings. As long as we maintain the familiar, predictable routines of life and ministry, we only maintain our faith. But when we choose to step outside our comfort zone—in obedience to the call of God—God increases our faith. And the further out we step, the more He increases it.

The theme for 2015 at Liberty Baptist Church is “I Believe God.” I am speaking to our church on different ways we can show others that we believe God—not just believe in God. I recently spoke on the subject of how we can believe God through prayer. I handed out the content of this blog to our church because I wanted them to see what a life of prayer can do. I hope that this will be a blessing to you.

In truth, we serve a God of miracles (hello, just read Luke 2), but our tendency when peering into the future is to predict it based on the rate of past progress. We pray desperately for God to do what we can’t, then we rise from our knees, look at the date the prayer request was first entered, and sigh. “Not gonna happen, at least anytime soon,” we feel, even if we don’t say.

Here’s a faith-building exercise: Take one of the miracles of the Bible—any miracle will do—and write a list of reasons why it couldn’t be done.

You know the traction-gaining tool for social media: hashtags. Whether it’s #WeAreN or #icebucketchallenge, people turn to hashtags to use their Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram posts to make a difference.

Every time I think I have it rough, the Lord causes me to think about Job. I am not sure there was another man who was tried to the breaking point like Job was.