Got Faith?

Have you seen the ads for weight loss products that picture a person in before and after photos? They always tell of a significant amount of weight that was lost IN ONLY SIX WEEKS! Then in small print under the photos, it says, “results not typical.” By looking at the photos, we’re made to hope for the same results, but no actual guarantee is given. It’s a faith gamble.

Thankfully, we know that faith in God is not a gamble. Everything needed for our redemption has been provided by God. He draws us to Jesus and even gives us the faith to believe.

John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.

Romans 12:3 says that God has given everyone a measure of faith.

According to my dictionary, faith is believing without proof; trust. Having faith – believing without proof – is essential to our relationship with God. In fact, it is how we begin our relationship with God.

Mark 1:15 Repent and believe the Good News.

John 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

John 20:31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Romans 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. The rest of Heb. 11 gives us before and after pictures of men and women of faith who believed God for impossible things and saw God come through in miraculous ways. The before pictures looked like hopeless situations: Abraham and Sarah were too old to have children; Jacob deceived his father and stole his brother’s birthright; Joseph was sold as a slave; Moses fled Egypt after killing a man; Gideon was found hiding in a winepress; David was only a shepherd…You remember how each of these accounts turns out with an incredible after picture. These stories inspire us to believe God for miracles and God says that He does not show favoritism!

How awesome to think that God is willing to meet all of our needs and use us for His glory. However, sometimes we get hung up on what the picture of God meeting a particular need in our lives should look like. You know what I mean – we try to tell God where, when, who, how… to take care of us. We remind God of what he has done for someone else and tell Him that we’ll take the same deal. We have faith for what God can do, but we don’t always want to trust Him to do it the way that He knows is best.

Back to my dictionary –Trust means – firm belief in the honesty, truthfulness, justice, or power of a person or thing.

Our closest relationships are built on trust. We trust our spouse, our family, and our closest friends to keep our best interests at heart in everything. How much more should we trust God! Beyond redemption, the Bible is full of promises not only that God will take care of us, but also that He doesn’t leave us to our own devices.

Phil. 1:6 Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “ plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Proverbs 20:21 Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

If you really think about it, we each have a unique before picture, so how can the path to our after picture be anything less than unique?

Heb. 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

Written by Donna Ables

Tags: christian living, Encouragement, faith, inspiration, Love, trust, trusting God

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