Faith
I think we all have faith, but the question is what am I putting my faith in? While the answer to this question should not waiver, the truth is that I am constantly being gently reminded by the Lord to trust Him. If only I could have child like faith. Recently, I was feeling settled in certain areas of my life. I was in a good rhythm and things appeared to be under control, but then I got a phone call and my perception of reality changed. My once peaceful soul now felt sick. I thought, here we go again. Can you relate? Just when things started going well, it feels like the bottom falls out. For many of us this is the rhythm of life. The prophets in the Bible, the ones we view as walking close with the Lord, even had hard times. In fact, many of them had harder times than we will ever experience, yet their faith rarely waivered. I believe they had the ability to identify times when the Lord was allowing them to walk through trials to refine them and build their character. Let’s call it a divine unsettling. In 2Corinthians 1:4 “He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” I believe that with all my heart. Walking through the hard will broaden our view and often changes the vantage point that we look at things from. It allows us to be relatable to others walking through “the hard.”
If we look in Ephesians, Paul is writing a letter “To the Saints” or “the faithful in Christ.” Here he is intending his letter to get to those who already believe. Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Did you catch all that? I didn’t the first few times, so I had to go back and read it in parts. To break it down, Paul is encouraging and reminding all believers that they can do more than they ever thought possible with the Holy Spirit. If you just pause and really think about that, it is pretty remarkable! The beauty in all this is that anyone who believes that Christ died on the cross to save our sins can have this same blessing of the Holy Spirit. Peter tells us this in Acts 10:24 and through all of Acts 11. Here is one place that makes it clear that through faith all who believe will have the Holy Spirit given by God. So, sisters my prayer is that we walk fully with faith, trusting and receiving all that God has. If we fully live in this place at all times, then there is nothing that can harm our minds or souls. In this place is unspeakable joy and freedom.
Lord help us to trust you through the good times and in the hard times. Strengthen our faith so that we do not waiver. We want to trust you. Cultivate in us an unquenchable desire to want to abide with you. Be with us as we go throughout our days. In your name I pray, Amen.