Journey of Prayer - Day 35
Now faith is the assurance of the things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
Several years ago I heard Pastor Steven Furtick say, "The opposite of faith is not fear. The opposite of faith is certainty." I'd never heard this explanation before, but it makes so much sense to me. When things are certain, I don't need faith. When the road ahead looks foggy, questionable, and very uncertain, I'm forced to depend on God. That's faith! Without it, it's impossible to please God.
It's so interesting that it's time for me to write and this is our focus. I had such an interesting weekend with the Lord. My emotions took over. Honestly, I was a wreck, and I couldn't really figure out why. I was questioning God concerning a number of different situations. On Monday morning, I laid it all out before God, wrote in my journal, and cried a lot. In the midst of all of this emotion, I realized that I'm gripped with fear (maybe terror) in many areas.
This was eye-opening and frustrating to me. I've always felt that I'm full of faith. When I share my testimony, I share with complete honesty that I've trusted the Lord all of my life. I don't know a time that I've not known Jesus. I've been through some stuff, and I've been able to hold onto faith through all of it. In fact, in His infinite mercy God has built my faith in and through the struggle.
All of a sudden, I realized that I'm afraid of nearly everything right now; provision in a new path, relationship with a graduating senior, marriage struggles that never seem to end, betrayal.... again, safety and protection for our children, making mistakes in things that matter most, preparing our children for their next..... This list could go on and on. In the end, I realized that I'm scared to trust that God will work for good in all of these situations, because "what if He doesn't."
Right in the middle of this crisis of belief moment, my daughter shared a song with me. She heard it a couple of years ago. But, on Monday morning she remembered the song and wanted to listen again. I'm going to provide the link below, and I hope it blesses you.
See, I believe Hebrews 11 is filled with stories of characters just like me and probably just like you. I'll bet they had freak out moments like I had this week. I bet they were terrified of many things in their lives, too. Maybe they even lost hope in God momentarily as well. They didn't stay there, though. They kept moving forward with God.
The perseverance that Chris mentioned is sustained in and through Jesus Christ. With His Holy Spirit living in us we get to choose to stay stuck in hopelessness and unbelief OR to get up and move. If there's an area of your life where you feel stuck, persevere in prayer today. Ask God to show up in a way that strengthens your faith. I am trusting that He will care for you just as specifically as He cared for me on Monday morning. He's so, so good at that. :)
For further reading: 1 Samuel 12:24; Hebrews 11
Rewarder of Faith, I have to begin with thanksgiving. Thank you for restoring my faith this week. Maybe You've even strengthened it. My prayer today is simple. Bind the enemy and open our minds and hearts to SEE that you are working. I believe You always are. We can be blind to it, though. Today, we need more and more faith. We want to persevere to the very end, and we know we can't do it alone. Show us more of Yourself.
