JabberJuls

Lately, I’ve been pondering the reality of what True Faith in God is. I’m finding it’s extremely difficult for people to understand someone that has real Faith in God. Why is that such a difficult concept for people? Is it lack of Faith to limit God’s abilities? Or is it a protective response against something inconceivable? How much Faith do you have if you are the kind of person that has to be in control of everything in your life, ok maybe not everything, but you can’t stop worrying, controlling, or obsessing over at least one thing going on in your life?

Don’t get me wrong here, we all have our moments, especially me. I’m discovering that how we handle those moments is the interesting part to God. He gets excited when we trust him and know without a shadow of a doubt that he can do anything….things beyond our wildest dreams.

Over the past few months reading the “One Year Bible”, each day the Lord has reminded me of all the miraculous things he has already done. Yet, generations after generations continually forget who He is, as soon as the Leader with true Faith has died. New generations rebel and reject Him, until someone with Faith becomes a Leader.

I’ve read recently about Elija one of the prophets of old times. Being a man in God’s service, he was able to also do miracles. Because of Elija’s faith in God, the Lord allowed him to even split the Jordan River in half so him and Elisha could walk to the other side on dry land. Elija honored the Lord and apparently pleased him, that he didn’t have to die. The Lord came for him and swept him away in a fiery chariot right in front of Elisha’s eyes. An interesting fact to me was that then Elisha’s faith in God was also great that the Lord blessed him and used him as he did Elija. Elisha was given power by God because of his Faith he brought children back to life, prophesied to kings, rescued a widow from being in debt by making oil overflow from one jar to fill every jar she could make available. All the oil was sold, it not only paid off the debt, but provided for them to live on. Knowing our God is so merciful and loving to do such things should make it EASY to have faith in Him.

Jesus healed people, bringing people back to life, creating limitless amounts of food from only a few loaves of bread and pieces of fish. Most people would expect that of Jesus. No doubt…He was the Messiah, God’s Son. The amazing thing to me is the power God gave the disciples, just because of their Faith in not only God, but their faith in Jesus as His Son. Just by praying as Jesus’ example, praying for situations in the name of Jesus’ Christ, they too were able to heal the sick, lame, possessed, bring people to life, and other miracles as well. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have faith as great as Peter and Elija? Having so much faith, you’re able to experience amazing miracles as they did!

What is Faith to you? To me, Faith is complete, unchangeable, confidence, and trust in something or someone. One definition from the dictionary says, “belief that is not based on proof.” Put that way, I can see why some people have difficulty understanding faith. Proof…is what people need to be convinced. I too am the same way, needing proof before I’m fully convinced. I’ve found over the past 19 years, the Lord has given me so much proof of his faithfulness, mercy, and provision…that there is no doubt in my mind that he can do anything and especially the Impossible.

I believe we all have faith in God, but may not be aware of it. Things happen that there is no explanation for, yet we set it aside and don’t take the time to acknowledge God for it.

When Luke was around 10 years old, he was jumping around on his bed with some pointy metal object. Luckily, I saw him and told him to stop jumping around with it and explained he could get hurt if he fell. Thing is…he refused to give me the item and kept jumping. As I came to get it, his footing slipped and he fell off the bed to the ground landing on the object as I feared. My heart just stopped, as I quickly put my arms out to him, hoping to catch him. I wasn’t close enough. When he landed chest down, He gasped as if he was sharply pierced. All I could think about was getting him to the hospital quickly. To both Luke and my amazement, his heart or chest didn’t get punctured. The object left a slight imprint of where it would’ve entered in the center of his chest. Luke definitely had the wind knocked out of him, but he realized at that moment he should’ve either been dead or close to it.

How do you explain that? He should’ve been severely injured. All I could do is thank the Lord Loudly in front of Luke and tell him the Lord is watching over him that’s for sure and he needs to be thankful. Hugging him and making sure all was well. Of course, getting rid of the object for good.

There was a time early on in my marriage, when Russ lost his job, rent was due, and we were literally on our last bit of food. Just as me and the boys finished praying kneeling by the couch, the Lord provided our needs. My parents sparadically called and said Mom’s going to go through the freezer could we use this, that, and whatever. They didn’t know how bad things were getting for us at that time. It was the Lord. He already had a plan. After not having any other options for rent, Russ had a new job but wasn’t going to be paid for 2 weeks, we stopped by Salvation Army to see if we could get help to cover our rent. To our amazement, they had a new program to assist people in our situation. The Lord provided again. To this day, we can’t pass by any Salvation Army person without giving back to the Lord somehow.

I’ve also learned that the Lord waits for you to ask Him for his help, and believe he will provide, before he takes action. It might not always be quickly, but things definitely happen in his perfect timing. Don’t wait! Ask!!!

Something that encouraged my Faith early on in my 20’s, was the reality of knowing that my own earthly Father loved and cared about me unconditionally, not perfectly but pretty close. Then to just fathom how God love’s me even more and Perfectly. That just blew my mind pondering the reality of knowing that.

Ask the Lord to develop your Faith. Then Look for His hand in everything. He’s there!!!
Do you see Him???