08/23/12

Here is my devotion I shared with the teacher's this morning at school. 

The Journey of Faith

This devotion was actually a long process.

The Lord did not give it to me as easily as He has others. I think He was continuing to test my faith as I was learning about it and looking back on my journey.

This summer I did the Beth Moore Bible study called Believing God. I will be sharing excerpts from that study with you today. It was one that definitely took me on a journey!

I had always known I had saving faith, but I didn't always have the faith of constantly believing God.

Being a Type A control person I always thought I knew the best way to handle a situation... and that is to handle it myself. Thankfully with the Lord's gentle pushing and awakening in my life I can see that I was doing that through fear and not through faith.

Beth Moore stated this in the Bible Study: “Much of the body of Christ is paralyzed by unbelief. Our unbelief has likely ushered us into a frustrating, disabling cycle: we believe little, so we see little, so we continue to believe little and see little.”

Here is what I wrote during my Godstop for that day: “I am continuing to learn and see that faith requires a great deal of faith! :) Sometimes I feel that giving everything to God in faith and taking my hands off the wheel is giving me more uncertainty in ME. For someone who has tried to “take charge” most of her life, this causes me to re-think who I am. It also causes me to think of how much God really wants ME to do on my own with the abilities He has given me, and how much He wants me to let go.”

Faith is the action of letting go and constantly believing God.

Living by faith means living it totally. Sight would mean to put on a good show of faith, but deep inside you actually lack it.

Here is another Godstop moment I wrote: “We walk by faith, not by sight” from yesterday's lesson really came alive to me. Walking by faith means living it daily. When I say living it, I mean LIVING it. When we walk by sight we are as someone who has put on a costume and we want others to see our “faith”, but inside we are still the person struggling to have faith. It reminds me a bit of the Pharisees and how they showed an outward appearance, but the heart showed otherwise.”

I have been there.

One of the personal stories of faith that Beth Moore shared in the Bible study was about George Müller. His story made a huge impact on my life in the way I think of praying to God. Here is an excerpt of his life:

“In the course of his life George Müller asked much of God but never to squander money on his own lusts. He was certain that God had called him to serve his generation, first through the Scriptural Knowledge Institution and then through the orphanages for which he is best known. The expenses were endless, but George Müller knew that all the resources of heaven and earth belong to God alone. This is the part of his story I find most fascinating: Müller viewed prayer as a withdrawal from God's heavenly bank account into kingdom work on earth. 'George had such confidence and trust in the Lord that he counted his requests as good as accomplished when he prayed. He often thanked God for the sum as though already in hand.'”

The Lord has reminded me much of this Scripture in the past few weeks:

Matthew 6:25-34

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

He promises to take care of our needs.

He promises to never leaves us.

He promises to never forsakes us.

He promises to give us grace.

He promises to give salvation.

During the course of the Bible study I have had to read Romans Chapter 4 many times. It has come alive to me and 2 verses in particular have stood out:

Romans 4:20-21

20 He (Abraham) staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

Abraham didn't have what we have in the Scriptures, but He still had faith in God and did not stagger at God's promises.

These are verses I have reminded myself of many times this summer and began to claim them as my own. I pray they will be a blessing and reminder to you as well of what true faith in God – constantly believing God – means.

When I asked the Lord to help me come up with a photograph for these verses, I began to ask Him HOW would I photograph FAITH?

He immediately gave me an answer to this question. I had recently gone outside and photographed some mockingbird babies that Steve had discovered when he was trimming the bushes. They were so sweet. I noticed that every time I moved the branches to get in for a closer shot of them, their mouths opened ready to be filled with the nourishment from their parents.

It brought to my mind how that is what FAITH really is... having our mouths wide open expecting great things from God – no matter how difficult the wait. Those birds never got fed by me, but they also never gave up opening their mouths waiting for what their parents had for them.

Are you ready to “open your mouth” to God and allow Him to fill you with His nourishment for your life?

Let's begin this school year with a stronger faith that what He has promised, He WILL PERFORM.