βDear God, please help my Dad accept you into his heart and come to church with us. Please. I want my dad to go to heaven too.β
Little Kerri (about 4 years old)
I am kind of piggy backing off last weeks post about faith here. I wanted to talk about what that looks like and how we become mountain movers.
Faith is to believe in someone or something even when we donβt see it. However, trusting something that we canβt physically touch or even see sometimes seems almost silly.
Abraham obeyed God and walked with the Lord, exercising huge faith. There were many promises he never saw fulfilled and yet he trusted the Lord.
Joseph, one of my favorite stories in the Bible, had no choice but to trust God while he sat in a jail cell for something he didnβt even do. However, he Trusted that God was faithful.
The Bible is filled with men and woman where some who were able to see Gods promises fulfilled and many who never saw Godβs promises fulfilled; yet they trusted Him. They new that God was with them. Some even wrestled with faith much like myself.
I talked about my childlike faith in last weeks blog. I also talked about how Iβve struggled with that over the years. Trusting people I see every day is extremely hard for me. Trusting a God Iβve never physically seen, is that much harder.
But as I walk through trials, as I keep seeking the Lord on deeper levels every day, searching eagerly for more of Godβs character and truth, He keeps showing me all these amazing things.
First, the more rooted I am in Him, the more my eyes become accustomed to seeing with eyes of faith. Letβs call them, Kingdom eyes. A scripture that I always have on the ready says this;
βFor we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.β
Ephesians 6:12
Look at this, we do not wage war against flesh and blood. We wage war against authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
This is huge because it shows that sometimes what we see with our human eyes is not whatβs happening in the heavenly realms. We have to keep that in mind when facing trials, and hardships. Just because something looks one way, does not mean that God and His host of angels are not battling things on our behalf. I wrote another post on Habakkuk that gives great insight on this too. Read that here
We have to learn to shift our focus from what seems like mayhem, to looking at the bigger picture. A picture we may not be able to see clearly yet. A picture we probably will only be able to see with our Kingdom eyes. We have to trust that God sees all of it and will work it together for His will.
How do we do this? Stay rooted in Him. Itβs plain and simple; however, not always easily done. If you are a loyal reader and follower you probably know how Iβve talked a lot about this as well. When my eyes are off of Jesus, things get scary, hopeless, chaotic and spin out of control. When my eyes remain focused on Jesus, I myself am focused, determined, at peace and have hope.
God refines us. He refines our eye site, our knowledge, and our wisdom. He builds and nurtures and grows these things in us allowing us to strengthen our Kingdom eyes. Thatβs not saying we will know the future or be a prophet, I just mean, we will be more clear headed, patient, and willing to call on the Name of the Lord. We will go to the throne with everything at the first indication of trouble.
Second, study His promises. Start at the beginning and read His word. Donβt just read the stories, KNOW the stories. Watch how God uses situations, changes the situations, refines, builds, strengthens and loves on His people. Study the names of God! Know his character.
Think of one person you trust more than anyone. Ask yourself why you trust them? I have a family member I trust completely. They donβt lie or hide things from me, they have never hurt me, they have never broken trust. It is one of the only people I know that I can trust. Their character as a person is genuine, loving, kind, gentle, and honest. You trust them because of all these things, right? That is how we can know that we can trust God! His character, His honesty, His kindness, His mercy, His grace, His tenderness. I could go on and on with the qualities of God, but look throughout scripture! Look at how good and wonderful our God is!
Why canβt we trust God would be a much more puzzling question rather than why can we! There is zero reason not to trust God with everything! He proves it over and over again! Woven and connected throughout His beautiful scripture we find promise after promise being fulfilled. He is so incredibly faithful, friends! Amen! Whoo Iβm fired up right now!
Fear. Woah! This is a big one for me. Fear is a scare tactic the enemy loves to use! Iβll be honest, heβs good at this one. But what if I told you we have the power through the Holy Spirit in us to punch him and his fear in the face! ππ»πͺπ»ππ»
βfor he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.β
1 John 4:4
BELIEVE IT! OWN IT! USE IT! God is way bigger than the enemy and He lives in YOU!
My daughter is in basic training (boot camp). A few weeks ago she had to climb a 16 foot tower, but she is terrified of heights. She did fine all the way up along the obstacle course until she reached the top. She told me she panicked and froze and was crying; so full of fear. Her Drill Sergeant looked at her and said, βyou have come this far, you can not quit now. Look around you, look at the nets under you. If you fall, they will catch you. You can do this. The only way to overcome fear is to conquer it and to push through it.β
Well, she did it. Now she has even climbed others since and said something shifted after that. She was no longer afraid.
God is our safety net and our halter. He will not let us fall or be harmed outside of what will be used to strengthen us in the long run for His perfect will!
He has got us! He knows our futures because He goes before us! We cannot let fear control us. We may be scared, but we do it anyway! Push through that resistance! Sometimes, just like that Drill Sergeant told my daughter, the only way we can conquer fear is to push through.
Third, do not lose hope. So many men and women in the Bible along with people today, pray for things and they have had to wait a long time for any kind of answer. Sometimes they give up after not getting an answer in the time frame they wanted.
βFor my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.β
Isaiah 55:8-9
We donβt know Gods timing in anything, but I can guarantee itβs better than ours. We donβt know His plan, but I can guarantee itβs better than our plan. He will answer! Whether it be yes or no, or not right now, trust that He will answer at His perfect timing!
Fourth, which really ought to be firstβ¦.. well Iβll save that for next week. But I will leave you with thisβ¦
Think back to my prayer that I prayed so long agoβ¦ For my dad to know the Lord. I donβt know the intimate details and thatβs my dads story to tell, but I will tell you this. He loves the Lord today. He goes to church and Bible studies and reads his Bible and has even ministered to me on several occasions.
That little girl had the faith of a mustard seed at just 4 years old, but God moved that mountain with her prayers.
π πΈ Jeremy Bishop ~ Unsplash