I have been pondering some things this week. I am mostly interested in getting your feedback and hearing what everyone else thinks about this topic. The topic is FAITH. I think there are two schools of thought or I guess you could believe both.
1. In order for your faith to work you must believe and put that faith into action.
2. Someone else can stand in the gap for you and their faith can work in your circumstance.
I myself tend to believe both scenarios are possible. In my experience it seems like the things I have struggled to believe for much of my life for example let's say "finances", that is where God wants me to step out and put my faith in action. But then on some things that come up that just seem totally impossible but someone else sees clearly that things are going to be okay, they can stand in the gap for you, pray and believe and put "their" faith into action on your behalf.
For instance, when I was diagnosed, several women came up to me and said they just had a strong sense in their spirit that this was all going to be okay. That it might be a difficult road but in the end I would be cancer free. I trust the discernment of these women so it was so easy for me to resonate with what they were saying.
So, what about when everything looks impossible? And maybe no one is standing in the gap for you or maybe you just do not fully trust everything is going to be okay because you yourself discern it? I think these questions trip believers up. Especially if you have had a particularly difficult life. Because I think if you have had terrible things happen to you it is so hard not to expect the worst from most situations. If you have had a fairly easy life, then it would be much easier to believe the best in every situation.
However, on the flip side of this, if you have had a difficult life and the worst has happened to you then I am confident that there has also been many times God has come through for you. So we have to do what David did and that is to encourage OURSELVES in the Lord remembering all he has done for us.
But is that enough? What if that isn't working? Then what do you do? What if you are a solid Christian and you love the Lord with ALL of your heart but your faith in a certain situation in wavering? The real question I am pondering is this.....If you do find yourself wavering, does that mean that no matter what you do it will not work out favorably? Simply because you don't believe??
I am really ready for some good comments here so please let me know your thoughts!! If you can't figure out how to comment on my blog, you can e-mail me your thoughts kelley@feelthetatas.com or leave them on FB.
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First, let me say that your post really stimulated some conversation with Brian and I today. So, that was cool.
ReplyDeleteFaith to me in something so hard to explain. I just know, that I know, that I know that God is for me at all times. God speaks to me very clearly and I am very fortunate to have learned to be still and listen to what He has to say. I wasn't always like that though.
I am one of the people you talk about that has had a difficult life, but I tend to see those difficulties as teachable moments from God to me. I don't see things negatively for the most part I see things positively. It drives most people crazy, but that is just who I am. I can look back over my life and see how God's hand was all over my life even when I wasn't a believer.
Now, this summer I hit a very dark time in my life. Why, I can't really put my finger on it, but I just know that I wasn't myself. But never once did I not see God or felt as though He abandoned me or the situation. Praise God. I poured myself into His word, prayed all the time and journaled. I found myself again.
There have been times when I have stood in the gap for others and seen miraculous things happen for them and for me. I have also seen there have been times when I have had to just let go and let God take it all. Some things are just too big for me.
I would ask you what favorably means to you? Because I think all things work out favorably when it comes to God. Just because it is not favorable to me doesn't mean that God does not see it favorable. There are times when I really prayed for things and they didn't work out the way I wanted them too, but I know that is how God wanted them to work out. I just don't always know what is "good" for me all the time.
Sometimes I don't have to do anything at all but pray. We all sometimes get caught up in what we should "do", but I think it takes greater faith to turn it over to God and let Him handle it His way. I have found that the times I have tried to "make" things happen I just get in God's way and not until I put it upon His alter does it all come together.
Of course the enemy would like us to be distracted by the things that are not going right in our lives. Because if he can keep us focused on that we take our eyes off Christ. Don't let him distract you from what is going right in your life.
God is for us, who can be against us!! God's word told us we will have trouble, that this life will not be easy. His word also says we will have life abundantly...it just depends on what abundantly is to you and what it is to God.
I hope I didn't confuse you any more than you are...LOL
Read Psalm 91-whenever I feel myself doubting God that is where I go.
Love ya!
That was my post Kelley...for some reason it would not let me login with my google account.
ReplyDeleteTammy Reidy
*deep breath*
ReplyDeleteI actually think we need to take one giant step back and first ask a question: Why does God do things for us? Certainly, it is because he loves us and because we bear his image but is that the ultimate reason? For our happiness?
Today marks the 10 year anniversary of when a friend's mom died of cancer. I watched as a church prayed and believed in faith that she would recover. She eventually died and because of the force behind the prayers of the church one of her 3 boys walked away from Christ altogether because if he couldn't save his mom after all those people claimed that he DEFINITIVELY would then there was no need for Jesus in his life.
I look at the story found in John 9 where we see a man blind from birth and the disciples ask Jesus "Who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind?" Jesus' reply? The real reason was that "the works of God might be displayed in him."
So the answer to the question "why does God do things for us?" seems to be "so that God might be glorified."
So I tend to look at faith as believing that whatever we're going through God can use for his glory - whether what we're going through leads to us getting what we want is irrelevant.
That doesn't mean God doesn't want us to have joy or be happy it just means that it isn't the main point.
Here's a perfect example:
Going back to my friend's mom, 2 people decided to follow Christ at her funeral service and now their 4 kids are following too. What if we had "faith" and she had been healed? I know 6 people who would not be walking with Jesus.
As a church, we had reduced giving glory to one option: healing. The congregation was dumbfounded when it didn't happen. Why? Because we apparently had God's mind figured out. BIG MISTAKE.
So when faith becomes about giving our Creator glory anything that we receive in life (healing, promotions, money, restored relationships, etc) becomes a bonus, not a right or an expectation.
It is ok to strive for those things and actively pursue them but not at the expense of stripping God of his Sovereignty.
God's glory FIRST. His glory should be displayed in our WINS and LOSSES.
I think this is the key to joy - knowing that whatever God is up to is for the best and we can be apart of giving him glory.
Hope that made sense, I typed it out pretty quickly!
Love you and Deryl!