“The key to faith is not so much an issue of the size of our
faith, as it is the reliability of the object of our faith.” - HighQuest
The passage I read
was Hebrews 11:23-40
You can find that passage here:
The verse that most
stood out to me:
25He
chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the
fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace
for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because
he was looking ahead to his reward.
As I reflect:
36 Some
faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37They
were put to death by stoning;[b] they were sawed in two; they were
killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute,
persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not
worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in
holes in the ground.
This reminds me of a
sermon where Paul Washer was getting heated up about all the persecuted
believers in the world and then he wrapped up his long winded loud statement
with, “AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A RADICAL CHRISTIAN BECAUSE YOU HAVE A BUMPER
STICKER!!!” That sermon and many others throughout
my life have been used by the Holy Spirit to convict me of areas that I hadn’t
fully given to God. Often in self
evaluation I still examine my life for areas that haven’t been given fully to
God. “Are there areas I lack faith?” I
ask myself. And you know what?.. There are.
I’ll readily admit it to anyone.
My journey isn’t over and I am still growing. I will continue growing and being
strengthened for the duration of this journey.
I’m not there yet. I haven’t
reached a place in life where I think I know everything about everything, or
that I am better and wiser than all other Christians. I hope I never reach a place like that so
that the Lord never need to humble me. I’d
rather just confess to you that I am not all that and a bag of chips and I am
well aware of how wretched I am. That’s
one of the driving forces behind my faith.
You see, if someone
told me I’d have to do it all alone; walk through this life without any help,
teachers, guides, examples, helping hands, or any other form of help from God,
I’d give up before I even began. There’d
be no point. I know I can’t do it. The Bible is full of too many rules,
regulations, laws, guidelines for me to think for a second that I could be that
perfect. However, I have all the more
faith because of that realization. I can’t
do it alone and so I have faith in the Holy Spirit to guide me, teach me,
convict me, help me up when I fall. I
can’t carry the burdens and hardships of my past, present, and future sins and
so I have to have faith that when Jesus said, “it is finished”, He was talking
about all of it. I have to have faith
that I have been yoked with another who can pull the load and keep me on the
straight path. I do struggle to love and
have compassion for my enemies and so my faith is built up in the One who can
and is teaching me and molding my character.
Every day, when I fall to my knees in prayer my faith is being made
stronger because I am relying on God to hear me and answer. And He does.
I wonder how many of the “greats” in this faith hall of fame passage
knew that they were not at all worthy or able by themselves? When I read through this chapter I can relate
much of their lives and what the Lord has done through them to what He has done
through me or will do through me. But I
can instead look at the fact that I also have in common with many of them a
complete reliance on God to be able to do His will.
Look at Moses’
parents. Do you think they trusted in
the river not to have any rapids or rocks or any animals near that could destroy their baby? Or do you think they had to fully rely on God
as they released him? I think they had
to fully rely on God, because they knew it was bigger then them. They knew this was something they couldn’t
control.
Moses knew he couldn't free God’s people from Egypt alone. He
asked God to come with him and so God proved He would be with Moses. I mean seriously, how much faith in God do
you have to have to walk between two walls of a sea held by the invisible God
knowing that you could be crushed at any time?
Moses’ faith was built up through each trial as he saw more and more how
God delivered him and provided. It is so
also with us. When I first came to the
Lord and repented recognizing that He in deed was and is King, I thought I had
all the faith in the world in that moment.
But through each trial and tribulation and through each day of walking
with Him since, He has strengthened that faith.
Why did the army
have to march around the walls of Jericho for seven days? To build up faith. Because by the final day of walking around
these walls, one would have had the chance to examine every portion and know
that the greatness of these walls indeed was impenetrable by any other force
than God. For 7 days their faith in God’s
ability was built up.
I think that the
great majority of people of faith whom we can look to for our examples will
tell you that their faith was built up over time and through each battle won by
the Lord in their life. Though I am sure
there are those Jonathans out there that are ready to take on the whole
philistine army at a young age, for the majority of us, that type of courage
comes slowly and piece by piece from a lifetime of exercising our faith as a muscle.
My response to the
Lord:
Lord, I had some difficulty as I studied this passage. So often I feel like I’m not doing
enough. I feel too often like my lack of
courage has caused me to hold back from doing more to further your
kingdom. Forgive me for my timid
flesh. And grow in me a courage and
boldness to do great things for you Father.
It is my desire to please you with my service. So please take every area of my life and mold
it how you will that I may better exercise my faith and effectively be a
witness for your name’s sake. In Jesus’
name I pray. Amen.
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