Circumstances are like puzzle pieces. Sometimes all we can see is that one piece of the puzzle and unable to see the big picture. I know sometimes we are suffering and dealing more than we think we can handle at the moment of pain. Despite you current situation God still has a master plan for your life and it will be revealed to you. Remember Romans 8:28- Even in the midst of the storm you are called for God’s purpose.
Joshua 1:10- Be strong and of good courage: do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Faith is the heart of life. You go to a doctor whose name you can’t pronounce. He gives you a prescription you cannot read. You take it to a pharmacist you have never seen. He gives you medication you do not understand --- and yet, you take it. Now, that is living by Faith!
We cannot get through a single day without living by Faith. When you flip a light switch you put faith in the electrical wiring. When you turn the ignition switch in your car, you trust the motor. When you mail a letter you have faith in the US Mail Service. Sometimes --- of course ---- your faith might be misplaced; because faith is only as valuable as the OBJECT of that faith.
The same is true with Spiritual Faith. Buddhists have faith in Buddha. Muslims trust in Allah. Hindus believe in various Gods (thousands actually.) Most religious people put faith in their ability to keep the rules … to be “good enough” to satisfy their god --- or reach their Nirvana --- or build up good Karma.
Even when people claim no religion at all, they still live by faith. Every human puts faith in something. It may be in some notion of human potential. It may be in the supremacy of science or reason or political power. Or they may have faith in some vague concept like “oneness with nature.” But everyone lives by faith.
My acronym for faith: Focusing Attitude In Trusting HIM. One can have faith, however, it is the attitude we place in Him and all it takes is a small mustard seed. Sometimes it’s hard to exercise physically not alone spiritually. Romans 8:28- and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose.
A.W. Tozer had an interesting explanation for this faith He said: “Faith is seeing the invisible, but not the nonexistent.” Some people think faith believes in something that is not actually there. Biblical faith believes God when He tells us there is a reality, which we cannot see. Faith means that we keep our eyes on God who controls circumstances --- not on the circumstances themselves.
II Corinthians 5:7 puts it this way: We live by faith, not by sight. That sounds simple enough. But for some reason, people get all kinds of misconceptions about what Faith is. Christian faith is compatible with logic and reason. It is based on historical evidence. It is supported by the Biblical record, by personal testimony, and by our own experiences.
D.L Moody wrote about faith: “I prayed for faith and thought that some day it would come down and strike me like lightning. But faith didn’t seem to come. One day I read in Romans that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” I had, up to this time, closed my Bible and prayed for faith. Now I opened my Bible and began to study ---and faith has been growing ever since.”
A misconception about faith is that we can make God do anything we want. Faith is NOT the ability to manipulate God. Some Christians think Faith is a kind of magic medicine potion. That kind of faith won’t outlast the first major disappointment. When a loved one is not healed or a promotion doesn’t come through or unforeseen tragedy strikes, false faith will crumble. Faith does not believe that God will do what WE say. Faith knows that God will do what HE says. By faith, we rest on the promises of God --- no matter what happens.
Does your faith cause you to walk with God? Do you walk with God each day? Do you communicate with Him while you are doing your chores … while you are mowing the yard … while you are brushing your teeth … while you are driving your car? This is the kind of faith that pleases God.
Faith provides an understanding to what God does. Faith makes possible to see what others cannot see. Therefore, faith allows us to do more in the impossible realm than what others are not able to accomplish or do. Sometimes we have to wait. Our circumstances happen when we try to rely on our accomplishments, our own understanding and trying to resolve the situations by ourselves and not waiting on God’s delivery.
We can listen to the negativity and create false lies for us to believe in that inhibits the possible. When one reads Hebrews 11 about those who lived by faith, they lived in faith because they waited patiently. When circumstances arise, think about the faith we must muster up and without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists, and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (Hebrews 11:6).
By Faith (Focusing Attitude In Trusting Him)
