Hebrews 11: 1 says: Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The "Message" states it like this: The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see .
As Christians we wrestle with this faith thing, because we have heard so many different views on faith. One says: if you have enough faith you should have the best of everything because you are the child of a king, another says: if you have enough faith you will never be sick, another says: if you are having problems it's because you don't have enough faith, and the list goes on and on. I don't think God meant for it to be so confusing and complicated. He says we are to approach him in a simple child-like manner. Children accept things at face value. They believe what was said, and don't over-analize and try to figure out what was "really" meant.
As God's children, we need to realize that the faith we have should be like a child's, and when God speaks to us , he wants us to accept it at face value. When God speaks, what he says, usually seems imposible, crazy, or just doesn't make sense. When God speaks, it also seems like our response requires a step of "faith". Sometimes it is a small step, but , more often it is a huuuge step out of our comfort zone. As we step out and do what God asks of us we have to rely totally on Him. What a concept!!!!!! Isn't that what God wants? When I look back at the times I had no idea what I was doing, and had to rely on God: those are the times He was able to use me the most.
Several years ago I felt like I needed to go to London for a few days( sounds crazy, right). I didn't have the time or money. God put a special love for London in my heart, so wanting to go there was not so weird to me, but I really had no reason to go. I had been praying for London for quite a while, and did not know anyone there that was a Christian. The only thing I knew was that London needed God and to all appearances it was a godless city. I put the thought out of mind and went-on with life. From time to time I kept feeling I needed to go. Several weeks later a friend asked me to oversee a small remodeling job at a university, where I was doing another job. The building I had under construction was large and complicated, taking up most of my time. I told him I probably didn't have time to oversee another job. His answer was: just look-in time to time and make sure we aren't doing anything wrong, or creating problems we don't know about. Then he said, I will pay your's and Voni's way to London if you do this. I took him up on his offer, and about a month later I was in London. For some reason I went over alone a few days before Voni, and she came over later. On my first day there, I felt like I should call my nephew in Amsterdam (He was a missionary there at the time). After talking to him I felt like I needed to go see them, so I found a cheap ticket leaving in a couple of hours and went to Amsterdam. The next day was Sunday, so I went to church with them. After church, my nephew introduced me to a young man from San Luis Potosi' Mexico, where I grew-up. This young man was studying english (go figure) at a university in Amsterdam. He had just accepted Jesus in his heart a couple of weeks before. His classes were going to be finished about two weeks later and he would be going back to Mexico. When we talked he told me how excited he was to be a Christian, but , he didn't think there would be any christians back home. San Luis Potosi' is a city of about a million and a half people. I was able to tell him of several churches in his home town where he could find other Christians . Then I found out a very good Christian friend of mine was the president of the university he went to back home, and was able to get them connected. Does God really care enough about his children to have someone travel from the U. S. to Holland to let him know there are brothers and sisters in Christ in his hometown in Mexico? I think he does.
When I went back to London, I had been given the name of a man and his wife, who pastored a church in London somewhere. I had a day and a half before Voni came, so I decided to find them. I looked in the phone book: no luck. I didn't know the name of the church, so no luck there either. I walked all over central London looking for a church or, someone who knew Mike and Jacky, no luck. When I met Voni at the airport, she said that my sister (who is a missionary in Hungary) had called and had been to these pastor's home several years before. All she could remember was that they lived in a building across from a theater side entrance marked STAGE ENTRANCE with a sign. Now remember this is London we are talking about,but, as soon as I heard that I knew right where it was. Coincidence ? I don't think so. Voni and I went straight there once she was settled in our hotel. When we arrived at the building, it was several stories tall and only had buzzers for each apartment. None of the buzzers had names, we didn't know what to do. While standing there trying to figure out what to do, a man walked up and asked if he could help us. We told him who we were looking for and he knew them and confirmed we were at the right building. He also knew what apartment they lived in. Then I had to try and explain why we were looking for them and why we were there, over the intercom (great fun). We didn't even know why we were there. After meeting Mike and Jacky they told us that in two days all the churches of central London were going to have a joint prayer meeting to pray for the city. As far as anyone knew it was the first such meeting. We then knew why we were there. The prayer meeting was awesome, but, the way God brought it all together was even more amazing.
The reason I tell this story is that the whole God-orchestrated trip didn't make sense in the natural, but , God knew the timing , devine appointments and what He wanted to accomplish through all of us. Even more astounding to me is the fact that God cares enough about us to bring together a plan involving people from four different countries just to show us that He is concerned with every area of our lives. The things that he did for us on that trip were not life-or-death and yet He Cared. How much more does He care about the real needs and problems in our life. We need to listen to God and trust him enough to do what He says to do. He is not the author of confusion, so don't listen to the devil when he says "that is you, not God', or "that is the devil". Ask yourself: would I come-up with this on my own? or , is this a God thought? On Sunday my pastor said, "there is a spoiling power in the earth and if left unatended your faith will deteriorate". Lets not leave our faith unatended. Lets learn to listen to God and by faith go and do his will. So, what is faith? I think it is what allows us to see situations through God's eyes and not ours, and react to them His way not ours.
As Christians we wrestle with this faith thing, because we have heard so many different views on faith. One says: if you have enough faith you should have the best of everything because you are the child of a king, another says: if you have enough faith you will never be sick, another says: if you are having problems it's because you don't have enough faith, and the list goes on and on. I don't think God meant for it to be so confusing and complicated. He says we are to approach him in a simple child-like manner. Children accept things at face value. They believe what was said, and don't over-analize and try to figure out what was "really" meant.
As God's children, we need to realize that the faith we have should be like a child's, and when God speaks to us , he wants us to accept it at face value. When God speaks, what he says, usually seems imposible, crazy, or just doesn't make sense. When God speaks, it also seems like our response requires a step of "faith". Sometimes it is a small step, but , more often it is a huuuge step out of our comfort zone. As we step out and do what God asks of us we have to rely totally on Him. What a concept!!!!!! Isn't that what God wants? When I look back at the times I had no idea what I was doing, and had to rely on God: those are the times He was able to use me the most.
Several years ago I felt like I needed to go to London for a few days( sounds crazy, right). I didn't have the time or money. God put a special love for London in my heart, so wanting to go there was not so weird to me, but I really had no reason to go. I had been praying for London for quite a while, and did not know anyone there that was a Christian. The only thing I knew was that London needed God and to all appearances it was a godless city. I put the thought out of mind and went-on with life. From time to time I kept feeling I needed to go. Several weeks later a friend asked me to oversee a small remodeling job at a university, where I was doing another job. The building I had under construction was large and complicated, taking up most of my time. I told him I probably didn't have time to oversee another job. His answer was: just look-in time to time and make sure we aren't doing anything wrong, or creating problems we don't know about. Then he said, I will pay your's and Voni's way to London if you do this. I took him up on his offer, and about a month later I was in London. For some reason I went over alone a few days before Voni, and she came over later. On my first day there, I felt like I should call my nephew in Amsterdam (He was a missionary there at the time). After talking to him I felt like I needed to go see them, so I found a cheap ticket leaving in a couple of hours and went to Amsterdam. The next day was Sunday, so I went to church with them. After church, my nephew introduced me to a young man from San Luis Potosi' Mexico, where I grew-up. This young man was studying english (go figure) at a university in Amsterdam. He had just accepted Jesus in his heart a couple of weeks before. His classes were going to be finished about two weeks later and he would be going back to Mexico. When we talked he told me how excited he was to be a Christian, but , he didn't think there would be any christians back home. San Luis Potosi' is a city of about a million and a half people. I was able to tell him of several churches in his home town where he could find other Christians . Then I found out a very good Christian friend of mine was the president of the university he went to back home, and was able to get them connected. Does God really care enough about his children to have someone travel from the U. S. to Holland to let him know there are brothers and sisters in Christ in his hometown in Mexico? I think he does.
When I went back to London, I had been given the name of a man and his wife, who pastored a church in London somewhere. I had a day and a half before Voni came, so I decided to find them. I looked in the phone book: no luck. I didn't know the name of the church, so no luck there either. I walked all over central London looking for a church or, someone who knew Mike and Jacky, no luck. When I met Voni at the airport, she said that my sister (who is a missionary in Hungary) had called and had been to these pastor's home several years before. All she could remember was that they lived in a building across from a theater side entrance marked STAGE ENTRANCE with a sign. Now remember this is London we are talking about,but, as soon as I heard that I knew right where it was. Coincidence ? I don't think so. Voni and I went straight there once she was settled in our hotel. When we arrived at the building, it was several stories tall and only had buzzers for each apartment. None of the buzzers had names, we didn't know what to do. While standing there trying to figure out what to do, a man walked up and asked if he could help us. We told him who we were looking for and he knew them and confirmed we were at the right building. He also knew what apartment they lived in. Then I had to try and explain why we were looking for them and why we were there, over the intercom (great fun). We didn't even know why we were there. After meeting Mike and Jacky they told us that in two days all the churches of central London were going to have a joint prayer meeting to pray for the city. As far as anyone knew it was the first such meeting. We then knew why we were there. The prayer meeting was awesome, but, the way God brought it all together was even more amazing.
The reason I tell this story is that the whole God-orchestrated trip didn't make sense in the natural, but , God knew the timing , devine appointments and what He wanted to accomplish through all of us. Even more astounding to me is the fact that God cares enough about us to bring together a plan involving people from four different countries just to show us that He is concerned with every area of our lives. The things that he did for us on that trip were not life-or-death and yet He Cared. How much more does He care about the real needs and problems in our life. We need to listen to God and trust him enough to do what He says to do. He is not the author of confusion, so don't listen to the devil when he says "that is you, not God', or "that is the devil". Ask yourself: would I come-up with this on my own? or , is this a God thought? On Sunday my pastor said, "there is a spoiling power in the earth and if left unatended your faith will deteriorate". Lets not leave our faith unatended. Lets learn to listen to God and by faith go and do his will. So, what is faith? I think it is what allows us to see situations through God's eyes and not ours, and react to them His way not ours.