Faith
I’ve been thinking a lot about faith lately, the kind of faith where I am more convinced by scripture than I am by my own feelings. I am not very good at this at the moment, and would really like to get better.
I had this situation recently that threw me right off. Something bad happened, and I was thrown around in a sea of messy, mixed up emotions about it. I wanted to trust what I was reading in the Bible, I wanted to trust what it said about God and His nature and His promises to me, but I couldn’t seem to, or at least, not for very long. I would have a morning of faith, flying on trust in God, and then plummet into an afternoon in the mire, stuck in doubts and fears and feeling bad.
I don’t want it to be like this.
I was putting the dishes away last night, and thinking about this and I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me with the Word ‘Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.’
‘Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.’
It’s from Mark 9, verse 24, and it really struck me because it sums up so much of how I relate to God. I do believe, but at the same time, struggle with unbelief often. Only I haven’t recognised it as unbelief really, I’ve seen it as worry or fear or rejection or something like that. What I mean is, more often than not, I let my feelings have their way rather than letting the truth of what God says win out in my mind and heart.
But hopefully I am beginning to see things more clearly regarding faith. How vital it is if we are to please God with our lives (Hebrews 11:6), and how vital it is for a sense of peace and stability in day to day life.
I was so excited to read in 2 Cor. 10:15 this little part that says “that as your faith is increased …” How great is that? That our faith can be increased, that just as that man in Mark 9 asked Jesus to help his unbelief, so can we!
So that is another hope I have, to become strong in faith, quick to trust God, ready and actually expectant to see His faithfulness and power.
“… for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” Matthew 17:20.
Hey B! This was really an on time word for me. I just shared in my recent post that I have been vacillating in my relationship with God [faith]. I want to justify it like you said by calling it ‘normal under the circumstances, ‘worry’ or ‘anxiety’ but really it is unbelief and I need to call on the Lord more often to help me with it. I think we tend to put the term ‘belief’ into a box and narrow it down to just believing in God, which is important and one of the two criteria for being a Christian [believe in your heart and confess with your mouth...] but I think belief goes beyond that once we begin our Christian journey. It’s a conscious decision to believe every day; in Him, in His Word, His promises.
Love you. I pray that you would continue to be encouraged and reminded of the help that is available to you through Him. Let’s encourage each other in this process!
Hi G, so lovely to hear from you, I’ve missed ya, and hope you’re well
Thanks for sharing about your stuggle with this too, and the point you make here about our ‘ongoing’ faith – “in Him, in His Word, His promises” – is so good, and exactly what I am hoping to grow more in. For the Word to be alive and active in my everyday, to make the effort of lining up my thoughts and feelings with what God says. I’m hoping it gets a little easier with practice, ha, ha 
Anyway, I love the idea of encouraging each other, lots of love.
It is Sunday morning here. I had a time with God talking with him about people who have yet to believe. Today I will give them an invitation. Imagine that; they will be given an invitation to believe. I wondered what God expected from them. Though he requires their whole life what does that look like? I am convinced that it begins (and finally ends as we enter eternity) with the simplicity of the phrase you quoted from Mark. The glimmer of belief and hope is enough. God help us all in our unbelief. God help ME in my unbelief. amen.
I think about the verse verse in 1 Cor that says, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.” so often. It ends with “and the greatest of these is love” but we can’t diminish how important faith and hope are either. I believe those three things are what we need to live the life God calls us to. I have a bracelet that says “faith” on it to remind me that I need to trust God in every moment of my day. It really is such a gift that we can learn to live in peace because He is trustworthy. It does take tons of practice though and I don’t know if anyone perfects it before heaven. But the better we get at it, like you are saying, the better life gets. XO
This is beautiful @ngie, what an amazing thing that God has given you an opportunity today to invite a group to faith in Him. What you say here makes so much sense to me – what does it look like to give our lives to Him? It begins and continues with our belief and trust in Him and His Word. I always love your insights @ngie, have a wonderful time today.
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Hi Tawny, I love that you have a bracelet with “faith” on it. I would find that inspiring every time I looked at it! It always amazes me how strong feelings like worry or fear can be, as if those emotions squash out the possibility of faith in the moment. But like you say here, peace comes when we rely on God’s trustworthiness, and I really believe that the Holy Spirit is able to empower us as we ask Him, bless you Tawny.
I love you Princess! I struggle with the same type of things, and some days are better than others..but HE is so patient with us. There would be no need to increase our faith if we were already complete in it…
My prayer also is.. Lord I believe, help my unbelief…I know HE honors that, and is eager to help us. Sorry I have been gone so long…some computer problems, some spiritual problems, and mainly many decisions, that I just don’t want to make, not without HIS guidance.
You are precious to me!
Yay
I’m so happy to see you Darla, you are such a blessing. It sounds like there’s a lot that’s been going on for you, I hope that you have been able to seek God’s guidance as you mentioned here, and that you feel His presence and peace with you with your decisions.
I love what you mention here about being “complete” in faith. Wow, how amazing is that, absolute trust, I really want to grow in that way. Love you Darla.
I can relate to what you are saying. God has been speaking to me quite a bit about standing on His promises in spite of what circumstances look like or what I feel like and I can’t say I am even halfway there. But I think our faith grows through obedience, that everytime we confess what God says about a situation and continue to confess it until our feelings about it change, our faith grows and next time we will be stronger. I also know that this is hard because sometimes my feelings are so strong I don’t even feel I have the strength to meditate or to want to meditate on His word. But maybe that’s where obedience comes in again. (Just quickly, I read a testimony of one of my mom’s friends who through no fault of her own got HIV and later AIDS from her husband- he died. I saw her on Christmas day at my mom’s church, she is completely healed- completely and more beautiful than she ever was, God gave her it seems new hair and new skin. The point is she wrote a book about it, and throughout the book it is about how she never stopped confessing what God’s word says about her. At one stage she was so sick everyone expected her to die but she came trhough it, she kept confessing God’s word in spite of the circumstances. For me it is an incredible testimony of the power of our words, God’s word and faith.) Have a lovely day:)
This testimony is incredible, Irene! What faith to keep confessing and trusting God’s Word despite what this lady’s prognosis may have seemed. I just think this is amazing, and such an inspiration.
You make such a good point here about faith growing through obedience. A decision to keep on confessing and trusting God’s Word, no matter what our feelings are saying. I love this idea of being able to grow faith in our lives with God’s help. Bless you, friend