faith

How Is Your Faith?

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

I believe that one of the most difficult spiritual practices to follow is walking in faith at all times. 

It’s relatively easy for us to say that we have faith, but it’s something else altogether to maintain this faith day in and day out as we deal with the stresses of living in a fallen world.

However, we know that as believers we are commanded to have faith. Hebrews 11:6 tells us:

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Also, in 2 Corinthians 5:7, we are told:

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Therefore, we must have faith if we want to please God and live our lives as He would have us do.

If we know we’re to live in faith, why is it so hard to do? 

I have found that just reading about the concept of faith seems to strengthen my own faith. This strengthening will last for a little while even if I don’t do anything different.

However, the cares and worries of life usually creep back in and I begin to look at my circumstances instead of God’s promises.

Pretty soon, I’m again living like somebody who has never known the Lord and His word. It’s far too easy to keep my focus on what’s going on around me, rather than what God has said.

I believe that we must make a conscious effort to focus on scripture, rather than the narrative that’s being played over and over in our minds.

Even though we know that God will reward our faith, that doesn’t make it any easier, as the enemy is constantly whispering lies in our ears. 

Proverbs 3:5-6 is a good place to start:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

These verses have been among my favorites in the entire Bible for many years. I have read them over countless times as a way to bolster my faith in the face of life’s struggles. 

While it is comforting to read God’s truths, the truth doesn’t do us any good if we don’t take action on it. 

James 1:22 says:

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 

We’re only fooling ourselves if we don’t take action on the word of God. We can never expect to receive God’s blessings on our lives if we don’t walk in faith.

One good way to build your faith is by starting small. Pray to God about something minor going on in your life that you need His help with. However, make sure that it lines up with His will. 

Then, as God answers your prayer and you see His hand operating in your life, build on that faith. Go to God with a slightly bigger need and watch Him work.

Keep cultivating your faith as you slowly but surely work toward trusting Him for help and provision in every area of your life.

He may not give you everything you ask for, but rest assured that His work in your life will always be for the best:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Rom. 8:28

Treat your growing faith as if it were as valuable as gold, because it truly is. As your faith deepens and you see God working in your life in an ever increasing way, you’ll find it easier to maintain your faith.

Of course, I’m talking to myself as much as I am to anyone else. I need to walk this path so I can increase my faith and live the way God intends.

Let’s do it together, what do you say?

To Will and To Work — What It Really Means

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

God recently gave me a revelation about a particular verse that I have read countless times over the years.

It is significant because understanding this verse in a different way sheds light on the way God works in our lives.

The key to this whole revelation was reading the verse in a translation that I don’t normally use. The real meaning of the verse hit home with laser accuracy.

Here’s the verse, Philippians 2:13, as it appears in the English Standard Version (ESV), the translation I normally read:

For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

For me, the meaning had always been clear enough—God is fulfilling His will through His work. And that made sense to me, as God is, of course, going to do the things that line up with His will and what He wants.

But here is the same verse in the New Living Translation (NLT), the translation used in an email I recently read from a ministry I routinely receive messages from:

For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

Many people may read these two translations and immediately see that they’re saying the same thing. 

However, when I read this verse in the NLT, it had a completely different meaning to me than I had previously interpreted it from the ESV and other similar translations.

All these years, I had read the verse as meaning that God is the one doing the willing and the working for His good pleasure. 

After reading this passage in the NLT, however, I now realized that God is actively moving in my life to create the desire to serve Him and the power to do so. 

I’m the one with the “will” and who will do the “work.” It’s not God. I had always interpreted the second part of the verse (after the comma) as just an extension of the first. I had read the second part as basically repeating the first part.

But that was wrong. God is actually helping me by giving me the desire to do His will and serve Him.

He hasn’t left me alone to live in a quagmire of weak faith and uncertainty. 

He is working daily in my life, increasing my faith and developing in me a deeper desire to live my life for him and perform the works that He has planned for me to do (Eph. 2:10).

To confirm what I was seeing, I checked a few other modern translations and found that they were translated similarly to the NLT. 

Of course, I could see how the verse could be interpreted incorrectly—as I had done for years— but, more importantly, I also now saw how it could be interpreted in this other way.

I couldn’t believe that I had held the wrong interpretation of this verse for decades. I found it strange that I had never read it like this before. 

Perhaps most other people have always interpreted the verse correctly. Or maybe there are others like me who have held the wrong view of this verse.

This revelation changes how I think about my relationship with God. He longs for me to serve Him with my actions and attitudes. That’s why He’s working in me to create the desire to live my life for Him. 

It’s not up to me and my feeble efforts to become the person God wants me to be. I’m getting a big helping hand from God Himself. He’s working on my behalf to help me become what I should be and to serve Him better.

To me, that makes all the difference. Hopefully, it makes a difference to you as well.

What If It Were Today?

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

What if today were the day that Jesus calls his believers home? How would this change how you lived out this day?

I, for one, know that I would feel “unready” to say the least. There are so many things in life that I had always intended to do for God, that I have never gotten around to doing. 

There are so many people that I’ve never talked about the gospel with—people of other faiths that I care about and would want to be included in the family of believers before it’s too late. 

You might then ask why I don’t simply get it together and talk to these people now, while there’s still time. 

That’s a very good question. Perhaps it’s fear that’s stopping me—the anxiety of possible rejection on their part. 

What about you? What would you do differently today to prepare for Jesus’ return? Whatever it is, make plans to go ahead and do it while you still can.

The truth is, no one knows when Jesus will come back, and we all have a list of things we could work on before that time comes.

But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 

Matthew 24:36

Not even Jesus knows when He is coming back!

Much of your to-do list probably revolves around relationships—righting neglected relationships or forming new ones in the furthering of the gospel and creating goodwill within our community.

So, maybe we should just act like Jesus is coming back today. We would certainly accomplish more for the gospel than we currently are. 

Living our lives like it could be anytime would revolutionize our faith and turn many people around us onto the gospel.

Today is a great day to start living like that.

Develop Faith That Transcends Circumstances

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

Faith is one of the most important aspects of our spiritual life. 

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen…Without faith it’s impossible to please God. 

Heb. 11:1, 6

If we don’t have faith, our walk with God is dead in the water, so to speak.

However, for many of us, our faith life is not what it should be. I should know, because all too often I fall into that category.

My faith seems to falter when I need it the most.

When things are looking their bleakest, that’s when my faith should shine. However, those are often the times when I withdraw inward and keep God at a distance.

I’ve been a believer in Christ for over three and a half decades. You’d think my faith would have grown some by now.

You may be like me—finding yourself in the position of doubting God, doubting that He will come through this time. Even though He has proven Himself over and over, you still doubt.

Our faith muscle needs stretching if it is to grow. If we truly want our faith to transcend any circumstances we find ourselves in, we need to use it every day.

From the small things to the large things, we must trust God in everything. Then, and only then, will our faith begin to grow and strengthen.

I’m amazed at the faith that Abraham displays when God asks him to sacrifice Isaac, his only son. I’m not sure I trust God enough to follow through with that.

I would doubt whether I was hearing God correctly. I’d say something like, “Are you sure this is what you want me to do, Lord?” or “No, I can’t do THAT. Surely you want me to do something else, right?”

Abraham’s faith lets him stand out as one of the greatest believers ever. He had to look beyond his circumstances and draw deeply from his well of faith in God.

I believe that’s what we must do if we’re to develop that kind of faith. 

No matter what our situation looks like from our perspective, we must remember that God sees things from His 360-degree view. 

He’s not limited to living in just the present like we are. Time is His construct, and He is in the past, present, and future all at the same time.

God knows how everything is going to turn out—you can count on that.

Even when things look their worst, we can trust that He is in control. That’s what Abraham did, and that’s what we have to do as well.

Trusting God for little things first will help grow our faith, especially if we’re unsure we can fully trust him for the big things in life.

However, just remember that your situation may not always work out how you think it should.

Often, God has a different plan than we do, and the thing we pray about and hope will come to pass may not happen. 

We must trust God nonetheless, knowing that His way is best. When we can do this, we’ll be on the path to growing our faith.

Kick Worry to the Curb

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

God doesn’t want you to worry. Really—He doesn’t.

Over and over in the Bible we read where God tells His people not to worry, not to have anxiety. Here is just one of many examples I could name:

Do not be anxious about anything.

Phil. 4:6a

This command is hard for us to accept in the hustle and bustle of our busy lifestyles. If you’re like me, you tend to feel guilty if you’re not worrying about something. 

It seems like you should be worrying, else you’re neglecting your responsibilities.

However, worrying doesn’t change anything—except maybe to make you feel less guilty. 

You don’t need to feel guilty in the first place. Guilt causes you to worry even more—and you can’t do anything about most of the things you worry about anyway.

So, how do we not worry?

First of all, you have to realize that defeating worry is not a one-time thing. Quitting worrying takes daily effort and a resolve to live in freedom in Jesus. 

Although you may feel like you’re in an uphill battle and that you’re not seeing any results—keep at it. 

Eventually, you’ll find yourself worrying less and living with more joy and peace.

On one of his excellent “In Touch” radio broadcasts, Dr. Charles Stanley lays out three steps to eliminating worry in your life. 

Pray over and meditate on these steps. Really think about them and let them sink into your spirit. 

Doing so will help you beat worry and guilt. 

Step #1 – Realize That God is With You

God knows and sees your situation. He is with you every step of the way. 

I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Heb. 13:5b

You are God’s child, and He loves you dearly. Just as you would never leave your own child, God will never leave you.

And how much more He loves you than you are able to love your child!

You don’t need to worry about God’s awareness of your situation. He is omniscient and has known that you would experience whatever trial you’re in even before time itself existed.

He has promised that He will always be with you, so take Him at His word.

Pray to your Heavenly Father and ask Him for help. He won’t let you down.

Step #2 – Maintain Proper Vision

View your situation in context of your faith.

God is Lord of the entire universe and can be fully trusted to help you through any problems you might face.

You can hold on to your faith that God is good and that His will is always in your best interest. As we are told in Romans 8:28:

We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 

When everything seems to be going wrong and all you have is God to fall back on, that’s when your faith is truly put to the test. 

God is all we need. And when He is all we have, we are presented with the opportunity to stand firm in our faith. God’s will WILL prevail.

Step #3 – Seek God’s Kingdom First

If serving God and following His will for your life are your priorities in life, He will make sure that you have everything you need.

Matthew 6:33 tells us:

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

To put it another way, God takes care of His own. If you belong to Jesus and faithfully serve Him, your needs will be met.

Keep in mind, God’s provision might not always look like you think it should, but He will always come through. 

God wants to be your provider. His desire is for you to rely on Him and Him alone—not your job, your bank account, or even your own abilities.

Just Him.

When you know that God will meet your every need, you don’t need to worry about having enough. 

You’ll have what you need, when you need it. And you can count on that.

So, to sum up Dr. Stanley’s advice for overcoming worry:

  1. Trust God.
  2. Have faith in God.
  3. Seek God.

Here’s to a worry-free, joy-filled life pursuing God!

For Best Results, Pray Every Day

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

Do you pray? If you don’t, you are missing out on an opportunity to commune with the God of the universe. God wants us to talk to Him and draw closer to Him.

Just as a small child runs into the arms of their mother or father, so should we run into the arms of our Heavenly Father by praying to Him and talking to him.

Making it a habit to pray to God every day will strengthen your spiritual life and help you become all that God intends for you to be. Not to mention that you’ll feel better and improve the quality of your interpersonal relationships.

God even commands us to pray. Therefore, we can be sure it is the right thing to do. Jesus said:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 

Matt. 7:7-8

We need not worry if our prayers are doing any good. If we’re truly seeking God, we can trust in the effectiveness of our prayers:

The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

James 5:16b

The closer we draw to God, the more aligned with Him we’ll become in our heart. We’ll have the confidence that our wants are God’s wants:

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Ps. 37-4

But what if you don’t see answers to your prayers? Never fear, because God is still in control:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Phil. 4:6-7

Our job is to pray and keep on praying, even when that inner voice tells us that it’s not doing any good. 

That’s when our faith muscle kicks in, and we can trust in God that He will work everything out for the best:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Rom. 8:28

Even when things look bleak, we can be confident that God will not let us down. His way is the right way, so we should continually pray for His will to be done.

Doing so will increase our faith even more and enrich our lives here on earth while we wait to go to our eternal home in Heaven.

So, you’re not sure if you’re going to Heaven or not? 

There’s only one sure way to know. Ask Jesus into your heart to be the Lord of your life. Then, you can be certain you’ll have eternal life. 

It’s the most important decision you’ll ever make.

After you accept Jesus, pray every day for wisdom and direction. God won’t let you down.

Do Not Be Anxious

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

In the final 10 verses of Matthew 6, Jesus tells us three different times, “Do not be anxious.”

He must really mean it if He says it that many times. 

Yes, He truly wants His followers to live without anxiety and worry over the circumstances of their lives.

Let’s take a closer look at what Jesus says. The first occurrence of this command says,

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.

Matthew 6:25a

The words are plain and simple—don’t worry. 

However, we need to go back and look at the verses immediately before this one because of the word “Therefore.” Whenever we see this word, we need to see what it is said just before it.

Verse 24 says, 

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

In my opinion, this is one of the most important verses in the Bible, especially for those of us who have been taught that more is better and that having a well-paying career is what defines success. 

This verse shows us that we need to put God in His proper place in our lives. He must be #1—above everything else, including money and career.

When we make God the most important thing in our lives, then we can be assured verse 25 will be true for us—we can live life without worry and anxiety.

God will feed us and clothe us, just as he does the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. We are much more important to Him than they are, so He will surely take care of us, just as He does them. 

The next command not to worry comes just a few verses down:

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?

Matt. 6:31

Once again, Jesus tells us not to worry ourselves unnecessarily over having enough to eat or drink. He even goes on to tell us in verse 32 that God already knows we need these things.

He will supply us because He wants us to have the necessities of life. He says that the people who don’t know God spend their time chasing after these things and worrying about them. 

As believers in Christ, we can be assured that God will supply our needs. That’s not to say that things will always be easy, as life is not always fun, but we can trust that God is taking care of us.

Finally, in verse 34 Jesus tells us for the final time not to worry:

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

There’s that word “therefore” again, so we must back up a verse to find out what is stated there.

Verse 33 says,

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Each day, God will supply our needs for that day. We must simply live out our faith one day at a time, trusting God for His provision.

So, to ensure that God will look after our needs, we need to work to advance His kingdom and strive to live a righteous life that honors Him. 

Of course, no one can live a completely righteous life. The whole reason that Jesus died for us was to make us righteous in the Father’s eyes—we’re unable to achieve this on our own. 

We’re imperfect humans at best. However, that is a topic for another time.

In this important chapter, we have learned what to do to have our needs met and to live anxiety-free and worry-free lives:

  1. Put God in the highest place in our lives—over money, career, and even our own families.
  2. Seek God’s kingdom first, doing His work here on earth and trying to live our lives according to His commands and guidance.

While some may say this is an oversimplification of a complex theological discussion, I disagree.

I believe the Bible was written so that even a small child can understand it. After all, later on in Matthew, Jesus says,

Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matt. 18:3

It’s up to us to forget about all the “extras” that we tend to add to the Gospel, and approach it with the simple faith of a child. 

Trust God. Obey God. Make Him the most important thing in your life. Then, you’ll have everything you need and you won’t have reason to worry. 

You will have placed your life right where it needs to be—in His strong hands.

Trust God—There’s Nothing to It But to Do It

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

Sometimes we just have to trust God, then act. It’s that simple. 

In his book, Everybody Always, Bob Goff has a chapter titled “Land the Plane.” He describes at length how he and his son Adam take turns landing and then taking off in their Beaver seaplane. The runway is a small lake surrounded with trees and rocks with barely enough room to either land or take off, and they had never tried it before the day described in this chapter.

Bob manages to land the plane and they come to a stop. Then he jumps out of the pilot’s seat and tells his 18-year-old son to take off and fly them out of there. With much hesitation, Adam fastens himself into the pilot’s seat and proceeds to maneuver them off the lake and over the trees. 

Bob then tells Adam to take his turn at landing the plane. Again, with hesitation, Adam turns the plane around and settles it on the lake like a pro. 

The point is this: sometimes we need to trust God and take action before we’re able to hear God give us further instructions. We may already know what to do, but just haven’t been doing it. God may be waiting on us while we think we’re waiting on Him.

Bob Goff’s story helps us understand that we may never feel 100 percent comfortable with the action we know we need to take. We may never feel like we’re completely prepared to take the next step.

But that’s OK. We need to put our faith in God and go ahead and do what He has already whispered to us to do.

Bob and his son could have put off trying to land the plane that day, feeling that they hadn’t researched the location enough or didn’t have sufficient skills to land, much less have the room needed to lift off again.

But they didn’t. Both of the guys probably said a prayer (audible or not) before the first landing. In the end, however, it came down to trusting God and taking action. 

Does that mean that you’ll always be successful? Of course not—at least not in the short run. In the long run, if you’re following God’s guidance, taking action, and listening to Him speak to you, you will succeed. 

He wants us to be successful in our endeavors, so long as they are what He has called us to do. He’ll tell us what He wants us to do if we take time to listen to His whispers. 

Then, all we have to do is follow His calling by doing what He tells us to do. 

We’ll see much more success in our life if we simply trust God, then act.

Exercise Your Faith Daily

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

When it comes to faith, sometimes you just have to do it. Exercise your faith, that is. 

There may be times when we don’t feel like trusting God or believing the promises that are found in the Bible.

But that doesn’t give us an excuse to be lazy in our faith. 

After all, there are many things in life that we don’t feel like doing but we do them anyway.

Take work, for example. If we didn’t have to roll out of bed every morning and head into the office (or make our way to the assembly line, or hit the road), we probably wouldn’t do it. 

We have to work, however, because we need money to pay for food, housing, clothes, etc.

We should view acting in faith the exact same way. 

Treat faith just as you would food and water—we need it to survive. And we should be exercising our faith so that it gets stronger and deeper.

The more we use our faith, the more deeply rooted it becomes.

Our faith will become more valuable to us the stronger it is. 

So that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire.

1 Peter 1:7a

Not that faith is all about what we can get out of it. Rather, faith is a representation of our relationship with God. 

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.

Heb. 11:6

So, if we live our lives in a manner that’s pleasing to God, seeking Him and striving to deepen our relationship with Him, we can be confident that our faith will grow and our lives will be more enriched.

And it all starts by simply “just doing it.” Big faith always starts out small. Not many of us have super duper faith that is so deep that there is no room for growth.

But, if we take the little faith we have and use it every day to trust God, it will grow.

Focus on the promises of God—there are loads of them found in the Bible.    

For example, this is one of my favorite verses:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths

Prov. 3:5-6

Or,

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

James 1:5

These are just two of the hundreds of promises God has made to us. He is waiting for us to step out in faith and lean on Him. 

So, go ahead and put your faith in the Almighty Creator of the Universe, even if you don’t feel like it. 

You can’t go wrong doing so.

God’s Nature Vs. God’s Methods—What’s the Difference?

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

Is there a difference between God’s nature and God’s methods? I believe that God is infinitely good, but something inside me questions His methods—that perhaps they’re not always in my best interests. So, does that mean I don’t really think that God is all-good, after all?

I sometimes picture God as a mad scientist type, with white hair and a white beard, clipboard in hand and watching over His creation. All of us are like little mice, running to and fro through a gigantic maze. Some of the time it feels that God is controlling all the things going on in the maze. 

“Let’s throw a little rain at them and see how they respond. How about a little cancer here, a little car trouble over there? What do they do then?”

At other times it seems that God isn’t doing anything but standing back and watching everything unfold on its own. I know this deist view isn’t accurate, but sometimes it’s hard not to believe it’s reality. 

Admittedly, it’s hard to picture God as loving when I’m also picturing him as standing back from His creation, aloof and unconcerned about the goings-on of the individuals He is presiding over.

So why do I sometimes see God this way? I believe it’s the sheer silence that we get out of God most of the time. We pray and seek Him, yet for the most part He is silent. At best, we get a barely discernible whisper from within our spirit when He does speak directly to us. 

It seems that if He were interested in us, He would make himself more known to us. Seems like a fair assessment.

I realize I’m being hard on God with this line of reasoning. And I know that his thoughts are higher than my thoughts, so I’ll never understand why He does the things He does and doesn’t do the things he doesn’t. That’s just part of being human.

But just because I don’t understand God’s methods doesn’t mean that I can’t trust him completely. In fact, that is the very essence of faith, isn’t it—to trust God even when there’s no logical reason to do so? I believe that is a solid definition of faith.

In my heart of hearts I know that God is good. I’ve always believed that I think. But that doesn’t mean I always appreciate his methods. Often I feel like things that happen in life ought not to happen, that I go through hardships that I could just as easily do without. 

As they say, “God never wastes a tear,” which means that everything is part of God’s divine purpose and plan. Perhaps I should just accept that and move on. There is no sense getting upset when things don’t go the way I think they should. 

Either I trust God and His methods or I don’t. It’s that simple..

These are problems that I will probably always struggle with; it’s part of human nature to try to figure out the mysteries of life. However, we must not let these thoughts taint our view of the infinitely loving God who created us and who loves us unconditionally.

That’s where faith comes in.