This morning my pastor Paul James Dudley told the church that he and the rest of the people at this morning's hour of prayer prayed for a breakthrough for each person in service today. My mind immediately thought of people getting healed, or people getting saved, or some other form of God moving in some really big way. I never thought of a breakthrough in the form of realization or something just "clicking." But that is exactly what happened for me this morning. For a little short of two years now, God has been speaking to me about promises. Specifically the promise God makes to us in John 10:10 that He came to give us an abundant life. For a while I have been holding to this promise, but have been feeling very impatient with my life. I did not see abundance, all I could see was the unfulfilled parts of God's promises. All I could see we're the things that I was still, truth be told, very impatiently waiting for. Well this morning, my pastor said some words that brought a breakthrough in my thinking. My impatience is a doubt that God will fulfill His promises. In my head I believed that God would come through, but in my heart I felt like He had already let me down because He had not already delivered. I am very guilty of "not getting my hopes up" because the longer I have to wait, the less I believe something will happen. I try not to hope, so that when the thing I am waiting for doesn't happen, then I will not be disappointed. But God has made a promise. I should get my hopes up, I should be excited, because if God has promised something, He WILL deliver. I do not need to wait for my victory, my victory is NOW because I can know with confidence that God will deliver. The only thing I am responsible for is to sit back, listen for God's direction, and allow Him to work in His timing. And as I finally realized today after 19 years of my Christian walk, that is FAITH! Believing that God will fulfill what He has promised, even when it seems impossible. Having FAITH is not needing to know the how or needing to be involved in the how, having FAITH is believing confidently for the when! That perspective changes everything. Worry and stress should not even be in my vocabulary, God has promised to provide everything I need, and I can confidently KNOW that He will in fact provide EVERYTHING I need! It's like knowing the end of a movie before watching it. If you know that the good guy lives, not matter how bad the battle gets or how bad things are or how impossible the situation is, you KNOW that he is going to live, so you never get truly nervous! That is the feeling we should have for our lives! God has promised us victory over our afflictions. No matter how desperate or how hopeless the situation seems, we KNOW that God has promised us victory and we should never truly be afraid. Faith is believing you have won before the fight has even begun!
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
What FAITH really is
This post from my Facebook account on February 8 inspired me to finally publish this blog. I hope these words can both inspire you and help you understand my journey!
This morning my pastor Paul James Dudley told the church that he and the rest of the people at this morning's hour of prayer prayed for a breakthrough for each person in service today. My mind immediately thought of people getting healed, or people getting saved, or some other form of God moving in some really big way. I never thought of a breakthrough in the form of realization or something just "clicking." But that is exactly what happened for me this morning. For a little short of two years now, God has been speaking to me about promises. Specifically the promise God makes to us in John 10:10 that He came to give us an abundant life. For a while I have been holding to this promise, but have been feeling very impatient with my life. I did not see abundance, all I could see was the unfulfilled parts of God's promises. All I could see we're the things that I was still, truth be told, very impatiently waiting for. Well this morning, my pastor said some words that brought a breakthrough in my thinking. My impatience is a doubt that God will fulfill His promises. In my head I believed that God would come through, but in my heart I felt like He had already let me down because He had not already delivered. I am very guilty of "not getting my hopes up" because the longer I have to wait, the less I believe something will happen. I try not to hope, so that when the thing I am waiting for doesn't happen, then I will not be disappointed. But God has made a promise. I should get my hopes up, I should be excited, because if God has promised something, He WILL deliver. I do not need to wait for my victory, my victory is NOW because I can know with confidence that God will deliver. The only thing I am responsible for is to sit back, listen for God's direction, and allow Him to work in His timing. And as I finally realized today after 19 years of my Christian walk, that is FAITH! Believing that God will fulfill what He has promised, even when it seems impossible. Having FAITH is not needing to know the how or needing to be involved in the how, having FAITH is believing confidently for the when! That perspective changes everything. Worry and stress should not even be in my vocabulary, God has promised to provide everything I need, and I can confidently KNOW that He will in fact provide EVERYTHING I need! It's like knowing the end of a movie before watching it. If you know that the good guy lives, not matter how bad the battle gets or how bad things are or how impossible the situation is, you KNOW that he is going to live, so you never get truly nervous! That is the feeling we should have for our lives! God has promised us victory over our afflictions. No matter how desperate or how hopeless the situation seems, we KNOW that God has promised us victory and we should never truly be afraid. Faith is believing you have won before the fight has even begun!
This morning my pastor Paul James Dudley told the church that he and the rest of the people at this morning's hour of prayer prayed for a breakthrough for each person in service today. My mind immediately thought of people getting healed, or people getting saved, or some other form of God moving in some really big way. I never thought of a breakthrough in the form of realization or something just "clicking." But that is exactly what happened for me this morning. For a little short of two years now, God has been speaking to me about promises. Specifically the promise God makes to us in John 10:10 that He came to give us an abundant life. For a while I have been holding to this promise, but have been feeling very impatient with my life. I did not see abundance, all I could see was the unfulfilled parts of God's promises. All I could see we're the things that I was still, truth be told, very impatiently waiting for. Well this morning, my pastor said some words that brought a breakthrough in my thinking. My impatience is a doubt that God will fulfill His promises. In my head I believed that God would come through, but in my heart I felt like He had already let me down because He had not already delivered. I am very guilty of "not getting my hopes up" because the longer I have to wait, the less I believe something will happen. I try not to hope, so that when the thing I am waiting for doesn't happen, then I will not be disappointed. But God has made a promise. I should get my hopes up, I should be excited, because if God has promised something, He WILL deliver. I do not need to wait for my victory, my victory is NOW because I can know with confidence that God will deliver. The only thing I am responsible for is to sit back, listen for God's direction, and allow Him to work in His timing. And as I finally realized today after 19 years of my Christian walk, that is FAITH! Believing that God will fulfill what He has promised, even when it seems impossible. Having FAITH is not needing to know the how or needing to be involved in the how, having FAITH is believing confidently for the when! That perspective changes everything. Worry and stress should not even be in my vocabulary, God has promised to provide everything I need, and I can confidently KNOW that He will in fact provide EVERYTHING I need! It's like knowing the end of a movie before watching it. If you know that the good guy lives, not matter how bad the battle gets or how bad things are or how impossible the situation is, you KNOW that he is going to live, so you never get truly nervous! That is the feeling we should have for our lives! God has promised us victory over our afflictions. No matter how desperate or how hopeless the situation seems, we KNOW that God has promised us victory and we should never truly be afraid. Faith is believing you have won before the fight has even begun!
Why??
For many years I have felt that I should start a blog. I never knew what the theme would be or what I should write about. Trick is ... I still don't. But I know that God is calling me to write these things, so this is me being obedient.
The name of this blog comes from the verse listed at the top of the site. This verse took on particular meaning to me after reading the majority of book lent to me by one of my youth pastors. This verse became a significant part of my life when it was read at the funeral of one of my oldest friends.
At 3am on March 20th, 2013, I was uncharacteristically awoken by a text message. This message informed me that one of my friends from back home had died in a car accident. Zach was 11 months younger than me and we had grown up together at our families' church. One my mom's favorite stories is from our time in the church nursery. Apparently I took a toy from him so he bit me on the nose so hard that I bled. This cherished little story is pretty characteristic of our friendship. Zach and I saw eye to eye on very few things, but I always knew that he would be there if I needed him. I also knew that whenever I spent time with him I would always have a good time. Some of the craziest things I ever done were in the presence of Zach. He is definitely a major player in some of my best stories. I never thought that there would be a day that those stories would cease. Shortly after losing Zach I had to decide what life would look like without him. I decided that I would live the rest of my life to honor his memory. Zach was so full of life. While it was short, Zach lived his life to the full, an abundant life. So now I choose to live that abundant life. God gave the life of His Son so that we may experience a full, rich life. I firmly believe that God never intended Christians to have sad, lack luster life. He intends us to have joy, a joy that can only be found within a relationship with Christ.
So I have no catchy theme for this blog. I have no overarching purpose for my words. All I can do is invite you along on my journey to seek an abundant life.
The name of this blog comes from the verse listed at the top of the site. This verse took on particular meaning to me after reading the majority of book lent to me by one of my youth pastors. This verse became a significant part of my life when it was read at the funeral of one of my oldest friends.
At 3am on March 20th, 2013, I was uncharacteristically awoken by a text message. This message informed me that one of my friends from back home had died in a car accident. Zach was 11 months younger than me and we had grown up together at our families' church. One my mom's favorite stories is from our time in the church nursery. Apparently I took a toy from him so he bit me on the nose so hard that I bled. This cherished little story is pretty characteristic of our friendship. Zach and I saw eye to eye on very few things, but I always knew that he would be there if I needed him. I also knew that whenever I spent time with him I would always have a good time. Some of the craziest things I ever done were in the presence of Zach. He is definitely a major player in some of my best stories. I never thought that there would be a day that those stories would cease. Shortly after losing Zach I had to decide what life would look like without him. I decided that I would live the rest of my life to honor his memory. Zach was so full of life. While it was short, Zach lived his life to the full, an abundant life. So now I choose to live that abundant life. God gave the life of His Son so that we may experience a full, rich life. I firmly believe that God never intended Christians to have sad, lack luster life. He intends us to have joy, a joy that can only be found within a relationship with Christ.
So I have no catchy theme for this blog. I have no overarching purpose for my words. All I can do is invite you along on my journey to seek an abundant life.
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