“Without faith it is impossible to please Him…” —Hebrews 11:6
“Common
sense and faith are as different from each other as the natural life is from
the spiritual, and as impulsiveness is from inspiration. Nothing that Jesus
Christ ever said is common sense, but is revelation sense, and is complete,
whereas common sense falls short. Yet faith must be tested and tried before it
becomes real in your life. […] Faith is a tremendously active principle that
always puts Jesus Christ first. The life of faith says, “Lord, You have said
it, it appears to be irrational, but I’m going to step out boldly, trusting in
Your Word” (for example, see Matthew 6:33). Turning intellectual faith into our
personal possession is always a fight, not just sometimes. […] Until we know
Jesus, God is merely a concept, and we can’t have faith in Him. But once we
hear Jesus say, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9) we
immediately have something that is real, and our faith is limitless.” – Oswald
Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest
I
quote Oswald Chambers from time to time. I have read his devotions for years
and encourage others to do the same. A friend told me that his devotions were
difficult to understand so I said I would essentially write a commentary on
them to help them. That was the genesis of these devotions. And now some 10
years later and over 2275 devotions later – here I am. I still find Chambers’
insights compelling and still share “nuggets” from his devotion from time to
time.
When
I woke up this morning, the thought “Seeing is not a requirement for
believing.” was on my mind. The Spirit was
speaking to me. That ever happen to
you? Probably, but perhaps you don’t
realize that is what is happening when it does.
Faith which is trusting something to be true without evidence is
different from “thinking” something might be true. Faith is spiritual and works on another plane
than our natural reasoning. I know that
I know, but don’t know how I know. I
struggle when I try to filter a faith-fact through my natural mind. Thomas struggled with believing that it was
Jesus standing before him, until he filtered it through the natural man – “I
must touch his wounds!” Jesus then said
“Blessed are those who believe and have not seen.” (John 20:29)
Can
you .. .will you trust Jesus even when what you are trusting Him in is contrary
to reason? I did not say contrary to the
revealed will and Word of God, but to your reasoning. Faith facts will always be consistent with
who God is and His truth and most often inconsistent with natural reasoning. It may not make any sense. The thought of it might strike fear in your
heart as you look at the “giants in the land” and wonder how on earth you are going
to do what you know God has set before you. Martie and I have found ourselves
in that place many times. The hazards
(if you will) of our calling. Proverbs
3:5-6 says not to lean on our own understanding. In other words, faith comes first. Understanding will follow … most of the
time. When I was in Army Basic training
at the ripe age of 18, I had one particular drill sergeant, SSGT San
Felice. He was 6’2”, red hair, from
Puerto Rico. He had a very thick
accent. He told us .. “I don care if you
don unnerstan me, you bedda do it!” I think I did a lot of unnecessary
pushups! Well, our life in Christ is
that way in some respects. We hear God,
we heard what God said but don’t understand the why or how, and so we doubt God
and fear sets in. The disciples did that
during the storm. Peter did that while
walking on the water. We do that when
God says do something that makes no earthly sense. It means that we have to give up our worldly
confidence and rest in God’s faithfulness.
Friend, that is the life we have been called to. “We live by faith and not by sight.”
(2 Corinthians 5:7) What is it that God
is telling you to do? You must
choose. BY the wat, to do nothing is
making a choice . .and that choice is not for God.
“But
if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this
day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the
Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as
for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” – Joshua 24:15
Does that describe
you? I want to encourage you to let your light Shine Bright my friend and give
God the place and glory He is due.
By Faith Alone By
His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone
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