Years ago when facing a legal situation, I had two friends from opposite
cultures providing insight and advice. And both were right on. One an ex-chief
of police, the other an ex-Hells Angel president. Talk about opposing cultures,
but both were correct in their assessment, they just came at it from different
angles, as one told me. Seems a bit of insight mixed with experience never
hurts, we were thankful for their input. We valued it, but still weighed it
based on what the spirit was guiding us to do. And God performed a miracle only
he could, one so evident that you knew it could only come from him. We never
wavered, maybe drug our feet a bit, but our trust in God was rewarded by him
doing something no man could do. Supernatural, compassionate, and forgiving,
mercy at its height. With faith reaching a new height as he result. Answered
prayer will do that, but praying “thy will be done” will give you access to the
heart of the Lord, and an insight he shares.
A key to faith is having faith in the object of your faith, Jesus Christ.
It is so stylish to say “prayer changes things,” but it is the only one who can
answer prayer that affects the change. Your words don’t, his actions do.
Credit God, not you. Big faith, little faith, waning faith, all the same, it
depends on the size of your God. Abraham faced this with his inability to have
children with Sarah, all the practice with the same results. But two things
about God were called into practice here, he gives life to the dead,
resurrection of our souls, but also to the dead womb of Sarah. Old and
incapable, it was dead. To all but God. The second thing is the creativity of
the Lord. He created life, us out of nothing but dirt. He is able to call into
life the things that don’t exist, things way beyond our wildest comprehension or
dreams. He sees things that are not as if they were. And gives us entrance to
that kind of faith. Just might change your prayer life and relationship with
him.
As Paul was chained in prison, he had to deal with the fact of where he
was, who was watching him, and what was the possible outcome. Faith deals with
facts. Too many times we wander off into a spiritual dream world only to find
reality staring us in the face. We tend to look at the situation in our own
eyes instead of those of Jesus. When faced with how to feed the 5000, Philip
offered the same answer as an atheist would have. We have no food, we are far
from town, Burger King closed at 6. All facts, but in the midst of it, Jesus
showed who he was, by providing for everyone with some left over, so they could
be reminded at the next meal of the one he provided then. Faith never evades
the facts, it acknowledges them, and then trusts God to make the changes.
Again, not what, but who changes things?
And when God does deliver, do we give him all the glory? Check your
Facebook, so many brag about the numbers who prayed, as if when it hit a magic
number God would answer. Or that it was their prayer that made the difference.
It might have, taking the glory from God and leading a weaker one astray. Get
your millstone ready. But sometimes we see God’s promise as the obstacle,
doubting even he can do it, and when not immediately or on our schedule, we
doubt. Ye of little faith. Jesus even asked his disciples “couldn’t you have
stayed awake another hour?” You slept through the bet part of the show, the
miracles. Just because it sounds too good to be true, do we doubt God? When in
a coma from heart disease and open heart surgery I should not have lived
through, I saw Jesus, a glimpse of heaven, a peace I can only describe as I want
to go back to. “Am I dead,” I asked. “No, you are very much alive.” The
doctors and nurses were in disbelief, even Peter my cardiologist told me “it was
evident that God intervened.” And yes I want to go back, and know I will
someday. Some might say I beat the odds, but with Jesus it was always 100% in
my favor. Alive on earth to tell about him, or alive in heaven with him. You
never lose when trusting Jesus.
Right now God is at work for us, allowing situations so that he can show
himself to us as worthy. Don’t stop praying, but start acknowledging him and
who he is. What he has done. All things, good and bad, work together to those
who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. All. His purpose,
knowing Jesus, and obtaining everlasting life. Faith may be the evidence of
things not seen but believed, but I have seen him. He reveals himself daily,
are we looking? Are we listening? Faith leads to obedience, that builds
trust. Ask Peter, he obeyed when Jesus called to him to walk on the water, it
wasn’t faith, he saw Jesus and obeyed. Read it. That’s a fact. Which he
carried with him the rest of his life. Do we have the faith to say “if that is
really you Lord, bid me to come?” Or are we too busy praying about it? The
facts of faith are it is the one who answers that is the important concept. It
takes faith, blind as it may be, to turn on the light switch, it takes real
faith to trust British electrics. We cannot see how it works, it just does. Do
you give God the same chance? I have the scar and the records to prove my
miracle, Jesus has scars to prove his. Thomas believed without touching, we can
believe only when Jesus touches our heart. Like we learned, all things work
together. What part of all don’t you understand?
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com