By Faith

 Referenced scriptures: Hebrews 11:1, Hebrews 11:6, 2 Corinthians 5:7, 1 John 3:20, John 8:44

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. (Hebrews 11:6 ESV)

Another well-known and heavily quoted scripture by most Christians around the world. The Bible tells us in the beginning of Hebrews 11 (verse 1), Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. This assurance in which things we cannot see is where we tend to slip up from time to time. We tend to allow other things dictate our faith; the two biggest ones for me personally are my eyes and my feelings. I tend to allow what I can see and feel dictate the level of my faith rather than just trusting God. So it's clear we can't please God without faith so we need to learn how to trust him with complete faith and not allow other things get in the way.

Now that we understand that let me share this with you. The past week or so I have found myself saying to God in prayer something like this, "Lord, so much of what I am doing right now is being done purely on faith." Meaning, I wasn't "feeling" it, I was just doing it because I knew it was what I was supposed to be doing. Such as, reading my Bible, praying, and going to church. Almost immediately God spoke one single word back to me within my spirit, the word he spoke back was, "Good." He then proceeded to show me that regardless of what I am feeling or going through at any given time all my actions of Biblical obedience and service should always be done in faith. Faith that God is going to do what the Bible says He will do regardless of what is going on around me. I was unknowingly in-line with Biblical principles based purely on faith and obedience as it should always be. It should never be based on how we feel. The enemy deceived me for a bit because I didn't "feel" that God was there and had me thinking I had missed it or that something was wrong with me and I actually believed it for a while.

You see we tend to only "have faith" when we can logically see how God will work things out. Now I ask you; is that truly faith? Just because you can't see the entire path God has you waking down it doesn't mean that you can't take the next step on that path in faith knowing and trusting that He is in control. Truth of the matter is, there will be times in life that you will need to take step forward without seeing the whole picture. This is called faith and without this it is impossible to please God. The enemy will often use these times to raise doubt, fear, and uncertainty within our mind and this is exactly what he did recently with me. I didn't "feel" God so I began to think that something was wrong. Although because of good habits ("PRAISE GOD") such as reading scripture, prayer, and church attendance I was actually in obedience to God's word, but because I was allowing my feelings to rule me the enemy was able to deceive me into thinking I was lost because I didn't "feel" anything. I mean how crazy is that? This also led me to another re-revelation that our feelings are ridiculously fickle and we need to STOP relying on them in spiritual matters. We walk by faith (not feelings) see 2 Corinthians 5:7.

So regardless of how you feel (see 1 John 3:20) just hang in there and keep doing what you know is right according to the Bible and God will take care of you. Don't let the enemy talk you into believe that just because you don't feel it then there must be something wrong with you. Remember the Bible tells us a very sobering truth about the enemy "he is a liar and the father of lies" (see John 8:44).

Take Care & God Bless,

-E