Faith Beyond
Here’s what I’m learning. Faith is not only required to be a child of God, it’s necessary to experience His promises of peace and joy here on earth. Many of us including myself have the foundational faith down pack, which is to believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. We have enough faith to get us in the door regarding salvation, but at times we lack the faith necessary to sustain us throughout the journey. What good is it to believe in an all powerful God who loves you beyond your understanding, and promises to prosper you, yet still worry about how life’s circumstances will play out.
Here’s what I realized…
I’ve been praying over a situation in my life for a few years now. I’ve tried everything in my control, and still I find myself faced with what seems like a never ending cycle. What’s most frustrating is that logically a prosperous future is tied to me getting past this, so year after year I struggle to get past, and something always brings me right back to where I started. God highlighted something to me regarding this situation. He showed me that I had taken my hands off of almost everything in my life and placed it in His full control, except this. He told me to take my hands off of it and trust Him, so that’s what I did. I pray for wisdom regarding how I should move about the situation daily, and I leave the rest in God’s hands. In doing this, sometimes I want to resort back to stressing over this situation and trying to control what has become out of my control, then I have to remember what God asked of me.
Throughout this process of “taking my hands off”, I have found that that’s when you truly get to experience God’s promises of peace and joy.
When I was going through a hard time, I thought of everything in my life that played a role in the cause of my frustration (highly recommend). God allowed me to see that every individual cause was actually different manifestations of the same worry. I knew then that if I’d just let it go, I would feel as if everything was okay, even if it wasn’t. As soon as I began trusting God enough to make a way where there seemed like there was no way, I began to feel relief although nothing had yet changed regarding the situation. What I see now is that in giving it to God, it is truly no longer a problem meant for me to solve, but instead it is the Lord’s, and there’s no problem too complex for God to provide a solution for.
Like any promise, I spoke on this before, we must grab hold of it by doing what’s necessary. I’ve learned that in order to grab hold of the promises of peace and joy, we must practice faith beyond its foundation.
God says, “Take your hands off of it”.
Scripture to reflect on:
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.
John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit
John 20:21
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.
