Category: faith

Two things bring great satisfaction to any parent: trust and gratitude. God feels the same and His children bring Him glory when they believe what He says and give thanks for every blessing.

Abraham glorified God by believing Him. “I know this is God’s promise and He will never lie to me. So if He says my wife and I will have a baby, I’ll believe Him… even if we are approaching our hundredth birthdays!”

“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waiver in unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised.” (Romans 4:18-21)

If we smile when our children say ‘Thank you,’ what does God feel? David sang, “I will praise God’s name in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving. This will please Him more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hoofs.” (Psalm 69:30-31) The Father is glorified when we are thankful.

Thanksgiving should overflow from everything God has done, is doing, and will do through His Son. We believe God loved us enough to die for us. We believe Jesus carried our sins and our ‘old selves’ as He died on the cross. We believe He fulfilled the Law completely, knowing that we could never be saved through our own efforts. We believe He has declared us righteous and holy. We believe He was raised from the dead on the third day and that we need not fear death. We believe Jesus ascended back to heaven after forty days on earth as a resurrected Savior. We believe the Holy Spirit was poured out and is given as a gift to the saved. We believe Jesus and the Holy Spirit intercede for us today. And we believe our Lord is coming back again to take us to a place He has prepared.

“Impossible!” the world cries. “But this is what God says… and He cannot lie. I will trust Him completely… and give thanks.”

“It is written: ‘I believed, therefore I have spoken.’ With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the One who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in His presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.” II Corinthians 4:13-15

“Miraculous healing, to be sure, is as vital a part of Christian ministry today as it was in the first century. Without it the church limps along, lame and leprous. Nevertheless, it is possible to place so much emphasis on a miraculous cure that one completely loses sight of the inestimable worth of patient, faithful endurance of disease. We like to talk about ‘having the faith to be healed,’ but what about having the faith to be sick?”

I ran into two friends from the Atlanta multiple myeloma support group at the hospital this past week. Mary fell outside after church the Sunday following Christmas and broke her pelvis. Despite being in a wheelchair, she still radiated a joyful smile that always encourages others. I’ve known Mary over twelve years and she is a true servant.

Ernestine has been on dialysis for several months as the disease has impacted her kidneys. I just learned that another complication has disabled her from swallowing. I asked how she received nourishment. “Now let me tell you how God is good…” and she recounted the story of receiving a feeding tube. I love Ernestine’s faith. Both these ladies have taught me much about living with grace and courage.

We all need the faith to believe Jesus heals, and when we doubt we should remember the father who asked the Master: “Can you help my son?” Jesus answered, “‘If you can’? Everything is possible for one who believes.” The father cried, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

As I sit in waiting rooms with fellow cancer patients, I also know that Jesus can help us endure. The once-athletic man who shuffles by with no energy and less hair needs to know he can make it. The newly diagnosed patient full of fear and worry needs to know that God can give peace. The lady pushing the wheelchair of the father or husband or son needs the strength to persevere in hope. Perhaps we pray best regarding things we have experienced.

Jesus has the best perspective. He has been here and He understands everything we face. Having suffered Himself, He is the best intercessor. As we follow Him this year in loving and serving and praying for others, let’s ask God for healthy perspective and robust faith.

“Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.” I Peter 4:1-2

Quote from “The Gospel According to Job” by Mike Mason, ©1994 by Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, p 97

“But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Greet Priscilla and Aquilla and the household of Onesiphorus. Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick in Miletus. Do your best to get here before winter. Eubulus greets you, and so do Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brothers. The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.” II Timothy 4:17-22

And this is grace: ‘God is with us.’ If we are His children, the sheep of His pasture… and His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus… then He is with us.

The prisoner in Rome knew the same Good Shepherd that David sang about centuries earlier: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” Paul testified: “The Lord stood at my side and gave me strength.” This is grace.

“My sheep listen to My voice; I know them and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30)

When we read Scripture and God’s Word seems to jump off the page and speak directly to our hearts, or when a verse comes to mind that bears truth to our spirits, the Good Shepherd is speaking.

One August day in 2000 around 4:00 in the afternoon, I heard this: “My grace is sufficient for you.” A couple of hours later my doctor and his wife knocked on our door, came into our home, and shared that I had cancer. To that point, Susan and I had not really considered I had a serious health problem; I had just gone to the doctor to check on aches and pains in my forty-year-old body.

Now, after dealing with the blood cancer multiple myeloma for fifteen years, I know: “God’s grace is sufficient.” Or to state it another way: “It is enough that God is with us.”

No matter the prognosis or the challenge or the trial, to know ‘God is with me’ is the grace I need. No one can snatch me out of His possession. This is the Word of the Good Shepherd who knows us and cares for us with loving kindness and eternal power. We are in good hands.

“If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39

My grandmother on my father’s side lived until she was 103 years old. She was born in 1900 and lived until 2003. Her sister, Gracie, lived to the age of 106. She was born in 1894 and died in 2000, putting her in the rare club of those who lived in three different centuries.

More important than longevity, my Dad would say ‘faith’ is the most important aspect of heritage. He recently told me that if he could recommend any message to believers today, it would be Paul’s second letter to Timothy. Written in prison, II Timothy contains the last recorded words of Paul before he was executed in Rome.

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.” (II Timothy 1:1-5)

What type of faith do we want to pass down to our children and to our children’s children? Lauren Daigle sings a passionate prayer:
“I want to seek You first.
I want to keep You first.
More than anything I want, I want You first.
You are my Treasure and my Reward;
Let nothing ever come before I seek You first.”

Children who witness authentic faith in their home have the advantage of seeing that God is real. May Jesus truly be our Treasure and may all around us “taste and see that the Lord is good.”

“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 5:33

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that takes refuge in Him.” Psalm 34:8

So what prevents people from surrendering their hearts to Jesus? We had some great discussions in the evenings with our high school students in Ecuador. Mostly we focused on faith.

“Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists…” (Hebrews 11:6) Someone who does not believe God exists cannot surrender to Him. More and more in our society we see ‘unbelief’ as the huge barrier that separates people from God and from one another.

But the matter of ‘will’ can also be a barrier. On our last night in Quito we split the boys and girls for our final devotional. Another leader and I sat with seven young men in our hotel. Knowing the goal of faith is to trust fully in who Jesus is and what God has accomplished through Him, my friend shared the gospel from Paul’s letter to the Romans. After reading the following verses, we concluded that naming Jesus “Lord” means totally surrendering our will to Him.

“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, ‘Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.’” (Romans 10:9-11)

“So what are the barriers that keep us from this faith?” we asked. Their answers were from a teenage vantage point, but such honest responses reveal some of the reasons people of all ages decline Christ’s invitation. A sixteen-year-old said, “We don’t want to change. We like who we are and don’t want to embrace a life that calls us to be different.” An eighteen-year-old stated, “We enjoy our independence. We basically do what we want when we want and we really don’t someone telling us what to do.” A seventeen-year-old suggested, “Pride is the barrier. Pride keeps people from surrendering to Jesus.”

Sadly, we know that any barrier between us and Christ keeps us from true joy, true freedom, and true life. Our enemy knows that the gift purchased at the Cross is the hope for all men so he deceives through any method he can use. May we detect Satan’s lies and learn to trust the Father more and more.

Here’s a secret to growth I picked up in an Ecuadorian church:

“Asi que la fe viene del oir, y el oir, por la palabra de Cristo.” Romanos 10:17