The Edge of Faith

It's inspiring to look at the "heroes" of our faith and to see the great things they accomplished, bringing glory to God and making (our shared) history.

Hebrews 11, of course, is a great place to go to get a run-down of these folks.

In reviewing the list, what do these heroes have in common?

Faith and Uncertainty

The Greatness of God in us demands our highest level of living.

Uncertainty is the wall against which our faith, like a ladder, can lean - taking us higher. Without engaging uncertainty our faith lays flat.

Our faith must grow. It must do more. It must carry us into the realm of the impossible - where God does His best stuff.

We must be willing to extend our faith to meet and exceed any uncertainty, any fear, any doubt.

In this, faith is the substance of our hope and the evidence of what we can't quite yet see (Hebrews 11:1).

Meet the challenge before you by engaging your faith for greater things.

Fellowship with God

It is tragic to want what is right, but to lack the courage, discipline, or vision that would stimulate us to take the necessary steps to produce the desired right-ness.

But when we fellowship with God, we understand His Greatness and His investment in us, we realize that our faith can conquer the issue of courage, our love for what He loves can conquer the issue of discipline, and our understanding of His plan for the Kingdom can conquer any lack of vision.

I believe that it is primarily by practiced and regular fellowship with God that we are transformed by His nature; emboldened, centered, and beholding of His purposes.

Pursue Him.

We want to live where we can confidently confess:

"I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel;
My heart also instructs me in the night seasons."
Psalm 16:7

Speak UP!

It's no surprise that our faith is also referred to as our confession (Hebrews 10:23).

Romans 10:10 says, "... with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

James emphasizes the importance of our words (James 3:6-12).

Solomon goes even farther, "You are snared by the words of your mouth; You are taken by the words of your mouth" (Proverbs 6:2).

David knew the significance of our speech when, in prayer, he said to the Lord, "Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips" (Psalm 141:3). And, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer" (Psalm 19:14).

The Word is God's seed and He sows His Word in our hearts when we read and meditate on it. If we allow Him to sow good seed through His Word, we will begin to think His thoughts.

Our thoughts are our seed and our lips sow the seed when we speak.

Our words are the confession of our faith and represent our understanding of who we are. We paint a picture of ourselves with our words. "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7), and "... out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34).

Fill your heart with what God says about you and what He says about Himself. Speak UP from that abundance. Agree with God!

If we speak words of fear, we neglect what He says about His protection and we become fearful. If we speak words of doubt, we contradict our confidence in Him and we lose faith. If we speak words of failure, we nullify our assurance of His victory and we accept failure.

The Good News is THE OPPOSITE IS TRUE, TOO!

Speak UP! Sow what He says back into your situation and into others' lives through your words. It's not magic, it's the Word - the Christ - in you!

The Greatest Gap of All

It's nice to know - and to see evidence - that we believe in God. But what a revelation to recognize how much God believes in us!

Let's look at the facts:

1) He placed us here, in an unfriendly environment (the enemy was already here!), and gave us a powerful mandate (Genesis 1:28),

2) He paid a precious price to buy us back,

3) He freed us from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2),

4) He expects us to do what He did and greater! (John 14:12)

Wow. What faith He must have - in US!

No doubt there are significant gaps between the real and the ideal and the seen and the unseen, but there is no gap between what God expects and what is possible! He lives in a realm where anything is possible. He invites us to believe what He believes, to strive for what He sees, and to go where He leads!

The greatest gap is the gap between what we believe about ourselves and what God believes about us.

Bridge the gap by believing what God says about you and by acting on His Word!


Today's Daily Bread: Ephesians 1.

How Big is Your God?

What you believe about God will determine who you are and what you can do.

Many people have reduced God to the size of their biggest problem. Their confidence in Him stops short at the threshold of the problem or challenge or at the extent of their limited hope for themselves. Because of this faith-deficiency, they are destined to live with the problem. It can't be overshadowed or overtaken. It reigns supreme. It becomes their god when it goes beyond the reach of what they believe God can do.

"As a man thinks in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7). What a man thinks about God becomes the limit to what God is able to do in his life.

The Word of God is the substantive antidote to the poison that restricts our ability to think beyond our fears and to believe beyond our challenges.

"So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17).

Faith from His Word takes us further so we can believe and see above our circumstances, through our problems, and beyond the bounds of our own short-sighted dreams when we understand that God is bigger than any challenge, more powerful than any threat, and more far-reaching than any of our best plans for ourselves in Him.

As we read, believe, and act on His Word we grow in faith. We become able to see God doing more so our problems shrink and our possibilities expand before us.

How big is your God?

Try Bigger.



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Faith your Fears

We hear daily about how our country is changing and how the economic situation is bound to get worse before better.

I am sensitive to the fear level that is rising as people imagine the worst.

Today the Lord prompted a thought in me: We are people of faith. And, although the situation is serious, we have no need to fear. God is Our Father and Christ is in us.

Let's live our faith. We have been spoiled and capable of living our lives 99% faith-free as most of our needs - from food to medical care - are met without requiring faith. Perhaps this is changing and we, finally, get the chance to flex our spiritual muscle. Surely it will be clumsy and awkward at first, but we can trust that God will be faithful and patient as we learn to operate in a power that has been there all along.

Scripture indicates that this life lived by faith will be closer to the life to which He has called us.

Hebrews 11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

Romans 14:23 "...for whatever is not from faith is sin."

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