Photo by Markus Merz (flickr.com)
Teach me, Lord, the way of Your decrees, that I may follow it to the end.
Give me understanding, so that I may keep Your law and obey it with all of my heart.
Direct me in the path of Your commands, for there I find delight. Psalm 119:33-35
Faith is a little five-letter word that we sometimes equate with “doing all things right before the Lord at all times, trusting Him in everything, and praying really hard, believing He will answer all of our prayers, though we cannot understand it at all.” Unfortunately, faith is a really big thing that a really big God has asked us to have. Not only are we called to have faith in Him, but we are encouraged to act in faith…faith in the True and Living God. To whom much is given, much will be required and at least for me, this is sometimes a very daunting task.
Thankfully faith is also often referred to as a “gift from God” in Scripture, and we can be certain that it is not all dependent on our “ability” to have faith in Him. But unfortunately, we often forget that God has given us tools to grow our faith in Him. In our waiting for this “gift” and not trying to “work hard at achieving anything,” we often sit still and do nothing. We simply lay at night and “ask” for the gift of faith. This is also sometimes really unhelpful.
So we are left somewhere in the awkward middle, trying to do our best at what we know we are called to do (rightfully so since it benefits us and those around us) and at the same time trying to trust that we cannot do it on our own, allowing God to grow it (somehow in His supernatural mysterious way) deep within us.
Something that has clicked recently for me is the realization that God spent a lot of time giving His people “The Law” to help them live in a way that honors Him. For some reason, I never go back and read that with attention. Maybe it is the whole “Leviticus” thing that does not seem exciting to me. But slowly I am realizing that the decrees God gave His people are very purposeful, and although we live “under grace,” we do not have to throw them all out the window.
I believe that if we choose to follow them, we will be surprised at how our faith grows. There is a direct relationship between understanding and following His decrees and intimacy and trust with our Father. It worked for hundreds of years; it must still work today.
Although we do not usually think of delighting in the day-to-day commands as a way to work on our “faith,” I have found that the little things make a big difference. Even little things like turning on candles in my room to separate the Sabbath from the rest of the week (my attempt to honor the Lord’s command to keep the Sabbath holy) has made a significant impact. Each week I do it even more joyfully, and delighting in His command to keep the Sabbath holy has surprisingly made me trust His Word a bit more each time.
How do you feel when you think of “The Law”? How has your faith in God grown or changed when you have delighted in His decrees? What commands or decrees have you been working on recently? Have you spent time asking God how He wants you to follow them at this time? In what ways can you change your behavior, add or take away things to honor His commands?
Today’s post was written by Cynthia Ramirez-Martinez. Cynthia grew up in a Christian home in Mexico City. She studied Communications at Wheaton College in Illinois and moved back to Mexico last August. She currently teaches high school sociology, research, history and culture in English in Mexico City. Cynthia loves people, traveling, and missions. She gets most excited when she hears/talks about the global Church. You can read more from Cynthia at her blog, Far Country.
Has anyone ever told you to just “have faith” when something’s going wrong in your life? I’ve heard it often. A former pastor of mine used to preach about how we’re always trying to measure and count our faith. Maybe if we have a little more faith, we can get what we want or need. Maybe if we can work up some extra faith, God will be more pleased with us.
The Bible has a lot to say about faith, and people are certainly commended over and over in Scripture for their faith.
But as my pastor would also preach, faith has to have an object. When the object of our faith is faith or ourselves, we’ll never have enough. But when the object of our faith is the Author and Perfecter of faith, the Holy Spirit gives us more than enough faith to please God.
For me, this idea has been life-changing. I used to often confuse faith in God with faith in my own ability to have faith. I wanted to please God, and I thought I needed to do something to work up more faith and to bring about God’s plan in my life.
But when I realized that Jesus should be the object of my faith, “building faith” came to mean building more intimacy with Jesus – getting to know Him better. Not running around, praying harder, studying more fervently, and trying to muster up a stronger feeling of belief in my heart. When the relational trust is there with Jesus, the feelings of faith come naturally.
Have you ever struggled to muster up more faith for faith’s sake? Have you been taught that, in order to receive salvation or healing, you must work up enough faith? How does it help to know that Jesus, not faith itself, is the object of our faith?
Me and my wonderful kids!
Hey everybody! A lot of you know me from the Inspired Faith newsletters, but for those who don’t know me yet, allow me to introduce myself…
My name is Troy Johnson, and I’m the GM of Inspired Faith. I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself on our blog and share with you a bit of what Inspired Faith is all about.
As you may have figured out by now if you read our blog, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, and receive our emails, our goal is to be more than “just a publishing company.” We do publish short, inspirational Christian books, and we love offering those books and other relevant gift items to inspire you in your walk with Christ. But we also strive to give you an interactive place to grow in community with other believers.
We all know this walk isn’t easy. At times, it’s downright painful to remain faithful to the Lord when things around us are falling apart. And it’s my belief that we can’t do that without other people encouraging us and holding us accountable to the hope that we all profess together. It’s not about strongarming each other or condemning people who aren’t living up to certain standards. It’s about acknowledging that we all struggle at times. I once heard it said that “A friend is someone who prays for you when you can’t pray for yourself.” And that’s the kind of community we want to create here at Inspired Faith. We want to introduce you to other believers who will pray for you and encourage you when the season you’re in doesn’t allow you to pray for yourself or encourage yourself. Likewise, we want to give you a place where you can encourage others in what they’re going through. I don’t know about you, but nothing gives me more joy than knowing that I made a difference in someone’s life. In our online venues, we invite you to speak love into others’ lives, in the name of Jesus.
That being said, we have a few new, exciting things coming up. We just released two new books, A Time for Prayer and Encouragement for Life. If you haven’t had a chance to check those out, take a look by clicking on the links. They’re beautifully written books that make great devotional tools and great gifts. We’ll also be releasing a new short movie based on ourbook Mothers are Heaven’s Scent and a few new Framed Inspirations, so look for those. And finally, starting tomorrow, we’ll be focusing on specific themes each week in all of our online content to better help you direct your attention to important topics. This first week, we’ll be discussing what it means to imitate Jesus in our emails, on the blog, Twitter, and Facebook. Please join in the discussion and be encouraged!
As always, we appreciate your feedback and ideas. Thanks for being a part of our Inspired Faith community! God bless!
A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
Ephesians 6:10-18
Wow. What a mandate! This week, as we release our newest book at Inspired Faith, A Time for Prayer, I am sobered by the responsibility we have as believers to pray. So often in my Christian life, I turn to prayer as a last resort. When my words and actions fail, I resign myself to prayer.
What a different picture Ephesians 6 paints! Our real battle is not against flesh and blood, but against unseen forces of evil. How do we fight spirits? It’s not just a matter of working harder in our ministries, in our families, in our workplaces. We need God’s armor if we want to stand firmly through all battles the enemy has prepared for us.
Even though I am tempted to view prayer as a lesser action when problems come, the truth is that prayer reminds me from where my help comes! Prayer reminds me to put down my own feeble armor and to take up God’s armor. And I believe prayer accomplishes God’s will. Intercession is not just something we do for each other when nothing else seems to work and we still feel the need to do something. Intercession is our job as believers.
In the book of Job, God commands Job to intercede for his friends. Then He will forgive their folly. In James, we are told to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another. Then He will heal us. Christianity is not a solo endeavor, and the responsibility, the privilege of intercession reminds us of that.
Is prayer difficult for you? What misconceptions have you carried about the purpose and effectiveness of prayer? When have you seen prayer answered in your life or the lives of loved ones? Do you get discouraged when prayers don’t seem to be answered?
