“According to your faith let it be done to you” (Matthew 9:29 NIV).
There are two kinds of people: those that wake up and say, “Good morning, Lord!” and those that wake up and say, “Good Lord—it’s morning!” We tend to feel the way we expect to feel. We see what we expect to see. We hear what we expect to hear. We act the way we expect to act. We set ourselves up for failure or success—for fulfillment or frustration—depending on our level of faith. Living by faith means expecting the best. Matthew 9:29 says, “According to your faith let it be done to you” (NIV). Faith is positive expectation. You expect God to answer. You expect the solution to come through. You expect things to work out. You expect to succeed. You expect it all to fall into place. Expectations are faith. As Christians, we don’t believe that everything in life will turn out well, no matter how much faith we have. That’s just not a reality in a world full of sin. But we can be confident that God is working for our good. We can trust him with our future because he knows better than we do what is best for us—and he will help us become more like him. Living by faith does not mean you wear rose-colored glasses. It means you trust that God is always working, so you can expect things to work out just as he intends them to. That can give you great confidence. That truth can build your faith. To become a godly optimist, expect God to work in your life and in the world. Expect him to keep his promises. Expect that he wants to accomplish his will through you. And expect him to provide everything you need to do that.
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“A woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years . . . When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.’ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering” (Mark 5:25, 27-29 NIV).
The Bible tells a story in Mark 5 about a woman who had bled for 12 years. Her condition made her ceremonially unclean in Jewish culture, which meant she had no social life, no interaction with others. She had spent all her money trying to get well. Can you imagine how lonely and desperate she must have been? One day she hears that Jesus Christ is coming to town. She says, “If I can just touch his robe, I’ll be healed.” So she takes the initiative and makes a daring act, pushing her way through the crowd to come up behind Jesus and touch the back of his robe. She is instantly healed! Jesus recognizes the touch of faith. He asks, “Who touched me?” People are pressing all around Jesus in this crowd. The disciples are sometimes a bumbling group, so Peter asks him, “What do you mean, ‘Who touched me?’ Look—everybody’s around you and you say, ‘Who touched me?’” But Jesus knows the difference. The woman comes to him in fear and trembling and says, “I did, Lord.” And he says, “Daughter, your faith has made you well.” This woman, desperate in life and bold in faith, took the initiative. She broke the rules. She went beyond the boundaries. She decided she was ready to begin again and committed herself to action. She pressed ahead and got through the crowd, and because she took the initiative, her act of faith led to her healing. Faith can lead to the same kind of miraculous outcome in your life. When you’re stuck in a rut, faith overcomes procrastination by helping you “get it in gear.” It gives you the power to take the initial step that will move you forward to where God wants you to be. No more being indecisive and waffling back and forth. No more sitting on the fence. When you grow in faith, you’ll learn to take the initiative and discover more of your purpose in life. “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17 NIV).
The only thing in all of creation that worries is a human being. Plants don’t worry. Animals don’t worry. Only human beings act as if we don’t have a heavenly Father. When you worry about your finances, you’re basically saying, “I think God is a liar. I don’t really think he will meet my needs.” But God will, if you meet the conditions. When growing up, you my have said to your Dad, “Dad, I need some money.” Did you ever wonder, “Where is he going to get it?” It’s kind of an unwritten rule about money: Dads and moms make it, and kids spend it. Kids never wonder, “Where are my parents going to get this money?” We never worried about it. Worry is really a form of atheism. Every time you worry, you’re basically saying, “I don’t believe there’s a God who is going to take care of me.” If you’re a Christian and you worry, you’re acting like an orphan. You’re acting like you don’t have a heavenly Father who has already promised over and over again in Scripture, “I will meet your needs if you will obey me and do what I tell you to do.” Trust forces you to live by faith. Worry is a warning light. Every time we worry about our finances, it’s a warning that we doubt God loves us and will take care of us. We always get into trouble when we doubt God’s love. Always. Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (NLT). As long as you love anything more than God, that thing is going to be a source of anxiety. Only one thing was meant for first place in your life, and it’s not your family. Anything you put first in your life besides God will create anxiety, because that thing can always be lost. Your bank account is not your security, no matter how big it gets. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:17, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (NIV). Put your hope in God, because he will assume responsibility for your needs if you’ll trust him. “Nevertheless. when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8b ESV).
We live in an increasingly faithless world. It is a secular world of shifting values and growing egocentrism. If Jesus came back today, how many people of faith would he find? And would you be one of them? The Bible makes it clear that God is looking for faithful people. In 2 Chronicles 16:9 it says, “For the eyes of the Lord search back and forth across the whole earth, looking for people whose hearts are perfect toward him, so that he can show his great power in helping them” (TLB). God is seeking faithful people because he wants to bless them. He wants to show his love through his great power. Our faithfulness is the key to unlocking his blessing in our lives. Jesus said, “According to your faith let it be done to you” (Matthew 9:29 NIV). God wants to pour blessings into all areas of your life—your family, your career, your finances, your health, your relationships. This blessing may not look like we expect it to, but God is working it out in our lives nonetheless. And he will do it according to the level of your faith. If you have great faith, you will have great blessing. If you have a little faith, you will receive a little blessing. But if you have no faith, God’s blessing will not be in your life. Sadly, faithful people who really trust God and live for Christ day in and day out are hard to find. The Bible says, “Everyone talks about how loyal and faithful he is, but just try to find someone who really is!” (Proverbs 20:6 GNT). When sin entered the world with Adam and Eve, we were all corrupted. None of us does what is right all the time. But faith is the key to victory. The greater our faith, the more victory we will experience in our lives. “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world -- our faith.” (1 John 5:4 ESV) “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (James 2:15-16 ESV).
Faith is more than something you feel. Many people confuse emotions and feelings with faith. They come to church and they’re moved emotionally, they’re inspired, and they’re stimulated. But that doesn’t mean they’re walking in faith. The Bible says faith is something we do, not just something we feel. In other words, faith is not mere sentimentality. Let’s say I go out on the street and see someone who is homeless and destitute. I see that this person is hungry, cold, and in need of clothing and shelter. Would I be showing great faith if I walked up and said, “Cheer up! Don’t worry; be happy! Feel good! Put on a happy face”? It doesn’t take much faith to do that. Faith produces compassion. Faith says, “I’ll do anything I can to stop your hurt.” Throughout the New Testament, the witnesses say Jesus was moved with compassion for people. Jesus showed us that faith is practical. When we see a need, we do something about it. We don’t just toss out a quick “Well, I’ll pray for you.” The Bible says we show our faith by what we do. And he said, "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21 ESV).
When you are a baby Christian, God gives you a lot of confirming emotions and often answers the most immature, self-centered prayers — so you’ll know he exists. But as you grow in faith, he will wean you of these dependencies. God wants you to sense his presence, but he’s more concerned that you trust him than feel him. Faith is what truly matters to God, not what we feel. The situations that will stretch your faith most will be those times when life falls apart and God seems nowhere to be found. This happened to Job. On a single day he lost everything — his family, his business, his health, and everything he owned. Most discouraging for Job was that for 37 chapters of the Bible, God said nothing! How do you praise God when you don’t understand what’s happening in your life and God is silent? How do you stay connected in a crisis without communication? How do you keep your eyes on Jesus when they’re full of tears? You do what Job did: He fell to the ground in worship and said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21 ESV). Tell God exactly how you feel. Pour out your heart to God. Unload every emotion that you’re feeling. Job did this when he said, “I can’t be quiet! I am angry and bitter. I have to speak” (Job 7:11 GNT). He cried out when God seemed distant: “Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house” (Job 29:4 NIV). |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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