OK, I promise that every post is not going to be as Sunday School, but I have been ruminating (a little goat pun) on something for a while. For those of us who call ourselves Christ-followers we are used to hearing the word faith thrown around a lot. After all, it is used in so many ways. We use it to describe Christianity, we call it "a faith," or "our faith." We talk about having faith, but do we really understand faith? Hebrews 11 tells us that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the certainty of things unseen..." but what does that mean?
The truth about faith is that it cannot be summed up in one short, sweet statement of doctrine. I can tell you what faith is not: Faith is not a secret handshake that opens the door to have whatever you want. Faith is not a club to be used to beat people over the head. Faith is not something to be possessed, it is something to be learned and understood piece by piece.
As time goes by, I am learning more and more what it means in Habakkuk 2:4 when it says, "The righteous will live by faith." The truth in this statement is profound, and when you catch a glempse of what it means, it opens up a whole new world. It goes hand in hand with another phrase that gets tossed around, "the will of God." What a strong faith really is is a certainty that God's Will will be done. In other words, its knowing that God will do what He says He will do.
To possess a strong faith we have to learn to let God give us new passion and new desire that we will want His will and not our own. Until we learn this truth and make it a part of who we are, we will always live in disappointment, despair, and discontentment.
This really is a tough thing to grasp! To be willing to let go of what is not what God wants is often hard. It takes time it takes practice (and here is the key), it takes being willing to trust that He has what is best for you in store. You may not see it today, tomorrow, or a year from now, but one day you will see that His plan is best!

Grace & Peace,

Pat
9/22/2012 06:48:37 am

I created a weebly blog after seeing how simple it looked.

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    About Pat Ward

    Pat is a graduate of Southern Nazarene University with a degree in Theology & Ministry and Equine Business. He has worked as a pastor, ranch hand, and a veterinary technician. His current occupation is Route Sales Representative for Schwan's Home Services.

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