Faith is What you Find

This morning I was led to a new definition – well, perhaps ‘understanding’ is a better term—of faith.

“Faith is what you find at the end of your faith”

              Abraham – Father of Faith – got the call (from God) to leave and go to a faraway land, and he left.  How long did it take him wandering in the wilderness before he grew weary?  How many sleepless nights did he stay up talking to God, asking if he is on the right path?  How many times did he ‘farm’ Sarah out to other men in fear that he would be killed – in fear that God brought him ‘this far’ but was not going to bring him any farther?

              How long did Abraham wait to have Isaac?  How many days and nights did he spend consoling a crying Sarah and convincing her (or maybe convincing himself) that God would fulfill His promise and bless them with a child?  How long before the two decided to take matters into their own hands and have Sarah’s servant bear a child for them, and how long after the birth of Ishmael did Sarah beat her servant and eventually kick her out?

              Abraham received the call, and it was an exciting call!  We have all ‘heard a call,’ and it was/is SO exciting!  We change our plans. We rearrange our schedules.  We pack our bags to head out and end up waiting on the tarmac for years and years (and perhaps years and years and years!).

              When ALL the excitement from the call has worn off… When all the adrenaline from packing your bags and embracing change has LONG since subsided… When your 3-hour prayers calling heaven down become 30-minute, feeble, disheartened mumblings… When you are sitting in solitude at your lowest point wondering IF God is good, wondering IF you heard right, and questioning IF faith is worth pursuing, and you make up your mind: yes.  Yes, God is good.  Yes, you heard right, and YES faith IS WORTH pursuing.  It is in this moment, as you rise just a little from the ashes to choose faith, when you find faith, a real, genuine faith that this world CANNOT have, and the enemy CANNOT snatch.

Faith is more than an intellectual response to the facts of the Bible. It is more than an emotional response that is soon forgotten.

Faith that saves is transformative. Faith that saves looks like: getting baptized once you believe in God and decide to follow him, forgetting all idols and vices that used to satisfy your pain, like excessive drinking or pornography or abusive tendencies or binge eating because all of those are replaced by the one true God who alone can satisfy all of our cravings and heal all our hurts. Genuine faith is taking God at his word and choosing not to worry because you trust the One Who holds your future… You trust the One Who holds your career…you trust the One Who gives life and you know that either biologically or through adoption, he will give you the family you desire. When we truly believe the creator of everything is who he says he is and we share an inheritance and an eternal life, when our response moves from the intellect and from a feeling to genuine, life-changing faith, you and this world will never be the same.

God, we pray today asking for a simple and genuine faith. Although we were saved and baptized long long ago, and have been hot and cold ever since, we just pray for a faith that will change our thoughts and transform our hearts. We don’t want to continue on in sin or guilt or doubt or depression or worry or anxiety or feeling overwhelmed by this life. We pray that the entire truth of the gospel, the entire person of Jesus and the Trinity will come and cloud our thoughts and our hearts and our bodies and we will be forever changed. Lord we realize that this work is a work of you and work of your holy Spirit, and we pray that today you would pour out your spirit in abundance God. We are asking we are seeking we no longer want to settle for anything less than what you can give us. Pour out your spirit of truth over us today, and we’re going to keep asking again tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day because those who ask receive and we’re counting on a faithful God to fill his children with a spirit of faith. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ Almighty who died and rose again, trusting in His blood. Amen.

“Faith is what you find at the end of your faith”