THE ORIGINATOR OF FAITH

Faith and confession do not make God’s promises to us come to pass.  To receive anything from God we must put our trust in Him, not our words and action.  First and foremost we must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him.  Our words and actions are important, but they can only reflect the relationship that we already have established with God as a father and with Jesus Christ.  Our eyes must be on Him and His faithfulness, not our words or actions.

The Lord once spoke to my heart concerning confession of the Word.  He said, “to merely quote the Word without having faith in the heart is nothing more than a chant.”  Faith in the heart comes only by knowing the One who is the Originator of all things.  Our faith is only as strong as our relationship with God, our creator, and with Jesus Christ.  How well do we know Him?  How much do we trust Him?

God is the source, the origin of all life.  Out of His great power, out of His great knowledge, out of His great presence, He created the heavens and the earth, taking that which was in utter darkness and chaos and brought forth light and order.  He still does the same today for those who put their trust in Him.  He brings his light and His order into those areas of our lives that are dimly lit and perhaps even in complete darkness.  It’s during  those times that we cannot see that our trust in Him is essential.  It is those times that faith in our hearts towards God will see us through until His promises to us manifest.

Luke 18:8 – I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

Luke 18:8 – I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.  However, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

There has been much taught about faith.  I have been learning and teaching on faith for many of my ministerial years.  My early years of discipleship were spent studying “the word of faith”, ingesting the word of God so I could and would see the power of God in my life and in the life of my family.  Over the 37 years of being a Christian, I can pinpoint some things in my life that occurred because of faith and particularly because of my faith.  My parents and my brother all received Christ before their departure from earth, our two sons have grown into tremendous men with lovely wives and lovelier children, J all loving God.  My husband I enjoy a life of ministry that together we have co-labored for 25 years.  We are ready to celebrate 45 years of marriage with the past 11 1/2 years being our most challenging ones.  We are still standing and living by faith. 

I have always believed that to preach a message effectively, it must be more than theory.  There needs to be an experiential factor that is the component of any person’s message.  So, as I begin this blog, I want to look at faith in a new way. Why? It is because the church and our world are in a place of history where it has never been before.  We are seeing things in the public square of media that we have never seen so brazenly portrayed on a screen whether it is a movie screen, a TV screen, a smart phone screen, a computer screen, etc. 

We cannot live today’s challenges or tomorrow’s dreams on the faith we had yesterday.  We all need a fresh impartation of faith.  Join me on this journey as I follow Holy Spirit on this venture of faith. 

Just what is faith?  

Hebrews 11:1 says that “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.”  The New Living Translation says it like this, “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” 

 

Faith is not a form a worship towards God, but a substance of the heart that believes the God that we worship.  Stay with me as I pursue this journey of faith.

There is something about being on a ranch in South Dakota that makes one keenly aware of the connection to land.  By land, I simply mean dirt.  Oh yes, there are trees and lots of grass, but there is also a lot of dirt.  And it is not dry, sandy dirt but dark, moist, organic smelling dirt.  Oh yes, there are animals also.  Horses, cattle (made up of cows and calves), dogs live on the ranch along with the humans.  Saturday was spent rounding up the mothers, along with the calves, and branding, vaccinating, and other things that I won't mention on this blog. Being in this earthy environment just makes one more conscious of our Creator and how He has orchestrated life, life in all its ways.  Being here makes one conscious of His ways and His majesty, especially when the full moon shines into your window at night and it is apparent that He still reigns.  The sun comes up in the morning and the moon comes up at night to bring forth light.  It is a good way to bring life into perspective when our daily lives hold so many challenges.  The word "rhythm" comes to mind.  The cows cry for their babies, the horses neigh as they breathe, the turkeys gobble as they stroll past the house, the sun sets, the moon rises and the rhythm of life continues.  This is a season to find your rhythm of life.  When all is out of sync and not going as planned, the Lord has a rhythm for you that never fails.  The sun still sets on the horizon and the moon rises to bring rest to another day. 

Why now?

This is the beginning of my blog.  I have waited months for this moment and yet it was so simple.  Why the wait?  Did you ever have a thought in your mind that was bigger than it should have been? Creating a blog in my mind was such a big deal, bigger than it actually was.  So many of my friends have blogs, but for me to create one was just a huge step.  So, why do I feel the necessity for a blog?  After walking with the Lord for 38 years, I have a lot to say.  There is much the Lord has taught me over the years and there is much He has spoken over the years.