- If we desire our faith to be strengthened, we should not shrink from opportunities where our faith may be tried, and therefore, through trial, be strengthened.
- God delights to increase the faith of His children. We ought, instead of wanting no trials before victory, no exercise for patience, to be willing to take them from God’s hands as a means. Trials, obstacles, difficulties and sometimes defeats, are the very food of faith.
- Faith is the assurance that the thing which God has said in His word is true, and that God will act according to what He has said in his word… Faith is not a matter of impressions, nor of probabilities, nor of appearances.
- Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man’s power ends.
- George Mueller, nothing. The Lord Jesus, everything. In himself worse than nothing. By grace, in Christ, the son of the King.
- If the Lord fails me at this time, it will be the first time.
–George Mueller
You know, sometimes God calls us to do things and our first instinct is to turn and run. Fast. But that’s our fleshly, carnal, human instinct. Not our new-creation, spirit-filled instinct. When we listen to God with an open, Spirit-filled heart, our first instinct is “Alright…let’s GO!” Instead of doubt and questions, we follow…without any details. We know that God won’t fail. God won’t leave us by ourselves. God isn’t asking us to do what He wants us to do. He’s asking us to allow Him to do something through us that will HIS work. Not ours.
I have to say, the journey that He may take you on is exhilarating. Oh…and sometimes terrifying. We sometimes say that life is like a roller coaster. I think that’s a fair assessment of walking with the Lord. I remember the one time I road the “Judge Roy Scream” at Six Flags. (In case you don’t know…I don’t do heights…and I don’t do things that give me the feeling of being out of control. So it’s a fair question if you’re wondering why I was riding it.) I remember the feeling I had as we clicked to the top of the initial hill. It seemed like it was forever. Click…click…click…click… I remember thinking how great this was and what I had been missing all those years I refused to ride a roller coaster and how exhilarating it was. Heart racing. Probably sweating. We sat at the top of the hill for a few hours (at least it felt like it) and we slowly crested the hill. And down we went. That was the last breath I took for the entire several minute ride I think. What felt like excitement at first instantly became terror (okay that’s a strong word…but I kind of remember thinking that if I ever made it off that ride, I would keep my feet firmly planted on terra firma for the rest of my life). We would go up hills and slow down a bit and I would think I would survive and it was kind of fun after all, and then go down another hill and twist and turn and jerk and it would become fear again. When we finally got off the ride…I felt exhilaration again. I had made it. I had done it. I hadn’t died. (No. I have never ridden another roller coaster since that fateful day.)
Following God can be like that, too. But God hasn’t called us to fear. He’s called us to trust. To have faith.
As life stretches out ahead of us, I can say with certainty…
If the Lord fails me this time, it will be the first time.
Blessed be the Name of the Lord.