Good morning! Happy May 1st! … Greetings in the name of the One who declares that the promises of God are “Yes! and Amen!” , Jesus Christ – THE Risen Saviour! I trust that you had a blessed weekend and that God touched your life in very defining ways. On this first day of the month I will be praying for you, asking the Father to prepare the way for you and to release an extra measure of healing and strength and courage.
This past weekend I shared with my church family a few of the barriers to living in faith. Let me give a reminder: my insignificance – lost in the crowd ; the waiting time is so long ; too many disappointments ; my emotional-physical-relational-spiritual resources are depleted ; things have got worse and not better. How we respond to these challenges depends on where we are – givers or receivers…that is, are we giving someone else a word of counsel and advice or are we on the receiving end of someone’s counsel and advice. We like to ‘give’ but we don’t like to ‘receive’.
However, there is another dimension that we forget about here. There are times when we are helping someone through a “faith crisis” that God gives us beautiful insight and words that affect not only our friend, but God uses them to affect ourselves. I know, you have heard the instructions about ‘talking to yourself’ …and every once in a while we do need to give ourselves a good talking to. How beautiful it is, though, when the words we are speaking to others reverberates to our self. Wow! sometimes we are so wise that it is hard to stand ourselves. Of course, this is simply a Scriptural truth…“For as he thinks within himself, so is he.” – Proverbs 23:7.
The bottom line about faith is to understand that faith is not a ‘something’ you walk around with in your pocket, rather it is a ‘something’ that must be activate but action…you know, that ‘step of faith stuff’. In fact, as you read the Bible or biographies of respected men and women or you watch movies/documentaries of these individuals, it is not until “by faith” they began to act that the story really begins. Of course, in our own life, it is not until “by faith” that you began/begin to act that your faith becomes tangible and identifiable.
So, we have a new month – how about seizing each day by faith and letting God show you what He and you and I can do. May God give you a vision for this month!