Only Believe

Hello everyone. I hope everyone is doing well.

This week I would like to talk about having faith and believing God. When you look up the definition of faith in dictionary, here are a few definitions you see:

1 a. belief and trust in and loyalty to God

b. belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion

c. belief and trust and loyalty to God

The definition that I like best is:

2 a. the assurance that the things revealed and promised in the Word are true, even though unseen, and gives the believer a conviction that what he expects in faith, will come to pass.

When we think about faith, most of us immediately think about Hebrews chapter 11. There are several examples of exercised faith in that passage of scripture. A few for example are: Noah- he had faith to build the ark like God instructed him to. Even though everyone else thought he was silly he still trusted and obeyed God, and the flood came just like he believed it would. It was by faith the Sarah conceived a child. God told her that she was going to have a child, and she held on by faith and it surely came to pass. Abraham who is considered "The Father of Faith" exercised faith by obeying God and leaving his home to go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going in faith. He also held on to God's promise of a child with Sarah, and then he used faith by being willing to offer their son Isaac as a sacrifice.

All of these are powerful examples of faith that we can use to encourage ourselves today.

2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "For we walk by faith, not by sight."

We have to hold on to whatever God says, and never give up nor doubt what He says is coming to pass.

I thought about my life, and what a vital role faith has played throughout my entire life. Before I was born, an evangelist prophesied to my mother that she was going to have a baby girl. It wasn't long afterwards, she found out that she was expecting me. Whenever she went to her doctors appointment, the doctor was adamant that she have an abortion right away. My parents remembered the prophesy, and they stood firmly on their faith. They never doubted nor feared that that anything was going to go wrong. They held on by faith to what God had told them through the evangelist. Thank God they walked by faith, and not by sight. Sight (which was medical records) said the pregnancy was impossible, but Faith (which was God) said yes, this pregnancy IS possible. Not only was it possible, but it was ordained by God. God had a purpose for me to be here. If God gives you something to hold on to by faith, there has to be a purpose for the situation. This is why it is so vital for us to not be distracted by circumstances but keep walking by faith.

Sometimes when God shows us things or speaks certain things to us and these things don't come to pass quickly, we allow our emotions to override our faith. We begin to worry and doubt if it's really going to happen. Fear takes over in the place of faith.

Hebrews 11:6 says, "But without faith it is impossible to please God."

Some of us struggle with faith that God is going to provide for us. We dwell on our circumstances, and when we don't see things working out the way we want them to, we begin to doubt that our blessing or deliverance is really going to come to pass.

One day I thought about what if one of our children would tell us they didn't think we were capable of taking care of them. Or perhaps, they know we have the ability to take care of them, but we would choose not to. That would be such a slap in the face to have our children to say something like that to us. So why do we do that to God? I would imagine that it really hurts and disappoints God when we act like He isn't capable or interested in taking care of us...HIS children.

Matthew 7:11 says,

"So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him.

God loves us and He cares about us. He wants us to trust and believe in Him and His promises.

When I researched the definition of believe, this is what I found:

The word “believe” in the Bible means more than simply agreeing in our minds that something might be true. It means “trust”—that we believe so strongly in God that we are willing to commit our lives to Him and live the way we know He wants us to live.

Mark 9:23 says, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."

That is a powerful scripture that we need to keep in our hearts. We need to realize that it is impossible to both believe and doubt at the same time. Either you're believing God for something, or you're doubting. You absolutely cannot do both at the same time. One song that is beautiful to me is "Only Believe." It says that all things are possible, if you only believe. That's what God wants us to do. He wouldn't show us things and give us promises if He wasn't going to fulfill them. God doesn't make promises and then break them. We can take Him at His word.

This week I encourage you to trust and believe God. Hold on to whatever He has shown you, or whatever He's telling you to do. No matter how much others may doubt, no matter how much they may laugh or tell you you're crazy...Keep holding on. Keep walking by faith. Never doubt God or His plan for your life. Don't allow fear and doubt to knock you off course.

As you're walking by faith, look and expect to see the manifestation of His promise. ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE IF YOU ONLY BELIEVE.

God bless!