The focus of my thoughts and actions in life should not be how much I believe in God or how much faith that I have, but rather how much I am willing to obey God in the little faith that I have.
Don't we often worry that our faith is too weak or that we need to be sure that we remove any doubts that we may have about God. Instead we should be thinking about what areas/things God is asking/telling us to obey Him in. Let me give some examples to help...
1. Acts 12 : Peter is in jail... Peter's friends were all at home praying for him... An angel breaks Peter out of jail... Peter doesn't believe it, he thinks it is a vision... Peter goes to his friends house... They don't believe it is him... the words used were that they were astonished to see him... they were praying for this to happen, but didn't believe it when it did.
2. Daniel 3 : Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego... refuse to bow down to the idols (because God told them not to)... Nebuchadnezzer says he will throw them in the furnace... they say that God will save them from it, but "even if he does not," we will not disobey what he has told us... and they are thrown in and come out alive
3. 1 Samuel 14 : Jonathan and his armor-bearer are pitted against a large group of Philistines... Jonathan says let's go over here, "Perhaps, the Lord will act on our behalf"...Jonathan and his armor-bearer go through the outpost and end up killing a bunch of the Philistines... it was the first attack in Israel's rout of the Philistines
None of the people in these stories, or in many other stories of the bible have a 110% all out belief that God is going to save them or answer what they are asking for. But the one thing they have in common, is that they all are doing what God has told them to do... they are all being OBEDIENT to God.
I must admit that I am not very obedient at all. I often look for ways that I think my faith will grow, like reading books, following rules, reading blogs, or joining bible studies. I am being challenged that for my relationship with Christ to go deeper, I must begin obeying him more with the faith that I have.
God may we come to find that it is not how much we "believe" in You, but rather how much we obey You, that will have the greatest impact on our relationship with You. May we be astonished at the things You do when we are obedient in our faith. May are faith in turn be a "faith that acts and obeys, even when it is riddled with doubts."
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1 comment:
I agree, it is much more than just believing in Him. I love the way the Amplified Version adds the words TRUST, CLINGS TO, and RELIES UPON, each time the word belive is used in reference to believing in Christ. Remember.....Even the deamons belive, but shutter at the thought.
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