Saturday, March 3, 2012

What Is Faith?


“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” ~ Hebrews 11:1 NLT
God allows us to find ourselves in places where “we cannot see”.  
“So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.”           ~Exodus 14:22 ~ NLT

Can you just imagine with me what it must have been like to have been one of the Israelites? You are finally loose from the bondage of slavery. 


It began as a sweet relief as you trust God and your guide to take you and your family towards a better life. Your head is swimming with thoughts of finally being free to relax and actually enjoy your life and the fruits of your hard  labor. You even begin to dream again... as you walk away from your past trials, you begin to feel secure in the decision you’ve made to follow this godly man Moses. 
As long as you can see the route Moses has paved for you to follow, you are unafraid to follow it... even though you can not actually see him up ahead or know exactly where you will be when it ends. The promises that it will be a land of” milk and honey”  has you excited. 

Your confidence grows as you see the footsteps of others who have gone ahead of you and feel at least confident enough to follow along . 

But then before your new dreams can begin to provide you the peace you have been seeking...you discover your past is trying to catch up with you and destroy the progress you have made. You quickly become filled with anxiety and fear. 


To make matters far worse...you discover you have followed a path that you know by sight was provided by God’s provisions..but this path has led you to the edge of the deep Red Sea! 


“Why would God do this?” you cry out.  Panic and anger begins to rise up inside of you ...you have nowhere to turn!  If you turn around or stay...you will be killed by Egyptian soldiers, and well...swimming the Red Sea is not an option...

When the Israelites saw the king and his army coming after them, they were very frightened and cried to the Lord for help.They said to Moses, "What have you done to us? Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in the desert? There were plenty of graves for us in Egypt. We told you in Egypt, 'Let us alone; we will stay and serve the Egyptians.' Now we will die in the desert."  
 But Moses answered, "Don't be afraid! Stand still and you will see the Lord save you today. You will never see these Egyptians again after today.You only need to remain calm; the Lord will fight for you." ~ Exodus 14:10-14

Perhaps you don’t have to imagine very hard what it feels likes to reach a place that looks like a  Dead End.  Like the Israelites ...you’ve faced the edge of the Red Sea... 
“Dead End” could have gotten its name at the edge of the Red Sea... except it turns out...it was  not a Dead End.. instead it was an opportunity for Faith to be an action of Trusting God to display His faithfulness and allow us to display our trust
Our Heavenly Father always has a purpose in the impossible places He leads us to where we can not see how He is going to work it out and keep us safe. It is in our impossible situations, that God calls us to have faith.  Hebrews 11:1 says that faith "gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” 
Can you just imagine the faith it took each man, woman, and child, to walk between the high and parted waters of the Red Sea and believe that they would get to the other side without the waters coming crashing down on them? 


What strength of faith it took to take not only that first step... but the faith it took to continue walking and feeling even more blinded about their journey when they no longer could see a shoreline behind or in front as they crossed the middle of the sea!
Like the Israelite who couldn't see a way out; only faith will see you through. 


What impossible solution has God instructed you to follow?  The purpose of places in which we lose our vision is to strengthen our faith. I pray that if this is where you are today, you will let God's promises give you assurance about the things you cannot see. 


The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety. ~ George Müller
Glory!
Kathy

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2 comments:

  1. Tim PritchardMarch 3, 2012 at 6:07 PM

    Oh how i needed this word today, right on time as usual, God is so good, and he works through you so well!!!


    Tim

    ReplyDelete
  2. thirddayfaithMarch 3, 2012 at 6:14 PM

    Thanks Tim for letting me know that this devotion blessed you...all glory to God!

    ReplyDelete

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About Me

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My life in Christ came a bit late in life.I grew up in a Christian home and was baptized at age 9. I enjoyed a long career as a flight attendant (1973-2005). I met my husband Brad, in 1984 while living in Tampa Florida. At the time, we both were living a lifestyle that was not pleasing to the Lord. We married in 1986, but it wasn't until early 1992 that I knew the Lord was calling me to Him. God placed this same desire in my husband's heart. As Brad and I grew in faith, so did our desire to serve God in ministry. In late 2002 we moved to Virginia Beach where the Lord called Brad to serve as a Worship minister. In 6 short months, Brad was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkins lymphoma. I found my greatest moments of weakness came when I placed my thoughts on all the things that could go wrong and allowed fear to take hold. We were given 5 more years to share together. God is faithful and to His glory I serve Him through writing devotionals and inspirational article for this blog as well as a published writer with the writing team of A Widow's Might ministry. Our Devotional Books are titled: "For The Love of Her Life". I am also an Inspirational Speaker.