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"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen."
(Hebrews 11:1)
This week, we will be exploring a foundational aspect of Christianity, and that is faith, or trusting God. For several weeks we have been studying Dr. Charles Stanley's 30 Life Principles. These teachings have been very encouraging to me, and I have sought to capture the essence of his teaching in these devotions and my podcast while adding my own thoughts. Dr. Stanley served as the pastor of the FBC Atlanta, GA for 50 years, and had a remarkable teaching ministry that literally covered the globe. The title of the message he preached on faith was, "The Thrill of Trusting God".
God continues to press upon my heart the absolute necessity and importance of simply trusting Him. God wants us to trust Him! It is simple and yet so very important and foundational to our walk with God. Think about all the wonderful truths you and I cherish by faith as followers of Jesus: we believe God created the world and everything in it, including human beings; we believed in the Old Testament and all the powerful ways god blessed the Israelites, including the Exodus; we believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ; we believe our God is three Persons in One being; we believe Jesus died for ours sins, arose from the dead, and is in Heaven now; we believe that all who trust in Him as their Savior and turn to Him in repentance will be saved; and we believe Jesus is coming again! These wonderful truths and others are the bedrock foundation of our faith. We believe!
But God does not want our trust in Him to cease at the central truths of our faith. Zig Ziglar said that our faith reaches into the eternal but denies the daily. We have faith to believe in all the miraculous things God has done, but we have a hard time trusting God to meet our daily needs or take care of us when trouble arises. Our default position is often fear over having faith and worry over simply trusting that God is in control and will take care of everything that is of concern to us. Now just so you know, I am preaching to myself! I know I need to grow in this area of my walk with God. Dr. Stanley said in this message that we either believe God or we do not. Unfortunately, many times we simply do not believe God, and that is evidenced in our fears and anxieties.
A few years ago, I visited a widow in our church who has since gone to be with the Lord. Her name was Zahea Nappa, and she was a converted Muslim who deeply loved Jesus. She was well acquainted with hardship and pain. She fell in her home, broke her leg, and remained on the floor for two days before anyone reached her. I asked her while visiting with her how she made it through those two terrible days. She said she and God had some serious conversations! Then she made this comment that has stuck with me. She said, "Pastor, we either believe God or we do not."
As Hebrews 11:1 teaches, the very essence of faith is hope and not sight. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:7, "For we walk by faith, not by sight." I encourage you today and this week in these devotions, let us ask God to help us believe what we say we believe and to trust Him at all times. Our lives will be greatly blessed if we would simply practice this truth of walking by faith.
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