Where did your faith Go?
So the other day, while I was doing my devotion time with the Lord, I was meditating on Matthew chapters 7 through 9. The main thing that the Holy Spirit emphasized was the power of faith.
I thought that it was interesting how Jesus' disciples were the ones who struggled to have faith in him and those who were supposed to have the most faith did not have any at all; the Pharisees and teachers of religious law. However, those who did exercise great faith were the ones that society and religion had canceled out. The Roman officer, the Gentiles, the woman who had the issue of blood for twelve years, and we can even add the Samaritan woman. I found it very similar to modern-day Christians, kingdom people. Jesus said if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we could move mountains and command it to go where we want it to. He was not playing nor was he just speaking metaphorically. That is the power of faith.
Something that I heard from a pastor recently is faith without understanding and revelation is not faith. It’s you trying to convince yourself that you believe in God and are believing in him for something. The problem is how do you view the God you believe in? What perception of him do you carry in your heart where you think he can do what you are asking for? We need to constantly revisit the names of God so that God is not just this big being in our heads that we force ourselves to worship but The Great I AM. The God who is Lord and there is no other besides Him. The God who delivers from bondage, not just the bondage of sin, trauma, and idolatry, but also of things we like but don’t realize are keeping us bound.
Faith is why Christians who look like they don’t deserve God’s blessings do get them along with God’s promises. It’s because they don’t strive to be perfect in their strength but know that they are sick and need a doctor. They know that they are sinners who need Jesus. They don’t see their obedience and righteousness as an entitlement to receiving God’s blessings, but by placing their faith In Jesus, the one who transforms them into being righteous and obedient. That was the problem with the Pharisees and why Jesus had to let them know how this life works. There’s a difference between when you think what righteousness and obedience you have is what God is blessing, versus the righteousness and obedience that comes from intimacy with the Lord. That is being a friend of God, knowing that you live for him because he is worthy and you are undeserving of all his goodness. He shows favor to his friends.
When they fall into sin, they place their faith in their savior to get them up and out. That is where their faith goes. They have a revelation in their faith about who Jesus Christ is and understand that it’s from Him forgiveness and blessings come from. What you lean on when you fall short can determine your outcome in that situation. Whether it is relying on yourself, other people, or Jesus Christ.
I had to repent and come to the realization that a lot of my delay, me feeling stuck, and stagnant came from me unintentionally thinking that my righteousness was why God should bless me. It’s by grace through Jesus Christ we are saved not by works. (lol my gosh God is good, I’m rereading this and realized that God has been teaching me this for a while. How could I forget? -Esther in August of 2024)
Something I would like to add, sometimes when our faith is weak and we feel a little hopeless, it can be from the fact that we are not seeing Jesus Christ as who he is, so depression and heaviness can begin to creep in because we feel forsaken or like God is too late. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us to forsake whatever is causing us to have those thoughts and instead fix our eyes on truth. (Colossians 3:2) Sometimes we can want something we don’t have so much that we begin to develop emotions of heaviness surrounding what we don’t have. Being grateful unto God can guard us against this. Understanding that God’s will is to bless us according to His plan will guard us from feeling like He’s withholding good things from us.
Where does your faith go?
It’s not about you falling short, it’s about where your faith goes to make you get up, stop, and be pure. The Bible lets us know that the righteous fall seven times but get back up (Proverbs 24:16). The Bible also tells us that even as believers, we all fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). Know that you are weak in all areas and need the Holy Spirit for everything. The righteous get back up because their faith is in God. Christians are blessed because of our faith in Jesus, not because of what we do. Now this is not to say that there are not certain requirements that God is asking of us that does determine certain things coming into our life. God’s will for our life is conditional, we must obey to reap what He has for us. What I am saying here is that just because we obey and serve Jesus does not give us a green card for entitlement, forcing God’s hand to move according to our will. Because that’s not how it works.
Prayer points: Pray and ask the Lord to shift how you place your faith in Jesus. Pray that you have faith that has revelation and understanding of who Jesus is. That you hope well, wait well, and that your worship is not interfered with by pride but that you always see Jesus Christ and His gift of salvation to us as the biggest blessing.
I pray this blesses you abundantly in Jesus' name.
#Howtohavefaithduringhardtimes #HowtobepatientwithGod #HowtowaitonGod #HowtogetoverdepressionasaChristian #HowtohavefaithasaChristian #Howtohavefaiththesizeofamustardseed #mustardseedfaith #Christianblogforwomen #Christianblogger #Christianblogforyoungadults #blackblogger #Christianblogsforblackwomen #Christianlifestyle #Christianliving
