Faith Works
God really does continue to amaze me day after day. I find myself completely speechless sometimes at how good He is. Over the past several months I have prayed that God would increase my faith in Him and looking back I see where He has and where my faith was put to the test. I remember when I would pray for something and then pray for the faith to trust that God would come through on that prayer. Over the months my faith has increased and with that came a confidence that God will do what God promised He would do. I've seen how my relationship with God has grown because I believe more and more in who He is. As I have spent time with Him I have grown more in simply knowing Christ. And, when you really know Christ, you have faith in Him.
Over the past week God has been doing some significant stuff in my heart. He has also been confirming and reaffirming serveral things that he has spoken to me over the last few months. And, He is doing it in such obvious ways. There is no doubt that God is moving big in my heart. I see it happen daily before my eyes. So today, I would like to just brag on God about how good He is. I would like to share some of the things He has shown me this week. And, hopefully show you how much faith works.
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After a lot of time in prayer last week about several different things I grabbed a devotional book and opened it randomly and read the first thing I saw. It's a book that has different "letters from God" of sorts and the one I had read that particular day was simply titled "Rain." It was such a sweet letter from The Lord and was full of all of the encouraging words I needed to hear. It talked of God's promise to bring rain to my valley and that He would produce fruit. That He would bring an outpouring of His blessings and of His Spirit to me. I believed that God would do that. I didn't know when I just knew He would. So, I prayed that God would continue to just lead me and that while I waited for that blessing I would continue to just do what He called me to do. That night I went to youth with some friends and the message was about digging ditches. This probably doesn't seem relevant to most people but it was a direct confirmation to everything God had told me and spoken to me that morning. I encourage you to read 2 Kings 3 which is where this message came from in your free time. But, for sake of time I'll just give you the basis point for the sermon. Simply stated, we may not understand some of the things that God has asked us to do. We may not get how it is even suppose to help us. But, like the kings in that passage of scripture, sometimes the very labor that seems hard and maybe even painful and tidious to us, is the very thing needed to bring about our blessing. Digging ditches in a spiritual sense isn't easy, or fun. It's hard work. Especially digging a ditch in a dry valley where the ground is hard. But, how beautiful will that valley be after I have labored and dug and the rain comes and God fills it to overflowing and that hard ground becomes soft and flowers start to bloom. It's a beautiful picture. It's a beautiful promise. So this began the first of several back to back confirmations from Christ.
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That weekend after, I decided last minute to go to a girls night at my friend's church. The message literally (in the truest meaning of that word) reaffirmed some of the exact things God had spoken to me over the summer. The first being that God wanted to restore several things back to me in His timing. Over the summer and the months following the word restore has been a promise from God that as I just focus on Him and allow Him to work things out, He is preparing and restoring things back to me. Next, that my identity is found only in Christ. I read a book this summer about identity and God has revealed to me daily who I am in Him and has given me a confidence to be that unapologetically. The last thing said was about timing. Kairos timing to be exact. Which is a time of opportunity appointed by God. That every season I go through God has known and is with me through. That, my greatest pain can become my greatest purpose. Which God had revealed to me in a message in August. So in one night. Actually, in the matter of one hour,God reaffirmed three different things He had spoken to me over the course of three months prior to that night.
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Now to last night. For those of you who do not know, I am going to Romania in March for a three month internship there. Lately, I had been feeling really scared and nervous about going. I didn't doubt that God had called me to go. I guess, in a way, I just felt unworthy of going and unprepared emotionally to be able to handle it. I prayed about it before the meeting with a friend and just asked that God would give me peace in my heart about going. That He would remove all fear and give me an excitement and expectancy again. At the meeting one of the things said was that we shouldn't be going to Romania to try and escape our problems here. In that moment, the few seconds after that was said I thought to myself, "Well, that definitely isn't the case, if anything I wouldn't go to Romania to escape my problems." So of course, as only God would have it, the next thing said was that we also shouldn't stay and not go to Romania to escape our problems. Wow God, real subtle. Leaving that meeting I had my excitement back again. Going to Romania was never about me in the first place. It's not about my fears, my emotions, or how ready I think I am. It's about Jesus. It's just about Him. I'm not going for anyone else. I'm not even going for me. I'm going for Christ and He has and is preparing me in more ways than I realize. I just had to look past myself and at Him. He has shown me what dependency in Him looks like. He has shown me what compassion for people looks like. He has shown me what faith and trust can do. He has done what He has promised. He will do what He has promised.
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I say all that to say this, faith works. God has answered my prayers in miraculous ways because faith works. There are several more than just those that I listed. I could go on for days about how faithful God is and how much He has answered. Faith doesn't mean that you pray something and expect it to be answered the way you think it needs to be answered when you think it needs to be answered. It's simply knowing that God knows best, He has it under control, and His timing is perfect. I'm usually pretty astounded every time God answers my prayers or reaffirms things to me. They are never in ways that I expect, but they are always in ways that could only be Christ. I simply just know that God will do only good and that I just have to wait and focus on Him. I just seek Him and give Him complete control over every part of me. It's that faith, that faith in who Christ is, that works. Let's be a people of faith.