Sometimes as I contemplate the seemingly insurmountable obstacles ahead, believing that God is at work seems like a far-off dream. It is easy to let the “realities” of this world drown the faith in the supernatural work of the Father. My problems with believing generally come down to my not deserving His work in my life or my not having enough faith to “make” it happen. These are both fallacies, as they are based on what I can do apart from Christ.
I don’t deserve anything He gives me, but as a child, I can ask my good Father to continue to provide for me. Often we won’t approach the Heavenly Father in confidence because we think that confidence should be based on my life instead of Christ’s life within. When I look at my life and see how lacking I am, there is no confidence! Thankfully, my boldness in approaching the throne of grace is only because of the Life I have in me, not because my flesh deserves anything from God.
Having enough faith (or the right kind of faith) is something that I feel the Christian church focuses on a lot. People are judged when they are not healed because they must not have enough faith. How scary it is when we set ourselves up as the judgers of faith in someone else’s life, and as if we know what God is doing in their lives?
Mike Wells talks about faith as being an organ for receiving what God is doing. This means that it isn’t about an amount, but a heart attitude. I can look at the future and be terrified by a lot of things—finances, ministry, my marriage, my kids. But then my focus is all wrong. I should be looking at my heavenly Father in expectation of His best for me, which requires me to find security in Him and not in whatever it is I want. When I have an expectant heart attitude, it doesn’t matter if I look at myself and see inadequacy, because it isn’t up to me! If it was, I would be sunk.
So, my focus must shift so I am not trying to drum up some sort of belief in myself, but rather focusing on the character of the One in whom I can choose to believe.
One of my favorite verses is the guy who says, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24 NASB) It seems a contradictory statement, but all that is required of us is enough belief to turn our hearts to God. Then, He will fill up that faith organ so that we are able to walk in belief. I don’t have faith because I am special or dedicated—I have faith because I have a big God who is at work out of love for me to bring me to know Him.
If I believe that every circumstance is designed for this purpose, I can relax and wait expectantly. Even as I write this, I laugh because I am often so overwhelmed by whatever thing I am facing—so I’m no expert! Feelings often tell us we are crazy for believing that God will take care of us. I do know, however I might feel, that if I look to Jesus, all my needs will be met. If I continue to work myself through all the overwhelming times to that truth, then I will be ok. Nothing is too big for Him, so with His life, nothing is too big for me.
Jesus said to him, “What do you mean ‘if’? If you are able to believe, all things are possible to the believer.” Mark 9:23