What’s the Lie? What’s the Truth?
Sometimes I allow my circumstances and preferences to make me misunderstand faith. I redefine it as something done in hopes that God blesses me exactly how I want within a certain time frame... if I'm not careful, I create my own fairy tale of a plan and really just call it faith, shifting God's position from the guide in my life, to a genie.
Faith is believing in what God has promised to you through the 1. Word of God and/or 2. what the Holy Spirit has said/showed to you. Faith comes through connection with God, and because His character never changes, you can stand on something coming to fruition (maybe not exactly as you might imagine or exactly when you want) because God has never lied.
Moving Forward:
- Reconnect with God. I'm reminded of how Peter did the impossible.. walked on water and was stable as long as his eyes were on Jesus. When he got distracted by his circumstances around him instead, he started to sink. When it feels like faith is getting you nowhere, you have to ask yourself if you've intentionally, or unintentionally, taken your eyes off God.
- Rehearse the character of God to yourself. Think back over your life, the lives of those around you, and those in the Bible. What themes do you see in God's character regardless of situations? God is unchanging (immutable). He is quota-less when it comes to power (omnipotent). He has the ability to do even the things that you think are impossible. He is a loving Father. He is personal- He sees you, knows your needs, and wants what's best. When you can readily call to mind the solid, stable character of God, you will be less likely to be distracted when your faith isn't matching your sight.
- Be real with yourself. What is making you think your faith is in vain? Are you abandoning hope that God will deliver His promise because you see other people getting what you wanted before you? Is emotional instability making you have a pity party, therefore putting an expiration date on what God said? Are you trying to save face because you advertised that God was going to do something and now you think people are laughing at you because He has yet to deliver? All of those scenarios have less to do with God and more to do with you. Determine what is making you give up on God and ask God to squelch it. You may have to put boundaries in place that limit your exposure to things that are causing you to lose faith in what God has promised you.
- Push past feelings of stupidity and naivete. As time goes on and you STILL don't see any sign of what God said would happen (or worse, you see things in complete contradiction), you'll be tempted to feel stupid or naive. "Why would I believe that could happen? There's no way it's going to happen and admitting that I still have faith legit sounds crazy at this point." *hands up* See Hebrews 11:6. No matter what, God rewards you for choosing to walk in the Spirit by pushing past your flesh's willingness to doubt God. Surrendering your pride to please God, no matter if He answers your prayer in time or the way you want, is worth it.
- Recognize doubting God as a spiritual attack. Do you know how much the devil benefits when we put action into doubting God and give up on waiting to see what we believed for manifest? When Abraham and Sarah doubted God's promise, they forced a child to be created, Ishmael, whose descendants became the enemy of the descendants of their promised child from God, Isaac. Giving up hope now may have perpetual consequences that you'll willingly allow to be your Achille's hill in the future.
- Resist the urge to "help" God. You cannot manipulate the journey as a way of forcing God to move faster.
- Surrender to the deep spiritual work that often comes with perceived delays. Having faith is more than just the product that will come, it's about the process. What you see as a torturous delay might be God's way of pruning you and growing you and maturing you in areas that you, otherwise, would never do on your own. Surrender to the process instead of just salivating over the promise.
Surrendered,
Dear God, If I'm honest, I'm sick of this journey. I'm tired of doing things right only to see no progress or any sign that I'm on track. At this point, I just feel crazy. Like, maybe I heard you wrong. Maybe all of those confirmations were made up. I could sit here and try to rationalize everything... try to massage my ego... try to avoid the disappointment I feel...But then, I remind myself of who You are and who I am to You. You are not a man that you should lie. What does it say about me if I put expiration dates on trusting God and having faith? Help me understand that just because the process isn't going the way I want it to doesn't mean that faith is getting me nowhere. Strengthen me because I feel weak. Give me tunnel vision that doesn't get distracted and swayed by what I see around me. Give me a vertical focus instead of horizontal. Draw me closer to you. Help me hear Your voice and hold your hand on the journey when I don't know the direction we're headed. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
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