This week we are talking about faith
and making our faith stronger. For the
next four days we will learn four ways God fortifies our faith.
1. By Testing Our Obedience
God asks us to do things that are
seemingly impossible or illogical to our way of thinking.
Examples of Faith-Building Testing:
The Manna – Provision
for Life - "The people are to go out each day and
gather enough manna for that day. In that way I will test them and see whether
they will follow My instructions.” Exodus 16:4. Manna, you might remember, was
the bread-like substance that fell from the sky; flaky stuff. They had to go out each morning to gather
enough to eat. God said, “Here’s the
command.” There were all kinds of
reasons that command didn’t make sense. "Just
enough for today? Why can’t I gather enough for the week? It’d be more
convenient that way. It’d be a better use of my time that way. What if I get sick tomorrow? What if I trip and hit my head on a rock and
a snake bites me? There are all kinds of
reasons I need at least two days’ worth, God."
We find it difficult to be
satisfied with enough for today. We keep
asking, “Am I going to be OK?”
instead of “Am I OK?” My question for you is not, “Do you have enough for tomorrow?” but, “Has God taken care of today?” "So do not
worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough
trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34)
Abraham – Purpose in Life - Now
the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your
relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; And
I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the
one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will
be blessed." Genesis 12:1-3
You remember his story. He was
seventy-five years old when God said, “I
want to take you out somewhere to make a difference in this world. I want you
to go somewhere where you’ve never been, you don’t even know where you’re
going.” Abraham said, "Where exactly am I going?" God
replied, "I’ll tell you." Abraham
asks, "How am I going to get there?" God replies again, “I’ll show
you.” Still uncertain, Abraham asks, "How will I know when I get
there?" God’s answer was, “When you get there I’ll tell you that you’ve
gotten there.” How would you do with
a command like that? We might say, "God,
could I Google that first? I’d like to check it out. I’d like to get on
MapQuest and get a point by point direction. Then I’’ll be ready to follow Your
directions." So the Bible says
in Hebrews 11:8 "By faith Abraham obeyed and
went." We begin to doubt or question when we
think God should or should not have done something; we may even question the
way He should do it.
Elijah – Proof of
Faith - The word of the LORD came to him, saying,
"Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook
Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. "It shall be that you will drink of
the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there." So
he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and lived by the
brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and
meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from
the brook. It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was
no rain in the land. I Kings 17:2-7 Elijah's
ministry was inaugurated for ONE DAY, then shut down for 3 1/2 years. This is
not what Elijah expected, but God knew it to be necessary. God knew that Elijah's faith was genuine. He
wanted Elijah to know that his faith was genuine. Elijah was sent to a place of loneliness,
silence and inactivity, but God promised to sustain him for the duration of
that period. The promise accompanied the
command. Elijah was only required TO ACT
on God’s promise with a grateful expectation of the promised supply. In the end, the brook dried up and God moved
him on to the next person He wanted to bless.
These are just a few examples of many that God has provided for us to
demonstrate faith building testing. It
takes great courage to step out on faith as these people did. We cling to what we’ve got because we are
fearful of losing it. God wants us to
let go so He can bless us. He desires to
take us to a new place with a greater blessing!
Scripture to Claim:
…And this is love that we walk according to
his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the
beginning, so that you should walk in it.
2 John 1:6
