Sunday, May 6, 2012, we began revival meetings at church. We have a passionate evangelist, Bro. Bill Lindley preaching for our revival. Last night's message was so eye opening to me that I felt I needed to share the idea behind it.
I haven't been in church crowds very long since it was only a couple of years ago that I was saved (thank you Lord!). I think many people have this idea, though, that if you have faith, things will be better. If you're sick, you'll be healed by your faith. If you are having a rough spot in life, just be more faithful and it'll pass quickly and painlessly. A lot of people think that if you just have faith, life will be happy and you'll be blessed. While your faith could lead to blessings beyond your control and what we think can happen, there is another side of faith.
Bro. Lindley pointed out flaws with this theory. Faith doesn't always leave you feeling as if you have God's blessings. Job was such a faithful man that he lost his livelihood, his house, workers, and even his children. It wasn't because he didn't have enough faith. It was because he had SO MUCH faith that God allowed this to happen. Even though he ended up with double the livestock and more children, the fact is that he still lost 10 children. You can't replace a child. It was because of his faith he lost his first children forever.
Paul was a great man of faith. He was one of the greatest evangelists and church planters we can learn about in the Bible (or pretty much anywhere for that matter). Does this mean that his travelings and preachings were always great, welcomed, easy, and happy? If you've read anything about Paul, you would know this is definitely a NO! During his journeys to spread the Gospel he was tortured, imprisoned, starved, cold, and at times left naked. One way to put it to understand it simply is that he was basically abused BECAUSE of his faith, not for lacking it. If he didn't have such faith, he might have lived a wonderful, easy life here on Earth. We'll never know because by the Grace of God, he followed the Lord and spread the message of the Gospel to the Gentiles, leading the way for the whole world to hear about God's Son dying for us.
Jesus himself told us that the world would hate us and be cruel to us. He didn't say that following Him would be easy and full of sunshine, with people always lining up to help and make your life easier. He said it would be hard. It would mean being an outcast. It would make people hate you even.
The point here is that if you feel like you're being punished, going through a rough time, living through some kind of challenge that you feel the Lord is abandoning you, whatever it is may not be because you lack faith. It could be BECAUSE of your faith. Keep the faith. Don't lose it just because you're not experiencing rainbows and lollipops. The Lord will see your faithfulness. In the meantime, just remember that "my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Phil 4:19). Amen.
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