The Faith of Our Father

Isaiah 7:9 ...If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.

The fellowship of faith, the household of God, the new life we are privileged to walk in and share with each other, is a never-ending, ever-changing adventure in growing, stretching, learning, trusting. We are daily given opportunities to decrease ourselves so that He may increase in us and through us. Dying to self, that most precious, free-will offering that we can give our Father, requires faith that He will receive it and pour Himself into our vessel to provide our needs as we minister to others.

As we do so, we find release from care, freedom from boredom, and escape from worry. Our imagination becomes fired, and His creative nature is expressed in a multitude of ways. Life takes on meaning at last and has purpose that leads us to worthwhile goals. Occasionally, when we reflect on where God has brought us, we can truthfully admit that the bad days we have in our ever-growing faith are better than what we thought were the good days before God intersected our lives.

2 Corinthians 11:30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

Unlike the way the world operates, we stand exposed in our weaknesses and our shortcomings to those we are around. People who are living and struggling in their own power and strength are seeking rewards that are found in the world and have to justify why they deserve to receive what the world can offer, hiding who they know they are on the inside and portraying to those around them who they wish they could be.

We have been brought into the kingdom of God through no virtue of our own, made a part of the ruling family of heaven, entrusted with responsibilities beyond our experience and capabilities, and only as we remain humble in the completion of our tasks can we be further entrusted with more of God's power. The temptation of trying to grasp and claim the accomplishments as our own is always present, but the Spirit is faithful to remind us from whence we came and of the depth of God's love for us.

Psalm 54
v.2 Hear my prayer, O God; listen to the words of my mouth.
v.4 Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.
v.7 For He has delivered me from all my troubles, and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes.

Lord, as we know that You call us to be separated unto You, we devote our attention to You. We understand that we cannot isolate ourselves from the everyday world, but we can put our focus on what Your Spirit speaks to our hearts. Just as doctors and nurses work hard, long hours among the injured and the ill, so Your assignments will sometimes lead us into places with people whose hearts are hurting, and even to those You are seeking that seek to influence us. In the same way that gloves and masks and protective gowns cover medical personnel, Father, so we are shielded by Your hand as we walk in obedience to Your leadings. Your armor and Your weapons are proof against arguments and thoughts that defy Your majesty, Lord God, and we move in the authority of the Redeemer and legal Lord of all creation as we bring Your truth to the people who, though captive, are seeking and hungry to be free.

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