Faith Journey
I believe the day we gave our “yes” to Jesus is where our faith journey truly began. We always find ourselves in seasons where faith is needed. Faith is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen in our lives. The month of May has brought its challenges and has led me to question where I and my family will end up. But one thing is for sure, the Father will never leave me alone, and He will never loosen His grip on my life (Hebrews 13:5). Now, take a moment and imagine what God’s grip looks like on your life. Does it look like He has you on a leash? Or does it look like He is holding your hand? I like to think of His grip on my life as Him giving me a bear hug and then He releases me to go out and be a child and to grow.
I want to elaborate more on the word faith because that word has come up a lot during this global pandemic for so many people. What we go through will manifest what we truly believe. I am here to tell you that I will die clinging to my faith just like my forefathers. The elders who have gone before us operated in a greater realm of faith by simply believing the Father at His word and stepping out in that belief. That kind of faith requires us to put our eyes on Heaven.
As I meditated on my forefathers and how much of an impact they had on the church, the Holy Spirit brought to my heart a significant moment in my life before I was even surrendered to Jesus. I was a senior in high school, living at home, living recklessly, caught up drinking, and smoking weed with my buddies. At the time, I had two brothers who were in and out of jail, and a father that was physically and emotionally aloof. My mother announced that she was divorcing my father. I was worked up with emotions that I didn’t know how to handle at the time. The strangest thing happened. I had the sudden urge to move out, to leave what was familiar, and to venture out to figure who I was and who I really wanted to be. I couldn’t do that at home because of all the influence around me. To this day, I still believe that was the best decision that I could have made for my life. That day changed my life forever because it caused me to really depend on my Heavenly Father to provide for me. Just like Abraham, I had faith to obey God’s call and leave the familiar to discover the territory I was destined to inherit from Him (see Hebrews 11:8-10). I am here today to testify that I have inherited what I believe the Father has destined me for. The beauty of it is that I still have more to inherit! There is so much more of Him to discover.
“Faith causes us to choose a different way of life for ourselves”
The thing that you have accomplished isn’t what necessarily pleases the Father, but it is the realm of faith that you are walking in that brings Him the utmost pleasure. James tells us that faith without works is fruitless or dead (see James 2:17). Faith coupled with action proves that we believe the Father will come through for us. I had a dream a few nights ago that I was walking a tight rope hundreds of feet in the air. On one end, Jesus was standing and waiting on me. As I began walking across, I began to look down and I started to lose my balance, but when I put my eyes on Him, the One, I gained confidence and strength to cross that line.
“Faith is the thing that enables us to keep our focus on the Father while enduring difficult circumstances.”
Yes, faith without works is dead, but works without faith is striving. God responds to faith when it’s associated with action. It means that we believe what God says about our lives, so we begin to move in that direction to where He has called us.
Wrapping up, we see so many patriarchs in the bible, that walked with God so closely. I personally love the story of Enoch. We don’t have much on him, but what we do see is that Enoch lived for 365 years and walked with God for those (see Genesis 5:21-24). In Hebrews in the Passion Translation, it says that before he was translated to the heavenly realms his life had become a pleasure to God, meaning he had the reputation of pleasing the Father (Hebrews 11:5). You walking in faith pleases God. There is no other way. It’s not about what you do, but the faith that you are operating that enables you to see it through. I will leave you with this challenge:
What are you doing in faith that would cause God to respond?
