Happy Wednesday!
Everything Hinges On Faith
I remember a time when I never got sick. Others got sick all around me, but not me. I felt like I was indestructible, and in a way, I was indestructible. I trusted God with everything in my life: my provision, health, mental soundness, my peace, happiness, and potential. I saw my past through His eyes, lived in the present moment, anticipating the future He was creating for me (and creating me for). Whenever I read the Bible, I paid special attention to the promises of God. I believed that those promises were for me, just as much as they were for the people they were spoken through. I used to tell people, “I never get sick, because sickness cannot live on my body!”
Call it coincidence, but I know better. To believe is better than not to believe.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
Therefore, hope is a (mental/spiritual) picture of things (our God intended future) not yet seen (with our physical eyes).
Without hope, faith has nothing to pursue.
Faith creates the substance of our hopes. Faith is God’s way of transferring miracles from the heavenly world to the physical world.
Call it mystical, but it’s true. Call me fanatical, or disillusioned, but I believe in miracles.
Faith Requires Corresponding Actions
I believe my faith worked so well back then, because I lived according to my beliefs. My actions usually matched my confession. I ate healthy, exercised daily, and stayed balanced… on purpose.
Over the past decade, I’ve drifted out of balance. I’ve grossly underestimated the deadliness of chaos. Still, I felt that I could simply pray harder that my shield of faith would hold up in such conditions.
Faith can move the biggest mountains, faith can heal the sickest people, faith is the substance of things hoped for. With faith anything is possible.
But faith without works (or corresponding actions) is dead (or worthless).
Therefore, all the faith in the universe is no substitute for a lack of corresponding action.
If we pray for health, we have to live and act like healthy people!
For example: It’s ludicrous to pray for an accident free life, while we exceed the speed limits, run red lights, and text while driving. It’s also ludicrous to pray for a cancer free life, while we smoke cigarettes each day. Do you get the picture?
Faith Can Be Choked & Killed
A few days ago, a friend asked me on Facebook how I was doing, because I had been very sick for the previous 7 days. Here was my reply to him…
It’s been like I’ve been asleep for 7 days. [I'm physically broken down.] The emotional battle has been just as numbing.
I think this was more than a bad flu, it was a pre-crash warning from God: to get control of my personal space, organize the chaos, delegate more effectively, say “no” to some things, and REBALANCE.
I mastered balance when I was in business, but so far, I haven’t been able to do that in ministry. I wake up every day like a mouse on a wheel, burning energy without the progress I’m capable of achieving.
Sure, I’ve made a difference, but nothing like the difference I can make if I can find take charge of my schedule… and unapologetically do what GOD is calling me to do with my life and ministry.
It’s not easy, because there are so many voices. Some of them loud, demanding, and intimidating!
Hopefully, this last week has brought me to a new reality about the shortness of life… and how fast it is moving forward… and how easy it is to miss the mark when we fail to take charge with our God-given authority.
Faith Is Restart-able
So many people start out in faith (at some point in their lives) and (through the relentlessness of time and tribulation) they end up pinned under the control of people and circumstances.
But, life doesn’t have to end this way.
Faith is restart-able!
It begins with a prayer,
“Dear God, I don’t know how I ended up here… broken down, bullied around with the trials of life. I’ve become bitter with people, even confused about You and why You would “let” these things happen to me. I’m sorry for becoming like this. Today, I want to restart my faith! I want to believe again, just like I did when I first believed. This is the first day of the rest of my life. Because I refuse to live as a victim of my circumstances any longer. The mountain’s before me are large and daunting. But there is nothing in this universe powerful enough to keep me out of Your will for my life. Nothing except my own inability to believe and keep on believing. Right now, I decide to believe AGAIN! Dear Heavenly Father, I commit again to serve you for the rest of my life… no matter what! When trouble comes my way, I will not fall over and play dead like I have been doing lately, but I will stand on your promises… I will calm the storms, move the mountains, walk on water, and fulfill my destiny! In Jesus name I pray, amen!”
Here is a great video for this message: NeedToBreathe, These Hard Times
Your thoughts?
I just finished praying for you, as I prayed for myself, my family, and my church.
With much love,
Chuck Balsamo
Happy Sunday!
Happy Monday!
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