grace – Life Inspired By God

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 HCSB

How do you have faith when everything that you know comes crashing down? Have you ever felt hopeless?

I remember when I got sick in college. I had prayed that I did not have Lupus, repeatedly. In my mind, I was devastated because there was nothing the doctors could give me those two weeks I waited to find out, because they did not know what was going on. I was asking why me, why am I still alive, why am I suffering? I had lost hope, or rather I had lost faith. I had lost belief and trust in God because I could not understand what was going on at the time. I was thinking about myself, thinking about why did that thing had happened to me. But I remained prayerful, because it was the only thing I knew that would produce a result.

Of course all along I was praying, so I never lost sight of what I knew–which was that God had to heal me. Even though I was still in a vulnerable place, my faith was my reality and I knew that God’s word was truth. So sometime after I being released, I talked to one of my mentors. I told her that God was going to heal me and she said that God doesn’t heal everybody. I realized I could not receive her words because it went against the truth that God had revealed to me in my heart and in His word. I held on to that belief and rested in the fact that I could not accept things went against what I knew…and I can say that from 2003 to 2006 my lupus serologies were negative; it was positive once while I was hospitalized in February of 2006, and it has never been positive since.

I thought about these things today as I left the courthouse. I saw several men and a few women that have fallen into a state of hopelessness, or truthfully speaking, disbelief. They do not believe in anything and accept life as they see it as reality and their lives and choices manifest the evidence of it. And I asked God, how can we faith in a place like this? How can you have faith when the system (well, the legal system here in New Orleans, that is, and I’m sure several other places, but metaphorically speaking) is orchestrated for your failure?

I realized this as I got some news that would have depressed most people…but because I know that God has control of everything, I am faithful that it will work out and truthfully not concerned. We maintain faith in desolate places by remembering the truth of God’s word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17. It is the promises of God, and the things He has already done for us and for others that should serve as the foundation for our faith. I digress and I realize that most of you may not be like me; there are things that I know as truth and fact–The Word–and for those things there is nothing that can come against it. Being raised in the church and as the granddaughter of a preacher, one thing I was raised to know, was that the Word of God was, is and will always be fact. So despite doubting because I had momentarily accepted what I saw as reality, I was reminded of the scripture above that has come to be one of my favorites. Knowing or believing in a thing makes it a fact for us. When we condition our minds to acknowledge the Word of God as fact, all else fades away. It is at that point that your faith becomes your reality and the things you are believing God for are merely waiting in the queue, so to speak, to manifest. It is in having that Word database that you are able to encourage yourself and others when life may be saying otherwise.

So the key to having faith even when the world seems to be crashing around you, when everything you have known is no more, is in trusting what you know–trusting and relying on the promises of God. Even when your mind says no, you have to make the decision to keep trusting in God’s word. Trust in what He has done for you. Trust in what He has done time and time again and bear down in your faith and know that your breakthrough awaits. You must know that this situation and all others in your life will ultimately work out for your good, because like the Word, it is written.

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. Psalm 34:19 KJV2000
Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. Psalm 71:20 NIV

These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold–though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
1 Peter 1:7 NLT

I am guilty of a part-time faith. I have believed God for things in compartments of my life and I have not trusted Him in other areas. But where did it get me? I was left at the same place, asking God for the same things, again and again.

We are in a season where we must be all or nothing with God. We cannot waste time wavering back and forth. James 1:6 says "But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind." (NLT) Either you are going to believe all the way, or not.

God recently worked on me with this. Growing up, I was raised to pay tithes. It was just something I had to do; when I got some money, I gave God His 10%. In most churches, it is taught as a fire and brimstone principle. If you don’t tithe, you will be cursed. Being a believer in Christ, I could not rest easy with this teaching because I believed that as a believer in Christ I was freed from all curses because He became a curse for me and thus took on my sufferings and punishments. (Gal 3:13, 1 Peter 2:24). I would pay my tithes almost begrudgingly, for fear of repercussions if I did not pay them.

It was the very first day of my detox, my full day of juicing, that God had this issue settled in my heart. I was talking to a friend in the ministry about my concerns. Almost instantaneously, his response was the age old response I have heard my entire Christian life. As he was talking and I found things contrary to his explanation, God spoke to me clear as day: "Marquita, it is an expression of your faith in Me, to trust Me with everything, even your money." Immediately I stopped arguing with him, and kept saying, everything is faith. Faith is everything, I have to trust God with everything. I vowed from that point forward that I would trust God with everything.

Yes, God will continue to bless you, for He rains down blessings on the just and the unjust. (Matthew 5:45) But if you want to see God really move in your life…honey! You HAVE to trust God with everything: with your relationships, with your business, with your finances, with your growth, with your family and friends, but with EVERYTHING!!!!

Stop wavering, stop believing in Him part-time…be all or nothing…and watch God work full-time for you! Have faith and believe!!

Then Jesus told them, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. Matthew 21:21 NLT

Tag: grace

Having Faith When the Situation Seems Hopeless

You Can’t Expect Full-Time Blessings Having a Part-Time Faith