God gave me a word for my team at work well before Christmas. Because of scheduling and vacation time, I wasn't able to give it till last week. After giving the word, a co-worker came up to me and started a conversation.
He started with, "I know that you are a man of faith." "What exactly does that mean?" I thought, "wow, what an opportunity to explain it to him."
I gave him Keven's version of what the Bible says.
Hebrews 11:1The Message
11:1The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see.
He was like "tell me more." I said "Okay, let's go!"
I told him that God has many promises in the Bible that I believe will come true in my life. Even in situations that I haven't even encountered yet, I believe or have faith that they are true!
I told him about Noah and how God had him build a boat in the middle of dry ground. Can you imagine the faith that it took for Noah to believe God in that situation. But he was obedient and started building a boat. Then the rains came and flooded the earth. (Hebrews 11:7)
I told him about Abraham and his son Isaac. God told Abraham to take Isaac to an isolated place to be a sacrifice. Abraham didn't totally understand Gods plan but he obeyed and took Isaac. As he was about to sacrifice him, God stopped him from doing this act. Abraham had faith that God would either stop him, or provide for him in some other way. Now that's faith. (Genesis 22:2)
I told him about Daniel and the lions den. The King of the land became angry with Daniel and had him thrown into a den filled with lions. Oh, the faith that Daniel had that God would rescue him from that den. And that is exactly what happened. God shut the mouths of the lions and rescued Daniel. (Daniel 6:16 & 6:22)
I told him one more story because we needed to get back to work. I could talk about my faith in God and His word all day long, but work was calling.
I told him about the three friends thrown in the furnace. The King was so angry with them that he had the furnace turned up seven time hotter. They had faith that their God would rescue them from that. Boy, did He ever. He even joined them in the fire and brought them out, unscathed! Didn't even smell like smoke! (Daniel 3:16-27)
I told him that all these examples help with my faith in God! I have a lot of personal stories that I could share, but I'll share just this one.
My brother called me and asked me to come up to his house and try to help him get his truck started. It was a manual and we had to push it to get it started. After trying about five or six times (seemed more like twenty), he said that he was done. It was super cold outside that night. I said "have some faith. Lets try one more time." So we did. We pushed it back up the drive and prepared to give it one last go. Guess what happened? It started. He was amazed. I told him that God was saying "one more time." Having the faith of a mustard seed!
Matthew 17:20 New Living Translation
20 “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.
I encourage you tonight to strengthen your faith. Dig into Gods word. Believe what it says and what He'll do for us.
2 Corinthians 1:20 Living Bible
20 He carries out and fulfills all of God’s promises, no matter how many of them there are; and we have told everyone how faithful he is, giving glory to his name.
God Bless.
Rev. Kev.
No comments:
Post a Comment