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March 7, 2009
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=========================== TODAY'S ARTICLE ==========================
Belief?, by Tammy Marcelain
Belief.
I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief. These are words I say to
God every day. Words taken from Scripture (Mark 9:24). I asked Jesus to
be my Savior when I was in the 7th grade. After studying and making the
choice, I asked my dad to baptize me in our swimming pool. That very
day I was saved, but it took me 20 years to make Him my Lord and
Savior.
What's the difference?
By submitting myself under His Lordship, I have been given a gift -- a
gift to trust Him to guide me where He wants me to go. For much of my
late teenage life and early adulthood, I trusted no one. I was trying
to check out of my life mentally and emotionally by using drugs and
alcohol. I was searching for love in places where there is only
darkness. God saw me through that time and called me to Him.
Gratefully, I felt I had no other options left ... so I followed.
Fast forward a couple of years, and I had been living a Christian life,
working in a church, and doing all the "right" things. But, I was still
not submitting all that I am to Him. How do I know that? Because I
allowed worry, anxiety, and need for control to be my lord. I thought
that was normal, because it was everywhere I turned. Many people (not
all) were worried themselves, worried about money and the lack of it,
worried about health, worried about their kids, worried about their
jobs, and worried about ... I fit right in.
I was confronted with a real choice. Did I really believe that God was
in the details of my life? Or, did I just believe that He was to be
worshiped on Sunday and then real life happened after that?
When I began in depth bible study a number of years ago, my eyes opened
a little to this lack of faith I was struggling with. I longed, and
still long, for the faith of a champion of God. Along the way, however,
God led me to an exciting discovery.
The Bible has a faith Hall of Fame (Hebrews 11). These are people who
had the kind of faith to be recognized by God as special. Yet as I
looked closer at them, I found that many struggled to gain that faith
through difficult circumstances. In fact, their faith was grown through
those circumstances and struggles.
God uses broken people -- people like you and me. In fact, that is when
God's strength can often best be seen. Last week in Bible study, I was
touched by a quote: "God is drawn to weakness." Thanks be to God for
that, because I am weak. Yet God calls me to grow stronger in Him each
day, to move from milk to meat, to move from a faith that is easily
shaken to a faith that has been tested and can weather a storm that
might have toppled it just last week. Faith through circumstances,
struggles, and storms can lead me to growth!
Our faith is refined by fire; the more fires we walk through the
stronger our faith grows. Fire burns, but what it burns away is our
pride, greed, and selfishness; and what it leaves is a humbled servant
of God ready to say, "Here I am Lord, I will go where you lead." To be
content in our circumstances and trust God that we are part of His
great plan are gifts that brings tears to my eyes. Thanks be to God.
The gift of trust, this genuine faith I'm talking about, is one of the
greatest earthly gifts we could ever receive. I don't want to waste
this gift any longer. I think it is one of the traits that shine the
light of Jesus through Christians.
So how does one get this faith?
God grows faith, we just need to seek Him with all of our heart and He
will increase it.
So how do I seek Him?
I seek Him through prayer, Bible study, and reciting Scripture ... I
take Scriptures that stand against whatever I am struggling with and I
quote those Scriptures throughout the day. I keep them with me. I say
them over and over. I keep putting the words of God into my head and
into my heart. I believe this is a crucial exercise.
Are there hardships? Absolutely!
Jesus tells the story about a man who cleans out his house of the one
demon that is living there, but he leaves his house clean, yet empty.
So the demon comes back and brings his evil friends who take up
residence in the house. The end of the situation of the house is worse
than it was at the first of it (Matthew 12:43-45).
The point for me is simple. I can push out the fear, worry or anxiety,
but if I am not re-wallpapering my mind with the promises and
faithfulness of God, then the fear and worry come back fourfold --
debilitatingly more powerful. So I seek God through prayer, Bible
study, and repeating Scriptures.
Does my life always look like I want it to?
Hardly ever. But God is with me. I am never forsaken.
Are there hardships?
Absolutely! Yet these hardships are the times where "the rubber meets
the road." I can either shine for Jesus or wither like a lilly in a
drought. So I call on God in the hardships. And, if I am willing to
seek Him, He gives me peace and shows me the way He wants me to go.
It's then that I realize, through it all -- the hardships, struggles,
and even weaknesses -- He has answered my prayer. God has grown my
faith. And so I pray it again, "I do believe, help me overcome my
unbelief."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tammy is part of The Coffee Group, a varied group of women who express
their love, faith, and praise for God with ladies they love. They do
ladies' retreats and special speaking on God's work in their lives, as
well as the importance of sharing your faith story.
Check out their website:
http://www.thecoffeegroup.net
Come visit them on their blog:
http://www.espressohislove.blogspot.com
The Coffee Group is part of the Heartlight.org Network
---------
(c) 2009 Tammy Marcelain <marcelain5@sbcglobal.net> and The
Coffee Group
RELATED LINKS:
* Leap of Faith
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200408/20040811_leap.html
* Faith: Growing in the Right Direction
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200806/20080627_rightdirection.html
* How is Your Faith Resume?
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200607/20060706_resume.html
* Tammy's Blog
http://www.tammymarcelain.blogspot.com
This article can be found on the web at:
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200903/20090307_belief.html
=========================== FEATURED PRODUCT =========================
THE WAY OF THE HEART: DESERT SPIRITUALITY AND CONTEMPORARY MINISTRY, by Henri Nouwen
The modern classic that interweaves the solitude, silence, and prayer
of the fourth and fifth century Egyptian Desert Fathers and Mothers
with our contemporary search for an authentic spirituality.
http://shopping.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/link?252
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