Faith

Devotional for March 26, 2011
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. We hear physically with our ears, but also with our spirit. It’s our spirit that believes. It is beyond logic. It’s not the belief that’s based on evidence, like the belief that your household products will work, or your vehicle will get you where you want to go. Even a child will stop crying when his mother leaves because there’s been enough evidence that she’ll come back so he believes it. Believing in your spirit is not based on evidence, but based on hearing that it will happen.

For the last week, my son’s been working on a project. He’s been cleaning his room. I excused him from all other duties so he could do this one thing. Day after day, he’s been in there for hours mostly playing. He’s made some progress. I do see him toting down a bag of garbage at the end of every day. I, likewise, have noticed the give-away pile growing daily. After a few days, my 8-year old was proud to say that he was finished, but it was not up to my standards. My patience was wearing thin, but I had another card up my sleeve.

You can imagine the shock on his face when he realized that I still expected more organizing from him. He was emotionally giving up before I could even begin to use my leverage, I mean to motivate him. When he heard that his sister and her friend wanted to take him to the movies that evening, but he could not go unless his room was complete, his task felt impossible. It didn’t help that my words sounded more like a threat than a motivation. Before I knew it, we were in a yelling match between my frustration and his hopelessness.

It looked to me that if I did not change my tactics, I just might start to feel hopeless myself. I had an idea, but with all the noise in the room, I had to get his attention. I wrapped my hands around his cheeks and firmly held his face so that he could only see my eyes. My goal was to get him to stop crying, to stop using hopeless words, and to instead repeat my words, “I will clean my room,” as well as the words, “I will get to go to the movies with my sister.” However, everything out of his mouth was tainted with crying and sounded pathetic. I don’t know how many times I got him to repeat those words again and again. He kept saying them through tears, and he wasn’t believing the power in the words because of it. I just kept pressing on, “No, say the words without any crying.” “No, say it just like I’m saying it.”

Finally, he mustered all the strength he could find and without even a hint of whining, “I WILL clean my room!” It came out with a boom. I was silent. I looked at him with raised eyebrows and observed his countenance begin to change. His breathing pattern relaxed. He looked around the room as if he was seeing things differently. I asked him, “How does that feel?” He said, “Good.” I said, “That’s called confidence.” God said to my heart, “That’s called faith.” I thought about it for a moment and looked at my son, “Now say, ‘I WILL get to go the movies with my sister,’ but say it with a smile on your face. He did what I told him to do and he liked it.

Now that he was saying it correctly, I had him say it several more times before I left his room. He liked the way it sounded so much that he worked for the next 4 hours repeating the same phrases. He followed through with the action because he believed he could do it. He believed he could do it because his faith came by hearing. You may say that it’s just psychological, but to me it’s an example of how to build faith. There was no evidence for him to believe that he could or would do this task, but once he heard it, he believed it. Once he believed it, he acted out his faith. And, yes, he got to go to the movies.

“…Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed,

you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’

and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Matthew 17:20

Does the believing come before or after we say it? The faith of a mustard seed can move mountains. That’s all it takes. We’re all given a measure of faith to begin with, but it can grow. The faith of a mustard seed is all we need to get our mouths to say it, so that our ears will hear it. The ears are just a portal to get the information to our brains. Even a deaf person can get the information to their brains by simply using their eyes and their hands. Once we get that Word in there, it connects to our spirit so our faith will grow…and boy will it grow and grow!

We begin our life as a new creation in Christ by grace through faith. It’s true that many people need to see evidence before they’ll even consider that God’s Word is true, but the evidence only covers so much. After that, it’s pure faith. So, why stop there? Through faith, we can live powerfully. Now, it’s true that even though my son was finally speaking with confidence and he believed he would accomplish that task, there was still a chance that he would not do it. Everything in life is subject to a chance of failure…everything except for God’s Word. There are a lot of things I can repeat, but there’s still an inkling of doubt in my spirit except when it comes to the Word of God. If God says it, it’s 100% true.

God says that nothing can separate me from His love.
Romans 8:38-39

God says that if I ask, I will receive.
1 John 3:22

God says that if I train my children in His ways, they will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6

God says that if I confess, I will be forgiven.
1 John 1:9

God says that I do not battle flesh and blood, but evil spirits.
Ephesians 6:12

God says that I can triumph over them.
Ephesians 6:11,16

God says that His thoughts of me are more numerous than the sands of the sea.
Psalm 139:17-18

God says that He can do miracles and so can I.
John 14:12-14

God says that no temptation has seized me except what is common to man.
1 Corinthians 10:13

God says that He won’t let me be tempted more than I can bear. |
1 Corinthians 10:13

God says that He created me with a purpose and a plan.
Jeremiah 29:11

God says that He’s preparing a place for me and that He’s coming back for me.
John 14:3

God says that He will never leave me nor forsake me.
Deuteronomy 31:6

God says that I will be with Him forever!
John 3:16

Jesus told His disciples that they were going to the opposite shore of the sea. He did not say that they were going to head in the direction of the opposite shore. He did not say that they were going to the middle of the sea. He said that they were going to the other side. So, when the storm came up and they thought they would die, they lost their faith. But Jesus said they were going to the other side, therefore they were going to the other side. I suppose if they had woken up Jesus and said, “Master, since we’re going to the other side, we need You to help us,” then Jesus would not have called them “Men of little faith.” Since they said that they were going to die, Jesus was correct in saying that their faith was little.

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Romans 10:17

No matter what I’m going through and how bad the storm appears, I pray for my faith to be increased and that I remember the many Words God has given me. If He says I’m going to the other side, then I’m going to the other side. I can repeat God’s Words just like my son repeated his own words, but there will be absolutely no trace of doubt in them in my heart. I’ll know and believe His truth.

Then nothing will be impossible because He told me that

‘I can do all things  through Christ who strengthens me!’

Philippians 4:13

Amie Spruiell
  3-26-2011