For the past couple of days of talking with Jesus and thinking about the nature of faith, I now see that the problem bothering me was not that God cannot or will not save people, but that the enemy does not want my confidence in God’s power. He saved a man (Saul who became Paul) who was determined to put Christians to death and turned him into an author of the NT. He saved me, a woman determined to run my own life and put me on my face before His Cross. Nothing is impossible for God. To suggest that He cannot do something is from the pit, not from the Holy Spirit.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
Assurance is a characteristic of true faith in who God is and what He says. It is resting in God and His promises, not a hope-so longing that something will come to pass. True biblical assurance speaks of essence and reality — the real thing as opposed to mere appearance. It is based on God’s power, not my desires.
Faith, then, involves absolute certainty. Satan’s lies are designed to rob us of our certainty in God’s promises and make us doubt that He even cares. This is done to keep God’s people off our knees. He knows the power of prayer much better than we realize it!
In the Bible, the OT believers were told of a Messiah who would take away sin. They believed God, even though their understanding of Messiah was hazy. Their assurance of faith just knew that God would do what He said. This assurance of faith is the same in the NT.
Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:8–9)
Satan would have me take my eyes off God and His promises and be disillusioned by what I can see. That is, if those I pray for show no interest in God, then he wants me to suppose that God is not at work. However:
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (Numbers 23:19)
He calls me to trust Him, not what I can see or cannot see. I think how He saved my husband — no evidence at all that He was working and suddenly, dear hubby was captivated by Jesus.
It is far better to believe God and to trust in His promises than the suggestions made by mere humans (who could be motivated by principalities and powers that are not flesh and blood) that God will not answer our prayers. I cannot live in doubt when He wants me to live in hope. Doubt puts my prayer life into slow mode whereas faith has me full of joy and excited to see what God will do next.
PRAY: Jesus, You have been answering prayer in so many surprising ways. The enemy does not want me to pray, and this latest assault has been devious. It came through a respected author, which made the devil’s tactics even more difficult to spot. Confessing my loss of trust in You helped, but also reading today’s devotional about the nature of faith was like a solid one-two punch in his face. Yes, I can trust You even if You do not reach out and save the people on my prayer list, but if that happens, it is not because You cannot do it. Nothing is impossible for You, not even melting the hardest heart. Keep my thoughts on Your power, Your mercy and love. Forgive and cleanse any doubt that people are lost because You cannot find them.
PONDER: Consider the power of God to do all that He wanted done through people to whom He granted faith, the kind of faith that trusts Him and therefore obeys whatever He asks. God is able. He makes promises concerning those for whom we pray. Trust Him to keep those promises and don’t add a “but if He doesn’t” doubt as if their sinful lives are just too far gone for Him to forgive and turn around.
No comments:
Post a Comment