Have You Arrived?

Have You Arrived?

I enjoy using acronyms, so as I sat here pondering faith and what it means to live a life of faith, I came up with . . .

Finally Arrived In The Hall … Faith.

Has your Faith Arrived In The Hall …. yes, the Hall of Faith as outlined in Hebrews 11? Picture reading the list something like this ---- Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, you and me. Now I like that!

I have prayed and prayed … Lord, I want great faith. I wonder --- did Abraham and Noah cry out to the Lord asking for great faith? I don’t think so … so how can I get my name in God’s Hall of Faith? (Emphasis here is God’s Hall of Faith, not man’s Hall of Fame).

The process simply begins with our relationship with the Lord. Sometimes we want to make our walk and relationship with the Lord so difficult. Let’s see if we can simplify our faith. My daughter is 11 years old and I wondered “did my daughter pray to have faith in me as her mom?” No. When she was 4, did I hear her pray … ‘Lord, help me to trust my mom?’ No, she simply believed in me as her mother…with a child-like faith. God says to you and to me … just believe (John 6:29) and then show your belief in Me by your actions.

Faith begins with baby steps. When is the last time you saw a 6 month old baby running? A child will learn to crawl and then begin with a few steps and a few falls!

It’s time for us to stop complicating our walk of faith with the Lord and just begin by saying “okay, Lord, I believe you are who you say you are …. You are not man that you should lie nor are you man that you should change your mind. You have a purpose and a plan for my life -- a plan for good with hope and a future … not to harm me.” Period. Then we, as His children, are to believe.

When I tell my daughter I will make dinner, she doesn’t then cry and pray and beg asking, “When oh when is my mom going to feed me?” She knows I said I will get dinner for her. Period. Jesus tells us to receive the Kingdom of God as a little child.

Now, my daughter does not understand why I make her go to bed by 9:00 pm instead of letting her stay up as long as she wants. She doesn’t understand why I won’t let her have all the soda and candy she wants, when she wants it. She may argue for a minute or two, yet when she hears NO….that’s it. She accepts it and moves on. As she grows, I am to help guide her and show her how to make right choices. Isn’t that what God is doing with us? Guiding us … helping us … sometimes he says yes and sometimes he says no and sometimes he says wait. We are to say ‘okay’ believing that He has everything under control and we can trust Him – the Creator of the universe.

Let’s not try to understand God and His love for us through the world’s eyes or through the hurt we have experienced. Allow the Lord to bring you back to the place where you place your faith in Him with the faith of a child.

Then we will find ourselves, finally, in the Hall of Faith as we have learned to place our trust in Him.