This is part three of our Faith Journey. Click the links to read Part 1 and Part 2. I pray this journey inspires and encourages you to know and believe how much God loves you!
It is sad to me how many Christians really don't believe in miracles.
I mean, our ENTIRE faith is built upon the belief in a miracle. Jesus, the Son of God, after taking all our sin, sickness, pain, sorrow upon His body........was raised to life after being dead for three days.
In fact, I would venture to say that the majority of Christians really don't believe in miracles.
And to be honest, I was one of them. I didn't believe in miracles either.
I had lost faith in the One who saved me. I was so good at just "being" a good little Christian that I had kinda forgotten the point of it all.
My husband and I had planted and were pastoring a church, which is no small feat! It was incredibly exciting! People were "getting saved!" But after a while, it seemed like it had become a "dog and pony show." (Am I speaking to any pastors or church staff out there?) Gotta keep going, keep performing, keep praying, keep serving, keep teaching, keep winning souls for Jesus, keep doing all these things for God.
The should-dos.
And man, was it exhausting.
My faith had turned into an attempt at getting God's attention. I needed his love so bad that I worked harder and harder for it. I had lost hope that Jesus really loved me at all.
THANK GOD for Sheri and Ty! THANK GOD that He sent people to walk beside us, and love on us and show us HIS love! THANK GOD someone showed us the TRUTH of who God really is!!
They KNEW God's love. They knew God's love because they knew God.
As a result of his miraculous healing, Jason was getting a deeper revelation of the love of God FOR him. And it was rubbing off on me.
You see, he became a Christian and was baptized when he was 21 years old. He had changed then, too. He became not so worried or anxious about things. That semester, his last semester in college, he made the best grades he had ever made, and he didn't even try that hard. That is the fruit of the love of God on your life.
It was an effortless change.
Up until that point, we believed that Jesus loved us, just like he loves everyone, and desires all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). But our knowledge of God just kinda stopped there. We thought God just picked and chose who got a miracle, and who didn't. Who could be healed, and who couldn't.
I could picture God up in heaven with his arms crossed...kinda like how the Genie in Aladdin looks....and he's looking down at us saying, "Nope. Nope. Not you. Yes you. You can have that. Not you. No. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Yes, okay. Nope...."
I really thought that was the heart of God. So sad.
I also thought that maybe the reason you have trials in your life because God is trying to teach you something.
There was an extremely painful event that happened in my childhood. Perhaps I will be brave enough to share it with you someday.
But I never spoke about it to anyone until I was in my late 20's.
It was a sinful act done to me. It wasn't my choice. I was not in sin. I was 4 years old.
I went to counseling to try to process it. I was told that perhaps God allowed this to happen to me so I could help others going through the same thing.
WHAT? What does that even mean?
Does that mean that God ”allows” harm to His children, so he can teach them something?
I don’t claim to be the best parent, but I’m not about to push my child out into the street and “allow” them to get run over, and then tell them it was for their good. So they could learn a lesson.
Or even better, so they could grow up and teach someone else not to run in the street.
“It‘s all right, honey. You are laying there in the street, all bloody and broken, because I have a plan for you. I let you get run over for my “glory.” Because my plans are good. My mysterious, glorious plans that you may never know. I'm a good, good Father. Just trust me, okay?”
WHAT IN THE WORLD?
The god described above is NOT loving, NOT trustworthy at all. And I'm actually a better parent than him. So, no, that makes absolutely NO sense whatsoever.
I know some of you may be saying, "But you aren't God. You don't know God's will. You can't know what God is like, because you are a human and you are a sinner. We can't possibly be close enough to God that we could know His will."
Really?
So Abraham, Moses, Elijah, David, Peter, Paul, John....all those guys.... they get to know God's will but we don't? They get to be in on the great mysteries of God and we don't? They get to hear God's voice, and we don't?
It's like giving me cupcake but saying I can't eat it.
I'm not buying that.
Is the Bible just a storybook? Or is it REAL?
I think the reason that so many of us don't believe in miracles is because we really don't believe God loves us that much. We might have a head knowledge, like, we know John 3:16. But do we have a heart knowledge? A personal, relationship with God? One that goes both ways...not just me looking up to heaven and hoping He's there?
We’ve been lied to, my friend, all this time. What greater plan could the enemy have than to twist and distort our knowledge of our Father who loves us?
If we were REALLY honest with ourselves, we should be asking these questions. We shouldn't just accept what people say as the truth, even if they are an "expert" or they wrote a book. Even if they are our pastors.
If your pastor is a good one, they would tell you the same. Look it up. Get your nose in the WORD. Seek Jesus and you WILL find him.
Let God teach you himself, through His OWN WORDS.
We don't have to wait for the sweet by and by until we can know God. We can know him, and experience Him NOW.
In John 17:4 Jesus prays for us. He says to his Father, "This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."
You mean we don't have to wait until heaven to be with Jesus? That we can be with him NOW? Eternal life is NOW?
YES! Just look at how many times in the Gospels Jesus says "The kingdom of God has come. The kingdom of God is at hand."
That means right now! Jesus IS eternal life, now!
Not someday.
Right now.
Eternal life IS knowing God. Knowing Jesus.
The WORD of God. The Words of Jesus. Look at His life. Jesus is the express image of God himself. Hebrews 1:3 says Jesus is the exact imprint of God's nature.
If we want to know who God is, if we want to know His nature and His character, then we must look at Jesus.
Jesus is THE Word. We must look at the Word of God.
God IS Love. He IS trustworthy.
How do I know?
Because I looked at Jesus.
He is THE Word.
And I KNOW Him. And I trust Him.
I hear His voice.
His Word says that He is good, and His plans ARE good.
So if something comes along that looks evil, smells evil, its evil.
It's not God.
"Woe to them, who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" - Isaiah 5:20
I was living out this verse. I was cursed with "woes," because I was attributing all these evil things to God.
No wonder my life seemed hopeless!
But no longer.
My dear friends, I can't wait to continue our story and show you what God has taught me through His word.
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My desire for this blog is to come together as a community of believers, hungry for His Word! Hungry for all He has for us. I will have a way for us to share testimonies through the website soon.
May the Holy Spirit continue to reveal God's amazing love for you!
To read the next part of Our Faith Journey, click here.
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