Thursday, November 19, 2009

Faith

As believers, we say that we completely trust and have faith in the Lord. We preach this from our pulpits and constantly remind those around us to just have faith. But, do we really live this out in our own lives on a daily basis? What about when life is hard or when "bad" things happen? For many or most of us, myself included, when those rough times come, for some reason all of this goes out the window. We suddenly find ourselves worried, fearful and anxious. We go into control-freak mode and want to take care of everything ourselves and quickly, too, before our lives are swung too far out of control.

But, why do we do this? When we read and study Scripture, God tells us there is no need to live like this! No matter what our worries are, we can rest assured that he's taking care of it all. All we have to do is let go and let Him take care of it instead of trying to ourselves. Below are some verses that help remind me of these truths:

Psalm 37:3-4 "Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."

Matthew 6:30-31 "But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore, do not be anxious saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' "

Mark 11:22-23 "And Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain,'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him."

Psalm 27:1 "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"

Phillippians 4:5-7 "Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

So, let's remember what God tells us to do when those hard times come. Let's show the world God's glory through every circumstance.