Even though I’ve already
posted a blog on faith, I felt the need to expand, especially after one of our
debrief sessions was ON the exact subject. Therefore, most of this blog is
taken from the words of our squad mom, Rozy McCormick.
Let me first touch on
“safe faith.” “Safe faith” is just that… playing safe. Rozy listed off many
components of safe faith, but two stuck out to me.
First,
safe faith doesn’t expect you to have hope… because hope hurts. It seems as if
you put yourself out there for failure, in a vulnerable position.
Second,
safe faith doesn’t cause you to look
foolish. Its standing in your 4 foot by 4 foot box saying, “Yes, I’m safe
here”. It’s saying, “No way would I go on a year long mission trip leaving
everything behind… that is just foolish!”
So what is God-sized
faith, Faith of the true Disciples of Christ?
Faith is increasing and
expanding our ability to trust God. It is trusting in the unseen (Heb 11:1),
NOT the unknown. God DOES want us to KNOW Him. It is eyes that can SEE past time. According to Rozy, we have to
go into the unknown because we want something bad enough. It’s swimming to an island we can’t see.
Also, faith in itself
pleases God. It is not things we DO, things we achieve, things we accomplish,
places we go, people we talk to, things we build; it is the FAITH behind those
things that please Him. It is not about actions, but rather about
just being.
So how do we get this
God-sized faith? Here are three steps Rozy gave:
1)
We must
realize God is good, in ALL situations. Do YOU believe He is good or not?
2)
Surrender.
That speaks for itself really, but surrender yourself and everything in the way
of God speaking into your life. What do YOU have to surrender?
3)
Give God the
freedom to pick the path for you. Coming on the world race wasn’t a choice or a
decision we made. It was literally God kidnapping us, rerouting our lives. He
captured us in a sense in order that He may be glorified through us and to
carry out the truth of the great I AM. How is He rerouting YOUR life?
Is God-sized faith
foolish?
Maybe. But God calls us to
be fools in Him.
“For it seems to me that
God has put us on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to
die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to
angels as well as men. We are fools in
Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You
are honored, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we
are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our
hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when
we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the
scum of the earth, the refuse of the world. I am not writing this to shame you,
but to warn you as my dear children. Even though you have ten thousand angels in Christ, you do not have many
fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.” 1
Corinthians 4:9-15
So if we are shamed,
slandered, cursed, put on display, bring
it. We have the Lord’s favor… the Lord’s hand is upon us…We have ten thousand angels on our side.
