Thursday, November 13, 2008

How Faith Grows


This is from a sermon by Charles Spurgeon. I hope you find it helpful in your walk of faith.

Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith, and it is likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is without trials. Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against her: tempests are her trainers, and lightnings are her illuminators. When a calm reigns on the sea, spread the sails as you will, the ship moves not to its harbour; for on a slumbering ocean the keel sleeps too. Let the winds rush howling forth, and let the waters lift up themselves, then, though the vessel may rock, and her deck may be washed with waves, and her mast may creak under the pressure of the full and swelling sail, it is then that she makes headway towards her desired haven. No flowers wear so lovely a blue as those which grow at the foot of the frozen glacier; no stars gleam so brightly as those which glisten in the polar sky; no water tastes so sweet as that which springs amid the desert sand; and no faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs in adversity. Tried faith brings experience. You could not have believed your own weakness had you not been compelled to pass through the rivers; and you would never have known God's strength had you not been supported amid the water-floods. Faith increases in solidity, assurance, and intensity, the more it is exercised with tribulation. Faith is precious, and its trial is precious too.

Let not this, however, discourage those who are young in faith. You will have trials enough without seeking them: the full portion will be measured out to you in due season. Meanwhile, if you cannot yet claim the result of long experience, thank God for what grace you have; praise Him for that degree of holy confidence whereunto you have attained: walk according to that rule, and you shall yet have more and more of the blessing of God, till your faith shall remove mountains and conquer impossibilities.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Stuck With Me...Oh My!

Listen to this,
"for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So we can confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?'"

No doubt about it...the Lord is faithful! He is stuck to me like glue with his faithfulness. When I'm pulling my hair out, he's faithful. When I'm going bonkers, he's faithful. When I'm bored...yep...he's faithful. It's probably within those long stretches, when nothing seems to be happening, good or bad, that many of us tend to start wondering what happened to God. He's like adrenaline to us. We either have to be able to turn to him when we're freaked, or feel a surge of the "Joy of the Lord" when we're blessed.

I am always hearing someone say, "Pastor, God is about to do something big!" I like that. It says people are projecting their faith. But the big never seems to happen. Either I am missing God and his plan, or we are projecting our faith too far into the future.

What is the Lord doing in the here-and-now...when nothing seems to be breaking loose...when a revival seems far away...when boredom lurks? I am learning that these are the moments when God's faithfulness is demonstrated and proven. I find that he is concerned with being glorified in me, and you, more than he is with our definition of a 'move of God.' Hmmm He is faithful when nothing seems to be happening. ("Seems" is the key word.) I wonder if that shouldn't be what defines our faithfulness as well. In other words, is God stuck with us, too?

Ponder on that for a bit.
Pastor Jim

Space Invaders