Saturday Scripture Gold with Bibi: When Your Faith In God Is Fading...

"According to the teaching of our Lord, what is wrong with the world is precisely that it does not believe in God. Yet, it is clear that the unbelief, which he so bitterly deplored, was not an intellectual persuasion of God's non-existence. Those whom he rebuked for their lack of faith were not men who denied God with the top of their minds, but men who, while apparently incapable of doubting him with the top of their minds, lived as though he did not exist."   -John Baillie, in Our Knowledge of God.

Every day our faith is attacked. The evil one knows the power of faith, and he is constantly attacking us so that we do not experience more power in our lives. Every day we have problems. We experience financial problems, problems at work, in relationships, with our health, with our children. As Jesus said in John “In this life you will have trouble.” And yes, there’s a lot of trouble facing us everyday!

So, how do you keep your faith intact? Well, as always with God, there’s good news! I’m going to give you a practical lesson today that you can use to train yourself. So, whenever you are hit with some trouble, you will be better prepared to keep your faith intact. And, if anything else, "increase" in your faith rather than "decrease."

Think about a problem you have right now, and pay attention to how you feel. Close your eyes and focus on it. Just stop for a moment and do this. What did you feel? Did you feel discouraged, anxious, scared, stressed? Did you start to feel doubtful as a result of how you feel? Many times we literally feel ourselves sinking in our faith as a result of how we feel. We start panicking and cry out to the Lord for help.

Now, take that same problem that you were focused on, think about God, and notice how you feel. Seriously do it. Close your eyes and focus on God and your problem. How do you feel now? Did you feel the opposite emotions? Joy, courage etc?

You see, I did this the other day (but not on purpose). I was having a conversation with God, and a problem surfaced in my mind. I immediately felt discouraged and down in my spirit. Then, doubt started creeping in. In the next instant (because I was talking with God) my mind shifted to Him, and I started smiling. At that moment God said to me, "Bibi...that’s why you need to see me; and not just your problem!" So, how do you keep your faith intact? What does the bible say?

Try this. Fix your eyes on Jesus (See God, then your problem). God tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus. Why? So that you won't lose heart! When we fix our eyes on the problems of this life, we begin to lose. And, it’s very easy to begin losing everything. We lose courage, we lose joy, we lose faith, we lose trust. We lose, we lose, we lose! What we have a tendency to do is fix our eyes on the problem, then we get upset about the problem, or stressed out about the problem, and it goes downhill from there.

Somewhere down the line, after we have sinned, God comes back in the picture. No! We must fix our eyes on Jesus so that we don’t lose faith. If you are going to face your troubles with faith, you must keep your eyes fixed on the author of your faith! Peter learned this lesson when he asked Jesus to tell him to come to him on the water.

If we take our eyes off of Jesus, we too will begin to sink in our faith. We will lose heart, lose courage you name it. Let me ask, "Where are you right now?" If you've been focusing on the trouble more than Jesus, repent immediately! And, get your eyes back on Him. He’s able. He can fix it. And from now on when you have a problem, discipline yourself to focus on Jesus, and you will keep your faith intact for the glory of God.

"None but the Almighty can set up the fallen pillars and restore the tottering walls of your condition; but He can and He will do it if you return to Him. Do not delay. Your crushed mind may quite fail you if you go on to rebel; but hearty confession will ease you, and humble faith will console you. Do this, and all will be well."  -C.H. Spurgeon

Scripture: Luke 8:13; 1 Peter 3:15; Hebrews 10:35-39; 1 Peter 1:20-21; 2 Timothy 3:16; Matthew 16:16; Isaiah 45:7 

Now, let's pray...

O Father, give us the humility which realizes its ignorance, admits its mistakes, recognizes its need, welcomes advice, accepts rebuke. Help us always to praise rather than to criticize, to sympathize rather than to discourage, to build rather than to destroy, and to think of people at their best rather than at their worst. This we ask for in thy name's sake. Amen

Until next time...

Have a blessed week!

Bibi