Monday, January 7, 2008

To Faith, or Not to Faith

“Then Caleb quieted the people in the presence of Moses and said, ‘We must go up and take possession of the land because we can certainly conquer it!’ But the men who had gone up with him responded, ‘We can’t go up against the people because they are stronger than we are. … To ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and we must have seemed the same to them.’” (Numbers 13:30-33 CSB)

How the people of God respond to an opportunity at a pivotal time in their history eventually becomes their legacy. If God provides an opportunity that requires faith, and the people of God accept the opportunity and move toward it in faith, their legacy is one of greatness. If, however, they turn their backs on the opportunity because of fear or some other feeling and choose the way of un-faith, their legacy will be like the Israelites who spent the next 40 years dying in the wilderness, or like the steward who buried what was entrusted to him.

One of the supreme questions for any believer or any church is: Will I or we move forward in faith, or will we shrink back when God opens a door of opportunity He wants us to go through?

What we need to understand is that if God provides an opportunity He wants us to take, He will provide whatever is needed in order to fulfill that opportunity. That is what faith tells us. Fear tells us that it is all dependent on us and our resources and what we are able to do on our own. If fear wins out over faith, then we get to live by fear. But we are a people called to faith, and faith is what honors God.

Today, we each have the choice of living in fear or in faith. Fear will bring more fear, but faith will bring the power and blessing of God.

Lord, Help us today to move forward in our lives in faith, acknowledging the fears, but trusting You to accomplish what You want through us. Amen.

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