Walk by Faith

"He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, 'my father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet, I want your will to be done, not mine." Matthew 24:39

Powerful Scripture right there. If you are in a place right now, where you know what God is calling you to do and you are scared just know that you are in good company. Jesus prayed about this 3 times before he was arrested. He knew his fate and he struggled with it but ultimately allowed God's will to be done. Aren't you so thankful he did? Imagine if God would have answered Jesus' prayers and took the "cup of suffering" away from Jesus, we would have no hope of seeing God or heaven. That alone deserves all the praise! 

I think so many times we spend so much time asking God to do this and do that for us and to move in certain situations but we fail to ask God his will. Further, we fail to listen to what God is telling us and wants for us. God is not a genie to give you whatever you wish for. He is God Almighty, Jehovah Jireh (our provider), Omniscient (all knowing), the Alpha and Omega (the beginning and the end), it's about time we start having faith in what God, the creator of heaven and earth, is doing in our lives.

I know sometimes it's hard not knowing what is ahead of you. It makes me think of Moses and the Israelites, there they were at the bank of the Red Sea, when they seen pharaoh and his army approaching them. Here they are with the Red Sea in front of them and in back of them was this army coming after them. They didn't know what to do, they didn't see a way out, they started to even doubt God by saying to Moses "why did you bring us here.... It's better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness." (Exodus 14:11). See, the thing with the Israelites is their faith wasn't strong enough, they couldn't see a way out of their situation and they panicked. The place between where you were and where you are going can be miserable, it can cause you to complain but once you know where you are going you will be praising God and soon enough you will see why you were in the place you were in. 

So what happened next? Just when the Israelites didn't see a way out of their situation, Moses lifted his staff and God parted the sea to make a way for them. God will do the same for you. God is moved by your faith, so have faith that God will always make a way when you can't see a way. After that, God then allowed the waters to fall on the army (their enemy) drowning them. Sometimes God has to bring us to a place, where we have nothing but our faith. There may be some things God wants to get rid of in your life, things that you have a tendency to go back to and he has to drown these things, so you don't go back to them. I once heard Pastor Steven Furtick say "God didn't just want to bring you out of Egypt, he wanted to drown the Egypt out of you." We tend to have a hard time letting go of our wants but God will do whatever he needs to do to show us that he knows what's better for us than we do. 

What I find most interesting about this story though, is right before God told Moses to lift his staff, God said "why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving!" (Exodus 14:5) You see, God had given Moses authority and power to do miraculous signs, the same authority God has given to us through the Holy Spirit. You may be in a place where you don't know where you are going and you don't want to go back to where you have been, begin to speak life over your situation. "Life and death is in the power of the tongue" (Proverbs18:21); your words have power. Instead of saying God why am I here, change it to God I'm not sure why you have brought me here but I am going to trust you. I am going to walk by faith and not by sight. I am believing that this is part of your plan for my life. And see what God does with faith like that. 

If you are in a place between the enemy of your past and the wall to your future, I am encouraging you not to pray for God to take you out of this place but for God's will to prevail through you in this place and for God to show you what he wants you to learn in this place. Remember this place you are in is only temporary and God's promises are forever. In that, be encouraged in knowing that God will never leave your side. Be patient, have faith and trust God.