The Resting Faith: Just Ask

“There are three kinds of faith in Christ:

1. Struggling faith, like a man in deep water desperately swimming.

2. Clinging faith, like a man hanging to the side of a boat.

3. Resting faith, like a man safely within the boat (and able to reach out with a hand to help someone else get in).”

Dwight L. Moody

I recently came across this quote from Dwight L. Moody, an evangelist from the 1800’s. If you don’t know much about him, Moody was a humble, devoted, and strong man of faith. At the time, he was simply living out his faith and spreading the Word of God in any way he could. Yet as we look back, we can easily say that he was one of the forefathers of the modern day evangelical movement. His service changed the trajectory of the church around the globe!

When I read the words of Moody, I realize that I don’t often take inventory of my own faith. After all, I spend so much time running, doing, getting, winning, losing, finding, preparing...and all the other “...ings”, that I hardly ever sit down in silence and reflect on my own heart. I honestly just rely on my faith being there, regardless of its condition. I suppose you could say I assume that my faith somehow always falls into the “Resting Faith” category. However, if I’m honest, the truth hits me directly in the heart that so very often I’m in the “Struggling Faith" or Clinging Faith” categories. 

I don’t want to have a struggling faith or a clinging faith (I mean, really, who wants that!?). It’s during those times when my faith is weak, that I feel furthest from God. Rather than feeling like I’m wrapped in His arms, I feel like I can barely touch His fingertips. The truth of the matter is that in those times God hasn’t moved, rather, I’ve slipped away. It’s not God who is weak, it’s my faith that is weak. 

So the question is, “How do I get to a resting faith in God? How do I get to a point where I am safely within the boat?” as Moody would say. Well, during my next three posts, I want to take a look at three ways we can grow in our faith. I hope to give you practical steps to follow that will help you grow in your faith and get yourself back into the boat! For today, let’s take a look at the first way to be strengthened in our faith.

Ask for it

Ok, let’s be real. How often have you found yourself realizing, halfway through a trial (or all the way through the trial for that matter), that you have not taken the time to pray. Yeah, I’m there too. Unfortunately, when we’re struggling with our faith, prayer is often missing in our lives. So if you find yourself out of the boat, struggling to get back in, spend some time in prayer. God wants us to be firm in our faith, so if you need strengthening simply ASK!

1 John 5:14-15 says...

^"14Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ¹⁵And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him."

This isn't our free pass to get whatever we want from God, rather it is a path to align ourselves with God's will. God desires for us to look to Him and rely on our faith in Him to carry us through. Now get ready, because when we ask for strengthening of faith, God often provides it in ways we least expect. For me, it's not like I have a cosmic power up (like Mario devouring a flashing star), rather this strengthening comes in the form of words spoken through a dear friend, my wife, or even my kids.

I said we would have practical steps right? Well, here it is!

The Challenge!

For the next seven days, when you wake up, ask God for strengthened faith. I'm not talking about a murmur, "Yeah, uh, God give me more faith." I'm talking about a heart felt plea to the Lord! Ask Him to grow you and strengthen your faith in Him. Ask Him to show you what it means to have a resting faith, where you're firmly planted in the boat, reaching out to help others. If you do this, every day, your heart will grow and your faith will too.  

God Bless! See you next time!

Keeping an Eternal Perspective

Wake.  Eat.  Work.  Sleep.  Repeat.  

In the midst of our daily routines, our perspectives can get muddled.  It’s easy to get caught up in what the world has to offer -- buying the latest gadgets, staying up with the current clothing trends, moving into a bigger and better house, ditching the “old” car for a brand new one -- it goes on and on.  None of these things are bad in and of themselves -- it’s really about where our hearts are when we make these decisions.  However, I am learning to ask myself some questions before I impulsively jump into something that might not be God’s will:

"Can I take this to heaven with me?"

"Can this bring glory to God?"

"Is this a need?  Or a want?"

"Can I use this money to bless someone else instead?"

About two years ago, David and I decided we wanted to move somewhere with a little acreage.  We dreamed of sitting on a big, wraparound porch at sunset while watching the boys run around and explore.  So we contacted the realtor we used when we bought our current house.  We wanted to know what our current house was worth so we could decide if this was a good move or not.  And of course, being in the current Denver market, our home had appreciated enough that we would make a great profit by selling our home.  Unfortunately, that meant we would have to buy a home that had also appreciated and would cost a lot more per month… like double our current payment.  Yikes.

Long story short… We looked at hundreds of homes off and on for the past two years.  No joke.  We even put an offer in on one and backed out because it didn’t seem right.  Every amazing home we went into never felt right, even if it checked all our boxes.

The more we looked, the more depressed we got.  Literally depressed.

Then a few days ago, my “One Year Bible” took me to Ecclesiastes for that day’s reading.  Now I realize this book is a little different than the others in the Bible.  It is meant to be more of a look at what our lives would be WITHOUT God (meaningless).  However, God definitely spoke to me through a couple of verses.  One in particular was Ecclesiastes 6:9, “Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless—like chasing the wind.” (NLT)  

BOOM 

I don’t think our hearts were wrong in the first place of wanting to move and enjoy a little more land for the boys.  However, the more we looked, the higher our budget got, the more boxes we had to check, and I suddenly became a kitchen snob!

Ecclesiastes 5:10-11 says, “Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!  The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers!” (NLT)

This is true not just of money, but of any material possession.  No matter how much we have, is it truly ever enough?  We keep trading up for better, hoping this next THING will make us happy.

David and I finally came to the conclusion that God wanted to shut the door on us looking at homes.  Once we contacted our realtor and told her we were backing off for now, we were so happy.  Giddy!  THAT felt right.  The depression was gone.  We knew we did what God wanted us to.  And we don’t feel that that the past two years were wasted, either.  We learned a lot, we got a lot of home projects completed, and we decluttered a lot.  Most of all, it taught us to be content.  When it’s time to move to a different house, God will make it really clear to us.

We can’t take our money or material possessions with us to heaven.  Why do we spend SO much time researching, shopping for, obsessing over, cleaning, and protecting these “precious treasures”?  

What can we take with us to heaven?  Nothing.  What can we SEND AHEAD to heaven?  Anything of eternal value... Telling people about Jesus.  Secretly blessing someone. Spending time with the Lord.  Raising our kids in His ways.  Putting others before ourselves.  Choosing humility.  Being Christlike.  These gain eternal rewards.  

We need to keep our lives in perspective.  Our lives are but a tiny dot on the line of eternity.  Colossians 3:2 says, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” (NKJV)  Romans 8:18 says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (NKJV)  Let these verses encourage you… This place is NOT our home!  We are just passing through.  This life truly is short, compared to eternity.  Let’s choose wisely how we will be good stewards of all the gifts, talents, money, possessions, and people God has put in our care during our time here.