We are living in tough times now. Of course there have always been tough times, haven't there. Jobs are hard to come by, the cost of anything you want to buy has risen, we are making choices now as to how to spend what money we have, that we may not have had to make a few years ago. It seems that every time we turn around they discover some new disease or someone you know has been diagnosed with cancer or some other terrible illness.
How do we survive in a world like this? We need to understand that life for the Christian is all about living by faith isn't it? I mean really, everyday we are challenged to go ahead with our living, by faith alone! We could wake up and think, "Something terrible may happen to me today, therefore I'll just say in my bed." Maybe something terrible has already happened to you! It is faith that gives us the power to put those thoughts out of our minds and get up and get on with living anyway.
I can pretty much guarantee you that if you get out of your house or out of your secure place, where ever it may be and try living, something sometime, somewhere will happen to cause you difficulties. It is how we choose to face those difficulties, that makes all the difference to our "quality of life". Walking by faith allows us to see past the difficulties and trust in one who can lift us up above whatever problem the world might put in front of us.
A "email friend" shared this true story with me and I want to share it with you because it teaches us about faith. "My elder son, at the age of about 3 taught me one of my biggest lessons on faith, better than any Sunday school teacher or grown up person could ever do.
I was fiddling in the garden. My son was playing on the porch behind me. Now the porch leading into the house is about one story off the ground as the house is built on a steep incline. I heard a voice crying "Daddy, catch me!" and as I turned around he was in mid air after having jumped off the porch. I did catch him, the impact actually knocking me flat on my back. Thankfully neither of us was hurt. I was just about to scold him when it dawned on me, he had faith in me. He had complete faith that I would catch him. What a lesson. This is how our faith in God should be, complete and trusting." (Charl Marais)
That story is another example of the type of faith which Peter had when he walked on water, (Matthew 14:25-33). It was a faith of complete trusting in the one that can catch us and keep us from the terror of the world that surrounds us. Yes, Peter, like us, took his eyes off of Jesus and started to sink. But also just like us, Christ loved him enough that when Peter cried out for help, Christ lifted him up!
How do you choose to face life? Will you cower down, afraid of what might happen, or face it with faith and confidence knowing who will catch you, who will lift you up when terrible things do happen?
Paul wrote these inspiring words 2,000 years ago and they still stir our hearts to faith: "I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:12-13).
Will you choose to walk by faith not by sight? (2 Corinthians 5:6)
Russ Lawson
How do we survive in a world like this? We need to understand that life for the Christian is all about living by faith isn't it? I mean really, everyday we are challenged to go ahead with our living, by faith alone! We could wake up and think, "Something terrible may happen to me today, therefore I'll just say in my bed." Maybe something terrible has already happened to you! It is faith that gives us the power to put those thoughts out of our minds and get up and get on with living anyway.
I can pretty much guarantee you that if you get out of your house or out of your secure place, where ever it may be and try living, something sometime, somewhere will happen to cause you difficulties. It is how we choose to face those difficulties, that makes all the difference to our "quality of life". Walking by faith allows us to see past the difficulties and trust in one who can lift us up above whatever problem the world might put in front of us.
A "email friend" shared this true story with me and I want to share it with you because it teaches us about faith. "My elder son, at the age of about 3 taught me one of my biggest lessons on faith, better than any Sunday school teacher or grown up person could ever do.
I was fiddling in the garden. My son was playing on the porch behind me. Now the porch leading into the house is about one story off the ground as the house is built on a steep incline. I heard a voice crying "Daddy, catch me!" and as I turned around he was in mid air after having jumped off the porch. I did catch him, the impact actually knocking me flat on my back. Thankfully neither of us was hurt. I was just about to scold him when it dawned on me, he had faith in me. He had complete faith that I would catch him. What a lesson. This is how our faith in God should be, complete and trusting." (Charl Marais)
That story is another example of the type of faith which Peter had when he walked on water, (Matthew 14:25-33). It was a faith of complete trusting in the one that can catch us and keep us from the terror of the world that surrounds us. Yes, Peter, like us, took his eyes off of Jesus and started to sink. But also just like us, Christ loved him enough that when Peter cried out for help, Christ lifted him up!
How do you choose to face life? Will you cower down, afraid of what might happen, or face it with faith and confidence knowing who will catch you, who will lift you up when terrible things do happen?
Paul wrote these inspiring words 2,000 years ago and they still stir our hearts to faith: "I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:12-13).
Will you choose to walk by faith not by sight? (2 Corinthians 5:6)
Russ Lawson
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