Increase Our Faith

Do you need your faith increased?  If you answered 'no', well I don't believe you.  :-)  I didn't ask if you want your faith increased, I asked did you need it increased and every Christian, no matter how Godly or faithful they are, could stand having their faith increased.  The disciples that walked every day with Jesus, that is the one thing that they asked for, Lord, increase our faith.


Without faith it is impossible to please God, so it stands to reason that with faith you can and do please God.  The more faith you have, the more you are able to walk closer with Him and the more that pleases Him.  Pleasing God rather than worrying about my wants has been on my mind a lot lately.  And God has been confirming that direction with preaching, teaching and even in songs. 


Do I want to be like John the beloved or am I more like Thomas the doubter as I go about my daily life?  I see 'Thomas' arise a lot, far more than I should.  I also see the impulsiveness of Peter, and I think Lord, could I have his boldness too?  But if I had his boldness, would my faith be strong enough to use it for God?  Or would I just be bold without a real purpose?


When you ask most Christians if they believe that God can do anything, they answer 'yes'.  But if you ask them if they believe He WILL do specific things in their lives they answer isn't nearly as positive, it closer to 'I hope so' than it is to 'yes'.  Why?  Because we don't have the faith!


Faith is believing that God will handle your situation, it doesn't mean He will handle your way!  In fact, faith is keeping the door open to whatever God wants to do to handle it.  I think that is the problem most of us have, we not only want Him to handle it, we have the details all worked out.  And when things start to happen that do not fall into those details, we throw up our hands and say 'God, You said to believe and You would do it' without realizing that He is doing it, just not according to your specifications.


We are so caught up in our plan, we can't see the Master's plan.  Excuse me for a second while I catch my breath, I just hit myself between the eyes with that one. I have a plan for everything, and if I don't have a plan, I'm in panic mode!  Want to take a spontaneous trip?  Ok, hold on for a second and let me get my check list!  I'm serious, it really is that bad.  I'm not sure exactly when that happened.  When I was in my 20s, I had a tentative plan but it was subject to change any minute.  And it did not cause panic if the plan changed.  These days a delay that makes me late or not having a plan ahead of time can cause a full blown panic attack.


So I know I need more faith, that is not how God wants us to live.  Now planning is great and it is important to have a plan but we need to be open to God moving the parts of our plan around to have the BEST plan, not just our good plan.


Following God means going on uncharted paths, it means stepping out in places where we cannot see where the step will take us.  It means walking through the dark valley, still holding to the Light!  It means giving your children to God, knowing that the 'whatever it takes' to bring them back could bring you heartache and pain. But as I was reminded in a message earlier," God doesn't promise to make you comfortable, but He promises to comfort you in your situation".  It takes faith to walk that life.  It takes a daily turning to God.  It takes pulling the 'gods' of your life out and exposing them, telling God that you want them out of your life and Him to be in control. 


Lord, let us pray daily for more faith, and then let us truly open up to receive it.  We can ask all day but if we keep our heart and mind closed to anything other than our plan, it's not going to happen.  Lord, give us more faith.  Open our hearts and minds to receive it and our lives to act on it.