Fiery faith

Last week I started thinking about what to write next. As the days passed a couple of topics popped up and by Saturday I had made my decision. Then came Sunday and God made it very clear what the topic should be when I heard at church: “Most of us don’t have enough fire to live the faith filled courageous life that God wants us to live.” I felt God was shaking me a little to get my attention. The funny thing is that fire and faith beyond understanding has been on my mind, but I knew that if I were to write about it I was going to have to dig deep and be really honest with myself. I am “most of us.” My life definitely needs more fire if I want to live the life God has planned for me.  

What are you believing God for? It seems that all of us are asking God for something… We are all waiting. And that’s ok, we should ask and we should wait expectantly, the problem is when we put our life on pause while we wait. Many times the thing we are asking for distract us from the many things God is doing and wants to do. We focus on the one thing and miss out on the rest. God’s plan for our life is so much bigger than what we are waiting for or the issues we are dealing with day to day. That’s why we need fire to fuel faith that goes beyond what we see, what we want and what we feel. I want fiery faith. The kind of faith that makes people notice. Not because of what I do or say, but because it is real, raw, and can only happen when we are close to God, because He is the one making it happen.  

In Daniel we read about Sadrach, Meshach and Abednego and how they defied the king by refusing to worship an image of gold the king had built. “...we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18) I want that kind of faith in my life. I want to believe the impossible and live full of joy, not because of my situation, but because God is present in my life and He is more than enough. I want to remember that if my plan fails, it’s because the plan God has for me is so much better than what I wanted; therefore, how can I not be excited about it? And this is not fake. It is not minimizing pain, or difficulties, or sadness. Life is messy, but I need to remember that God is bigger than anything I face and He has the final word. I need to keep looking back at my own life to remember what God has done in the past so I can look toward the future certain it’s going to be good.  

I have to be honest. Fire from God is not just going to come because I asked Him during my ten minute quiet time this morning. It is going to take time in silence with God delighting in Him. I just need to give myself the gift of time with our Creator. It sounds like such an obvious thing, who wouldn’t want that? But if I am honest, many times I choose to use time differently and I don’t give God the time He righteously should have. If I want the faith filled courageous life God wants me to live, I need to be full of Him and what a joy that is because nothing the world offers can be better than Him. 

Manuelita