Skip to main content

Faith Manifestations

My people!!

I had to come back for a sort of part two to my previous blog because the Holy Spirit is impressing on me to finish the rest of the story. As I was praying yesterday morning about one of my faith frustrations, the Holy Spirit reminded me that on the other end of a faith frustration is a faith manifestation (somebody ought to shout "Hallelujah" at that!)...but there is a caveat to that. Faith manifestations are the natural conclusion of faith frustrations IF our posture is right.

I tell you!! That thing hit me in my chest this morning. I had to repent about my posture before the Lord in the midst of my faith frustrations. Truth be told, I was getting really impatient. My posture was not one of a humble serving waiting patiently for the Lord. Rather, I was "waiting" like an entitled brat. I never actually used this verbiage, but in essence I was saying, "I did my part God, so what is taking you so long? You gonna work this out for me or not?"

Now I know some of you read that and got uncomfortable. How can someone talk to Almighty God like that? I am not saying that I used that language, but my posture before Him was screaming that, while pointing to a watch and tapping my foot. God just hasn't been moving fast enough for me. To draw an analogy from the story in John 11, like Mary and Martha, in faith I made my requests known to God. I even stood on His word that He will not withhold any good thing from those that walk uprightly. So in prayer, I listed my filthy-rag righteousness before God as though I had pre-paid for a service and was now awaiting delivery. I had made God into a supernatural version of Amazon Prime. I bought it through my actions and righteousness and was waiting from my guaranteed two-day delivery.

But God is not bound by my human timetable. He is also no bound my human ideas of how things should work out. So yes, even though the manifestation of the promise of God has not yet arrived, my posture will no longer be that of an impatient, petulant child. Rather, I will declare like Martha that even though the situation has gotten objectively worse, I know that God is able and I will wait in a posture of worship and expectancy.

So let me further encourage someone. Let us not be so focused on the manifestation that we forget to worship the God of the manifestation. Faith frustrations will come. That is life. But faith frustrations will become faith manifestations when (y)our posture is right.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ride or Die

I love this phrase. There are quite a few subtle variations on the meaning, but it is an urban colloquialism that means loyalty, no matter what. I thank God that I have been blessed with a few people that have that kind of loyalty to me and I to them. It's a rich blessing that have true friends. They are with me and in my corner no matter what (or "regardless of what" as one of them would say). This week we had Vacation Bible School at my church and I was privileged to be a teacher. The first lesson was taken from Daniel chapter three. The very well known story of the three Hebrew boys: Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego. It is a wonderful story of faith, but something jumped out at me so profoundly that it almost knocked me over. We always focus on the deliverance. But the Hebrew boys did not. Their focus was on God and Him alone. They were ride or die for the Lord. Literally. If you read the story, they never once pray for deliverance. They talk about God's a
2 comments
Read more

Rocks, Gravel, Sand and Water

Let me first start by saying that I cannot take credit for the following example, as I did not originate it. In fact, I was listening to Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah and I was so touched by what he shared that I thought I would share it with all of you. Let's say I have a large, empty 5-gallon jar. If I place fist sized rocks into the jar until no more can fit, is it full? Before you answer, let me say that after I place the rocks in the jar, I pick up a bag of gravel and begin to pour that into the jar. Where does the gravel go? In between the spaces left by the rocks. After I fill the jar to the brim with gravel, is it full? Before you answer, consider this: I pour a bag of sand into the jar. Where does the sand go? Into the spaces left by the gravel, of course. After filling the jar to the brim with sand, is it full? Before you answer, consider this: I pour a pitcher of water into the same jar. Where does the water go? Into the spaces between the grains of sa
2 comments
Read more

Simple Mathematics

If you're like me, you're probably thinking there is no such thing as "simple" mathematics... and the picture above does not help! For some of us, even the simplest calculations require technological assistance. But don't lose heart, loved one! The equation I am about to give you is so simple even a pre-school student can understand it (I think!). So here it is, in the form of an "if/then" statement: If a=b, then b=a Simple, right? Of course it is because it is logical. The equal sign ("=") means that whatever is on either side of that sign is the same. So even if you reverse the order in which you list the items on either side of that equal sign, they are still equal. So then, how does this simple premise, simple equation apply to this inconvenient Christian journey. Here it is: Christian = Christ follower, Christ follower = Christian.  Again, simple, no? Or is it? It seems to me that we as Christians do not always act like Christ
4 comments
Read more