Oh yeah, if you had anything whatsoever to do with the '80's you know what's coming next...."Cause I gotta have FAITH."
If you think the rest of this post will have anything to do with the actual song, well, you'd be mistaken...not gonna be talking about that, but instead the other "Faith". You know, the real one (in my book). The one that lives in my heart and in the hearts of believers, the one I look to the Heavens for. Yep...'that' Faith!
My disclaimer that of course this is my blog, therefore, my beliefs. Not meant to persuade or certainly not to offend any readers.
I love God. I love Jesus. And, I'm not afraid to say it. I want to shout it from the roof tops some days, and I certainly want to shout, quite often, how good our God is, when given just half a chance to be in our lives all He is meant to be.
This post probably won't be very long because I have really one main point. You can pray until you're blue in the face, but if you don't believe, I mean REALLY believe, REALLY have FAITH, then you are only half way doing the job. I've said it so many times, to so many people, and I get it...I know it's hard to believe all the time, and so easy to lose faith when we are faced with difficult situations, and this is when we need our faith the most. The devil looks for these opportunities. He looks for ways to sneak in when our faith has been shaken by stress and burdens. He looks for a way to feed off of that misery so he can work his way into wedging himself in between you and our God.
That's when you push on and push through, cast him out in the name of Jesus. If you have FAITH, I promise it works. Most definitely not in our time, it's not within our control, but in God's time, and in His infinite wisdom. After all, it is His plan for us, if we just listen.
I love this part of the poem "Footprints", so I will share:
"The LORD replied, my precious, precious child, I Love you and I would never leave you! During your times of trial and suffering when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."
If you are not familiar with the poem, I urge to look it up and read the whole thing. The point is that even when we don't feel His presence, at our very lowest points, we are not alone. But we have to ask and we have to BELIEVE.
Take just a moment and either think about your friends and family, or perhaps do a little facebook "stalking". Make some comparisons. No one has to know you did this, and no one will. But just for yourself, do a little of this for me, if you're struggling with faith.
Your friends and family who proudly discuss their religion, or who post their religion without shame, or who sometimes post a verse now and again...or even if they don't necessarily talk about it often (if they aren't FB addicts like me), but you know they have a strong faith...take those people and make a mental note on the goings-on in their lives. Do they have troubles? Yes, of course, we are worldly people and face struggles and temptation. But OVERALL, how are they? Are they happy and upbeat a lot of the time? Do things tend to "work out" for them? Do they tend to have what you may refer to as "good luck"?
Now on a separate mental note, how about the people in your life that maybe aren't quite sure about their beliefs or their faith? Maybe they "believe" in God, and maybe they even pray, but do they have FAITH? Faith in the prayers that they say? Faith that there is a plan and that if they ask and believe, things will work out in their favors? How about the details of their lives? Do they have a seemingly harder time dealing with stresses? Does it take them longer in searching for good to happen? Do you think they have "bad luck"? Are they happy overall? I know, no one is happy all of the time, I'm speaking in generalizations. Would you label them a generally happy or a not so happy person?
Do you get where this is going? I sure hope so, because all of the sudden I'm long winded...I know, shocking. ;)
As if I have to spell it out, but I will anyway...
BELIEVE PEOPLE! Say a prayer and BELIEVE prayers are answered! Be happy with the blessings you have in your every day life, because they are all around you. God even makes sure we have a beautiful sunrise and sunset. And if that's the only thing "good" that happened in your world today, it happened, and it was God made, and it was beautiful and amazing! But you have more than that, we all do, everyone that's reading this already has more blessings than most of the world's population. It means you have electricity and a warm, dry place to lie your head tonight. You likely have a loved one with you, or at least a phone call away. You have eyes to see, and the knowledge to read these words.
You are BLESSED in a million ways.
And if you still don't believe me, go outside...right now...and look at the night sky. Wake up early and watch the sunrise. Listen to birds sing. These are all miracles...all blessings. Share them with the world and rejoice, because He loves you, and He wants what's best for you and me.
FAITH, LOVE, JOY -- It doesn't get any better than these things from our Lord. Just ask. Just know it will happen. BELIEVE! xoxo
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