God-Faith

Hope deferred makes the heart sick (Prov 13:12). How many of us have sewn into a work or waited for circumstances to change, and waited, and waited . . . with seemingly no progress and no visible confirmation that what we are waiting on will come to pass? It is hard to wait long periods of time, unless someone comes along side us to encourage us in the Lord. Once the heart becomes sick, dreams are set aside or buried altogether, and the promises God has given us become painful to think upon.

I remember being 19 and sitting in church one Sunday. The speaker was a prophet, a marvelous man who spoke a message God had laid on his heart for our congregation. It is almost 39 years later now, but I still remember him saying that some of us had high callings that would take very deep foundations . . . and just as a tall building needs a very deep hole dug and a very deep foundation laid, so would we. He said that we might wait years and years until God was ready to use us, and encouraged us in our waiting. That is how important the foundation of our faith was, for it had to hold a very tall, or high, calling.

This prophet’s message holds a principle that remains true today. We can see it was part of God’s way with Joseph when he spent years in prison, and part of Abraham’s wait as he looked forward to fathering a son by Sarah. Waiting. How hard it is, yet what a walk of faith we steward if we will hold onto faith! It takes a special God-given faith to wait on God’s promises in our lives; a God-partnering faith. This faith, if we want it, will condition our hearts to be dependent on Him to bring into the physical world that which does not yet exist. It takes a heart, on our part, that wants to believe God more than to see immediate results from our labors and prayers.

This morning as I was thinking on these things the Lord spoke to my heart that it is this God-given, God-partnering faith that is necessary for the great changes that will establish God’s Kingdom on this earth. If we look back at the examples of Joseph and Abraham that I mentioned previously, we see people who changed the course of history. Wouldn’t it make waiting easier on our part if we could foresee the changes God was bringing to the earth through our eventual answered prayers? I believe that it is the answered prayers along with the great faith He works in us through the trial of waiting that the Lord will use to bring the next change where we work and live. Faith . . . God-given, God-partnering faith, and God’s word coming to pass have always been His way of birthing His Kingdom on earth.

The scriptures give us instructions for these hard times, telling us to “See to it brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” (Heb 3:12-13) One way to encourage our brothers and sisters during their periods of waiting, their travailing to bring birth, is to come alongside them in knowledgeable faith. Ask what that brother or sister is believing for, and what promises were spoken by the Lord into their lives which have not yet come to pass. Then pray and believe with them, and minister to them using the gifts God has given you. God is going to do something magnanimous with us heart-sick Christians. His plan has been to partner with us and imbue us with a great amount of faith, tested over time, in order to bring a change on the earth. We need to encourage and strengthen each other’s faith, and not lose a single person whom God appointed to this venture.

I remember a dream I had years ago where the Lord took me to see the City of God in the starry night sky. It was remarkable for its tall buildings and the light reflecting off their windows. God envisioned many tall buildings for His City. Can we see that we are them? Let us stand, believing in He Who is faithful and able to do all He has spoken. Amen.