Hebrews 11:6 (King James Version)
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

The importance of faith as seen above is this:  In order for God to operate in our lives, we MUST be in faith. Whether the circumstances of life are lining up with the Word or not, we’ve GOT to be in faith. If anything is going to change, we must be in faith.

Faith is the channel through which God’s promises pass to us. Faith is that “magnet” that will draw the presence and the promise of God. Without it, we’re lost. I’ll be honest; there have been times in my life when I didn’t want to “hear it”. I didn’t WANT to read my bible, didn’t want to talk to the Lord.  I was fed up, and I just didn’t care.  The thing I learned though is that when things seem their worst, we’ve got to find a way to draw on the character and integrity of the One who gave us so many precious promises (II Peter 1:4). We must keep His promises before us in such a way that they outweigh our circumstances. You may have found yourself in the place I talked about earlier, when it becomes a battle to just read God’s Word. But, we have to know if the devil is coming at us with such tenacity, there must be something great on the other side of this battle that he’s trying to keep from us.

The most effective deception the devil uses on us when we find ourselves in this dark place is this:  You’re all alone. It may FEEL as if you are alone.  But, if you are going to hold onto ONE scripture, hold onto Hebrews 13:5 – He will never leave us, and He will never forsake us. So whether it FEELS like He’s there or not, we must trust (by faith) that He is there and that He will never forsake us.

A good way to stay out of the devils trap is to make sure you’re not isolating yourself from other believers. If you first isolate yourself from your brothers and sisters, you will next isolate yourself from the Lord.  The devil would be no happier than if you just crawled into a corner and felt sorry for yourself. Take it from someone who’s been there more times than I care to tell you about. Be vulnerable with your trusted friends. Go to them. Let them pray for you, with you. Let them stand with you. Let them hold your hand and cry with you if need be, but GO to them. Tell the Lord what you’re REALLY feeling, it’s not like He doesn’t know anyway. Confession is the opposite of hiding. Don’t hide. Get it out in the open so the Lord can help you deal with things. Doing so will expose the devil and short circuit his power and influence over your life.

God is the Good Shepherd of Psalm 23. It’s interesting that one of the places He leads us is “through the valley of the shadow of death”. That doesn’t sound like the greatest of surroundings. Neither does sitting down to eat “in the presence of our enemies”. I would probably try another restaurant. Yet, we’re told not to fear. Maybe you have recently been or are in one of those places right now. He promises to lead us through these difficult places. We’ve got to believe in the Goodness of the Shepherd. We’ve got to believe that He’s with us just like He promised. We’ve got to be found hanging onto the hem of his robe. We must keep Him in sight at all times.

The way we convince ourselves of His proven character and enable ourselves to continue to follow Him with a pure heart is to remain in continual communion and communication with Him. We’ve got to allow the truth to be formed and rooted within us. When our faith is tested, it will yield character and endurance. It will give us patience for the future, and a hope that knows no limits. Let me tell you why that is so important. It’s because as our relationship with our Father progresses, it will frame the expectation of our heart. An important thing to understand is this: your heart will not follow after your goals, your heart will follow after your expectations.

Let me give an example. Were you ever believing for something to the point you were convinced the answer was “just around the corner”, and then it never came? You probably thought something like, “I KNEW this was going to happen! This is the way it ALWAYS goes!” This sure doesn’t sound like faith speaking. That’s because it wasn’t your faith speaking at all, it was the expectation of your heart. Our expectation will always override our faith if they’re not on the same page.

If we’re not in faith, we’re not “attracting” the promises nor “repelling” the curses. As a result, we are indifferent. True faith is aggressive, it’s offensive in nature. It’s not a “straddle the fence” position.  Faith believes God is good, it EXPECTS good things.  When we take time to spend with God in His presence, His peace reassures us that He is the fulfillment of all we need. The “water of His Word” washes us from doubt, unbelief, and indifference.

The enemy, first and foremost, comes after our faith in God Himself. He challenges our belief that God is Good, that God is our loving Heavenly Father and our Merciful High Priest, that God is the Savior of our lives and the source of Eternal Life, that God is our foundation and the rock upon which we stand, and most importantly that God is faithful. Despite our circumstances, God promises He is with us. We may be going through a difficult stretch and our outlook may not be good, but hold on.  If your situation looks grim, hold on to God…hold on with everything you’ve got. Get a prayer partner, ride out the storm – it WILL pass. You are going through to the other side.  Our Father IS faithful, and He’s working all things for our good.  Place yourself in His hands.  There is no safer place.

Blessings!

Dan Owczarzak