When my husband gave his life to the Lord, it was on New Year’s Eve service. We were not together at the time and my oldest was a few weeks old at the time as well. He was a new dad and unsure of a few things But that night with the help of the Lord, he surrendered his life to Christ. My husband and I have been married for 5 years now and I remember when he told me that right after he had gotten saved it was terrible and people and things were beginning to fall apart, instead of coming together. Which surprised me because I had no idea that he was going through so much. From the outside things were looking fine. And that’s the thing about joining God’s family. Sometimes it has to get worse before it gets better.
We preach and speak to others about the benefits of Christ and keeping the faith. Though we need to understand as well that the life of a believer can be difficult as well. You will loose friends, family, girlfriends, boyfriend, husband, job, wife, home, etc. Doesn’t sound too great, huh? But let’s be honest, if I come to you and tell you about Christ and the life of a Christian and told you that you will be going through troubles, you’ll suffer as Christ and possibly loose your life. Then tell you to try Jesus. Sound good to you? Here’s what we need to understand about faith…
Faith Does Not Mean All Problems Vanish John 16:33 – “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” We all have heard the sayings, ‘keep the faith’ or ‘faith is all you need’ or even ‘just have faith’ (or at least I have, I don’t want to assume) But when we say these things we are encouraging you not to give up. Cause God is able to move your problems, but as well he can keep you in that problem until you’ve learned that lesson. Just because God is in your life, it does not mean problems will never show up.
Faith Does Not Work By Believing Alone James 2:26 – As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. We can’t say that we want a new job yet never send out a resume. We can’t say we want anything without any effort put forward and then expect results. Nothing occurs without work. Even Jesus had to put forth effort to get to the cross. And without that possible we would not have salvation or redeeming power. So your work, matters.
Faith Does Mean We Can Trust In What’s To Come. Better. Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things unseen. Everything about the believers life is wrapped in faith. We can not do anything without it. Faith can move mountains. Faith can challenge us. Faith can encourage us to push through the difficult times in our lives, that will come. We can trust in the Lord and know that better is coming. Always. God’s word does not fail and still remains true.