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Saturday Thoughts on Great Faith

By Dan | June 21, 2008

Wouldn’t you love to have a great faith? You know what I mean. I know that technically speaking we all have the same faith. We have the same Lord. We are all equally saved. What I’m talking about, is having one of those connections with God where we just seem to know what he wants and no matter how big it seems, we trust. Maybe even more than that, one of those faiths that expects God to put big things in our lives.

I’ve often thought about that. I would love to have that kind of experience. At least I think I would. As I was reading though the story of one of Israel’s many grumblings (Nu. 13:31-14:25), I started to wonder a little. Here’s the story of the Israelites coming to the Promised Land. They’ve made it this far, but now with a peek in, they see that rather than just being led on in, they’re going to have to fight against countless other nations, nations that are tough, war hardened peoples. When presented with this challenge, most simply don’t have the faith. Yet a few do, and through their guidance, God will eventually lead his people back (after 40 years of wandering), and bring them into the Promised Land where they will win the victory.

Now initially, they don’t have the faith. You see, faith, or this kind of trust and big expectations I’m describing, is very rarely just gift packaged and placed directly into your heart. Generally it’s something that God forms within you through experiences. As God says in the movie Evan Almighty, “when we ask for courage, God doesn’t give us courage, but gives us the opportunity to be courageous.” Joshua and Caleb and some others were given that opportunity. A few of them took it.

What about you? What about me? What this means is that if we want that kind of faith and trust, we need to be prepared for God to form it within us through the crucible of experience. That may not be exactly what we want, but we need to trust God in his wisdom to do it in the right way. So if you’re praying for this kind of faith right now, be ready for God to give you a situation that will help form it. If you’re praying for this kind of faith because such a situation is sitting in front of you right now, then maybe God’s already presenting you with the answer. Act courageously, trust in God, and do what he’s putting into your hands. In this way, he’s already starting to give you the faith for which you’re asking.