Faith Strong

I remember at a very young age looking forward to being married and having children.  I was fully convinced that God was going to provide me with a wife and family someday.  During high school my heart was open to having a girlfriend . . . but there never seemed to be anyone.  When I went to Bible College I was pretty sure that’s where I would meet this girl . . . but she did not show up there either.  After graduating from college I moved to Atlanta, Illinois population 1,600 and I thought, “where in the world am I going to meet a girl now?”  I’ll be honest, I was pretty discouraged.  I doubted that God was going to be able to live up to the desire that he had put in my heart.  Three months after I graduated college on August 9th I met my wife Marianne.  For many years I had faith that God was going to fulfill the promise of providing me with a beautiful godly wife . . . and he did!  Every day, for almost 17 years now, I’ve been able to see the purpose God had for us being together.

Too many of us are quick to lose our faith in God’s plans for our lives.  It’s impossible at times to see how God is going to accomplish His purpose in our lives.  And that’s exactly how God plans it!  He uses insurmountable human circumstances that require us to have strong faith.  What does it mean to have a strong faith?

READ:  Romans 4:13-25

Faith strong is being FULLY CONVINCED that God is able to do what He PROMISES!  Abraham was a man who was strong in his faith.  By faith, Abraham left his home country to go to a land he did not know.  By faith, Abraham believed that God was going to make a great nation from His offspring and give him a land.  By faith, Abraham believed his very own son would be his heir even though he had no children and was 99 years old.  By faith, Abraham offered his son Isaac as an offering out of obedience to God (Genesis 12:1-25:11; Hebrews 11:8-12, 17-19).  In spite of these insurmountable circumstances, Abraham’s faith was not on his own strength or abilities, it was in GOD! What is it that causes us to either have weak faith or strong faith?

Our faith WEAKENS when we focus on our human LIMITATIONS and CIRCUMSTANCES (Rom. 4:19-20a) – When I was a freshman in high school I sang a solo at a vocal competition.  I made it through one song, but half way through my second song I forgot the lyrics and stopped singing.  I left the room embarrassed and in tears.  I never sang a solo again.  I’ve never allowed God to use this ability in my life because I am scared of my own inability.  In spite of Abraham’s physical body being “as good as dead” and Sarah’s womb being “barren”, he believed that he would be the father of many nations because of Him who “gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist”!  Weak faith is the result of NOT trusting or forgetting that God is able to do anything He wants in our life.  Weak faith makes us feel defeated and hopeless because we are wrongly focused on our inadequacy and weakness.

Our faith grows STRONGER when we focus on the ABILITY and PROMISES of God (Rom. 4:20b-21) – The most intimidating aspect of God calling me into ministry was knowing that I would be required to do a lot of public speaking.  This was a major fear for me to say the least.  And yet, every time, from sharing a devotion with elementary school children when I was 16, until today, God has always reminded me, “David, it’s not your strength, it’s my strength”.  Focusing on God’s ability and strength helped me overcome my fear.  Abraham’s faith grew as he “gave glory to God” and was “convinced that God was able to do what He had promised”.  Strong faith is the result of trusting that God is able to do things that we consider impossible.  Strong faith gives us confidence to be obedient to God when we feel incapable and weak.

CONCLUSION
Romans 4:24 says, “righteousness . . . is counted to us who believe in (God) who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord.”  Just as Abraham was considered righteous by God as a result of his strong faith, we too are considered righteous as a result of our strong faith in God who raised Jesus from the dead.  Do you have a strong faith that God raised Jesus from the dead so that you can be counted righteous?

Weakness Strong

Weakness is NOT a good thing, right?  No one wants to be recognized for being weak.  Being recognized for weakness would be like winning a trophy for placing last in a race.  Being recognized for weakness would be like having a weight lifting competition to see who was the biggest weakling.  Being recognized for weakness would be like having a National Honor Society for those with a GPA under 1.  “Congratulations, you are a loser, you didn’t do it, your lack of hard work paid off!”  Recognizing weakness does not happen.  Weakness is not something to be celebrated, it is laughed at and ridiculed.  Weakness is not something to be proud of, it is embarrassing and hidden.  Thinking of weakness as a good thing just doesn’t make a lot of sense.  Why?

If strength is the ability to accomplish something than weakness is the INABILITY to accomplish something.  Who wants to admit that they are UNABLE do something?  My greatest moments of frustration in life are when I am unable to do something simple like . . . get a zip lock bag closed, get the automatic van door shut, or not burn something in the microwave.  Weakness tends to produce frustration, anger, disappointment, shame, and fear in our lives.  Without a source of strength outside of ourselves we will likely spend a lifetime trying to hide or eliminate our weaknesses.  This will be an exhausting effort because no one is infinitely strong.  So, is weakness all that bad?  Is there an area of life where weakness is a good thing?

READ:  2 Corinthians 12:5b-10

Our WEAKNESSES are opportunities for God to display His STRENGTH!   1 Corinthians 1:25 says, “the weakness of God is stronger than men.”  God at His weakest is stronger than man at his strongest. No matter how strong we are or think we might be, we are still weak in comparison to God.  We must not allow the strengths that we do have to get in the way of recognizing our weakness and desperate need for God’s strength in our lives.  Why is it important to recognize our weakness before God?

Weakness keeps us from being CONCEITED and BOASTFUL (2 Cor. 12:5b, 7-9) – There was a story in the news recently about a high school girls basketball player from Wisconsin who fell, slid on the wood floor, and was impaled in the stomach by a large “splinter”.  Ouch!  Even a small splinter or a thorn stuck in our skin is painful and if it is not removed becomes a constant irritation.  Paul had an abundance of reasons to be proud (1 Cor. 11:5-6, 17-30) and so he was given a, “thorn in the flesh” in order to “keep him from becoming conceited”.  Paul’s thorn in the flesh was a humbling reminder that it was not his strength, but God’s that allowed him to accomplish the apostolic task that he had been assigned (2 Cor. 10:13-18).  Recognizing our weakness prevents us from becoming “conceited” or “boastful”.  We must be careful not to arrogantly promote ourselves with our own strength but in the weakness of humility fulfill the assignment given to us by God.  Our weakness keeps us from being deceived into thinking that we accomplish anything with our own strength.

Weakness allows the PERFECT POWER of GOD to rest upon us (2 Cor. 12:9-10) – One of the most important and powerful prayers we can pray to God is, “Lord, I can’t do this, I am weak and I need your strength.”  We are too weak to resist temptation.  We are too weak to unconditionally love our friends and family.  We are too weak to be joyful when life is hard.  At the moment we recognize our weakness and inability, God promises that His “grace” and “perfect power” are available through Jesus Christ.  1 Corinthians 1:27 says, “God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.”  God isn’t looking for strong powerful people to accomplish His will, He is looking for those who recognize their weakness so He can put HIS power and strength on display in our lives!  When we are weak, that is when God is strong.

CONCLUSION
Romans 5:6 says, “while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”  Before we even recognized the weakness of sin in our lives that separated us from God, Christ died on the cross in order to accomplish what we would never be able to accomplish with our own strength.  Have you found the strength of forgiveness knowing that Jesus Christ died on the cross for you?