YOU GOTTA HAVE FAITH

"You gotta have faith," goes the famous pop song, and I am blessed, dear God, with plenty of faith in your presence and power in my life. I am also blessed with friends and family I can rely on, as well as my own good company. My faith is strong and true, for it has never ceased to provide me with the courage, wisdom, and guidance I need to be patient and at peace even when things around me are a mess. Thank you, God, for building in me a foundation of trust and faith that everything happens for a reason and that I am always loved, cared for, and protected, even when it appears to the contrary. For I know now that faith speaks of a power far greater than appearances and far stronger than effects. Faith knows no boundaries. Amen.

2 CORINTHIANS 13:5

Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith.

2 CORINTHIANS 13:5

When there seems to be no way out, faith provides a way in. When all doors have been closed, faith opens up a window. When our challenges threaten to drown us, faith offers a lifeboat and guides us back to shore. The walls of life can sometimes close in on us, leaving us feeling small, weak, and powerless, but faith takes us by the hand and walks with us until we feel big and strong and powerful again.

Psalm 37:28 NIV

For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones.

-- PSALM 37:28 NIV

Faith is the "yes" to every "no" and the "can" to every "cannot." Faith gives us the power to stand against anything and prevail, even when we don't know how we will do so. Faith requires no knowledge of how it works, just the acceptance that it does work. 

Finding an Everyday Faith

Lord, let my faith be a light to guide my way today. Whether skies are sunny or stormy, let me move according to my faith, secure in the knowledge that it will lead me to the path that is right and true. Let me leave all control to you, Lord, and follow the beacon of light that is my faith in you, the way the ships at sea follow the lighthouse beacon to the safety of shore. Let me stand in faith today, no matter how hard the winds blow. Let my faith take root like those of a redwood tree, strong and firm.

Faith

Faith is to the mind as love is to the heart. Faith eases a mind overwhelmed by the hows and the whys of a situation. Faith brings peace to the chaotic thoughts, worries, and anxieties. Faith is a soothing balm to the racing mind filled with fear. Faith is a comforting blanket to the mind gone cold with doubt and negativity. Faith empowers a weak mind that does not believe it can overcome a challenge and emboldens a meek mind that is afraid to step out of its comfort zone. Faith is a friend and an ally and a warrior for the mind that knows that sometimes the answers to life's questions lay beyond the limitations of reason.

When thought and action alone are not enough to face an obstacle or overcome a challenge, call upon the warrior known as faith. For only faith can go where the rational mind cannot and see what the reasoning mind fails to see.

1 Peter 1:6-7

All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired.

-- MARTIN LUTHER

In this you rejoice,

even if now for a little

while you have had to

suffer various trials,

so that the genuineness

of your faith--

being more precious

than gold that,

though perishable, is

tested by fire--may

be found to result in

praise and glory and 

honor when Jesus

Christ is revealed.

-- 1 PETER 1:6-7 

Finding an Everyday Faith

With faith as your constant companion, the road of life is much easier to travel, even when detours and dead ends appear along the way. Faith goes before us, making clear and right our way.

Why is it hard, dear God, to have faith and trust that all will be well? I have faith that the sun will set each night and trust it will rise in the morning. I have faith that gravity will hold me to the earth and trust what goes up will come down. I have faith that my bills will arrive on time, that the mail will come each day, and that the lights will go on when I flip the switch. Yet when it comes to having faith that I will never be let down or abandoned, God, and having trust in you to always watch over me, I often falter. Help me have the same strong faith in the unseen things as I have in the things I can see, and help me trust that your will, God, is always higher than mine. Amen.