1/4/16--- Happy New Year!
“Truly I say to you, if you do not turn and become as little
children, you will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. For whoever humbles himself as this little
child, he is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven…” Matthew 18: 3-4
Faith is one of the
most important things anyone can have.
It takes us to places we never think are possible, and it’s by trusting and believing
in something higher than ourselves that we are able to let go of the
limitations of our mind’s eye and see what happens. Faith is like an unopened gift given to us by
our best friend. We wonder what’s inside
the package, and though we can only guess at what we’ll get once we open it,
the wait is well worth it. Faith produces expectation, and like at Christmas
time when children open presents knowing they’ll be happy with their newest
toys and treasures, those with persistent faith know they are in for a nice
surprise too, and the great thing about faith is even a small amount of it goes
a long way (NIV, Luke 17:6).
God wants us to be
like children when we come to Him (Matt. 18: 3-4). Children accept a loving
parent’s words without a doubt because they are young enough to still be
innocent. They speak from a heart that isn’t jaded by the world’s lessons yet. As we age, our views about what to expect in
life becomes more tainted with every disappointment, loss, or betrayal we
experience. Slowly, over time we forget
how to be like children. We forget the
comfort of knowing everything will be okay and work out for us. It isn’t until we learn about Who God really
is and what He offers us that we are able to revert back to having the faith of
a child.
Unfortunately,
there are those who have gone through a childhood where they never experienced the
feelings trusted parents or family members should have offered. For some, life gave them a crash course in
disappointment and pain, and having faith in God becomes so much harder when
bitter memories are cemented deep inside, glued to the pain that put them there. It’s never easy to let those memories go. It’s so much harder to break through to faith’s
freedom when an anchor of past disappointments has consistently weighed a
person down. Even the good things that
happen create a mistrust in the person’s thoughts because they are always
thinking something bad is coming for them around the corner.
The Bible tells us
that “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). If we don’t trust that He is there listening
and is always ready to answer our prayers, then we are essentially bouncing our
wishes off unhearing walls. That just doesn’t make any sense. The good news is
that God does hear us, and the world opens up for someone who has faith in God. Without faith, our world is so small, and our
perceptions of what defines freedom learned by trust is sorely lacking. This
lends a darkened view to our minds and beliefs, places that were never meant to
be dark in the first place. Just because
our belief may be lacking, perhaps due to growing up in a place that didn’t
know God for Who He is, doesn’t mean we have to stay in that place of
unbelief. Things can get better!
Jesus Christ, through His sacrifice on the cross, has given us the power to take back all that we have lost. Jesus is not just some guy from long ago in
history Who lived and died the way a normal person did. Instead, He is the Son of God, a force to be reckoned with,
One that frees anyone who seeks the truth He offers. I know.
I wallowed in loneliness, regret, and a secret pain I wouldn’t share with
anyone, until I met Jesus. By setting
aside behaviors that were killing me in more ways than one and asking Him to
take over as the Savior I so desperately needed to heal the many broken parts
of my psyche, I have not regretted inviting Him into my life even once. I had to have faith in Someone higher than me,
though at the time I didn’t even truly know the meaning of the word 'faith'. I grew up scared out
of my mind half the time that I’d do something that would give away the fact
that I wasn’t perfect. I didn’t want to
show anyone the side of me that they didn’t need to see. I didn’t want anyone to know I secretly hated
men, and at first it wasn’t even something I’d admit to the Lord. But He healed me of that pain and so many
other issues I’ve carried with me over the years so that now I can say I
honestly don’t hate men anymore.
Instead, I try to understand where everyone comes from, what makes them
who they are. I think that is the
biggest reason why I chose to go into Psychology, to help me understand human
nature in its rawest form.
Without childlike faith we are unable to let
go of all the reasons we shouldn’t trust, reasons that could then float off into the
wind. It feels so good to let go of the
past. I’m not saying it’s all roses and
sunshine, but it has been so worth the time it takes to give it to the Person
Who knows me inside and out and Who teaches me more about myself each day. I have even learned to have faith in myself,
and believe me when I say that is so rewarding!
Tears come to my eyes just thinking about all the things I have worked
through with the Lord, and I know for a fact that if I hadn’t taken that step
of faith from my heart to reach out to Jesus, that most likely I’d be in a
horrible place in my life right now engorging myself on anything I’d assume
would offer me a taste of fulfillment, however temporary. But I want what lasts. The Lord has held me in His arms through the pain
of different types of past abuse, and issues of abandonment from a man I
thought wanted to be my dad, and crippling depression, just to name a few
issues. But, none of that matters
now. It is through faith I know I have a
Father Who will never leave me (Deuteronomy 31:8), and to be accepted for
exactly who I am is the greatest comfort I will ever know.
Source
Please see http://biblehub.com/hebrews/11-6.htm,
http://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/31-8.htm
& http://biblehub.com/luke/17-6.htm
for Bible verses.
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