The Keys to Faith!

Abigail Judson and her husband who was a Pastor, raised up their children in the Lord's ways and rooted in the Word of God. But as their son Adoniram Judson grew, he formed friendship with a friend in college and this resulted in him abandoning his childhood faith. He backslided. Abigail saw that her son was hostile towards God. But that did not stop her from believing on God's promises for her son. She never gave up hope but prayed for him in faith. He left home to seek a job in New York. Eventually after several years, Adoniram repented, came back home and gave himself to God's service. He served as a missionary with his wife in Burma. He translated the entire Bible from Hebrew and Greek into the Burmese language. His mother's patience and faith filled prayers were not in vain.

What is 'Faith'? Paul says, that we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). Here, sight not only refers to our physical eyes, but it includes all the five senses of hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and touching. Hence, this verse means that we cannot live by the five senses alone; we need to have faith. That is exactly what Abigail did. She did not believe what she saw and heard but believed on the promises of God.

Faith is seeing ourselves and our children as God sees us . Jesus said, “Blessed are they who do not see, and yet believe” (Jn. 20:26-29). “Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible.” Faith is an everyday affair of walking hand in hand with God. If we truly walked by faith instead of sight, our prayer life would be dramatically changed and we and those we pray for will be supernaturally transformed.

If we are anxious about our children, we parents must do our duties as good Christian parents. Then we must let God take over and be patient. We must  learn to trust God, that He will work in our children and transform them into who He wants them to be. If we are doubtful that we can be or do anything at all, we must have faith in God's promises and obey His Word. He is able to transform a cowardly kitten into a fierce lion; a waddling duck into a soaring eagle; a devious vulture into a gentle swan!

Let us now look at three men from the old testament and see how they viewed themselves and how God viewed them. Then we shall see how faith and obedience transformed them.

"Who me? Are you kidding me? Oh no, you must be mistaken! "

This must have been the thought running in the minds of the following folks:-
Moses, Gideon and David.

Moses the murderer of the Egyptian soldier, the coward who ran away from Pharoah, the stammerer who could not utter a sentence without stammering, was called to confront Pharoah and tell him to free God's people from their bondage. His immediate response was, "Not me, send someone else. I am not the right person for the job."(Exodus - Deuteronomy:- the narrative of how Moses was chosen and sent and transformed into a deliverer)

Gideon was fearful of the Midianites and Amalekites who invaded their country and destroyed all their crops and herds.They were terrorising the people. So Gideon, was laying low, hiding in the winepress and threshing the wheat for fear of the enemies. Just then, God's Angel appeared before him and called him a valiant warrior. He was amused. He, a coward, was addressed as a valiant warrior! He must have looked left and right and asked, "Who, me?" He thought the angel called upon the wrong person. (Judges chapters 6-8)

Samuel was looking for the future king of Israel among Jesse's sons. He rejected all of Jesse's tall and stately sons. Then the puny shephard boy, Jesse's youngest son was called in. When Samuel saw David he proclaimed that David was to be the next king of Israel. Everyone including David the shepherd boy must have thought that Samuel was old, demented and was mistaken.( 1 & 2 Samuel)

What they did not know at that moment was, God does not call the strong but the weak. God does not call the equipped but He equips those He has called. He empowers and strengthens those whom He has chosen. 

What they did not realise at that time was, God does not see us as man sees us. He sees us as warriors, deliverers and kings. We and our children are called by God to fight the good fight till the end. We are to do spiritual warfare against the principalities and powers of darkness. Not against one another. We are called to deliver those who are under Satan's bondage and lead them to Christ. We are chosen to reign with Christ forever as victorious kings.

Why then do we see ourselves as inadequate to do God's work? Why do we speak negative words into our own lives and our children's lives?

Faith is believing God inspite of all and any circumstances. Faith requires patience and obedience. When all seems dire and bleak, keep hoping. When nothing seems to change for the better, refuse to accept defeat, be patient.  Jesus said, “The things impossible with men are possible with God. ” (Lk. 18:27). For nothing will be impossible with God (Lk. 1:37).

Hebrews 11:1 says that, 'Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see'.

Moses, Gideon and David, in faith, obeyed God and were  transformed. Moses from a cowardly stammerer to a powerful deliverer; Gideon from a fearful low-laying person to a valiant warrior and David from a puny shepherd to a powerful king.

Abigail, in faith employed patience and held on to the promises of God and prayed non-stop for her son Adorinam Judson. As a result her son who was a deist, was transformed into a general of God.

The keys to employing faith are patience and obedience. It is the ability to trust God and see what only He can see. It is the inner strength to trust God to do what only He can do. Let us therefore step up in faith and see the invisible, believe the incredible and receive the impossible, in and through Christ Jesus, for ourselves and our children.

Mary Augustine
27/03/18