Faith from Jesus

I have a pretty weak faith.

I think most people who are honest with themselves would be able to say the same. Actually, what makes it even worse for me is that I'm totally prideful, which means I get anxious. Man do I get anxious! I'm so good at it sometimes it's like I do it for a living! So how do I connect pride to anxiety? Well, I've noticed both are always present when I look back over my short life. I can't think of a single time I haven't seen one without the other. There has to be some connection. And there is. What I've learned about anxiety is that it's simply me, planning to do the work God has set before me to do, and worrying that I'll fail because I am potentially not good enough to pull off whatever it is. In this particular scenario I've completely removed God from the equation, I've already resigned myself to failure because I've pridefully rejected His work through me. You would think that lack of confidence in ourselves would humble prideful people, but the lie is twisted even more when we start to think like the world and think that the amount of talent we have or work we put into something is directly proportional to our success.

In the scheme of things, so many of us have so little to offer. And that's a truth that can really lead to humility or pride: the difference is one ingredient. That ingredient is faith. Without it pride, anxiety and a whole bunch of failure awaits, with it, well, failure doesn't even matter then.

Faith will change your economy.

Once we grasp that, the danger is to fall back in the prideful trap and get anxious about whether we have enough faith. I've been there too. I wrestle every day to avoid that, and that's why I see humility and faith as byproducts of one another. The more dependent I become on God by pursuing humility, the less I am in the way of His work, and more can be accomplished through me as faith takes the place of pride. This thought is throughout the bible. One example is in John the Baptist's declaration that 'he must decrease so that Jesus can increase.' This eventually meant loosing his own disciples (John 1:35-36). John believed that Jesus was the Savior, he heralded his very coming. He risked all to proclaim fulfillment of an ancient prophecy, and most people thought him to be crazy. I think It could be said of John the Baptist that his faith was great, and he and his ministry were being transformed by that faith. So much so that after his death he was mistaken for Jesus by King Herod, who thought Jesus was his incarnation (John 14:1). As a minister I couldn't think of a much higher honor than to be mistaken for Christ by an unbeliever because of the similarities between our ministries. I'm also confident that John, were he still alive, would have cleared the confusion quickly (see John 1:19-20).

Unfortunately, I don't think many believers feel like John the Baptist, born with great faith in the work of God (after all, John was excited about Jesus' ministry, even in the womb). If you're like me, you wrestle every day. I've already alluded to my struggles with pride and anxiety, which I know I am surely not alone in. On my own power I struggle enough to barely reduce pride to make room for humility and see tremendous faith bloom in my heart. Luckily for us, there is a way!

Jesus runs across a man I identify much more with than John the Baptist in Mark chapter 9:

"And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose." (Mark 9:14-27)

How often have you been the father in this story? I know I have asked God many times for something by starting with "if you can...", maybe not saying it aloud, but certainly doubting in my heart. But our God is the God who can do more than we ask or even think! (Eph. 3:20) That's amazing! We can't even think up God's biggest move! So understanding that, why do I live with weak faith? I think it's simply because I am too proud to ask Jesus to borrow his faith like the father of the boy. To admit weak faith is to admit dependency on God and thats just too hard because it means I have to be humble.

I have a number of friends who are overseas missionaries. Some of them really feel like America as a nation, is lost. And without a doubt we are lukewarm in our faith at best - speaking generally of the American Church of course. So my friends feel like they need to head to the places that, unlike America, haven't even heard the Gospel yet. And praise God that He sends these people out. Without a doubt, our country has a lot of broken churches. This has to be due, in large part, to an abundance of proud people. We've seen that God really doesn't choose to work much where there is a lot of pride. He passed over King Saul for King David because of this- and the only true legacy that lives on from those two is David's. So what would happen if as a whole, the American church in this generation set aside pride to make room for faith from Jesus? If we set out to leave a lasting legacy like King David? What would happen if all of God's disciples everywhere echoed the prayer of the father of the boy? "I believe! Help me in my unbelief!"

Revival is one of those over-used 'Christianeese' words, but it's the most fitting thing I can really think of.And that's just what I can think of. Eph. 3:20 tells us He can do abundantly more.

So dream big, because God will do bigger.