Living Faith
by Cathy Crull Campbell
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1
Over my 79 years, I have found that developing strong faith comes through the trials as well as the joys in life. Faith means putting trust in God and having the confidence that he will fulfill his promises.
Faith means relying completely on who Jesus is and what he has done. To have faith in God during the hard times, I have found I need to be rooted in God. I have to know Him before I can trust Him and His plans for my life. I serve a good God who doesn’t seek to cause me harm. While His ways aren’t always my ways, I can trust and believe they are better and higher than I can comprehend. Sometimes that is hard to believe, but oh so true.
I have been widowed twice, lost a grandson to cancer, as well as losing my parents and a number of close friends. During those times of loss, I have developed my faith through the scripture, prayer, community, and believing in God’s promises found in His Word and experiencing His goodness. I rejoice over the Father’s love for me that he was willing to send His son to die for me and give me a hope and a future.
We as believers have a choice each morning when we awaken. Are we going to choose to put into practice the faith we have developed in trusting in what God’s Word says? Or are we going to believe the lies of the enemy to pull us away from the Truth of God’s Word? This is why it is so important to be in God’s Word to know it and who we are in Christ and then to trust and believe what the Word says during times when the enemy is trying to pull us away from the truth. That is how we develop strong faith.
Because He has brought me through all of yesterday’s troubles, I can trust He’ll do the same for any that may arise today and in the future.
The key to having peace, regardless of circumstances is to believe in God and believe also in Jesus. Putting our faith in action is not a magic formula, ensuring things will work out to our liking. Rather, it’s a tangible way to operate in the belief that God, Jesus, is our Waymaker making a way to strengthen our faith daily.
So, I will end with a prayer out of God’s Word:
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ my dwell in your hearts through faith. Ephesians3:16-17
Amen
