Tag: doubts

Why Not Expect Prosperity?

image: google images

“For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

 

I wrote my last post exactly six months ago today and I am grateful to return to it.

God is faithful.

It is now February and the year is flying as quick as I expected but recently, I had to sit with God to remind me what His vision for me was. It is often too easy to forget the amazing image of prosperity that faith gives us as we hope in the Lord.

I must admit, I have forgotten. Even now as I blog, I am waiting on God to put the pieces of that prosperous future image back in my mind.

Indeed, you must see it to believe it.

What is faith if we have nothing in mind of the evidence to be seen? Seeing in the spiritual must happen in order for hope to take root in our hearts as we wait on the Lord on His promise.

So I sat with God for a while today.

I asked Him to remind me again, what I am supposed to envision when I think of my future. In this exercise, it occurred to me that I had become accustomed to the rigid idea of numbering my days so much so that I stopped seeing what was ahead.

I think sometimes we are subconsciously easily crippled by the idea of unexpected disappointment or even tragedy that we relent on the vision of a future not too far from now. I recognized that misplacement of faith today. I wonder if you have been setting aside a hope for the future because you are afraid it may not happen or that it seems too far away.

Faith tells us to wait expectantly. Faith decrees that we pray without ceasing. Faith says to hope in the Lord. But enduring the present times and a heart of perseverance is no easy feat.

That is why we cannot shy away from coming to God as much times as it takes, conversing with God, and pleading that His Spirit continues to fill us up with the hope and expectancy that our faith deserves and that our future needs.

So why not expect prosperity tomorrow? And the day after that? and the day after that?

Why not seek God to reconstruct the future that He promised so we may yet hope for it as we walk toward it?

I pray for you as I pray for myself today. May the Lord of hope continue to fill your mind with the prosperous visions and words of goodness that you need to keep faith alive. I speak life onto the dead bones of our hope and joy in expectancy in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“O You Of Little Faith”

little faith

“Teach me your way, LORD, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart…”

Psalm 86:11

It’s been going on three months now since I heed God’s instructions to leave my job. In plain terms, I have been unemployed since January 15th. Yet, I have never hungered or thirst. There is life in my body and joy in my spirit. Glory be to God.

Indeed there are trying days. Truth be told, I strive each day to abide in God’s peace a little more than the day before. Thus, my best days are the days I feel most grounded in faith.

My most fruitful and productive days are those spent in the Word and the recollection that I serve a faithful God who will not leave me to be consumed by the worries of this world.

Friend, faith brings you to a realm like no other. We need faith like we need air to breathe for it is faith that  breathes new life and new hope into your lungs each day that moves us forward to victory.

Recall the story of the only other man aside from Jesus that ever walked on water. Yes, Peter. (See Matthew 14 vs 22-33)

The storm not only blinded some of the disciples to think their Master was a ghost, it shook the faith out of them. And even when they saw Christ walk on water, Peter alone was the one whose faith gave him a chance to walk on water too…but doubt then caused Peter to stumble.

It was not until peter literally took his eyes off of Christ and looked back to the others, that he then fell into the raging sea and had to be rescued by the Lord.

And what was the first thing Christ said?

“O ye of little faith…”

Friend I wonder today if like me, you feel yourself stumbling and even drowning because you have momentarily allowed your heart to be divided by doubts and uncertainty. I wonder if, just if we too can walk on water and mount greater thresholds when we keep pour eyes on the Most High God.

I wonder if our minds would lead our hands to assemble great things that can only be made possible by God in His majesty and faithfulness to us.

I mean, if Peter, who walked with Christ and saw for himself the many miracles that Christ brought to life, still stumbled in his faith, how much more susceptible are we to stumbling?

How many times have you felt your confidence slip away suddenly? How often do you feel less motivated to carry on and achieve the ambitions that God has placed inside of you? Ask yourself, “when did the shift come about?” “What was, and what is the measure of your faith?”

Are you even aware of the difference?

Your faith is not a destination, but a journey with God. It is not a place you reach and stop, for the Word states that we are destined to go from faith to faith and glory to glory in Jesus name.

The Spirit says the faith that got you here may not be enough for what will be tomorrow, but your willingness and confidence in your Father, to see the full glory of HIM who can do all things, will surely bring you to the height that HE intended for you.

As we are being crafted by the Potter, may HE continue to keep our hearts and remold us to be unshaken in our faith. May God help us to keep our eyes on HIM alone as we sail through worldly storms in Jesus name. Amen.