Bottom Line Faith

Be still, and know that I am God....

Many times our faith flows out of what we know.  The 'what we know' kind of faith is how we learn to obtain our promises through His spoken word and revelation.  We hear a truth and the Holy Spirit quickens it in our spirit, and we attach our faith to claim the promise as our own.   But, the bends and turns on this faith journey will at some point likely find us in a place where the 'what we know' no longer seems to suffice.  We may have declared and claimed a particular promise to no avail.   When our hopes have been dashed and we experience firsthand the brutality of life, it is time then to hold on to the Who of our faith.

This is the bottom line of our faith, and it is the richest of places to visit in our journey with God, though you might not willingly choose this trip.  Abraham, known as the Father of Faith, made this journey, and when it seemed that all hope of seeing his promises become reality had passed, Heb. 11:11 says, "he was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise."


Too often, we only attach our faith to the promise itself, or even worse, we have faith in our faith.  But, like everything else in the kingdom, obtaining our promises should come through relationship.  We hear our promises through relationship, and we come to know the fulfillment of them through relationship as well.

There comes a crisis of our faith when it seems that there is no possibility on earth that we could see the actuality of those things spoken.   But, our faith transactions are not of this earth, in fact, they are very much a heavenly transaction as we put our hope in the God who calls things that are not as though they were.   The bottom line comes as we take our eyes off of the promise and place them fully on the the Faithful One.  This is the transaction that all of heaven must celebrate, when a child of God says, "No matter that I cannot see and no matter if I ever see, I choose to believe in You God, because You are altogether good and altogether faithful.

Consider Job, who in the midst of his suffering chose to say, 'though He slay me, yet will I trust Him' and then was blessed in the latter part of his life more than the first. Or remember, Abraham, who was willing  to lay down his son of promise, Issac,  and just in the nick of time, the angel of the Lord stopped the sacrifice and the ram in the thicket appeared.

Every person has a unique faith walk, a journey carefully mapped out with delights, discoveries, and challenges all along the way.  This walk is an ever deepening journey into our relationship with Him, filled with beauty and joy in the fulfillment of our promises, but better than that, intimate encounters with the Who of the Promise.

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..."   Heb. 12:2