He is Faithful

An Invisible Faith

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29 ESV

Some days it is easier than others to walk in our invisible faith. The circumstances around us seem confusing and often our friends and family wonder why we would choose to blindly follow Jesus Christ. But the power of invisible faith carries us forward one step at a time. It cannot be destroyed because no one can see its form and strike it dead with visible weapons. It cannot be explained, conjured up or reasoned into existence. Our faith in Jesus is a gift from above that arrives like seeds blown in the wind that quietly settle in our hearts when we are looking for Him.

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And when that invisible faith enters in to the secret place of our inner person it begins a work that usually remains unseen for a while. Then the unseen seed silently yet irresistibly grows. From the beginning of our journey God has plans for that seed will in the end be a reflection of His own eternal love. And then we will understand the promise that Jesus told Thomas about when He said, “More blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.” What an amazing thought that 20 centuries after His death we are offered a greater blessing than Thomas – if only we will believe. We must simply trust  that one day we will know the visible reality of that blessing when we stand in His presence and see with our own eyes the face of Jesus Christ.

God is not Far Away

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And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole. Luke 17:17-19 KJV

To understand this story we need understand a little about leprosy in the Bible. Far from being just an affliction of the poor, those with leprosy ranged from generals and kings to even a man named Simon who was one of Jesus’ closest friends. Because of both the law and its contagious nature, those with leprosy were required to live separately from others.  Without divine intervention eventually lepers all ended up outside of town with no companions except for their fellow lepers. That is where Jesus met the ten men that day. When they first saw Jesus they shouted at the top of their lungs for help from a distance. They had heard how Jesus had healed others and hoped that He would do the same for them.

India and Nepal 231

Don’t we all pray like that some days? God seems far away; but we hope that if we ask loudly enough, maybe He will listen. What we need to know is that Jesus is actually a lot more willing to help us than we think. In fact just as healing the ten lepers was the main event for Jesus that day so your request and mine matters deeply to Him right now. He knows our hearts and He chooses to come close even when others stay away. But transformation from leprosy to health is only the beginning of what God has in mind. What He really wants is to be close and for us to fall at Jesus’ feet and be made whole as we give thanks!

Facing the Unseen

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Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.   1 Timothy 1:17 KJV

Life sometimes hands us unforeseen results. It happened to me when the sun came up one Sunday just as it had always done. We dressed, went to church, and got ready for the communion service. Then just as I was setting up some special music at the sound board my cell phone rang.

The call was from our son who was in despair because his wife had walked out the door that day and he didn’t know what to do. That moment all of our lives were changed as if we had been hit by a lightning strike. We did not do everything right. We certainly did not know all the answers but we did drop everything and desperately prayed for God’s help as we drove some of the longest four hours of our lives as parents.

black leather strap silver chronograph watch

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I wish I could say that everything worked out: It didn’t. I wish I could point to a rosy happy finale to the scars it has left on our family but it hasn’t happened that way Only God’s grace and the presence of His Holy Spirit have seen us through.  We have at times faced the invisible forces of  anger, disappointment and fear. But we are still standing, in faith and still trusting God. We have learned that only Jesus sees the unseen and only He knows the way through to victory. He is our invisible God and who watches over us through the night of despair to the day of victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.