Enduring Faith

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We had a cell discussion on faith and trial last week and I just felt led to blog about this, hoping it would bless someone as it has blessed me.

Prompted to Cover Faith
I had been preparing for cell discussion this week and even though I had missed the first sermon on "Enduring Faith" but instead attended the second service on "Power of the Blood", I just felt prompted to cover on the topic of faith this week. The topic kept appearing throughout the week - at my department devotion, corporate devotion and also through what happened this week in ministry, witnessing faith in action.

What is Faith?
And so, I began to reflect upon faith in my own walk. I can hear myself asking "So, what is faith? What's the big deal about it?" In fact, faith is a very common topic in the Christian walk and I was thinking that it would be timely for us to take a closer look at it; examining it more carefully.

What have we learnt about faith in our walk with the Lord?
I have come a long way in my ministry, starting from just an ordinary cell member to being God's servant in cell ministry and having to learn to rely on Him, learning how His grace is sufficient for me and how He is in control when I let Him.

Here are some thoughts on faith, as shared by some during cell discussion and also some things I have come to realise over the years, walking with God:

• Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of the unseen (Hebrews 11:1);
• Faith does not commensurate with the number of years we have been a Christian; it is possible for a Christian young in faith to have more faith than a Christian of many years;
• Strong faith becomes easier to exercise and more evident during trials;

Trials, Faith & Joy
In James 1:2-4 (NIV), it is said:
2. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3. because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

When I saw these verses for the first time, I asked myself, "how can it be that one can consider it joy when facing trials? It must be crazy!" I remember during my personal and spiritual break to Langkawi earlier this year, I was reading from Acts and was amazed at how despite being persecuted, Paul still stood by his faith, strongly. I remember telling myself "what strong faith! I wonder why he has such strong faith?" But slowly, I have come to understand the verses as I reflect upon how God has helped me through the tough times; times which left me on my knees praying while everything was crumbling down, times which, on hindsight, helped molded me to be the way I am now. I have slowly come to appreciate the flip side of trials, even though, yes, I have to agree that it is tough.

Why Trials?
Bob Sorge describes perseverance and endurance as faith sustained over time in the midst of pressure and crisis. So that naturally leads me to ask: Why trials?

• Trials Bring Us Back to God - When I think about it, the first thing I have come to realise is that trials sometimes happen to bring us back to God.
  
  For me, life was going relatively smoothly for me. Though I was brought up as a Christian, I began to drift away from God because I felt that this was a part of my life which was not important at all since there were no big trials in my life... With success in most things I do, I became more self-sufficient until something hit me real heard. Then suddenly, I was facing career, relationship, friendship problems all at the same time. I had nowhere to turn and then God brought me a friend, who I had lost touch with for a long time, to come into my life. This friend eventually brought me back to Him. I still recall when I messaged another friend on the first Sunday I came to Riverlife Church, my friend replied "it took a trial for God to bring you back to Him". So take heed that sometimes, trials is a signal to go back to God.
  
  
• Trials Help Us to Rely on God - Then, I began to see how trials also help us to rely on God. Indeed, if we believe that God is the Great Almighty, the one who created everything and gave life, then why are we sometimes reluctant to let go and let God? I am very familiar with this because sometimes, when facing problems, I tend to say to God "God, I know you are big but then let me deal with this problem myself because I believe I can do it". But then, when we accepted Christ and made Him our saviour and Lord, isn't He also Lord over all, including our trials? Do we just treat Him as only a saviour or do we take the whole package and accept Him as Lord of our lives as well, trusting that He has His plans for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11)?
  
  I recall how stepping up into ministry had been one of the biggest trial for me and I had to rely on God. I recall the days when I cried about things, about how hopeless things felt, about how lousy I felt about myself because of all that is happening. I had no where to turn to and had to look up. Today, as I look back at the tough times and see how God had blessed my hands in ministry and how things started to take a turn when I stopped trying and prayed and commit it into His hands, I praise God for being there. A friend has ever shared that she had once had to deal with worry when she did not hear from her husband, who went to work overseas, for 2 whole weeks. She tried reaching him but to no avail. But yet, she could not do anything else except to pray. In the end, thank God, her husband returned the next day. It's true that sometimes, there is nothing else we can do but to look to God.
  
  I have once received a SMS that went "when facing problems, do not say 'Oh God, we have a big problem' but instead 'Problem, we have a big God!'" Believe it and proclaim it!
  
  
• Trials Brings Growth - Yet another thing I have realised about trials is that it brings growth. I am reminded how we are all "Work in Progress" and how trials provide the opportunity to mature and even critically think about what could be better in life. Ultimately, it is about growing to become the person God wants us to be.
  
  James reminded that "perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything". Through trial and perseverance, we will grow and mature to be complete and not lacking anything. In the same way, I have come to see how much I have grown as a person over the past few years as I continue to walk with the Lord; how He continued to challenged me to live a life that would honour Him. I have come to slowly overcome many problems previously faced, including my introvertedness and I have to admit that stepping up in ministry has challenged me to a higher standard of living a God-honouring life.
  
  I always believe that Christianity is not a religion but a relationship with God. And part of that relationship with God is first reconciling with God and then walking righteously with Him. I have learnt how God is more concerned with who we become and how we walk with Him more than anything else because "The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart" (1 Sam 16:7b). It is not the outward person but the real person He is concerned with.
  
  
• Trials Help Us Bless Others - Yet another thing I have come to realise is how trials are also intended for us to bless others. Several times, I saw how God has used my past experiences to help me understand others and minister to them. Though some of these past experiences were painful, God nonetheless helped me to address some of these through the sermons and the church's men's retreat. As was as if I was put through a rehabilitation programme. Then God used me to minister to others. Through my past experiences, I got to be able to share with others how I have been through similar struggles and how, with God, I had been able to overcome it.
  
  
• Trials Build Faith and More Faith - Lastly, trials builds more faith. When we overcome a trial with God, it helps us build more faith in Him to overcome future trials. Just as one of the cell members has shared, we have sometimes come to realise how God is bigger than anyone or anything else when we just be still, and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10).
  

Trails are here to stay
It's interesting how some of us sometimes feel awkward that as Christians, we face trials too. But trials are certain to stay in our lives because James 1:2 says "whenever you face trials of many kinds" not "if you face trials of many kinds". Trials are certain and it is not surprising that Christians face trials. But what is different is that, as children of God, we are certain that God is with us and in control as long as we seek Him and His will. He will bring us through it all.



Still
Hide me now
Under your wings
Cover me
within your mighty hand

When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with you above the storm
Father you are king over the flood
I will be still and know you are God

Find rest my soul
In Christ alone
Know his power
In quietness and trust

How do we build faith?
I have thought through it and at the end of the day, the way which has worked for me is to (i) know God, (ii) see God at work in our lives and (iii) living daily with God; having the Holy Spirit with us. We need to know who God is, how real He is and live each day with Him.

It seems that to grow in faith, we need to know God's character, who He is and how He sees us. We need to know who we are in God's eyes and how much He cares for us and wants the best for us before we can grow faith and trust in Him. After all, isn't that how we grow trust and faith in others? We need to be more "God-aware", knowing how real He is in our lives, watching over and blessing us, through daily thanksgiving. Finally, we need to live God-honouring and righteous lives, having the Holy Spirit with us. As we continue to walk closely with God, we will be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and His prompting.

Luke 8:22-25 tells us how Jesus calms the storm. Jesus had told his disciple to go to the other side of the lake. As they sailed, Jesus feel asleep and a storm came. The disciples panicked and When the storm came, the woke Him up, only to have Jesus asking them about their faith. Indeed sometimes, we can be like the disciples; despite having Jesus on board, they had little faith. It would be different when we know who is in the boat with us and know who He is and how He has seen us through our days.

As we wrapped up cell, I sensed that as we shared about our past struggles and how God brought us through it all, we are reminded how we all stand as testimonies of how God has worked in our lives, including how God even sent timely word to us during those tough times to comfort us and assure us, be it through Our Daily Bread, the bible or even through a bible verse in a colleague's diary. Many of you shared how this happened many times for you and indeed God sees you in your trials. He knows and comforts.

The Choice
If you want to build faith, build a relationship with God. If you have yet to do so with Him, do so today. Faith is a choice; when trials come, do not look around but look up.