Romans 12:3 tells us that each one of us is provided a measure of faith, and it’s just the amount we need. Our faith–whole-hearted trust–is a gift of sheer grace that God gave to us out of His deep, deep love. We live in union, in identification, with Christ (Galatians 2:20).
When situations throw us into wrestling matches of doubt versus faith, we often try harder to believe, but our best efforts get us nowhere. Why doesn’t it work? Because our own strength is NOT enough: not now, not ever. Like Gideon, we need to change our focus from our weakness to our Almighty God. The better you get to know God, the more capacity you will have to hold His fullness.
Listen up, followers of Jesus. This is a spiritual battle. The devil loves to plant doubts in our minds that, “We don’t believe enough” or that “our faith is insufficient.” He wants us to be desperate and uncertain, but God tells us the same thing he told Gideon, “Don’t be afraid.” The Angel of God didn’t tell Gideon to try harder, but gave him a sign that changed his focus from his own puny efforts to God’s ultimate strength. Faith is following God’s prompt to creep into camp and receive God’s assurance that victory is assured.
In this world, we will all experience trials. Like Gideon we may figure out pretty quickly that our strength won’t get us very far. But we, too, can strike a match that the world’s storms can’t blow out. Our choice to praise God changes our focus and ignites the blazing fire of faith that God has placed inside each of us. We are called to live in His fullness, not our own. In faith, we can pray for God’s power to overcome evil.
Read Gideon’s story in Judges 6 & 7 or retold on my August 22, 2022 blog.
The content for this blog is taken from Strike the Match, Light the Fire by Kathleen Evenhouse. It is available for sale at http://www.kathleensevenhouse.com/bookstore
You can also purchase it or order it at your local book store: ISBN #978-1-7375-955-0-2
Kathleen S Evenhouse 