WALKING BLINDLY

Lately, God has been teaching me what FAITH is. What it means that God will answer when you put your FAITH in Him. For the past few weeks I have been sharing my testimonies and miracles with friends and family, and I always conclude with FAITH in God.

What does it mean?

To me, it means closing your eyes and literally walking blindly knowing, believing that God is holding your hand. When you trust in God, that's what that means, literally. It's tough to do.... very hard to do, but when you do, that's when you know one hundred percent you are ACTUALLY trusting Him and not just saying you are. You are actually believing Him. You trust Him and you do not intrude with your own understanding or try to speed up the process, or aid God in giving you an answer. FAITH means surrendering to Him the particular situation, question, concern, or dream you have and it means WAITING while He answers in His timing and in His way. God does not need you to help Him to help you.

If you are praying with out BELIEVING God can and will answer you, then you are waisting your time. You cannot ask/speak to God and be a pessimist.

FAITH in God to me is standing on the edge of the cliff and believing with every fiber of my being that I will stand, I will not fall. It's an uncomfortable spot physically but VERY thrilling spiritually. It is also like walking a tiny rope from one sky scraper to another. It is that extreme, to me at least. It's both difficult and easy at the same time.

You know, we pray about things and say, God, please help me, show me, provide me, deliver to me, and the very next moment we go and try do something ourselves. We are lying to God and to ourselves. We end up not actually believing in God's very own existence when we do not have FAITH that He will answer to our need. So what, if you go to church and worship God and you tell others of this God, and you pray to this God, but you actually do not have FAITH that He will answer your prayer, your need, your dream, your problem? You end up then denying everything God is. WE DENY GOD AN OPPORTUNITY TO BLESS US, TO ANSWER US, TO PROVIDE HIS WAY when we don't walk blindly in FAITH. Do you realize how often you intrude and destroy God's opportunity to lead you the right way? When you pray, it means you must surrender it, all of it, all 100%, and you leave it, and then you have got to learn to WAIT until you get the answer or God prompts you to do the next step towards the answer. Sometimes God answers us but because we disagree with it we deny it. We have to learn how to be content even if we disagree with the outcome. We have to be content in the fact that God's ways are perfect (Psalm 18:30), in fact, "flawless" and even if it seems so wrong and unjust to us, (Deuteronomy 32:4) we must rejoice and know that God has a reason. We must wait for an answer with out telling God what the answer should be. Why do you ask Him then in the first place if you are giving Him the answer? 1 Thessalonians 5:16 NIV "Rejoice always." Philippians 4:4 NIV "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice." It doesn't say, rejoice when you feel like it or when you agree. You rejoice in the fact that God knows best and He will sustain you. But, if you don't have FAITH in that fact, you will fight and deny God blessing you or teaching you something.

When Jesus was born, God told Joseph to run to Egypt so Jesus will not be killed. He just ordered Joseph to get up and go. He didn't tell him how long he will stay there. He told him, go. Well, Joseph knew that if God told him to go, there will come a time that God will speak to him again when to leave or where to go next. It was quite a few years before Joseph was instructed to go else where. If Joseph didn't wait on God and would have moved else where before God told him so, do you realize what could have happened? Jesus would of been killed prematurely before He could have fulfilled His duty on this earth (to bring us salvation) just because Joseph didn't WAIT. We are so impatient, especially these days. We pray for one day and the next we give up. We say, God, why aren't you answering? We get bitter at God. (Also, sometimes we are waiting for answers from God about some mess we got ourselves into by our own understanding in the first place. He will help you, but you will have to WAIT and surrender it all. He will sure get you out of the mess but He will need you to show Him that you will trust Him this time.) God is just trying to see if you will trust Him and He sure knows the perfect timing for everything. If you cannot wait for an answer, God cannot entrust you with what He is about to give you. REALIZE THAT. You do not have the proper character to receive it, to sustain it then, to prosper it and grow in it. One has to be prepared, tried, and molded before receiving any big or small thing.

God promised Joseph that all of his brothers will bow down to him. He promised him that he will have a big responsibility and hold a high position. Well, God tested and tried him for thirteen years!!! Joseph, patiently waited and always had FAITH in his God. He didn't waiver. We waiver after a day, a month or a year and that results in us denying the very best that God has for us in store. We limit God by our impatience. Joseph could have said, God, what kind of God are you? My very own brothers sell me away? You think it was easy for Joseph to fathom why God allowed that? I don't think so. But he knew if he has FAITH, God will sustain him and take him out of this absurd situation. When we have FAITH in God, it means, we love God, we seek Him, we have His peace in our hearts and it really doesn't matter what will happen as long as we have God's peace and Holy Spirit with us and in us. (When one experiences that, nothing could be more meaningful and more important.) If Joseph didn't have FAITH in God alone, he would of never been able to fulfill God's promise and purpose for his life. He trusted God BLINDLY. How could we ever expect God to do something great in our lives with out FAITH in Him alone?

David was named King of Israel and was ordained by God. How many years did he have to hide in caves and be on the constant run? God needed him to learn to trust Him, to have FAITH in Him, to DEPEND solely on HIM so that when he is ruling Israel, he will not lead unto his own understanding but only on God. How did you think the little David walked towards Goliath? He walked in blind FAITH in the name of the Lord. Do you see that FAITH is something we cannot see. It requires a BLIND STEP. Hebrews 11:1 NIV says, "Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." FAITH is something that cannot be physically fathomed. It is completely spiritual.

God created us to not be independent of Him. No matter how you try, you are not designed to be independent.

How do we WAIT on the Lord while having FAITH?

First of all, WAITING is uncomfortable. It's not easy. It requires patience and endurance of patience. We have to accept that. Then, it requires learning how to hear God's voice. You can only wait if someone is communicating to you or giving you some kind of hope. Think about it....examples in your own life.
FAITH, WAITING and hearing God's voice are IMPOSSIBLE with out having a relationship with God. Having true unwavering FAITH that God will answer and deliver requires constant, daily contact with God. It requires communication. It requires one to foster a relationship. If you do not speak to the Lord daily, genuinely and sincerely, and you do not read the prescription book to life, the BIBLE, you should never expect to learn to hear God's voice or be able to tell if it's God or the devil speaking to you. That's a given. When you start hearing God's voice, you are then able to wait because He is speaking to you along the way and you are filled with His peace and trust so it becomes easy to wait. There is this content and rejoicing in that God meanwhile is orchestrating what ever it is you are waiting and hoping for. No matter how much pain you might be going through physically or spiritually, you will still be able to have FAITH in God. The secret to FAITH is God's peace. When you have His peace, you will know you have it, the peace. I cannot explain the feeling. It's this satisfaction and fulfillment that nothing and no one could ever provide to you. His peace gives you hope and thus you are able to WAIT for the answer.

It is impossible to please God with out FAITH. That's a very strong statement. Hebrews 11:6 FAITH is completely spiritual. It is not tangible. It is not possible to achieve with out earnestly seeking the Lord. There are thousands of christians who say they believe in God but have zero FAITH in what He promises. How do you then plan to please God?

If you are lacking FAITH:

Start communicating to God simply but sincerely
Attend to your Spiritual life the same as you do to your physical life. Why do you shower daily? Why do you dress yourself and brush your hair? Why do you eat? It's logic, right? Why is spiritual life then neglected? Because it's non tangible? You've really got to think about this seriously. God looks on the inside and we only usually attend to the outside because we are so worried what will others say or think. Will others accept us.... oh, but it's proper to shower and have clean clothes on. Yes, but remember, God still only looks on the inside. At the end of the day, if it's your last day, what will you really care about? That's what you should start caring about. Matthew 23:37 NIV "Woe to you, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs , which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean." Jeremiah 17:10 NIV "I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind..."
Ask Him to strengthen your FAITH
Ask Him to help you accept His ways
Ask Him to fill you with His peace
Ask Him to help you hear His voice
Ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit
Ask Him to reveal to you what areas in your life need attention and improvement
Ask Him to mold you into His character (this is a tough one and painful one :) but the most fulfilling one...it requires dying to a lot of things :) it requires chewing mature meat, not drinking baby milk ...)

GIVING UP IS NOT AN OPTION
God never promised it will be easy

GREATNESS requires SACRIFICE 

With love,
Antonina


My desire is to simply share what God has been doing in my life and what He has been revealing to me personally, with hopes that it might encourage or enlighten anyone reading. This is not an attempt to teach or to show off my writing skills. :)


(image taken from google)