There is no such thing as blind faith. My faith in God is based on my experience of God. “Faith leads to experience, and experience to hope…until his love is shed abroad in our hearts.” The love of the Holy Spirit shed in our hearts is the greatest of all rewards. Sweeter than honey. I first came to believe when I felt the Holy Spirit tugging at my heart at the age of nine. Yes, felt is a dirty word in religious circles, but I felt Him in my spirit. I answered, and shortly thereafter I had my first experience of God‘s love.
Jesus hunted down faith like a hound dog hunts his prey. With laser-like focus he moved through the towns and villages seeking a faith target. He sought someone with whom he could engineer a God sized encounter. He wants to reveal God to us in three dimensional space. After healing the blind man he said, “Go and tell what has happened to you.” Go and show them as evidence that God is good. God is alive.
Before raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus told Martha, “I told you that if you will believe, you will see my glory.” Believe so that you can see. Faith is the vehicle moving us swiftly towards a destination; to experience, warm, touchable, handable experience. No faith, no experience.
Have you ever noticed how delighted Jesus was by faith? He was amazed by the centurion who basically said, “Look, I get that you are the Son of God and can do anything. Don’t waste your time coming all the way to my house. Just say the word and my servant will be fine.“ Jesus was delighted and marvelled at his faith. Have you ever marvelled at something? Felt astounded, astonished, speechless maybe? Faith had that effect on Jesus.
I think scripture is clear: Jesus came to reveal the Father. Faith touches God, see's God, experienced the divine. Faith waits through long delays with hungry expectation. And faith in God will not be denied. Crazy analogy, but faith keeps my dog staring me down while I am eating my dinner. She knows that on occasion (very, very rarely), I throw her a scrap. I come from a family where it is taboo to feed dogs table food. Nevertheless, when I look into those patient, expectant eyes that never give up-really, she never quits waiting on me,- I must reward her. I am moved by her quiet expection.
I get little glimpses of the heart of God in all of this. He longs for us to believe. Jesus almost pleads with us to stare God down until he answers. Jesus commands us to keep asking, keep seeking. We think He is giving us the secret code for getting things from God. But have we considered that Jesus desperately wants us to do this? In other words, God wants to show himself to us through real experience. Come Thomas, touch my wounds, see that it is true. “God longs to be gracious to you” scripture says. He longs to reveal more, and more, and more of God “...until you are filled with the fullness of the knowledge of God.” We are filled with the knowledge of God through our experiences of Him.
Jesus encouraged his followers to be like the widow who pesters the unjust judge to deal with her adversary. How much more will God answer his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night he asks? Please, I hear him saying, cry out to him! If you will cry out to him, and don’t lose heart, He really will answer you. You will experience God. And when you experience God, do not forget all that he has done for you. But it takes faith, faith that perseveres through evidence to the contrary. Only believe.
Jesus hunted down faith like a hound dog hunts his prey. With laser-like focus he moved through the towns and villages seeking a faith target. He sought someone with whom he could engineer a God sized encounter. He wants to reveal God to us in three dimensional space. After healing the blind man he said, “Go and tell what has happened to you.” Go and show them as evidence that God is good. God is alive.
Before raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus told Martha, “I told you that if you will believe, you will see my glory.” Believe so that you can see. Faith is the vehicle moving us swiftly towards a destination; to experience, warm, touchable, handable experience. No faith, no experience.
Have you ever noticed how delighted Jesus was by faith? He was amazed by the centurion who basically said, “Look, I get that you are the Son of God and can do anything. Don’t waste your time coming all the way to my house. Just say the word and my servant will be fine.“ Jesus was delighted and marvelled at his faith. Have you ever marvelled at something? Felt astounded, astonished, speechless maybe? Faith had that effect on Jesus.
I think scripture is clear: Jesus came to reveal the Father. Faith touches God, see's God, experienced the divine. Faith waits through long delays with hungry expectation. And faith in God will not be denied. Crazy analogy, but faith keeps my dog staring me down while I am eating my dinner. She knows that on occasion (very, very rarely), I throw her a scrap. I come from a family where it is taboo to feed dogs table food. Nevertheless, when I look into those patient, expectant eyes that never give up-really, she never quits waiting on me,- I must reward her. I am moved by her quiet expection.
I get little glimpses of the heart of God in all of this. He longs for us to believe. Jesus almost pleads with us to stare God down until he answers. Jesus commands us to keep asking, keep seeking. We think He is giving us the secret code for getting things from God. But have we considered that Jesus desperately wants us to do this? In other words, God wants to show himself to us through real experience. Come Thomas, touch my wounds, see that it is true. “God longs to be gracious to you” scripture says. He longs to reveal more, and more, and more of God “...until you are filled with the fullness of the knowledge of God.” We are filled with the knowledge of God through our experiences of Him.
Jesus encouraged his followers to be like the widow who pesters the unjust judge to deal with her adversary. How much more will God answer his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night he asks? Please, I hear him saying, cry out to him! If you will cry out to him, and don’t lose heart, He really will answer you. You will experience God. And when you experience God, do not forget all that he has done for you. But it takes faith, faith that perseveres through evidence to the contrary. Only believe.
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