I am a morning
devotions gal, I prefer to start out my day with the Lord.
There was one season where I transitioned to having my quiet time in
the evenings before bed, but that only lasted a short while and I
returned to having my time with Jesus first thing. I believe there is
sweet power in giving the first part of the day to Jesus and I could
not measure the power that opening His Word in the morning has had on
my life. There have been times when the Lord has awakened me with a
certain scripture text or principle on my mind. Those are precious
moments from the Spirit. Recently, I awoke
with “faith” in my mind. This train of thought led me to Romans
10:17, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of
God.” Then there is the heart cry of the confused disciples in Luke 17:5,
“...Lord, Increase our faith.” So, how is faith increased as the
disciples asked for? Taking the passage in Romans, faith is increased
by hearing the Word of God, and by spending regular, disciplined time
taking in the scriptures. It is sitting at His feet just as Mary did
in Luke 10, choosing that “better part” and trusting in Christ
from Whom the increase comes.
Looking up “faith”
in Strong’s Concordance, I gained a beautiful definition and keener
insight into meditation. Faith- "persuasion, moral conviction of
the truthfulness of God, reliance upon God for salvation, assurance,
belief”. Is that not beautiful? Moral conviction of the
truthfulness of God, assurance that what He has said is true and it
will come to pass because He has said it and He is God. My “treasure
hunt” then led me to a loved and one of my most well-referenced
passages, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, “(For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong
holds;) casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ…”
Think how this is
all intertwined. I desire increased faith, assurance, and deep
conviction as to the truthfulness of God. I want this for a strong and
sure foundation to stand on in the trials and pain of life. That
comes about by hearing the Word of God, by intimate, consistent, and
intentional time abiding with the Savior, the Giver of faith. With
the increase of trust in the character of God, I use that moral
conviction to cast down the imaginations and lies about the character
of God that Satan hurls at me in an attempt to dissuade me from my
assurance and thus weaken my faith. Faith is intricate, but how
beautiful it is!
The longer I
walk with Jesus, the more time I spend abiding with Him, and in His
Word, the Lord keeps His promise and increases my faith. When the
tempests swirl, my assurance stands firm because I know Him, I have
been with Him, I have proven Him and His promises and I pull from the
“bank” of His past faithfulness in my human weakness and need for
assurance. What a gracious Father! He knows our frame, He remembers
that we are dust, and instead of asking us to just blindly walk on in
this faith journey, He gives us opportunities to try His promises, to
test His Word, if you will, and then the next temptation, the next
grief that He allows, we can harken back to what we know about His
character from His Word, but also what we have experienced for
ourselves. People talk about blind faith. I do not have blind faith. Far from it! I have experienced God, I have witnessed His working in
my heart, in my life! He allows my faith, His faith in me (Galatians
2:20) to grow and increase with each passing day as I seek Him, place
my trust in what He has said, and allow the Spirit to produce that moral
conviction of the truthfulness of God in my heart.
“For
I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep
that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” 2 Timothy
1:12
