( Hebrews 11:1 – “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the belief of things not seen.”) We have been hearing a short story about a village, where villagers pray for rain after a dry spell, but only one girl brings an umbrella. Here we see among the villagers only one girl truly believes by faith. Similarly, many of us are in a feeling that we truly believe God and we have more faith comparatively others but the blunt truth is that we believe on the things which only happened but not on the things which are going to happen for what we have been praying. Faith itself is a word that has important meaning in many religious and spiritual traditions, including Christianity. The Bible is full of miracles, promises, and teachings of God, even without physical evidence. It is also possible to find many examples in the Bible of people who did not give up their faith and maintained their trust in God despite difficulties and troubles. Let's look at the most two prominent people who encourage us to deepen our faith: ·       Abraham: Known as the father of faith, he fulfilled God's command to leave his country and go to a new country. In despite all the difficulties and uncertainties he faced,  Abraham remained faithful to God's promises and became an important character in the Bible. ·       Job: Job is seen as a best example of faith who remained constant in despite pain and hardship. Job remained faithful to God and refused to curse Him, despite losing his money, his health, and his family. His story shows the importance of trusting in God's power and goodness, even in difficult times. ·      These righteous people and many others mentioned in the Bible exemplify the power of faith in overcoming obstacles, experiencing God's grace, and accomplishing His purposes. Their stories are also a source of inspiration and encouragement for all of us to have a good relationship with God and trust in His justice. As said in a story…. A man was sleeping at night in his cabin, suddenly his room was filled with light and God appeared to him and said that he has to work for the Lord and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord asked him just to push against the rock with all his might.  So the man started doing day after day. For many years he continued to do the same from morning to evening. Finally, his shoulders set evenly against the cold, immense surface of the unmoving rock etc., By pushing with all of his might each night the man returned to his cabin with sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain. Since the man was in discouragement, the Challenger (Satan) decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the weary mind: "You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn't moved." Thus, he gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. Satan said, "Why do you kill yourself over this? Don’t put in much of your time in this and don’t put much efforts as well; and that will be good enough." Meanwhile, that’s what the weary man also planned to do but decided to pray and to take his disturbed thoughts to the Lord. "Lord," he said, "I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even moved that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?" The Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when I asked you to serve Me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all of your strength, which you have done. Did I ever mention to you that I expected you to move it?  Your task was just to PUSH. And now you come to Me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back has become strong and brown; your hands are rough from constant pressure, your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities now exceed that which you used to have. True, you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. That you have done. Now my friend, I the Lord will move the rock." Similarly, at times, when we hear a word from God, we have a tendency to use our own intellect to make out what He wants.  Where actually God wants a simple obedience and faith in Him to listen to Him and understand. As always, we are in the state of mind that we alone can move the mountains through faith but it is still God who moves the mountains. What does it mean, when God said to the man to P U S H… it means PRAY UNTIL SOMETHING HAPPENS. When everything seems to go wrong, When the job gets you down, when people don't react the way we think they should, when we are exhausted with our financial crisis, when we feel we are degraded and rejected in the society …. We have to Just P U S H and surrender it to GOD who moves the mountains. We have been hearing about Abraham, Job and many other faithful people, who had been through a tough and impossible situations to come out of it.  But they stood strong in faith and believed in the God who moves the mountains and parts the red sea etc.,  Similarly, Let us also believe in God and let’s just focus on to PUSH (pray until something happens) the things than moving them.   Stay Blessed !    References: "https://www.nairaland.com/2389297/short-stories-boost-faith?__cf_chl_tk=lmgllKwCozAmR0nhmcmUTdygiTFTaZcPus4LsFlonLQ-1721839383-0.0.1.1-4009" Regards, Anusha D

View Entire Post