Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. -Hebrews 11:1

Anyone remember Magic Eye books? You’re supposed to look at the picture below and see an image within the image. Don’t ask me what the image is in this picture, cause I have no idea! I always hated people that could see the image. They could see  in seconds what I could stare at for hours and see nothing! They could see something beautiful, when all I saw was a picture that reminds me of tripping on acid!

I was sitting at a high school lunch yesterday and I brought myself back to the perspective of a high school student. I was sitting with seniors who only have a month left in their high school career. A lot of them have the same perspective I had in high school: life’s about having fun, experience everything you can, I don’t have to work hard, we’ll be friends with the friends we have now forever, etc.

I started thinking of all the advice I would give to students in high school: Enjoy it! Cherish your friendships and recognize that you won’t always be friends with these people, work hard in school, make wise decisions, don’t worry about petty things that you’ll laugh about in a year. . .  I could go on and on. It’s easy to say now in retrospect. Why? My perspective changed. I can see where they’re at and where they’re going.

But I remember people telling me similar things in high school and I just blew them off. They didn’t know what they were talking about! They weren’t in high school! It was a perspective issue. Looking back, I wish I would have listened to them. They could see things I couldn’t see, no matter how hard I would try.

I think that’s how it is when you’re walking with God. Sometimes we look at our lives and it looks like the magic eye picture. We can’t see anything, but God sees something wonderful. We can’t see where the path is taking us, but God can. We see our biggest problems, God sees our biggest opportunity.

When we can’t make sense of what’s going on in our lives, we need to exchange our perspective for God’s perspective.

I think if God shared His perspective right now He’d say: Don’t waste your time worry about that, this may seem tough now, but wait until you see how I’m going to use this situation to bless you. I’ll come through on that, I’ll be there with you for that, you’ll come out of this, you can do that, don’t let what that person said effect you… I could go on and on.

Let’s all Exchange our perspective for Gods perspective!

I’ve been listening to this sermon over and over again. This part wrecked me:

“You can’t get through this in your own might, own effort, or your own thinking. I’m going to bring you through and your songs are going to be about me.  It’ll be about divine deliverance, not human effort. Nothing you did, but something I did. Your song will be about Jesus and not about yourself. Your testimony will not be “Look I figured it out, I got the plan to get through and get the promises. No, your story will be about meeting the giants and not knowing how to go forward until God’s Holy Spirit came upon you.”

Something I’m noticing that holds me back is having faith in things I shouldn’t have faith in.

I’m finding I have faith in myself, my ability to produce, my faith, my confession, my gifting, my calling, my bank account, my job, my church, my pastor, my favorite bible teacher, my favorite scriptures, my ______.

The problem? A whole lot of faith in a something that can’t produce anything: ME.

In II Tim 1:12, Paul said, “I know in WHOM I believe.” He had faith in one person: God. That’s it. No matter what you’re going through – the only way out is God. Not your plan, not someone’s advice, not your church, not your friends, systems, confession, tradition, or anything you can do on your own.

He alone is your victory. He alone can get you through. He alone is your source. He alone is your purpose, your dreams, your plans. He alone is everything you need and everything you want. He alone is God.

So quit putting your faith in anything but Him.

Where have you misplaced your faith? I promise you, if your faith is anywhere other than in God, you’re in trouble!

Thoughts?

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. -Hebrews 11:1

Two weeks ago I wrote about the Faithfulness of God. I want to expound on what God’s been teaching me in this area. I was listening to a sermon the other day and the pastor said, “What is the outcome/result of faith?”. The Answer – “Proof!” Hebrews 11:1 says it is the evidence!

I remember reading Zack Blair’s Facebook page and one of his favorite quotes was “Prove it”. Don’t you hate when someone says that to you after you’ve just made a statement? Often it can catch us off guard, it can catch us bluffing, exaggerating, etc.. The reason that quote is so good is because it forces us to see reality and look at the facts. It exposes the truth.  You can’t argue with reality, truth, facts, or proof. People can argue all day long about what they believe, but they can never argue with proof, evidence, or actual experience. There isn’t a person on the planet that could convince me that God’s Word isn’t true – I’ve experienced it:

• My life being changed after making Jesus my Lord is PROOF that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.
  

• The fact that I was living a purposeless life and now I live everyday of my life with purpose is PROOF that He has an amazing plan for my life.
  

• The fact that when I’ve faced circumstances in my life that should have crippled me emotionally, spiritually, etc. and had a peace throughout the whole thing is PROOF that He’ll keep in perfect peace those whose eyes are fixed on Him.

• The fact that I’ve been in bondage to a number of things and have been set free from all of them is PROOF that God has set me free from every bondage in my life!

I could go on forever, but I think you get the point . . .

I hear people all the time say, “Prove to me that there is a God” “Prove to me that God exists” “Prove to me God heals”etc.. Well, it’s not my job to prove to you that God exists, has a plan for your life, etc.. God’s Word is true whether you believe it or not.  It’s my job to proclaim it to you and it’s up to you if you believe it or not. If you believe it and act on it – you’ll have PROOF (evidence)that God’s Word is true and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Then you’ll no longer need to wonder if God’s word is true, if it will work for you, etc… You’ll have proof.