Today I am in the midst of a juice fast that Francine and I are doing together (for health reasons). It is always a challenge to get through the first couple days. I get a headache and feel tired. After that it goes pretty well. There is still a bit of weakness, but I love the clear thinking I get and the allergies go away. It's amazing what nutrition can do.
Having faith is kind of like fasting. Denying yourself daily is exactly what we do as disciples. If we don't, we get just like we do when we eat terrible food regularly. Fat, sick, cloudy thinking. When we live by faith we live the only healthy (spiritual) way.
Rom 1:16-17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
When I get worried about our small mission team here, it is because my faith has weakened. When I doubt that there are people searching for God around me, my faith has weakened. When I get critical about the other disciples and what they are doing, or not doing, my faith has weakened.
Kieth preached this past Sunday on pride. It was great. Not so much that he did great (though he did), but I think the Spirit really moved in my heart. All morning I wrestled with pride and while listening to the message I knew it!
It started with not getting out of the house when I wanted to. We had family in town and I could not get to church early as I had planned. I also had some people I had invited coming to church, so I paced around worrying about it well into the service. They ended up not coming. While song leading I forgot some words and labored to connect my heart to the singing. Then I felt critical about the service in general.
All of these things stemmed from what I wanted and what I thought. Pride. It really was a faith killer.
It is great to have an awesome wife like mine to remind me of these things and help me get my head clear. With some prayer and heart checking, faith will live on...
Pray for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment