When you take a stand of faith, you usually have to take it alone with God. Most of the great decisions that I have made in my life as a leader have been lonely decisions where only God and I stood together. They have been mountain peaks of decision, with nothing but thin air between me and the next peak, and I had to take that step alone, and trust God for the consequences, with no guarantee but God, no warranty but His Word—all other conditions being against it, all natural circumstances being opposed to it, the waves and the winds fighting against it—and all I had was the hand of God!
But He never let me down, even if He had to pick me up by that hand and lift me across to that next mountain peak, without any visible, natural, normal, logical, reasonable means of help. God says, “Serve Me, and I’ll keep you.”
Man says, “It’s impossible! Tie up in port. Don’t attempt the impossible; you’ll sink.”
God says, “Launch out into the deep. Cast your nets and I’ll give you such a draft there’ll not be room enough to hold it. I’ll give you the biggest load you’ve ever had, when you were ready to sink without any load.”
Man says, “Look at the waves! Look at the condition of your vessel. You can’t do it.”
God says, “Look at Me! With man it is impossible; with God, nothing shall be impossible, and all things are possible to him that believeth.”1
If we are not willing to act by faith on what God has shown us, it might never happen. Somebody has to be willing to be the pioneer. Somebody has to be willing to take that first step of faith in that direction, to take the initiative because of the vision, and to take it alone, if need be, regardless of the cost.
“Prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord, and see if I will not pour out such a blessing that there will not be room enough to hold it.”2 You don’t see the blessing yet. How do you know He’s going to pour it out? You’ve only got His Word for it—you’ve got to prove Him. You have to take a step in the direction He said to go, to find out what He’s going to do. Because if you don’t go, He can’t show. If you don’t obey, He can’t make a way. If by faith you don’t “be,” you’ll never “see.” For believing is seeing in this business—in God’s business.
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It’s often been said that “seeing is believing,” but in many cases, the reverse is also true. Believing results in seeing.—Donald L. Hicks
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“Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” Elisha’s servant asked.
The king of Aram (present-day Syria) was at war with ancient Israel and had sent an entire army to the city of Dothan to capture the prophet Elisha. They came by night, so when Elisha’s servant woke and went out early in the morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city.
“Don’t be afraid,” the prophet said. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.”
Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.3
In this story, the angelic army was already there, but Elisha’s servant was afraid because he hadn’t seen them yet. Why must we always see with our own eyes in order to believe? We have the Bible promise, “[God] shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.”4 Is it not enough to believe because God’s Word says so?
Seeing is the reward of believing, not the other way around.
Why does it have to be this way? Why do we have to take everything by faith? The answer lies in that little word—“faith.” It wouldn’t be faith if we could see. Jesus said to Thomas, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”5
This principle of faith is something on which God places a great deal of importance. It’s also something that He gives us credit for6 because it is a sign of our love and trust in Him, that we believe Him and His spiritual power and the principles He lays out for us in His Word.
We walk life’s hot, hard, dusty roads battle-weary and scarred, but we arrive in heaven triumphant. The angels blow their trumpets to herald our victory. We didn’t sink when the storms of life rocked our ships. Satan attacked us on every side, but we survived. We held on. We did our best. We believed! We won the war of faith. Henceforth is laid up for us a crown of righteousness.7—Misty Kay
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Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.—Martin Luther King Jr.
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I know how deep-seated is the natural desire to have some visible evidence that our petition is granted, but to have any other evidence than God’s Word is not faith. If God says so, that’s enough. The man or woman who walks by faith needs no other evidence than that. We shall see because we have believed, not believe because we have seen.
David says in Psalm 27:13, “I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” You will note that he had not yet seen the answer, but “he believed to see.”
It is during this period when we are “believing to see” (after we have taken the stand of faith, yet we have not seen the full realization), that there comes the test period. You remember that Daniel went through this trying time and how the Lord spoke these words unto him: “From the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard.” Yet God’s Word teaches that there was a delay of three weeks before Daniel really received the answer, though the scripture says he was heard from the very first day.8 What sweet comfort there is in this story, for we can say to our own hearts right now, “From the first day that you prayed, He heard you.”—Virginia Brandt
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The answer’s coming,
Never fear,
The answer’s coming,
It’s almost here.
Keep on believing,
Just trust and obey,
The answer’s coming,
It’s on the way.
—Phil Kerr
Published on Anchor June 2021. Read by John Laurence.
Music by Michael Dooley.https://anchor.tfionline.com/post/seeing-the-reward-of-believing/
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