Friday, March 30, 2007

A Question, A Delight and Stretching My Faith



Weeks ago I peeked outside to see if the yellow flag on our mailbox had been pushed down by the mailman, signaling the mail had arrived. But no, the flag was still up. I thought, "Oh well. It's not like I'm expecting anything good anyway."

Immediately I sensed the Holy Spirit asking, "Did you just say you're not expecting anything good? Where's the faith and expectancy in that attitude?"

Ouch! He was so right. He'd caught me again believing for nothing much and receiving just that. 

But since I began believing for serendipitous things inside my mailbox?It's incredible what I've discovered in there. More sweet snail mail, tiny gifts and surprises than I've received in the past year, total(!)

And then last week I sat at the river in another gloomy cloud bank and told God, "Oh, I'd be thrilled if the sun came out for at least ten minutes today." Then right away I caught myself, remembered the mailbox incident, and stretched my faith a bit. "No, I mean a half-hour of sunlight would be great."

And then I 'heard' the Holy Spirit say, "A half-hour? A half-hour? That's the most you can stretch your faith?"

Heh. He got me there again. Using piddly faith. 

Oh, I want more than just piddly faith! I desire to stretch my faith to believe for all which God can provide. And personally, if I can't believe God for the small things, it's gonna be rough, indeed, believing Him for the big, emergency stuff, also.

Now of course, I must write this, sadly, with disclaimers-- 

Of course, I'm not trying to get God to control the weather just for me, according to the way I want it. Nor am I attempting to control how often people send me things in the mail just for the sake of getting stuff.

Uh, no. 

I'm simply saying that, lately, God's reminding me He's a whole lot bigger than I realize. And my faith should be a reflection of that fact.

Let's keep it simple, ok?



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"...you have not because you ask not..." ...James 4:2

"...According to your faith be it unto you..." ... Matthew 9:29


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