Some things I think about faith

I haven't disappeared. And, I read blogs almost everyday. I just that, I sit down to write a post, and I can't think of anything that I think would be exciting to read. It seems like I get the most comments when I am opinionated. So here you go.

I am studying faith this week in my Beth Moore Bible study. We've been looking at verses when Jesus healed people, and He said things like "your faith has healed you," etc. I try my best to have a balanced approach to what I think, and I've been thinking how unbalanced some people can become when it comes to the topic of faith. For example, my friend once said that she thought she wasn't being healed because she "probably didn't have enough faith." Or, those people who think that God is like a bubble gum machine, and if you just put in the coin: "name it" and "claim it," you get what you want.

I could be wrong, but I think that faith means believing that God CAN and is ABLE to do ANYTHING. He heals today, He does miracles today, He works supernaturally today, He does things outside of the box today, He gives people the gifts of the Holy Spirit which are for today, etc. When I pray, I believe that He can do ANYTHING. BUT. I really think that it is His choice to do it or not. I mean, He's GOD. He doesn't HAVE to answer our prayer the way WE want to, just because we think we have enough faith. It must happen from His power AND our faith. But, He chooses whether to exert His power or not. Then, that's REAL faith - to trust that He knows what is best for our lives, and the greater scheme of things. Real faith is not only believing that He CAN, but also that He sees into the past, present and future with our very best interests in mind. And, that means He may have a different answer than what we have in our mind as the best one (the one we're "believing" for). We can "claim" all we want, but it doesn't mean that's God's best for our lives. Hello!

So, back to my friend who thought she didn't have enough faith, and that's why she wasn't being healed. I said to her that I thought she was having faith in faith. I said that she needed to be reminded of WHOM she is putting her faith in. I think that if you focus on the WHOM, (you know, the all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful, Creator of the Universe, Alpha and Omega), we can trust Him with the WHAT. It's a coupling of our faith and His power, I think. It's what it seems like to me, in the various healings performed by Jesus in the gospels. It's not about us "mustering" up enough faith to get God to do something. In fact, the Bible says we only need enough faith that is the size of a "mustard seed," right? And, anyway, if you think it's about "having enough" faith, then how much? How is it measured? Is it based upon feelings? How would you know if you had enough? I think that's too unclear. It's having faith in faith, which is ultimately having faith in yourself to drum up "enough." That's not real faith to me. It sounds like "works!"

Again, to me, faith is believing in WHO God is, and that He can do ANYTHING. Then, trusting that He will do what's best for me. He doesn't want us to trust ourselves. He wants to know we believe that He can "accomplish all things." It's not a magic formula of "enough" faith + God's power = get everything we want. It's about His power being shown and how He is glorified through it.

My two cents.