Let The Christmas Season Begin!

I hope you and your family had a great Thanksgiving Day. It was great for us to have our family and extended family in our home. Now, onward to Christmas!

Bless Be The Ties?

We have family coming today from out of town. Tomorrow we'll have over twenty people at our house for Thanksgiving. I hope you enjoy your family time :)

Beam Me Up, Scotty!

This has nothing to do with anything grace related, but check out where we are in this world now with technology. CNN doing interviews with a hologram. Daniel prophesied that in the end times, "knowledge shall be increased" (Daniel 12:4), but he never could have imagined this. :)

Freedom To Live Boldly

Imagine for a moment that you had never done anything to feel guilty about. Wouldn’t that be fantastic? What if any and every wrong thing you’ve ever done had never happened? Would that empower you to live more boldly and confidently that God’s plan is to bless you in all you do? Could you move forward in pursuing God’s will with boldness then?

Grace brings news to you that seems almost too good to be true. It’s this – your sins have been removed as if they never happened. They are gone and forgotten by God. When God looks at you, He sees you as if you have never sinned. Does that seem too good to be true? “How could that be?” you might ask.

The answer is that it is possible because of what Jesus did when He came the first time. He dealt a deathblow to sin that didn’t simply defeat it; the blow against sin through the cross annihilated sin in your life. There is not even a trace of it left now.

Many of the prophets in the Old Testament predicted that a Messiah would come who would deal with sin, once and for all. Daniel spoke about Him and said that Christ would “make an end of sin” (Daniel 9:24). If you look that phrase up online in a Hebrew lexicon (that tells the meaning of the original words), you will discover that it means “to destroy or finish.” Jesus didn’t just come to forgive your sins. He came to obliterate them.

When He showed up at the Jordon River, John the Baptist said about Jesus, “Look! It’s the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world!” (See John 1:29) What did John say Jesus came to do? Forgive your sins? No, He does that, but it’s even better than that. He came to take them away completely.

When Jesus cried from the cross, “It is finished!” that’s exactly what He meant. Your sins were forever thrown away (see Hebrews 9:24) behind the back of God (see Isaiah 38:17), wiped out (see Isaiah 44:22), forgotten (see Jeremiah 31:34) and will never be mentioned again (see Hebrews 9:28)!

There is absolutely nothing now that would stand in the way to keep God from leading you into the realization of the wonderful plan that He has for your life. . Read the verses I’ve mentioned in the paragraph above and ask yourself, “Are they true?” Did Christ really put away our sins by the sacrifice of Himself as Hebrews 9:24 says? If He came to take away our sins, did He succeed or did He fail? Which was it? If He succeeded and our sins are really gone, then why are we holding on to a guilty conscience?

It is important for you to fully believe the truth that God has no grudge against you about your past that would keep Him from blessing you. Your past is forgiven. You are totally bless-able because your life is Christ, the One about whom the Father said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!”

Defiled Food

I've been studying the book of Malachi this morning, in preparation for recording the final series of teachings on "God's Grace In The Old Testament." I've really enjoyed going through the OT for the past 39 months and lifting out glimpses of grace from these books. I encourage you to consider getting this resource to help you in your grace walk.

In the first chapter of Malachi, God's prophet reprimands the priests for presenting "defiled food" on the altar in His house. What is this defiled food? It is the blind, crippled and diseased animals they allow the people to bring before God in an attempt to gain His acceptance. Only one thing will satisfy our Father when it comes to the basis of His acceptance of us and that is a perfect sacrifice, one without spot or blemish.

The people of Israel had missed that point because the priests had failed to tell them. They were bringing deformed, diseased offerings to God when they possessed the only sacrifice God wanted. We live in a similar day. Through Malachi, God told His people, "Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord."

The only Sacrifice God has ever required to cause us to be accepted by Him is Jesus. We have Jesus, but still often bring our own crippled, religious efforts, determination and activity to Him in an attempt to gain His favor (grace). The good news of the gospel is that we don't have to offer our lame attempts to please Him. He is pleased with us because of Jesus and His finished work. We cheat ourselves and place ourselves under the curse of the Law when we fail to recognize that His sacrifice is enough. All we need to do now is to worship the God who fully accepts us.

Ma and Pa Kettle Know What They Know!

For many years I was so convinced that what I believed was right even though I was so wrong about so much. I was a well-trained, God-loving, Bible-reading, legalist whose views about the Christian life made perfect sense to me. I not only knew what I believed, I could prove it.

Ma and Pa Kettle show us in this funny old movie clip how we can be so sure that we're right and even believe we have proof for our positions. The only problem is that we still can be dead wrong and unless The Teacher shows us the error of our way, nobody else can ever convince us. Ever felt like you were sharing grace with Ma and Pa Kettle? :)

TV Interview - Day 5 If You Only Watch One, Watch This One

In my opinion, this episode may be one of the strongest TV programs I've ever done. I admire Bob and Audrey Meisner for many reasons, but Bob's transparency on this particular program was nothing less than Christ at work to powerfully touch hearts.


Click the link below to watch:


http://www.newday.org/ontheair/popupmov.php?program=33475

TV Interview - Day Four

Click the link below to see day four of the interviews on "It's A New Day"

http://www.newday.org/ontheair/popupmov.php?program=33474

TV Interview - Day Three

Click the link below to see day three:


http://www.newday.org/ontheair/popupmov.php?program=33473

The Everlasting Arms - TV Interview

Have you ever made choices that you later thought turned out to be wrong? Are you now concerned that you might have to live in "God's second best" for your life? This interview addresses that topic.

The link below will take you to the second program of five.

http://www.newday.org/ontheair/popupmov.php?program=33472

Forgiven And Forgotten TV Interview

Every day this week, I'll be on the Canadian national TV program, "It's A New Day." I'll post the links here so you can see the programs every day.

The host on these programs is Bob Meisner. Bob, and his wife, Audrey, have been friends for many years. Audrey's parents, Willard and Betty Thiessen launched this TV station years ago and in the ensuing years it has reached a multitude of people all over Canada. Not everybody who interviews me understands or affirms the message I share, but these folks are powerful grace walking evangelists. They're at the top of my list as far as people I enjoy having interview me on television.

Click this link to watch the program in a pop-up window. If you have your computer's pop-up control preventing them, you'll have to change the setting to allow it. Or another option is to go to www.newday.org and watch it on their site.

http://www.newday.org/ontheair/popupmov.php?program=33471

Life Is A Symphony

He portrays your Heavenly Father.

She is you.

The keys on the piano keyboard are the choices you can make in life.

Trust your Father, make your choices and enjoy participating in what He produces! Notice that even when we make a choice in the "minor keys," our gracious Creator is able to work all the notes (including our discordant ones) into a beautiful symphony.

Are You Bad? (No, you aren't.)

This Michael Jackson meets John Piper video is pretty funny. I've enjoyed a number of Piper's books, though I disagree with him on various issues. I couldn't disagree more with this viewpoint because Christians are righteous, not bad. I do think whoever put this together is clever.



Here's a singer I absolutely love to hear. My favorite song she sings is "The Deer's Cry."(I couldn't find video of that one.) This is her singing, "The Voice." Could anybody not see Christ in this song?



The Voice

I hear your voice on the wind
And I hear you call out my name

"Listen, my child," you say to me
"I am the voice of your history
Be not afraid, come follow me
Answer my call, and I'll set you free"

I am the voice in the wind and the pouring rain
I am the voice of your hunger and pain
I am the voice that always is calling you
I am the voice, I will remain

I am the voice in the fields when the summer's gone
The dance of the leaves when the autumn winds blow
Ne'er do I sleep thoughout all the cold winter long
I am the force that in springtime will grow

I am the voice of the past that will always be
Filled with my sorrow and blood in my fields
I am the voice of the future, bring me your peace
Bring me your peace, and my wounds, they will heal

I am the voice in the wind and the pouring rain
I am the voice of your hunger and pain
I am the voice that always is calling you
I am the voice

I am the voice of the past that will always be
I am the voice of your hunger and pain
I am the voice of the future
I am the voice, I am the voice
I am the voice, I am the voice

Help Me Name A Book

As you may know, my goal has been to take the "101 Lies Taught in Church Every Sunday" videos, expand them a little and turn it into a book. As things are developing, it has become apparent that I won't be able to use all 101 lies in one book. To do that would cause the book to be about 400 pages long, which is too long. So I'm going to start with 50 and then, if that book does well, I'll do the other 50 in a separate book.

I've talked with several people both inside and outside the publishing industry who believe that to use the use the word "lies" in the title is going to unnecessarily alienate some people. I chose that title on the videos to attract interest to them on YouTube, but have come to agree that using that title for the book may not be the best idea.

So, this is where I'm asking for your creative help. What title do you think would be a good one? One title that has been suggested in Challenging 50 Things You've Been Taught In Church. I'm okay with that, but not wild about it. Get your creative juices going and let me know your thoughts on a good title. If I use your title, I'll give you 10 free copies of the book, with an inscription from me to whoever you want to give them to.

Your thoughts?

Here's the promo for Walking In The Will of God, on Harvest House Publisher's web site. I'm amazed that the book is even already listed on amazon.com for pre-order. Nobody can say my publisher isn't proactive about getting the book out there asap!

Whew, Done!

I finished the Walking In The Will of God manuscript this morning and have sent it to my publisher. I'm relieved to be done with it, though I did enjoy writing it and believe that God will use it to help many people understand that knowing His will is much easier than their legalistic pasts may have led them to believe.

The original manuscript was about 35,000 words and I've increased it to a little over 50,000 in the past few weeks. My editor, Paul Gossard, has been a real help with his suggestions.

People sometimes ask me how books are written. Authors all have their own approach, but here's what I do.

1. An idea for a book comes to mind.
2. I jot down 8-12 topics around the general theme which could serve as chapters.
3. I begin to write. Unlike some authors, I don't have a thorough outline before I start. One of my friends, an author too, has an extensive outline of his books before he ever starts writing. I'd want to shoot myself if I had to do that. I write in a free-flow style and see what comes out. (Sounds disorganized, huh?)
4. I finish the book, then go back and look for places to add more illustrations or maybe to cite other authors. (I didn't cite other books in this last one.)
5. I send it to my publisher, who assigns it to an editor.
6. The editor makes editorial suggestions, such as, "Say more about this, add an illustration here to help explain what you're talking about, move this section to the top of the chapter as an opener, etc."
7. I make the revisions and submit the final manuscript.

This time, I did something I've never done before. I paid somebody to take the audio teachings I've done on the topic and put the content into a written manuscript form. That way, I had a head start on writing the book before I even started. Until now, I've never had anybody help me with putting together a manuscript, but it occurred to me some time ago that I could do that and possibly produce more material that way. I've done the same thing with the 101 Lies content. So when I start working on that, I'll be way ahead of the game as opposed to starting from scratch.

I enjoy writing, but don't assume that means it's easy because it's not. Plus, just because I enjoy writing doesn't mean I always want to do it. Like anything any of us do, sometimes I write because I have a deadline, not because I feel particularly inspired. To tell the truth, it's not totally unlike the times we all had to write term papers in college. So, if you're in college, don't be a slacker in that area. You never know where it may lead :)

My advice to aspiring authors? Write. It's that simple. Just write. If you want to write so you can become a published author, don't do it. That's a pitiful reason to write. If you want to write because you sense it's in you to do it and you enjoy it, then do it and don't worry about what will happen. God will do what He wants. I have material I wrote when I was in my twenties. You'll never see it...it's too legalistic :) But I wrote even then because I enjoyed it. I have another completely finished book that my publisher didn't want to do. I may or may not eventually publish it myself. It's totally different from anything else I've written. I wrote it just because I wanted to do it. I recommend the same to you - if you want to write, do it because you enjoy it, but don't assume it will be published.

One guy said to me a while back, "I've written my first book, but I haven't decided who I'm going to let publish it yet." I just smiled inwardly and thought, "You are in for a rude awakening." Being published by a professional publisher is like winning the lottery. I'm not exaggerating by saying that, especially now when publishers are cutting back on production because of the economy. One thing I often recommend to people is to self publish. There are advantages to that too... but that's a story for another day. Right now, I'm done writing! I'm off to PF Changs for Chinese food!

God Isn't Angry

"You make light of sin," the email somebody sent me recently charged. The person who sent it went on to say, "God does not turn a blind eye to the sins in our lives. We were created for obedience and if we don't do that, He can't use us and will do whatever is necessary to bring us back to the place of obedience."

I've been teaching the message of God grace since 1990 and still can't get over how insulted so many Christians are when told that God's grace is bigger than their sins. I certainly do not make light of sin. What Bible teacher in his right mind would do that? What I do is make much of grace. Make no mistake about it, God's grace has already overwhelmed the sins of our lifetime. The final score is in: Sin: 0 God:Everything

God hates sin for one simple reason. It's because of what sin does to us. He isn't angry with us about our sin, no more than you would be angry with somebody you love who you found out had cancer. The sins of the world are no longer an offense to God because He conquered sin at the cross. He triumphed. Again, sin grieves God because of what it does to us, not Himself.

The primary reason for our existence in this world isn't to be obedient to God, but to know Him intimately. Obedience will naturally flow from that. Without intimacy, authentic obedience isn't possible. At the most, all we can offer is dead, religious conformity.

If we believe that God is angry when we sin, that is an indicator that our perception of our Father is distorted. Your Father is never angry with you anymore. Your very life is His Son "in whom [He] is well pleased." When we understand that God is never angry with us and that He is 100% on our side all the time, that truth becomes a motivator for us to abandon our sins and allow ourselves to be consciously swallowed up by His loving grace. Living in the awareness of that love is what produces obedience.

What I'm Reading Now

People often ask me, "What are you reading right now?" I've always read a lot. I seldom read one book at a time. Right now, I'm reading these three:

My friend, Mike Quarles, gave me this book after I spoke about Luther during our Grace Walk Leadership Summit in Canada last month. I am really enjoying it. It is a modernized version of Luther's commentary on Galatians. I strongly recommend this one.


My friend, Dave Lesniak, gave me this book because he was greatly impacted by it. I'm about half way through it and find it to be a very encouraging and instructive book about one-on-one discipleship.


I bought this book after seeing the author interviewed on TV. It's a memoir written by a Jewish man who married the daughter of a Methodist preacher. He describes his year long pursuit to understand "the world of Christians." So far, it's okay but nothing I'd recommend spending the money on. It seems that he sought out Jerry Springer type Christian activities as opposed to exploring more mainline Christianity. To be fair, I'm not finished with it but his writing about attending "Christian wrestling matches" and places where there were "Christian mosh pits" seems to suggest that he sought out the extremes among us. It comes across to me like,"Yep, that's those Christians for you."

For over 20 years I used to read three books a week. I don't do that now because I spend time writing that I used to spend reading.

An Excerpt From The Manuscript I'm Working On

If you think you’re still rotten to the core, how are you going to ever be able to believe that God is going to show you the plan He has in mind for you? No, you aren’t dirty anymore. Just because you still get dirt on you doesn’t mean it is in you.

A good illustration of this fact is an incident that happened with Jesus and His disciples when they were in the upper room together. It’s the scene where Jesus was about to wash the feet of His disciples. Peter protested that Jesus would assume such a lowly position of servanthood and said to Him, “There is no way I’m going to let you wash my feet!” Jesus answered Him by saying, “You will if you want to be involved in the plan I have in mind.” Peter blurted back to Jesus, “Then go for it! Wash me from head to toe! I’m in!”

The response from Jesus to Peter is interesting. He said to him: "If you've had a bath in the morning, you only need your feet washed now and you're clean from head to toe. My concern, you understand, is holiness, not hygiene. So now you're clean." (John 13:10, The Message).

The point He was making was that Peter wasn’t a dirty person. He simply had dirt on him at that moment that needed to be wiped off. There is a big difference between the two. Do you see it? Just because you sometimes get dirt (sinful thoughts, feelings, or even actions) on you doesn’t mean that you’ve morphed into a dirty person.

One time many years ago, our family came out of the house to go to church on a Sunday morning. As I turned to close the door, our small dog bolted out of the house and across the yard. We were late leaving for church and I didn’t think I had the time for this kind of scenario.

Impatiently, I took off running across the yard calling our dog that was on mission to escape me. As I chased him down a gentle slope my foot hit a slippery spot on the grass, still covered with morning dew. Down I went. Not just to the ground, but also down the hill . . . all the way down the hill the rolling reverend went. By the time I reached the bottom, I had mud and grass stains all over my clothes.

When I stood up I came to an instant realization of four things of which I was absolutely certain: 1. I wanted that dog to die. Now. 2. My family, laughing hysterically, didn’t understand one iota about Christian compassion. 3. I could say the word I heard coming out of my mouth with no fear that my mother was around to punish me for saying it. 4. I looked filthy dirty.

The immediate challenge at that moment was number four. I had dirt all over me and I had needed to leave for church ten minutes earlier. I’m not a dirty person by nature, but I was covered in dirt at that moment – in more ways than one. What I needed was immediate personal hygiene, to get the dirt off of me and move on toward the plan already in place for my morning.

In the same way, I encourage you not to think of yourself as a dirty person who can’t be used by God. We all blow it at times, but that doesn’t change the fact that, at the core of your being, you are clean because of what Christ has done for you. Maybe you need your feet to be washed off right now because you’ve been walking in the dirt. Maybe you’ve even rolled down the hill. No big deal. Just change clothes (see Romans 13:14) and move on toward the plan God has in place for you.

I’m not minimizing the seriousness of sin here. Nobody enjoys the aftereffect of a roll in the dirt. The point I’m making is that you don’t have to let it wreck your life by believing that you’re a bad person who God can’t use. Your heart isn’t wicked. You’ve been made clean so don’t think otherwise.

Itching Ears

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. - 2 Timothy 4:2-4

Just as the Apostle Paul described, the days are upon us. Itching ears, he called it. Don't let anybody ever tell you that pastors who teach pure grace at church are "tickling people's ears." Trust me, religionists don't want to hear pure grace. They are itching to hear something other than the truth. They want somebody to kick the living daylights out of them for what they've done wrong so that they can share in the payment for their sins. Then they want to hear what they can do for God so they can pat themselves on the back for a job well done. "Spank me hard and tell me I'd better behave." This is the stuff religious highs are made of.

Sound doctrine is an offense in the legalistic church world. The purity of the gospel has been polluted with the perversion of a works based Christianity that centers, not on what God has done or is doing, but on what we ought to be doing. Today, in the world of legalistic Christian religion, it's all about us. People have an itch to hear how they can earn their own way along this Christian journey by doing things that will make God proud of them. They don't get that His pride in them has nothing to do with what they do or don't do.

The truth of the gospel is that we are "accepted in the Beloved" and what we do doesn't have a single thing to do with it. Because of what Christ has done on your behalf, you can sit on your butt from now through the millennial reign and God won't accept you any less. Does that harsh tone make you nervous? I hope so. Sometimes I say things as pointedly as I dare in an attempt to jar the religious mindset of the modern church world and cause people to think for themselves about what the Bible says.

Yep, you can sit on your butt and still be accepted by God. You can also crawl on your hands and knees and never walk upright again. You can eat worms for breakfast. You can wear your clothes inside out. You can shave the left half of your head bald and go for an Afro on the other side. The list of stupid things you could do and still be accepted by God is endless. The point is that you're not stupid so you won't live your whole life that way.

Legalism breeds the fear that if we don't put people on the rock pile of religious responsibility, they might just sit down and do nothing. Or worse, they might go out and do bad things. Nothing could be further from the truth. The grace of God "teaches us to deny ungodliness and to live soberly, righteously and justly in this present age," said Paul to Titus.

In the 2 Timothy passage cited at the top of this article, Paul said what to do in the day of itchy ears. Reprove - the word means "to refute, to bring to the light, to expose." Rebuke - meaning "to show honor to the truth by faulting, chiding, censuring severely." Exhort - to summon someone to your side and encourage them in the truth.

There is a place for all three of these approaches in the grace revolution at hand. The Holy Spirit will show you which to use in each instance you encounter. There are a lot of itching ears out there. For God's sake (literally), don't scratch their itch. Give them the truth of the gospel. Jesus became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. We now have the very nature of Christ and live a godly lifestyle because it is our nature to do so, not because we have to. Our whole life is no more or no less than an expression of His life through us. That's the pure gospel of grace and that's the truth worth fighting for.

Freedom

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that our very act of existence is an act of rebellion.” Albert Camus

In this growing grace revolution that our Father is propelling, those of us who are moving forward with Him must be prepared for misunderstanding and criticism. The Bible says that one day everybody who has ever lived will see Jesus, "And one will say to Him, 'What are those wounds between your arms?' Then He will say, 'Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.'" (Zechariah 13:6)

Remember, it wasn't the God-haters who persecuted Jesus, but the religious people of His day. Don't be surprised when you are misunderstood and maligned for your stand. Jesus said, "Blessed are you when you are persecuted for righteousness sake." The message of the grace walk is the message of righteousness - God's righteousness being given to us without our having to do a single thing to get it. The very idea of that kind of raw grace flies in the face of the religious world.

Live free and you'll be seen as a rebel. Tell people that we don't have to live by religious rules anymore and they'll accuse you of being antinomian (against the law). Tell them that God's love is bigger than they can imagine and they'll accuse you of being a universalist. Tell them that we don't have to do anything and they'll accuse you of teaching passivity. Tell them that all their sins are forgiven - past, present and future - and they'll accuse you of encouraging licentiousness (a license to sin).

Free people look rebellious to those who think prison is God's intended home for us all. What do we do? Just keep telling the truth. Love people enough not to water down the gospel with the works of the law no matter how much they want to you to do that.

Paul asked the Galatians, "So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?" (Galatians 4:16) Don't be surprised when you find the same question coming to your own mind. In fact, if you aren’t ever criticized, you might ask yourself why. Tertullian was one of the first Christian authors whose writings became widespread. He lived 150-200 years after the life of Jesus. He was the man who coined the word “trinity.” (The word isn’t found in the Bible.) About biblical truth, Tertulian wrote, “The first reaction to truth is hatred.

Live free. Live free when people criticize you. Live free when they think you've gone off the deep end. Live free when they think you are irreverent. Live free! They may think your very existence is an act of rebellion, but in reality it is an expression of the righteousness of Almighty God.

A Throne In Heaven

I saw a throne standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. - John (Rev. 4:2)

John, the Apostle, was exiled on the island of Patmos. He must have felt confused at times, trying to make sense of his circumstances. One day while he was worshiping, God parted the heavens and allowed John to see something that would forever change his way of seeing things in this life. Here's what he learned:

1. There Is A Supernatural Reality Around Us.

When the heavens were opened, John saw that there was another reality that transcends this one. It is a supernatural world where our God sits on His throne. He isn't pacing the corridors of heaven because this world is out of control. God is at rest, so we can be too.

We live in a dual world -- the seen and unseen. When we don't like what we see in this world, we can be encouraged to know that the unseen world is the dominant world. When your outlook is bleak, try the uplook.

2. There Is A Sovereign Ruler Over Us.

When the outward look in life seems dismal, the upward look can bring comfort and peace in the midst of any trying situation. John could have said, "Outwardly, I see a barren island imprisoning me, but upwardly I see my God on His throne. That's enough for me!"

Life doesn't just happen. God is in control of every detail. We may feel at times like we've been sentenced to a prison in our circumstances, but God is working out His perfect plan in our lives at every moment.

3. There Can Be A Spirit of Rejoicing Within Us.

Once we know that the world we can see is temporal and that the one we can't see with our eyes in eternal, we'll be able to look up and see the throne with Someone sitting on it. When we see Him and realize that He is in control of life, then we have reason to rejoice regardless of what our outward circumstances may be.

It was from prison that Paul wrote, "Rejoice in the Lord. I'll say it again: Rejoice!" Our joy is in the Lord. No matter what we may face in life, we can find joy because its Source is Eternal, not external. These are exciting days because our Life-Source is an eternal God who loves us with all His heart.

Walking In The Will of God

I'm still working on finishing the manuscript for this book. I have a November 15 deadline, so I'm plowing forward full-speed-ahead. Here's an excerpt I wrote yesterday...


Danny and I were talking one day about how depressed the real estate market has been all over the United States for the past few years. The subject has great importance to him because Danny works for a mortgage company. “Management at our company has already laid off about a third of our employees,” he told me.
“Are you concerned about your job?” I asked him.
“No,” he answered. “I’m believing God for my job. He knows that our oldest son, Dave, is in college now and Ted will start in the fall. If I’ve ever needed a steady income, it’s now. They’re telling us at work that we’re fighting to stay afloat, but I think everything will be okay.”
“I hope so,” I answered.
“I don’t hope. I’m believing in faith,” he responded with mild irritation in his voice.

I immediately knew I had unintentionally said something wrong. I know Danny well enough to understand that his view of faith requires that he affirm with gusto that things will turn out the way he wants. From his perspective, to acknowledge that an outcome any different is even a remote possibility translates to a lack of faith. Faith means believing it will happen the way we’re praying it will happen. It’s that simple to him.

Danny is an example of somebody who thinks he has faith based on how I’ve described that people often misunderstand it. In actuality, that’s not what faith is at all. Faith isn’t thinking positive thoughts about a situation until you finally convince yourself that it will work out the way you want. When the three Hebrew children were threatened with being thrown into the fiery furnace because they refused to bow down to the idol of King Nebuchadnezzar, their response was one of great faith. They said, “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-18).

The faith of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego was in their God, regardless of what the outcome of their circumstances might ultimately prove to be. They said, “Our God is going to deliver us, one way or the other. It may be that He delivers us from the fire or He may deliver us through the fire, but either way we are going to trust Him.” These three weren’t rebuking flames or making loud confessions that they wouldn’t go into the fire. They were simply looking to God and trusting in Him.

The fact is that, like many others already have, Danny could lose His job. If he did lose it, though, that wouldn’t mean his faith failed him or that God let him down. It would simply be the way His heavenly Father was working in Danny’s life to move him ahead in carrying out the divine plan He has for him.

I’m not suggesting that there aren’t times when we can believe with confidence that things will turn out the way we are hoping. There are some things that we know without a doubt are God’s will because of His word to us. I’m discussing here the times when we can’t be sure what His will is because He has been silent on the matter. At times like that, we can’t try to use what we may call faith as a way to force God’s hand and get Him to do what we want.

To confidently walk in God’s will for your life, the only thing you need to do is trust Him. Faith is nothing more or nothing less than looking at things through the lens of confidence in God and His word. The answer, then, to feelings of weak faith is simply to focus on the truths we know about our God. Do you feel like you have weak faith? Then remind yourself of who God is and on the fact that He is always reliable. That’s true no matter how things may look at the time life seems unstable. You don’t have to feel great confidence about what the results of your circumstances will be. You only need to cast yourself in total abandon on the One who will determine those results and rest in Him, waiting for Him to do what He will do even though you can’t make any sense of it at the time.