I think there comes a time in every believer’s life when Father God wants to see if you truly have faith in HIm. Professing Him is wonderful and good! But actually BELIEVING what you profess is going deeper.
HOW DEEP IS YOUR FAITH?
Do you have “walk along the shore only” kind of faith – where you are perfectly happy right where you are with no desire to go any further. In Him. You know, we are not saved by works. Romans 10:9 tells us:
If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Jesus purchased our salvation by taking our sins upon Himself and dying a horrible death that He DID NOT deserve on the cross FOR US. To restore a right relationship with the Father FOR us! Salvation was paid for by a heavy price – but by Him NOT by us. We CANNOT earn salvation by works. The Bible tells us in Isaiah 64:6 it says:
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
Romans 3:22 tells us:
This righteousness is given through faith ina] Jesus Christ to all who believe.
You cannot be a “good enough” person, what we consider our “goodness” without the blood of Jesus applied to our sins, our “good enough” is still as “filthy rags” before the Father. This should cause us to want to praise God more for sending His Son, our Savior – Jesus to come and do what we ourselves could NEVER do! Even now Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father interceding on OUR behalf! So I ask you, does He deserve an only “walk by the shores only” kind of faith?
THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO BE FOUND IN HIM!
You can have that type of walk in Christ and based upon His sacrifice still make it to Heaven, I don’t know about you but when I stand before the Father and He shows me my life, I don’t want to see my life portrayed as someone who was too afraid to get her toes wet… Too afraid to go deeper in Him! The treasures of faith are found in the deeper parts of our walk with Him, if we ALLOW Holy Spirit to take us there! Even right now looking back at my 36 years walking with Jesus, every time I allowed Him to take me deeper in faith, I gained SO much more than I could EVER imagine! Not only has God blessed me, but through going deeper, I’ve been able to experience a deeper more personal relationship with my Savior. They call it a “personal relationship” for a reason.
Let’s put it in a way you might relate:
You are introduced to this Person you’ve been told about for a while now, and from what you have heard from the people telling you about Him, He sounds like someone worth getting to know yourself; so you decide to form your own opinion and meet Him. He’s loving and kind and generous, you’ve never met ANYONE like Him in your life! But as He indicates He wants to deepen His relationship with you, you put your hands up to halt Him and tell Him that you are perfectly happy with your friendship JUST the way it is. Even though EVERYTHING deep inside of you is TELLING you to TRUST Him and go deeper. But you are in control of your comfort level. He nods at your decision, not pressing you to go further and turns at the pulling of another’s arm deeper into the water with them. From the shoreline you can see them playing in the water, going deeper and deeper and while something deep inside of you longs to go out and join them in the fun, your fear and unwillingness to leave the comfort zone of the shore keeps you from venturing deeper.
There is SO much more for you in Christ! Jesus LONGS for you to agree to allow Him to take you DEEPER in your relationship with Him!
BUT WE GET TO CHOOSE OUR LEVEL OF INTIMACY IN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM!
What we don’t realize in making our decision, is that “life” is going to happen to us either way! Remember, we live in a fallen world so the safety of standing or walking along the seashore is really just a facade of safety!
SAFETY IS FOUND IN CHRIST ALONE!
When Jesus is beckoning through Holy Spirit’s prompting for you to go deeper with Him, it is because He knows that that is where peace is found! That is where TRUE safety is found – in CHRIST alone! That is where answered prayer is found!
HE’S CALLING YOU TO GO DEEPER WITH HIM NOT FOR HIS SAKE, BUT FOR YOURS!
Jesus said in John 16:33:
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
God’s Word – the Bible is truth! Part of going deeper with Him is reading your Word so you can grow in Christ, otherwise you will become stunted. Hiding God’s Word in your heart is allowing yourself to grow closer to Him and allowing Him to show you AMAZING things! He did NOT say it would be easy! But with Jesus holding your hand I truly attest to you that it is SO worth it. You can’t TRULY love someone and NOT want to get as close as possible to them. God loves you SO much and His desire is for you to grow in your walk with Him! And here is the thing, it is PERSONAL between YOU and HIM. Just as unique as the fingerprints He has created upon your hand. Your relationship with God is between YOU and HIM – no one else! He has given you Holy Spirit to be your Guide! Your Comforter! Your Teacher! His job is to help you deepen your walk with Jesus but He’s never going to push you to do it. The decision on how deep you want to go is ALWAYS up to you!
Reflecting back on my walk, I see mistakes I have made along the way… I see true moments of growth through painful times. I see that once I chose to walk with Jesus, He has been with me through it all.
GOD DESIRES TO GROW YOUR FAITH, THERE IS SO MUCH HE WANTS TO SHOW YOU!
Our free-will that our loving Father created us with is one that is never taken away, that to me is a TRUE sign of how loving a God we have. Even when some of the decisions that we make hurt Him. But here is the thing – God uses those “bad” decisions that we make that ultimately hurt us as times of lessons to draw us back closer to Him because He loves us! Boy, when I look back on the “stupidity of me!” (I’m cringing and laughing at the same time…)
There comes a time in your walk where you will have to decide if you will allow God to take you deeper. Truly it is a trust thing, He wants to know if you TRUST Him.
Up until He stood before the giant, Goliath, David ALWAYS had a choice! When he had declared that he would fight Goliath those around him hearing it mocked him, made fun of him – David could have focused on their rejection and walked away from the battle… But He chose to go deeper in God. He stood upon His faith, instead of being overwhelmed by the size of the giant standing before Him, he focused on the size of His God Who is GREATER than anything presenting itself.
THE BATTLE WAS THE LORD’S AND DAVID BELIEVED THAT AND STOOD UPON HIS FAITH. FAITH IN ACTION WAS HIS HURLING THAT STONE AT THE GIANT (THE SITUATION BEFORE HIM). VICTORY WAS FOUND IN GOD ALONE.
And here is another thing – how do you know that the salvation of other people is not dependent upon your growing in Christ? If you are part of God’s Called Remnant, He has saved you for SUCH a time as this! God IS calling for more Davids to come forward!
Noah was mocked by his peers for building an ark upon the land! No rain in sight! Don’t fabulize him into a “fairy tale character” – I’m quite sure, like would be the case with you and me – the mocking hurt! He could have turned his head at ANY time and waved his hand saying, “I’m done. That’s it! I don’t want to do this anymore!”
NOAH DECIDED TO GO DEEPER AND INSTEAD OF CONCEEDING TO THE MOCKING OF THOSE SURROUNDING HIM, HE CHOSE TO OBEY GOD’S INSTRUCTIONS AND BUILD THAT ARK
And can you imagine those people’s surprise when the rains came pouring down and they realized that Noah had been right all along??? There Noah and his family and the animals were safe and sound in the confides of the ark that Noah BY FAITH had built at the instructions of the Lord INSPITE of their ridicule and mocking. How those words probably echo’d again and again in his ears when he heard their fists repeatedly knocking upon the sides and doors of the ark to let them in, but God had sealed those doors shut. They had chosen their fate.
Time and time again the Bible is filled with examples of people who chose (and who didn’t) to go deeper in their faith with God. The cost at the time felt high – leaving families and familiar places for the unknown (as was the case with Abraham and Sarah), believing God for what the world would deem “impossible” but with God ALL things are possible, NOTHING is impossible with Him.
Even the disciples at the moment Jesus needed them most – fled. All but one that is, who CHOSE to stay by Jesus’ side.
WHAT WILL YOU CHOOSE?
Will you choose to step into deeper waters of faith with Jesus? Will you allow Holy Spirit to be your Teacher and your Guide through the situational waters that life presents? Our safety and protection is found in Christ alone. The times may have changed but the TRUTH has remained the same. God LOVES you! You can TRUST Him! You just have to put one foot in front of the other and go deeper – there is NO greater peace, joy, love or contentment that can be found in any other way than leaving what you thought was the safety of the shore (it never was all that safe as you believed it was any ways…) and experience the love and depth that God has for you – you JUST have to trust Him, take one step at a time and venture out. He’s with you ALL the way.
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