SHADRACH, THE BLIND MAN, AND FAITH

SHADRACH, THE BLIND MAN, AND FAITH

Do you have the kind of faith that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego had (Daniel 1-3) when they were thrown into a pit of fire and came out untouched? “Upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.” Or do you have the faith of the man who was born blind, who came to Jesus and received his sight? (John 9: 1-7). Many years ago, when faced with death, I told the man who was pointing a gun at my face, to put it down in the name of Jesus Christ, and the man put it down.

 

Lately I’ve been thinking about my faith. There are things I have faith for, things that no one can talk me out of, but then there are other things where my faith is not nearly so strong. I think that’s probably pretty typical for most of us. I knew there was a verse where God lets us know that our faith can grow, so I decided to take a closer look at that verse, and start confessing it daily. Here’s what I found:

 

“We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth” (2 Thess. 1:3).

 

I’m only going to go over three words, and you can look up the rest in the Concordance. (All of these definitions are found in the Strong’s Concordance to the Bible – the book or online).

 

The first word I want to look at is the word “faith.” What is it, according to the original spiritual download from God to Paul? Paul got this message and wrote it in the Greek language. In Greek the word “faith” is translated as follows: It means “conviction of truth,” “assurance of belief.” In other words, it’s what we are totally convinced of, what we are absolutely assured of. Faith are those things we are “confident of,” convinced of,” what we “rely on by inward certainty.”

 

Our faith is our “persuasion of the truthfulness of God and our reliance upon Christ.” By definition, it is a “yielding to.”

 

When we look honestly at our thoughts, and then our subsequent actions, we may find that sometimes we don’t think or act according to our faith in God or in the Lord Jesus. Instead, we go on to think and do, and problem-solve, without consulting by faith with our Lord on the matters that concern us. But God knows how hard it is in our world to always do what He instructs in 2 Corinthians 10:5: “casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

 

Because we are not always great at doing 2 Corinthians 10:5, God gives us a promise, something to pray for, back in 2 Thessalonians 1:3. He says our faith can grow! He says: “groweth exceedingly.” In Greek it is only one word “huperauxano.” It is translated: “to increase above ordinary degree, to enlarge, over and above, superior, above and beyond, very highly, and very chiefest.”  And isn’t that how we want our faith to be?!

 

We want our faith to grow to the highest level we can possibly have. We want to be as huge in faith as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, as huge in faith as the man born blind, as gigantic as the faith of Daniel when he was thrown to the lions, as powerful as the faith of the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years and one touch of Jesus healed her completely.

 

“And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: for she said within herself, ‘If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.’ But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said:

 

“’Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.” And the woman was made whole from that hour” (Matt. 9: 20-22).

 

These people from the Bible had the kind of faith we all want to have, and have in abundance. Let’s start to call it in with our words. Let’s put claim to what God says is ours: “Our faith groweth exceedingly.” What an exciting time to be alive. Maybe you’d like to take a little time this week to read those records I mentioned here.

Include your Heavenly Father in everything! Happy Fathers’ Day!

 

Love, Carolyn

See my publications on Amazon: Great keys to living a Christian life every day. I’m starting to get the chapters together for WINGS: A Journey in Faith Volume 3. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=BOOKS+BY+cAROLYN+mOLICA&crid=16D4X7I4BV76Z&sprefix=books+by+carolyn+molic%2Caps%2C450&ref=nb_sb_noss