Bold Faith

Recently, I made a statement about something I think God is doing in my life. 

Now, I confess plainly that I don't always know what God is doing. I know He is always working for good and that there are things I just can't understand now. I generally know when He's behind something that's happened, something I cannot otherwise explain. 

But there are also times, after more than two decades of faith, that I just know in the pit of my soul, in the depths of my being, with every fiber of every bone in my body, that I have a secure word from God and am confident in what is unfolding, whether I can see it yet or not. Whether I can explain it or not. 

Often, I can't explain it. It would be...unthinkable, to the world's logic and understanding. Impossible. Unlikely. And yet, something is in my soul, tapping on this space of faith and assuring me it's not only going to happen; it's already happening. 

From my experience, these things do come to pass, almost in an instant. I hold them in my heart, knowing and trusting in them. Proclaiming them. And then, there comes this moment when it's just suddenly...complete. And BAM!

God has done a thing. 

Because of my confident assurance, I have become less shy about speaking such things. Might as well let everyone know what I know, right? God is doing a thing. They don't have to believe it. They can roll their eyes. They can ask questions I don't know the answers to yet. But the world is gonna know. 

And you can tell a lot about how a person's faith is going by the way they respond to such a bold proclamation. 

I've been thinking about this recently as I made my most recent statement. Something I know God is doing that doesn't make any sense and doesn't seem possible and "science" wouldn't support and a whole host of other things, except that I know that it is a work that is being done right now, and my bones ache knowing that it will soon be complete. 

The responses I have received have been...interesting. They are the responses that one typically receives to bold proclamations of faith, but they are important to look closer at. Because they can help us understand what faith is...and what it isn't, even when a reaction sometimes uses the words of faith. 

So I thought I'd spend some time this week talking about a few of these common responses. You can probably relate to them. You have probably heard some of them, maybe even quite often, and you might even have said a few of them from time to time. 

For today, what I want you think about is how you respond when someone makes a bold statement about what God is doing in their life. What does it make you start thinking about?