Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Thankfully, I don't hear this very often because I believe we've grown and we've understood, and because we've gone through health issues, maybe we have a different perspective. But I've heard it said before, if they only had more faith in God, they would be healed of their health trial.

That's a that's kind of a hard statement to hear or to even realize that sometimes it's been phrased. It's kind of like kicking the man down while he's still on the ground, isn't it? What about these questions? Maybe I wonder what they did or what sin is going on in their life that God is choosing not to heal them. Or maybe I'm not sure there I'm sure there's a lesson God is trying to teach them, but they must not be listening or seeing what it is or else he would remove this trial from their life. Sadly, sometimes these statements are shared when one of our brothers or sisters are going through a challenge. But I ask, is this a fair statement or even a fair question to ask? Are these accurate statements that can be supported from the Bible?

Now, I'll admit that this is not the most encouraging way that I've ever opened up one of the sermons with you, right? Maybe afterwards you'll say, good job today, pastor, but you know what? It wasn't your best sermon.

Wasn't the most encouraging. Wasn't the best one I've heard from you, right?

But how are we doing as we work through our thoughts and feelings as it relates to our health difficulties or the health trials in our family? How do we properly work through the challenges? How do we allow ourselves not to go too low from that mountain top that God wants us to stay at? He hasn't called us to live in the valley. He's actually provided so many blessings, so many avenues to rise to the top of that mountain and to stand and look over everything that he wants to give us. But we recognize that's not a physical blessing right now, is it always? It's more of a spiritual mindset that we have to maintain of being on that mountain top.

But we can slide down that rocky hill down into the valley where it's cold and where the sun doesn't creep in as easily. So how do we get back on that mountain top that God wants us to be on? And how do we not lose faith in our great God who loves us so deeply and wants the best for us?

Let's dive in and begin answering these questions as we can consider the topic of our faith today.

What is faith? I think most of us would be able to answer this pretty clearly because we've walked this walk. We've been on this journey with God, but we always have new faces. We have young people who are with us. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11 is what we often refer to as the faith chapter because the writer of Hebrews gave us a lot to consider when we see the lives of those who have lived their life and faith of their Lord and Savior. But it opens up, chapter 11 does, with actually the best definition that we have in Scripture for what is faith. And so if you'll turn to Hebrews 11 and verse 1, we'll read this definition that God has inspired and that gives us a lot of guidance.

He says, now faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. From the New Living Translation, it says, faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen, and it gives us assurance about the things we cannot see. So obviously, faith is this component that is internal to have belief and trust in things that we can't see. And that's hard, right? Because it's much easier for me to jump in the car, drive someplace, get the things I need for food from the grocery store, go to work and make money for my earnings for the week so I can pay my bills and I can buy fun things for my kids.

It's much easier when we have control of our lives. We feel it's much easier because we're making decisions and we're moving forward and we can see the progress we're making. But God says that's not faith, that's just living life, right? He says faith is the evidence of doing things that you don't see necessarily God and understand exactly why that we're going through these things. Why we continue to have a hope that is not on the physical but a hope that is on the spiritual.

We have hope that will be sons and daughters, but yet you and I have not reached that pinnacle in our life yet. And so the writer says this is faith. He goes on in verse 2, for by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

This is another aspect of faith, right? You and I were not there when the foundations of the universe were laid, yet we are experiencing that. We're a product of that. But if someone asks you where did the world come from, you have to go out on faith, right? And say there's a God that created everything that we have. He gave us this. It was for us because He created us in His own image. And we go through the creation story or we go through part of the plan of God of why this universe exists. But I've never sat down with God personally. I've never had a conversation like we have, like we're doing right now with Jesus Christ.

So I have to go out on faith saying this is what I believe. I don't have any doubt that this is what happened. But it takes faith because we were not there when God laid the foundations of the earth. And then verse 6, it says, without faith, and this is a warning and a responsibility as Christians, without faith it is impossible to please Him.

So it's a requirement of our walk with God is to have faith. For He who comes to God must believe that He is, and so there's one component of it, belief, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. So there's a reason why you and I are sitting here today, why we hold our Bibles and the Word of God as the benchmark of the instruction and the truth of life.

It's because we recognize there's a better way to go. There's a goal that God has for us, and so He leads us in our journeys of one, believing Him, coming to understand and know Him, but then saying, then keeping going in this because we want this relationship with God and our elder brother. So again, faith is a critical component of our Christian calling, and so many events of life build and test our faith in the one and only God of the universe.

I don't know if you remember that very first time you ever prayed to God. Sometimes people have that aha moment. They could think back and say, I remember that first time because I didn't know if there was a God. I didn't grow up in a God-fearing home. I was never taught about God, and so some people remember that very first time that they prayed to God.

Maybe they tried praying. Maybe you tried praying as a young person and saying, I wonder if this God that everybody's talking about is actually there. Is He going to pick up the other line of the phone? Is He listening? And if He is, is He actually going to answer the prayer? And then maybe that was a time that your faith was being tested and tried. Maybe it was trusting God to lead your family. Maybe it was trusting God for you to take your hands off the wheel of life and to let God drive your car, so to speak. That takes faith because, again, we love having our hands on the steering wheel of life, don't we? Because then I'm in charge, I know where I'm going, and if I wreck the car, it's my fault, right? But if God wrecks the car, well, now I've got a challenge I've got to work through, right? If God takes me off the path and I'm like, but God, you missed the turn, we're supposed to turn here. And He goes, I know. Are you going to come with me? It's like, oh, that doesn't feel comfortable right now. I think our entire journey with God, I know our entire journey of God is a walk of faith, and it's not always easy. So going back again to Hebrews 11, verse 1, and again from the New Living Translation, I loved how this brought it down to kind of a more, more, what would you say, modern take on the passage. It says, faith is a confidence of what we hope for will actually happen, and it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

That part about not being able to see is the hard part of life, right? Because we go to God in faith with our requests for our needs in life. We go to, especially when it comes to our health trials and being the focus, kind of what we're talking about today, we go to God knowing He can hear, knowing He sees, knowing He understands the source of whatever we're going through, this illness, this problem. But we can't see ourselves what's actually happening, and that's the tough part of this. I remember growing up in the church, and we'd go to the Feast of Tabernacles, and as a kid who didn't keep holidays of society, that was my highlight of the year, right? A lot of us who've raised children, that's their highlight, the Feast of Tabernacles. We get to travel, stay in a hotel, eat out at restaurants. Maybe you don't get to do that very often any other time of the year. We didn't take vacations other than to see my family, like grandparents, aunts and uncles. We'd take a few trips to see family, but to go someplace, like a destination with a beach or a pool, that was very rare, except for at the Feast. And so, but every year I knew my parents were saving their tithe so that we could go. I had faith that my parents were doing their part to do that so that I could then go to the Feast. I had faith that they would make reservations and get a hotel room so we could be able to go, that dad would... sometimes I saw him do it, sometimes I knew he took the car someplace, but they would get the car ready for the Feast, because sometimes our cars in the 80s, they weren't the most reliable here in the United States, were they? Some of the American 70s and 80s, some of those American-made cars, they had their struggles, right? And so I'd see dad working on the car or taking it in so that we could even go to the Feast, get new tires. And then I also had faith that mom and dad would have a like feast presence for me. That was the one thing that was fun too, right? You go to the Feast and then there's a wrapped package that you didn't see mom or dad bring, but it was there and then they give it to you on one day of the Feast. When I was really little, it was a Feast, it was a gift every day of the Feast. And what a joy that was. And I trusted that they were doing their part in all these things, even though I never saw it. I never knew what worked and went into it. I didn't check their bank account to say, well, do you have your second tie with mom and dad? But I trusted that they were doing these things so that we could go to the Feast. When I think about like trying to break down what you and I are doing in our life and to have kind of a physical idea, that's one of those that stands out to me, is the way that my parents, I had trust, I had faith.

And obviously, this is just a physical example.

And we know that what God has provided for us goes much further than just feast gifts and a car ride and hotel reservation. God has given us so many things already that what we can have so much faith in what He has already started, He's going to finish all the way through, that we will receive everything that He desires for His children.

But again, when does that occur? Today? This next coming feast? No, it's further down the road, isn't it? It's after these physical lives come to an end. It's after the plan that we heard a little bit about from prophecy occurs. It's when our Lord and Savior returns. But there's no difference in the hope and the faith that you and I have than the hope and faith that our family before us had, that the apostles who walked with Jesus had, that the prophets of the Old Testament had, that King David had, that Job had, that Adam had. I mean, we can go all the way back to those who walked with God. None of them have received the promises of the kingdom yet, but they kept their vision on that, and that's a requirement for us today as well. We go forward in life with this faith in the unseen. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 5. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 5.

Paul shares with the church in Corinth, he says, Now he who has prepared us for this very thing is God. He's the one that's walking with us. He's the one that's journeying with us, who has also also given us the Spirit as a guarantee, the Holy Spirit as a guarantee on this eternal life. And so we are always confident. I love how he says that. He's not wavering on this. He's not saying, well, when I'm on the mountaintop, I'm confident. He's saying, I'm always confident. We have to always be confident knowing that while we are at home in this body, this physical body that has its aches and pains, it has its problems, it has its dysfunction, he says, knowing while we are at home in this body, we are absent from the Lord. And then he says, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Again, it's easier at times to go through life when we can put our hands on the steering wheel, when we can drive our cars of life, when we can make the decisions and then reap the benefit from it, whether it's our job or where we live in our house. Sometimes it's easier when we feel like we have control.

But another great analogy would be with the control that we have, with the environment that we have, is if I asked you to walk from the back of the room up to the front right now, those in the back, you'd have no issues navigating through this room right now, because we have light, you can see, you have the functions, you have your abilities.

But would it take more faith if I shut the lights off? And it was a completely dark room, and then I said the first one up here gets $100, and now you're going to be like, not only are you not really thinking about the room, you're now trying to trip Mary Bowerman. I'm sorry, nobody would trip Mary. We would all yield and let Mary win in a heartbeat, wouldn't we? But it would take quite a bit more faith if the room was dark, if the path was uncertain, if you couldn't see it with your eyes, you couldn't feel it with your hands.

And this is where Paul is saying, we walk by faith, not by our sight. How many times have you been misled by your sight? Walking through the house on a bright, sunny day, and what do you do? You trip over something that is right there in plain sight. You just missed it. Your body missed it. Your shoe grabbed it as you went by. You should say that the carpet grabbed hold as I walked by, right? We can trip so easily by our own sight. And so God and Paul are saying here, we walk by faith.

Turn with me to Ephesians 2 and verse 8. We're going to come back to this walking by faith, not by sight in a moment. But first, let's turn to Ephesians 2 and verse 8.

Give Paul's writing to now the church in Ephesus, and he shares this about faith. He says, Ephesians 2 and verse 8, he says, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. He says, For by grace we have been saved, by grace which is God's goodness, his mercy, his love. The best way to just think through it in my own mind is it's every attribute of God is his grace and the way that he interacts with us. So his goodness, his mercy, his long suffering, his patience, by grace, by his whole being and heart and mind and attitude, it says that we've been saved. And it says we've done nothing on our own to deserve that, nothing that would earn it, nothing that would build up enough of a bank account that we could then go and purchase this. It says we've done nothing, we've brought nothing to the equation except for a willing heart and mind. And even that we sometimes battled, right? I still battle that. God, I think I know better. God, I think I would rather do this. So we I still battle this one. He says, For by grace you have been saved, and we've been saved through faith. Because you and I, again, are not recipients of the promise. We are not recipients of eternal life right now. But yet we have the down payment. We have the promise that he will finish the work, that he will give this to us. But we've had to walk out on faith. We've had to change our lives. We've had to go in a new direction of saying, I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He died for my sins. I want to go in newness of his life and to put on Christ. And so I'm going to go forward in my faith. Whatever comes its way, whatever comes will come, but this is the way I'm going to go. This leads us to another important concept of faith that is vital for us to understand. Faith is a complete trust in a holy and sovereign God despite our circumstances. Now, when everything is going pretty easy, it's easy to have faith in this unseen God, right? When things are working out in the right way, we got a job, we got employment, our kids are healthy, things are moving in the way that we would want it to go. Oh, we completely trust God and we know he's sovereign, we know he's holy, and everything's great.

But what happens when the circumstances change of life?

We trust God will honor all of his promises to each one of us. This has to be the mindset that we maintain. And this isn't a way to control God or to force him to give us what we want. It's to bend our will to his. When we have faith in God, he will align our desires with his purpose when we pray for his will to be done in our lives. That's a huge thing. And I'm still figuring this one out. I'm still battling this at times, right? God, you want me to bend and align my desires for life to fit your will. I don't know how to do that always. I struggle with that at times. And I think I'm not alone. I think we would probably all agree that aligning our desires with his purpose is a challenge. But this is also that challenge that we face when we walk in faith. Turn with me to Romans 8 and verse 28.

Bending our will to God. I hope it gets easier. I'll ask some of you guys who've lived a little bit longer, does it get easier as you get older? Please tell me. I'm seeing some headshakes now. See, now you're hurting my heart. I was hoping it gets easier, right?

It does get easier in some sense, right? Because we do find a way at times, get tired of just continually kicking the rocks along this journey and realize, I just want to give more of myself to God. But then our nature jumps up and says, hang on, I want to grab the steering wheel for a bit. And then we give into that, right? That's probably the part you guys are shaking your head about, because there's still that own nature that grabs hold. But as we continue to walk this journey, and we align our desires more with this purpose, things do change. It gets better. It gets easier.

But we still have to fight this battle that just doesn't go away.

Notice what Paul says in Romans 8 verse 20. He says, And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God. Then tell me why I'm going through my health trial.

All right, because that sounds like to me that God is just saying, All things work together for good to those who love God. I love God. I've accepted his son. So therefore, God, you owe me. You need to make these things work out good. And then for me as a pastor, I've had people say, so then tell me without making, without an, don't give me an answer that's hollow and empty. Tell me why I'm going through what I'm doing, what I'm going through right now. Because it sounds like God's saying, and if he's a God who gives promises and follows up, that he says, All things work together for good to those who love God.

But we have to finish the rest of the sentence, don't we?

It says, To those who are called according to his purpose, His purpose, His vision for our life, His vision to ultimately bring sons and daughters into his kingdom and to give them all things, that's what God is saying, that all things will work together for good according to his purpose. But what happens when his purpose doesn't align with our goals for life?

Going on in verse 29, he says, For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. So God's saying this desire to have a family, this desire to have sons and daughters, was predestined before the creation of the world.

And it says that he, speaking of his own son, Jesus Christ might be the firstborn among many brethren. This is his plan, to bring many people into his family, with Jesus Christ being our elder brother and the firstborn, or the first fruit. He goes in verse 30, Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called, that would be me and you, whom he called, these he also justified. We live in a justification and a oneness with God, and whom he justified, these he also glorified.

Are you and I glorified yet? In the spiritual sense, in the fulfillment of what God ultimately wants to give us, we have not received that glorified body yet. That's down the road. And so we see that this is a process that God is working in the lives of man.

But again, the challenge comes in, because the vision that God is giving us, when we're in the midst of a trial, doesn't always make sense. Or the vision can sometimes be really fuzzy. We're going through a difficulty. We're going through a challenge. I don't understand the goal at the end of this, God. I don't understand how you're going to work all this out for good. Or even the vision can be really limited.

We want to see more. We want to think like and understand like God thinks. Show me more, because I, what I'm seeing doesn't add up. But God shares through here that He has a purpose. And then we have to go out on faith and trust that if He has a purpose, then it will work out in spite of what we're going through or what is happening.

But that's easy to just say, right? It's another thing to actually live through that. It's not always an easy place to be. We could talk about Job and his trials We could talk about Job and his trials, right? None of us really want to ever go where he went.

Losing his entire family other than his wife, losing all his wealth and prosperity, losing his home, losing everything was lost except for his own life and his wife's life. But even his own health was lost for a time through what he went through.

But yet, what happened to God? Brought him through and redeemed him. We could talk about David, right? David did nothing wrong. He was not perfect, right? He's a human being like me and you, but he didn't do anything wrong when God ordained him to be the next king of Israel. And then what happens right after? Saul says, I'm not happy. Let's go kill David. And he goes on the run. He has to go on the run to escape being murdered by King Saul. That doesn't sound like according to God's plan. God's plan was for him to become king, right?

But yet, David suffered through. He didn't try to take things into his own hands. And in time, God granted him that.

What about Joseph? Joseph is one of those we often go to in a sermon like this or consider, right? Because God gave him visions about his future, just like he's kind of given you and me visions about our future, right? We know what we're predestined to be. We know what God wants us to become in his family. David had these visions, or Joseph had these visions, of becoming these roles of being over in charge of his brothers. Problem was, he went and told his brothers his vision. And that's what led down this crazy path. So he gets sold into slavery. He gets bought out of slavery. He's serving Potiphar. He's got a good job. He's in charge of everything.

And then Potiphar's wife throws a wrench in the whole thing. Yet, he doesn't sin in this. He's still doing what he's supposed to, right?

And then he gets thrown in prison. And then that doesn't go well.

Someone's supposed to go and share a message with Pharaoh and tell him about this guy who can tell visions.

And yet... Was it the baker or the butler? I can't remember which one. I should have looked it up.

When he got out and went back to serving Pharaoh, didn't share the message.

That, to me, could have been one of the hardest moments. Because you have hope again, right? The hope has been replaced. Just like when you're going through a health trial or something happens and you get hope. It feels wonderful.

I can't imagine. He's sitting in a chair by that jail door every day, looking down the hallway, waiting for maybe the butler, baker.

One wasn't coming, the other had the opportunity to. Maybe it was Pharaoh's right-hand man.

Maybe even could... Would Pharaoh himself seek me out in this jail cell because of these visions that he once answered.

And then day after day, no one comes down the hallway looking for Joseph.

We see in that story, just like David, just like Job, eventually Joseph was in a way redeemed back, bought back by God, and giving these many blessings.

You may feel like, yeah, but where's my redemption story? When is God going to bring me through this trial?

Because he did this for Job, he did this for Joseph and David.

But ultimately, we have to also consider, are any of these men or any of these...

the people in the faith chapter, are they still here with us today?

They're not.

They're... All their times eventually came, even as God walked them through their journey, even after he redeemed them, brought them out of an impossible situation, the end of their life physically still eventually came.

Sometimes we may try to force our desire ahead, and God may allow us to do things our way. I gotta... You gotta put that in quote, right?

If we really want to go and grab the steering wheel of life, sometimes God will let us have it, and he'll say, Okay, I'll walk with you on this journey, but you're not going to be happy where this is going.

But even when we take twists and turns, our God is still with us, and it's part of the journey at times.

James gives us a warning about being careful of our motives when we ask something of God. Notice James 4 in verse 2.

James 4 in verse 3. Because just like our vision can play games with us, you can't always trust your vision, I think our motives are often even worse.

We fool ourselves often, or we try to fool ourselves by saying, Well, my motivation's right. I love God, or this would be a good thing for me. And I'm asking for the right reasons, right? If I'm rich, then I can give more money to the church. That's a great motivation why I should win the lottery.

But what is the real motivation from wanting all that wealth? Is it so you can give 100% to the church? No, I'll give more than a tithe. I'll give 20%.

But I'll keep the other 80, right? We've got to always be careful of our motives. And James talks about that in James 4 verse 2. He says, You lust and you do not have. You murder and you covet, and you cannot obtain. Like, you're doing these things, but you're not getting anything that's filling your heart. You fight and you worry, yet you do not have because you do not ask. So somebody would say, Okay, great. I'll ask God to heal myself. I'll ask God to fix the situation I'm going through. He says, You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures.

The New Living Translation says, You want what you don't have, so you scheme and you kill to get it. You're jealous of what others have, but you can't get it. So you fight and you wage war, and you take it from them, yet you don't have what you want, because you don't ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong. You want only what will give you pleasure.

Now, that's a hard statement when we consider our health, right? Because we know that God wants us to have good health. He designed our bodies in a magnificent way to work, as they're supposed to. And so you could read this and say, well, doesn't God want me to have a healthy life? He does.

He does.

But he also knows that if we only have pleasure in this life, what will we get in the end?

I can only answer for myself, but I know I would be a big spoiled brat of a human being. If all I ever got in life was everything that I ever wanted, right, as a kid, that's what I thought should be how life goes, right? If I get everything I want as a kid, then life is going to be grand. It's going to be perfect. It's going to be beautiful. It'll be fun. All these things, it will be wonderful.

But thankfully, I didn't have a parent that gave me everything. They did a lot. But I didn't have a parent who just gave me everything, because what would I have become as an adult?

Who would I be in the end?

Would I be able to overcome and to dig deep when the time calls for that?

Would I be able to persevere through trial and difficulty or disruption of life? If we only got what we always wanted, would we develop the fruit that comes from enduring through pain or challenge?

Now, I know that can fall flat if you're currently in the midst of a trial, right? Because you're like, yeah, but you don't know how bad I hurt right now. You're right. I don't.

But we've all been through difficulties. We've been through hardships. I have not maybe been through exactly what you're going through, but we've all understand and have tasted aspects of it that we can recognize. Where would we be if we didn't have these challenges?

If we only focus on whatever our request is to God, as James is warning us here, then we run the risk of being left with nothing if our request is refused.

It's kind of like putting all of your eggs in one basket to God and says, God, I need this more than anything. And this is the only answer I can get is for you to fix my health trial and my health situation.

And then if he decides the answer is no or not right now, we could be left with nothing.

And that's a scary place to be in my mind.

That's an unsettling place to be, because if we have nothing, then where do we go forward from?

If our only focus on what is what we want from God, and our vision is only focused on that one thing, then our faith could take a huge punch. And we have to be careful and be warned of that. But when we ask according to what God wants for our life, and then sometimes the only thing that we're left with at the end is faith and hope itself. Sometimes that's what we receive back from God when we ask for his help, when we ask for his intervention, and he says, not right now, but I'm going to leave you with my hope and my faith that I am still God and I still have a huge plan for you.

That is something. That is something that goes beyond healing. It's something goes beyond money or a job.

Because jobs and money and health, they come and go, right? Just like the people in the Bible of old, none of them are alive now. They're all their lives came to an end. All of their money either failed them or became worthless. Their health even failed them.

You and I are going to live that same exact course.

But if our answer from God is don't lose your faith and hope, then that's something. That's huge. So, going back to what we read in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 7, how do we develop the strong faith needed to walk by faith and not by sight? We're going to try to work through this kind of quickly.

How do we build a strong faith needed to walk by faith and not by sight? Romans 10 gives us a little bit of an answer. Romans 10 and verse 17.

Romans 10, Paul says in verse 17, So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So where does faith come from? You want to grow in faith? You want to understand more? You want to exercise this aspect? It comes by hearing. And where does hearing come from? By the word of God. And we know there's multiple ways that we can hear God, whether it's through being here and present, having a minister, having other elders who share God's word and expound on the scriptures. That's one way. But we also know that each of us has a responsibility to dive into God's word, to read it, to understand it, to ask the hard questions to God and also to a friend, saying, I'm struggling here. I don't know what to do next.

Where do I study? What passages can I dive into? Where do I go to be reminded of my hope, if that's something that you're not sure right where to go?

And then not only what we hear from a minister, we read on our own, but then to have our own private conversation with God, right?

These are the standard foundational blocks of our Christian calling to read God's word, to pray to Him, to meditate, to consider fasting for our health issues. And then God leads us through because we're focusing on His word. So we have to dive into this. We have to use His word as that anchor. And this is one way we develop that strong faith. Another way we can grow our faith is by remembering we are not in this alone.

I want to turn to Ephesians 4. We go here quite a bit, because it's one of those passages that I can't help but to go to because of the strength of these words and the reminder of why we're not by ourselves, why we're not just sitting home in our own church of God, that we just have created ourselves and why we want to be part of a family.

Ephesians 4 says all this. Ephesians 4, 1, Paul says, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. So we do our part. We have to walk. We have to act. We have an action. We have to exercise. But he says to do it with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love. And then he says, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bonds of peace. And then he goes through what is one of the most beautiful passages of Scripture, because it talks about the oneness you and I have and why we are even more than family, because we are all one under Christ. We are part of His body. He says, There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. And so this is the family God's given us. This is where we come together. And I know it's hard to go through the prayer request, some Sabbath, because it's one right after another. This is our family. This is their trial. And all of our names end up in a prayer request at some point. That's life.

And that's okay, because this is the family that we have. This is the ones who can send cards and to be there as a support. This is the oneness that we have. And so we grow our faith by remembering we're not alone in our journeys. Another way we grow our faith is by remembering God's promises and that He will never leave us or forsake us and that He will finish the work that He has started in us. You can put Hebrews 13 verse 5 in your notes. You can put Deuteronomy 31. Actually, let's turn to Deuteronomy 31. Deuteronomy 31 verse 6.

I'm going to insert a little bit of a different narrative here, but Deuteronomy ends up with a retelling of God's law and His expectations for Israel. They're at the footsteps of crossing the Jordan River going into the Promised Land. Did they know everything that would happen on the other side of that Jordan River? They didn't know everything. They knew this was where God wanted to be. He had a purpose and a plan for them. He would bless them. But they also knew there was hardships on the other side. They knew there's people that weren't going to be happy with them crossing that river and setting up tents on the other side. And so what does God tell them? And if you'll let me go there, we've all had our journeys of life where on the other side of this river we don't know what to expect, but it's probably not going to be great. Always. It's going to have challenges. It could get messy. It could get muddy. And so here God is reminding them that they're about to cross into something that they really aren't totally sure what to expect from it. But He says, I want you to go anyway, and I want you to go with a high hand. Notice Deuteronomy 31 and verse 6. Moses says, Be strong and of good courage. Do not fear nor be afraid of them. For the Lord your God, He is the one who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. And then verse 8, He says, And the Lord, He is the one who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Do not fear nor be dismayed. Now, this can fall really flat again if you're in the midst of a health trial right now, or if you're standing on this your side of the Jordan River about to go through something that's really heavy or hard, because you could say that God says He's going to go before me. How's He going to do this? Why isn't He already fixed this? Why isn't He just blowing the doors off the hinges and making everything perfect?

He is. We just have to walk with Him across the Jordan River. We have to walk with Him into the Promised Land, and He will finish that work that He has started within us.

Another way we can grow in our faith is by remembering the answered prayers and the amazing way that God has worked in our lives.

Turn with me to back to Ephesians chapter 3 this time in verse 14.

Ephesians 3 and verse 14.

The heading in my Bible titles this passage, we're about to read, Prayer for Spiritual Strength. And so Paul writes this again to the church in Ephesus, but reminding the writers there of the amazing way that God is working in their lives and in turn ours. He says, This is that focus. This is when we're on our knees. We have our trials before us. We have our challenges, but we're looking much further than just what's right in front of us.

He says that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and the length and the depth and the height. You could say that we can wrap our minds around what is right in front of us with this trial that God will disclose and show us what is the length of our health trial, what is the depth of it, what is the plan, what is what is my part that I need to play with this health trial. That you can know the width and the length and the depth and the height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. The God that you and I are able to talk with is a God who is able to provide exceedingly abundantly what we need. And He sees the big picture. He knows all the twists and turns. And He can do those things that we can't even do ourselves. That's His favor. And it's okay to rely on that. It's okay to lean in on His favor. Sometimes we're maybe a little bit nervous to, because leaning into God's favor means we got to let go a little bit. It does. But we can lean in to His favor knowing that He is going to go before us, as Paul shares here in this prayer, and He's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. We have our ideas how this situation can work out the perfect way possible. He says, I'm already ahead of you, like 85,000 steps ahead of you. And you're like, I know, but help me to see your path. Help me to feel this journey that we're on. And He can lead us in that way. But we have to remember how He's done this for us in the past so that we can then go forward again in our lives today. And another way we grow our faith is by making choices demonstrating to God that we have faith that He is actively working in our lives. Making choices today demonstrating to God that we have faith that He is actively working in our lives. Sometimes in the weightiness of a health trial, we become overwhelmed with all the information, the diagnoses, the medical team's opinion, Dr. Google's opinions, our friend's opinions, the dog's opinion. It doesn't stop, right? Sometimes it just goes on and on. Where does it all end? It can be so much that we become paralyzed and we feel we have no idea or no direction to go. We may even shut down and go nowhere. I don't know if you've ever been paralyzed by fear. You've been paralyzed by too many choices, too many decisions, that it just becomes overwhelming. And so you just say, let's just be done with it all. I can't do this right now. But could we actually demonstrate faith in God by making a decision and moving forward?

I believe we can. And this is where you and me have a part to play. We don't just always drive with no hand on the steering wheel of life because God wants us to be involved.

Sometimes we have to make a decision and go forward. You can put in your notes Proverbs for the sake of time, Proverbs 3 verse 5 and 6. Proverbs 3 verse 5 and 6. It says, Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. It says, In all your ways acknowledge him and notice he shall direct your paths. If we're immovable, if we're immobile, if we're just stuck, if we're not going anywhere, we're not really on a journey. We're really not on a path. We're just kind of on the sideline, waiting for somebody to come along, scoop us up, and then carry us on our journey.

So the wisdom here says, Trust the Lord with your heart. That's what we've been talking about all day. Lean not on your own understanding. Yep, we've been saying that. All your ways acknowledge him. Check mark, and then he shall direct your paths. All of these things come together so that then you and I actually make a decision. And we go forward when God presents a path. It's like that room with eight different doors. Which one do I go through? God still wants us to pick a door and go through. He doesn't want to just stand there and just say, Well, I'm just going to keep watching these doors forever, not leave this inner room and go on the journey. Eventually, we do have to go forward.

Not necessarily just choosing the path that leads to the desired outcome, but looking for the path that God is leading for our life. That's the key here, to go forward down the path that he wants us to journey with him on. At this point in the message, you may be thinking, We are way out of time. And you're right, we are. And have I answered those original questions that I posed at the beginning? I really haven't. That when somebody asks that question, if they just had more faith in God, wouldn't they be healed from this trial? Or maybe if I wonder what they did or what sin is going on in their life that God's choosing not to heal them. Remember those questions at the beginning? We haven't answered those. I prayed and worked over this message, trying to figure out how I could fit it all in. And obviously, I can't. And God's told me, You can't do this. I would have done it injustice trying to answer these questions. So I'm going to hopefully in two weeks come back through. We're going to dive into some of these questions, because these are important ones that need to be addressed. We need to have answers for these, and we need to know ourselves.

Not to get caught up in how to... Are these are these scriptural questions? And is there a scriptural answer for these? But as we wrap up with today's message, it does take belief in God to build our faith. And as we grow in faith in God, and we continually put more of our lives into His hands, whatever it is that He decides to do in our life, real faith is being at peace with God's sovereignty, being at peace with His decisions for us. And remembering that our hope can never be diminished because it rests on the promises of God. Hope that a better future time is coming to this earth and our lives. Hope that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, and hope of an eternal resurrection full of complete healing and complete restoration.

God did not send His Son, our Savior, to give us complete health, wealth, and happiness right now today. Christ came as an example to the world of God's fullness, dwelling, and man. He came to give His life, and in doing so, paid the penalty for our sins so that we can have life.

Let's finish in Romans 8, verse 16 and 17. That's just a final reminder as we close this part of the series. Romans 8, verse 16.

Paul writes, the Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children then heirs, heirs of God, and join heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we also may be glorified together.