Do you ever find yourself struggling with questions about why God is allowing certain situations to come into your life? You desire to have complete faith and trust in God, but you are hopelessly drowning in despair and discouragement. What does true faith in God look like?

Many times we try to conjure up faith as if it is only an act of the will or a sense of certainty that something is going to happen. This isn’t faith.

Faith is taking God’s promises as an actual fact. It is believing, rejoicing, and simply resting in God’s promises. Because God said it, I believe it! Someone said, “Faith turns God’s promises into a prophecy. A promise is contingent on our cooperation, but when we have genuine faith, it becomes a prophecy.” We can rest, assured that God will fulfill His promises in His own time.

Why do you pray for more faith? Do you desire more faith simply because you want to take God at His Word or is it for selfish reasons? Do you only want more faith so that you can remove your mountains?  Faith doesn’t say, “I can see that this is good for me and so it must be from God.”  Faith declares, “God allowed this to come my way, so it must be for my good.” In our book, “Big Mountain, Bigger God” you can read about some of the purposes for mountains in our lives.

When I think of faith, I think of the many times in our children’s lives when we wanted them to trust us, even though they had no way of understanding why we were allowing them to go through some painful situations. Throughout our hundreds of hospital experiences, we have had the excruciating pain of needing to restrain our infants as doctors and nurses have attempted to place IV’s, needles, etc. into their arms or foreheads. Their pleading eyes were filled with confusion as they tried to understand why Mommy and Daddy were allowing this to happen to them. It broke our hearts! We knew they needed the assistance that they were receiving, but we also knew they couldn’t understand or see the bigger picture. Because of our love for our children, we hoped and prayed that they would simply trust us and have enough faith to believe that it was for their good.

There have been times when I have been a helpless and confused infant as I have looked into my Daddy’s face. He has allowed me to go through terrible heart aches and extreme anguish. I feel bewildered as I ponder the precious love and security that I have felt in His arms, and yet, I feel the firmness of His arms as He asks me to surrender to this painful procedure. This brings confusion and I anxiously look into His face. When I look deeply into His eyes, I can’t help but see the depths of His love. I look again..And then I see the tears in His eyes. My Daddy is hurting because He sees me, His dear child, hurting. If He could spare me from this anguish, I am convinced that He would. He knows, however, that this experience will be for my very best. I know that I can trust my Daddy. I have faith in Him because I am completely assured of His love for me. When I have this intimate of a relationship with God, I have confidence because I know, “I’m a Winner Either Way.”

Are you claiming the promises that God has given to you? Are you convinced of His love or have you become disillusioned by the tactics of the enemy? I challenge you to begin to take God at His Word. It’s time to “walk by faith and not by sight”. (2 Cor. 5:7)

How do you define faith? What are some practical illustrations of faith that you have experienced or have seen in others? We welcome your comments!