Faith

Faith. What is it? The way I’d always defined faith is very different as I’ve grown to gain more of it. I had always just viewed faith like I viewed trust. To have faith was to trust in something/someone. As I have learned throughout my walk and through studies and sermons, faith is simply divine persuasion. I have faith in my Savior, because the God of the universe persuaded me to trust and pursue Him. I think it is such a beautiful thing to know that we are literally helpless. Like...have you ever thought about that? It’s like, we can’t do things ourselves, so instead, we are to just worship God in our difficulties (which is something I’ve written about more than once). The crazy thing is, we can only worship Him because He has given us the ability and opportunity to. We can’t even worship on our own. (Please don’t misunderstand me. We are very awesome people created by God, Himself. He created us in His image, to each play a role in the body of Christ, and He loves us so dang much). For example, Romans 8:26 states, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (ESV). The Holy Spirit does so much for us (13 roles found in the Bible). A lot of times, we view faith as something we have accomplished. Like, “I have faith in Christ. I was able to discern what the right choice was...” No, no, no, He gave me faith. I have faith because the God of all chose to give me a reason to follow Him. Knowing this makes me feel comfortable. Very comfortable and confident in who I am. God chose to have me a part of His family. Nothing I did to say, now I will follow You, but You that gave me a name in Your book. Thank You for loving me first, Jesus.

-Jack Hilsher

Romans 8:28 (ESV)

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”