Believing the Unseen

In this week's post,  Believing the Unseen, we will be talking about overcoming a doubting faith. 

And without faith it is impossible to please him, 

for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists

 and that he rewards those who seek him.

Hebrews 11:6

Believing the Unseen - Where do you place your confidence?

From the time I was a very small child, I watched my dad do many innovative things - skilled ones at that!  And this before the age of You Tube where now we can just watch a video on how to fix a car or a leaky faucet and we're good to go.  In fact, I'm not sure I even remember my dad looking at a manual very often.  He just seemed to innately know how to fix or create things.

He built a mini barn in our backyard from his own plans to house gardening supplies and our lawn mower.

He rigged up our pop-up camper with privacy curtains, and an awning (all of which didn't come standard as they do now) - he was a visionary!  lol. 

He finished our upstairs attic space which became mine and my brother's bedrooms.  

He and my grandfather built a beautiful, tall rock retaining wall into our side yard which was no easy task.  He also created a beautiful rock wall which became our family's rock garden on the other side of our yard.

He installed a Franklin Stove and built up an accompanying chimney for the flue.

No car repair or home repair/project was too hard for him.  He cheerfully took on any challenge with a can do attitude, and indeed he did!

He never would have had to say to me, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" because I had a plethora of examples to draw upon which gave me utmost confidence that he could do anything!

But sadly, do I ascribe to my Heavenly Father the same confidence I have in my dad?  A confidence that can be built on the entire Canon of Scripture which details account after account of God fulfilling every promise laid out in His precious Word.

Let alone personal experiences of God moments in my own life where undoubtedly an answer to prayer came because of Him and Him alone.  Or when in hindsight I could see that circumstances He ordained brought about a miracle.  There are so many faith building moments like these that should make me a champion for all that God WILL do.

Believing the Unseen - Is seeing believing?

I have wondered if because I haven't seen Jesus right in front of me that doubts can creep in.  Yet, I never saw the crew building the wide expanse of the Tappen Zee Bridge, but I have total faith that the bridge will prevent my car from plummeting deep into the Hudson  River.  Or how about the people I never saw building the Southwest plane I fly on, yet I totally trust that the plane will successfully take off, stay airborne and the landing gear will work properly.  And what about the people I don't see back in the kitchen preparing my food at a restaurant, yet I have no fear that the food will be contaminated when it arrives for my consumption.

We trust the unseen activity of man, yet are not trusting in the unseen activity of God!

And then there are the Israelites who witnessed God's protection and provision right before their very eyes, seeing God in the cloud by day and in the pillar of fire by night; Almighty God who did great miracles in their midst those 40 years in the desert, yet they constantly wanted to go back to Egypt to live in safety bondage.  They persistently complained about their circumstances and essentially were not trusting that God was able to deliver them through their time in the desert.

I'm sure we can relate to the Israelites at times and find ourselves not allowing the previously seen activity of God to increase our faith.

May we never hear Jesus say, "You unbelieving and perverse generation!" 

Thomas replied, “My Lord and my God!” 

Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; 

blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed.” 

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, 

which are not written in this book.…

John 20:29

We live in a privileged time in God's Kingdom calendar and indeed, God pronounces us blessed.  For we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, our Lord and our God, without having seen Him in the flesh or having seen His great signs and wonders.

Indeed we are blessed!  For we see the fruit of the unseen activity of the Lord!  Like me, I'm sure there have been countless times that you have stood in awe of something amazing that has happened, that you knew without a shadow of a doubt was from God.  I think our joy might actually be greater seeing the result of God's unseen activity then had we saw God performing a miracle right in front of our eyes!

We must live in the blessing of the unseen; trusting and believing that God is always active in our lives, and is taking delight in surprising us above and beyond what we expect!

NEVER Doubt 

ALWAYS Believe
ALWAYS Expect!

Believing the Unseen - Do you believe?

When he entered the house, the blind men came to him,

 and Jesus said to them,

 “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” 

They said to him, “Yes, Lord.”  

Then he touched their eyes, saying, 

“According to your faith be it done to you.”

Matthew 9:28-29

Do you see that?  Our faith yields God's response.

But do not despair fellow doubters, for we have a Savior who is the author and perfecter of our faith, Jesus Christ.

Cry out to Him,   Lord I believe, Help my unbelief!  Mark 9:24

And after you have prayed,  BELIEVE that Jesus will remove your spiritual blinders of doubt, much like the physical blindness from the men in the Scripture verses above.   Then when Jesus asks, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" you can respond, like the blind men,"Yes Lord!  And He will say, "According to your faith be it done to you."

Lord, now I see

You only want me to believe,

Not to change

In all my failures and defeats—-

To believe what You have done,

And not in what I see.

Lord, I believe

    When all around me is defeat,

    And it seems

    That nothing’s changing outwardly.

    No, I’m not discouraged—-

    I’m believing You.

 Yes, I believe,

    And there is no demand on me.

    Simple faith—-

    Yes, that is all You want from me.

    Freed from anxious doubting, 

    I’m free to just believe.

 Believing You,

    Because, Lord, You are my success.

    When I fail, all I must do is just confess

    And go on enjoying You.

    I love believing You!

Lyrics:  NYCYPCD

{To read about how to have great and unwavering faith, please head over to my post, Peace in the Christian Life Hinges on One Thing which you can read HERE.}

For additional related posts, please click on the following:

Help my Unbelief!

You are Out of Your Mind!

7 Powerful Truths to Remember When You Doubt God

6 Absolute Truths to Remember When Your Faith is Shaken

How to Overcome a Struggling Faith

How to Trust God in Times of Uncertainty

3 Effective Ways Christians Can Overcome Doubt

When we believe the unseen, we will overcome doubting faith, and enter into a life at peace.

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