What you believe doesn't matter if your behavior contradicts it.  Private choices have public consequences. FAITH requires corresponding ACTION.  
 

Many proclaim to have faith...my question is where does your faith lie?  How do you know the MEASURE of your faith until you come to the end of it? 

Is your faith simply in what you see, have seen, or want to see?  Faith is the substance of things hoped for...where do your hopes lie?  Are they God's will?  How do you know? 

 If you say you have faith [which begins with hope] but don't know God's will, then how will you know if your hopes are His will?  His will is in His Promises...He has declared and decreed our destiny and He has achieved Victory for us, yet  you don't read His Word, know His attributes, or heed His commands and STILL you say you have faith???? In WHAT?

And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. ~ Hebrews 11:6

I say many of us simply have confidence in our flesh.  We have injected our will as God's promises and in turn have set up a high place and exalted our desires over what He desires for us.  We live under a counterfeit Gospel that simply inspires us.  We have no reverence for the Sovereign God who is the Author and Finisher of our faith.

If life crumbled around you, if you lost everything that you hold dear and all you had was YOUR FAITH...what would you find at the end of THAT measure of FAITH?  Would your faith increase, decrease, or would you find that you never really had faith in the first place? I'm telling you right now, that you have no idea.  You can try to answer that question, but until it happens to you...YOU HAVE NO IDEA~

I recently returned from a mission trip to Piura, Peru.  I saw people who have come to the end of faith as they know it and are living on the supernatural, unknown, God faith.  I saw authentic worship, desperate worship, heart pounding, wrecked worship.  I saw pure desire.  I saw pure and genuine love. And I found out that my faith increases when I have come to the end of "I know"...

I encountered God in a new way...unexpectedly.  I landed in that country and simply kept time.  I didn't miss a beat.  God had me the whole time.  I felt as though I was in another dimension...I saw the world from a different perspective...that we are all not that different and neither are our needs.  It is our DESIRES that are variable.  It is in this that we differ.


I noticed that the world, when seen through my God eye, is His.  I saw family...I felt like I was at home.  Honestly...I could have just as easily been in Schulenburg! 

 

I realized that I don't need to go to foreign soil to satisfy my passion for missions!  I can be fulfilled [as I have been so far!] right here in my town.  The similarities, through my God eye, were astounding to me! I love this town...I love these people and I desire to see every person in this city reached with the true Gospel and true Love of Jesus Christ.  THAT is my desire.  And my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.  I cannot do it but He can through me.

 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don't think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. ~ Romans 12:3

The greatest gift I have been given is the Holy Ghost.  He is my Comforter.  He is my Advocate. He urges me to continue in FAITH.  I love You, Lord.