Refocusing Faith Pt 2

Since last Sunday (I shared last week's email plus some passages from James as a pre-service devo, and then received some incredible feedback from Dan), I have realized I've jumped afresh into a bottomless ocean of wonder.

Here's what I mean.

So the past couple of weeks I've been learning that the object of my faith (that which my faith is IN) needs to change.

From the answer to the Provider.

What Dan helped me better understand is that there is both an Object and a Subject of our faith (the Verb).

God is the Object.

We are the Subject.

I (Subject) have faith (Verb) in God (Object).

SVO. Been a minute since I had this grammar lesson haha.

So to have faith what is required?

The subject must act upon (verb) the object.

In other words, WE (subject) have to take action (believe) on the Object (God).

To put it another way, 3 things need to take place.

1. We must know our role

2. We must take action

3. The object of our faith must be correct

I went for a walk this morning, and instead of grabbing my sneakers, I grabbed some new leather western boots I just picked up.

They're stiff like crazy and need to be broken in.

After a little while, walking was pretty uncomfortable, so I started asking the 5 Whys (a method for another email).

Why am I still walking in these boots?

Because they'll loosen up and fit my foot after a couple of weeks if I do.

Why would they loosen up and fit my foot after a while?

Because that's what leather does - it stretches and forms to our feet.

To spare you the rest of the process, I realized that I had faith in the leather and that it would stretch.

Bear with me, I know this may seem cliche.

It really transformed my thinking and gave me a word picture to help reinforce what I'm learning.

To realize the outcome or results of the object, I had to walk. (still with me?)

In other words, I (Subject) had to do something, walk (Verb), on (or in this case "in") the boots (Object) before any results could even be realized.

To wrap up this VERY short thought: The object of our faith must be on the right thing (God, not the answer), we need to understand our role (I'm in Christ, and therefore have access to His righteousness, His Spirit, and all His promises), and we must take action (literally, walk out our belief ... this could be several more emails).

You might be thinking, "yeah, I knew all this pal" and hey, good on ya!

I did too, but then again, it's like I'm learning it for the first time.

Alright, that’s all for this afternoon - have a fantastic week and HAPPY 4th OF JULY, friend!!

I hope you have an INCREDIBLE rest of your week!