Faith

It always fascinates me how the two devotionals that I read fairly regularly can interact with each other. Today's Experiencing God was basically about knowing your enemy, and then Oswald Chambers was talking about Faith.

FAITH

"Without faith it is impossible to please Him." Hebrews 11:6

Faith in antagonism to common sense is fanaticism, and common sense in antagonism to faith is rationalism. The life of faith brings the two into a right relation. Common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense; they stand in the relation of the natural and the spiritual; of impulse and inspiration. Nothing Jesus Christ ever said is common sense, it is revelation sense, and it reaches the shores where common sense fails. For every detail of the common-sense life, there is a revelation fact of God whereby we can prove in practical experience what we believe God to be. Faith is a tremendously active principle which always puts Jesus Christ first - Lord, Thou hast said so and so (e.g., Matthew 6:33), it looks mad, but I am going to venture on Thy word.

Today I went to the military pay site to find out what our end of month (EOM) pay will be even though payday is not actually until Wednesday. I don't usually (in fact EVER) check this, but for some reason I did. I mean our pay is always within a couple of dollars the same each paycheck, but since this is the LAST one, I just wanted to see if it would be the same. Imagine my surprise when I looked in the little box marked EOM and saw........$0.00! Now, I don't know exactly what this means just yet, and I am sure Mark will be able to find something out today, but I write all of this to just say, that I am amazingly unruffled by it. I am sure God has some greater purpose than money in bringing me to this discovery this morning. He is continuing to stretch us, and even though it is a bit scary, (well more than a bit) there is also some weird part of me that wants to know, "Okay, how much can we really handle? How much do we REALLY believe that God can take us through?" I am scared just writing this because I have learned that God will often take you to those scariest places to see what you're made of. Will we pass the test? What if we crumble? I don't know, but I fear He is looking to see who and what we are relying on. Could it be....faith?

I pray Lord, that we are strong in our faith, not so that we won't suffer unduly, but because it is pleasing to you. You try us and test us, not so that we can go about boasting of how we passed the test, but so that we gain greater insight into YOUR character, YOUR love for us, YOUR power and glory in our lives. I love you, Lord, and I go into this day with joy in my life and in my steps. You are God Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth. I feel your presence here today and every day! Thank you for blessing us so abundantly...