What is Faith?

I’ve been doing a little word study on faith.



For some reason, the story in Mark 5 just wrecks me. It is the only time Jesus calls someone “daughter”.

“And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” (v.34)

Her faith has made her well.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” (Ephesians 2:8)

By grace through faith we have been saved!

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7)

By faith we finish the race.

Faith: Human belief in and reliance upon the divine.
Faith: Dependence upon, confident trust, reliance

Faith is more than belief . . . it’s reliance.
It’s not passive, it’s courageous.

It is faith, this dependence, confident trust, reliance upon the LORD that
Makes us well
Saves us
Gives us peace
Helps us continue on

When I’m facing trials . . . do I have a reliance upon God? Do I have confident trust, dependence upon Him? Will I be able to say “I fought the good fight, I finished the race, I have kept the faith?”

I hope so. By the power of the Holy Spirit oh LORD I hope so!

Oh how I long to hear the words “Daughter . . . your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

Kisses from Katie

"Kisses from Katie" by Katie J. Davis


Katie J. Davis is a young woman with a passion to make a difference in the world. This former senior class president and homecoming queen left home at eighteen for a short missions trip to Uganda. From that experience grew an overwhelming desire to do something more personal and more sacrificial than just giving up her Christmas vacation for Africa. Today Katie lives in Uganda, where she is the adoptive mother of fourteen little girls, some with special needs, and the head of Amazima, a ministry that reaches hundreds of other children in Africa. Katie is originally from Nashville, Tennessee, where her parents and brother live. She has been named Beliefnet's 2011 Most Inspirational Person of the Year.

If there is one book to read this year, one book to read right now, it's this book. Truly the most inspirational book I have ever read! It is also the reason I have been evaluating my own life and my faith in Christ.

This woman left all that she knew, all that was safe, all that was comfortable, to go. To go and serve, to go and live, to go and experience Christ and His fullness of grace. It seems so simple "go and love".

I mean there are times when I don't want to hug the students I work with because they haven't bathed in awhile or they have lice, and she's bathing children who have open wounds and HIV. Or at the end of the day when I'm tired and see the phone ring. I don't want to answer because I know the conversation will be long and emotionally exhausting. She has people knocking on her door about to die and she still serves them.

It has led me to ask questions like:
-Where can I say no to comfort, to say yes to Christ?
-Who are the people in my community that would be considered "unlovable"?
-Who am I not loving the way Christ would want me to?
-How can I be faithful to love and serve the people that the LORD has allowed me to interact with daily?
-Am I being wasteful with my time, talent, and tresure or faithful?
-How can I live on less to give away more?

This is one of the reasons I started thinking about the issue of stewardship (managing my time, talent, and treasure). Am I being faithful with all that God has given me?

Time
Many times in this book, Katie shared how much of her life/day was interrupted by people and their needs. She was tired and exhausted and still served. She filled up on Christ and did this by the power of the Holy Spirit. How much of my life is spent tired and exhausted? Do I still serve? Do I view "interruptions" as an opportunity to serve?

Talent
What are the talents, gifts, and passions God has given me? Am I using the gifts God has given me to glorify Him?

Treasures
This is the area I am evaluating the most. We are consumed with materialism, more things, new stuff, etc. How much food do we really NEED? New clothes, new things, more stuff . . . is it really necessary? Where can I live on less to give away more?

What changes do I need to make in my life to love God and His people more?

The reality is not all of us will move to Africa to serve the least of these . . . and God doesn't want us to. He wants us to be faithful right where He has us. Loving people, serving people, and proclaiming Christ.

I am seeking His power daily to do just that! And thanking Him for books like these that challenge and inspire me!

For Someday

{From Trying to Waiting}

I’m studying Genesis for Academy and love reading about the women in the bible. As I’m reading through the stories of our matriarchs (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel), I see a common pattern. They all have trouble bearing children.

As we learned our first week in Academy, a woman’s ability to bear children was a big deal back then. It was identity for the woman and also, for the man. As I spend time reflecting on the lives of these women of our faith, I am confused, comforted, and hopeful.

I’m confused because from the very beginning, God tells Adam & Eve to be fruitful and multiply (Gen 1:28). Seems as though the multiplying part is really dependent upon God, not them. (Then again, God’s covenant is always dependent upon Him, not us. It will be only because HE is.)

I realize that all of them really had no control over bearing children. In one verse it even says “Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.” (Genesis 30:22) Not that God forgets, but thinking more like now it’s her time. He heard her cry, He placed that desire in her heart, He ultimately blesses her womb.

We have been trying to get pregnant since the end of last year. We’re not frustrated yet, but just in a place of disappointment. I am so comforted in these stories because no matter how old, how desperate, how crazy it seems . . . God is in control. He opens and closes the womb. It’s His say, His time.

So as people ask us all kinds of questions like if we have kids, do we want kids, why don’t we have kids, can you have kids, etc. my answer has been “We’re trying.”

I think I’ll change my response from “we’re trying” to “we’re waiting.” Like Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel waited . . . I’ll wait. I will wait in faith, in confident expectation, assurance of His character, and hope in Him.

A friend of mine gave me a gift for our first child, a blanket she started knitting when she found out we were trying. She handed it to me with a small card with two very encouraging words written on it . . . "For Someday". So I cling to that. Perhaps not today, not now, but someday.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

“For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition that I made to him.” (1 Samuel 1:27)