In Believing part 5
Our faith connects us to Jesus. And His faith gets things done. Anything we ask for in His name--with His nature--we find that He has already given us. In a word: Love. And we experience this love that we have already been given... by giving it away. So, in believing, we are really just receiving and releasing the gift we've already been given. But the key is knowing it and, well, believing it. Look at Mark 11:22, "And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God." This is what I'm talking about. Jesus took away the sin (ubelief) of the world by giving us something (someONE, Himself, love) to believe in. And all we have to do is have faith in God. Know and believe God's love FOR us, and that love (that's IN us) will come OUT of us. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word (Jesus, love) of God. Have faith in God. Have faith in love. Its that simple. And notic that I didn't say its that easy. Because we get love twisted a lot of the time. Because we think love is about getting what we want. "If you loved me you would do this, this, and this for me." But love is NEVER about getting. Because love IS giving. That, unfortunately, can be part of the problem though. We give and we give and we give... and we feel like we don't get anything back... and we feel like we're empty. We feel like no matter how much we do its never enough. And we almost start to lose faith in love. How many times have you heard someone say something like, "God's given up on me." Or, "I've given up on God." Because no matter how hard we try, things don't always go our way. That's life. So if we equate love, or God, with getting our own way... we're setting ourselves up for massive disappointment. You can't make people do... anything, really. So if that's your agenda you're going to be in for a lot of frustration and unhappiness. Having faith in God is not about having your own personal genie that will do whatever you want Him to do. Having faith in God is about knowing and believing that the God who is love... loves you. Always has and always will. Faith is the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for. Its not about hoping God will love you if you do x, y, and z. Its about knowing He loves you. And loving Him back by loving people with the love that He loves you with. You don't have to move mountains. Just believe that Jesus can. That Jesus HAS. And then, as you love people, you find that you ARE moving mountains. Seeing a need and meeting it is about the biggest thing you can do. Because if someone is in need... to them... that's huge. And if you meet that need for them... that's world changing. Life changing. Letting what's inside come out by knowing and believing its in there. Simply. Not always necessarily easy, but easier still when we just let God love the hell out of us. When we fill ourselves to overflowing with what He's already filled us with. When we have faith in God. When we, in believing, give what we've got without worrying about getting anything back. When we, in believing in love... love one another!