Surrender: Finding Faith

Finding Faith

Faith is a complicated thing. If you are like me then you probably have read every verse there is on the subject. Faith requires a great deal of bravery, and it is often in our most trying times that faith is needed. But how do you surrender? You know you must have faith as a child, but what if you don’t? Faith is a jump, yes, but that doesn’t mean you have to jump from the highest peak. Start with the small stuff, and grow. Truth is, most of us have forgotten what faith feels like, or how to surrender. A lot of guilt always plagued me on the subject. I know I need to trust and lean not on myself, but how? How do you start? By small acts of faith.

Living within the means God provides.

A simple statement, but one that often requires faith and patience; a good place to start practicing your faith. To live within the means God has provided is to cast your trust on Him. Finances are something that is on almost everyone’s mind; there never seems to be enough, and when there is you are often having to play catch-up with the previous months leaving you struggling to the next. It is completely normal to have ups and downs in finances, but how do you prepare for them? Lean on Christ, and learn to live within your means.

“Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:
I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound.
Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”- Philippians 4: 11-13

Within the means

To trust in God is to trust in His timing.  God’s provision may not always be steady, and there may be ups and downs, but if you mean to trust Him it will be on you to make adjustments to live on what He has provided. Simplify your life as needed, work diligently to free yourself from debt, and trust. Do not let yourself borrow from your future, but rather find ways to live on less. By borrowing from your future you are putting limits on God. Not only are you actively seizing control from God, but you are also forbidding Him to call on you for His work. You would no longer be able to leave your livelihood for another calling or move from your home to live where you are needed. Live within the means He has provided. It may try your patience at first, but there is contentment to be found in surrender.

He will provide

As Christ has told you, God will provide.

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.
Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not of more value than they?”- Matthew 6:25-26

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”-Matthew 6:33-34

Surrender

Another small act of faith is trust. His plan is a perfect plan, His timing is perfect timing. He has not put you on earth for nothing, He does have a purpose for you. With faith, you must trust in His timing. You must trust in Him before He can trust in you. He must know you are strong and willing before He can call on you to a most difficult mission, to a very broken world. There will be seasons of preparation, there will be seasons of doubt, and there will be seasons of struggle, but trust. Don’t look too long into the future, or into the past, but look up into the Heavens. He is there. He is watching you, and He is guiding you. In a world so full of sin it is easy to feel as though your afflictions are from Him, or that He has forgotten you. But He has not, and He will not. You must believe, He only wants good for you. Trust Him.