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true faith


From Streams in the Desert:

The land which I do give them, even the children of Israel (Joshua 1:2).
God is speaking about something immediate in this verse. It is not something He is going to do, but something He does do, in this very moment. So faith ever speaks. So God ever gives. He meets you today, in the present moment. This is the test of faith. So long as you are waiting for a thing, hoping for it, looking for it, you are not believing. It may be hope, it may be earnest desire, but it is not faith; for "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The command in regard to believing prayer is the present tense. "When ye pray, believe that ye receive the things that ye desire, and ye shall have them." Have we come to that moment? Have we met God in His everlasting NOW?
--Joshua, by Simpson
True faith counts on God, and believes before it sees. Naturally, we want some evidence that our petition is granted before we believe; but when we walk by faith we need no other evidence than God's Word. He has spoken, and according to our faith it shall be done unto us. We shall see because we have believed, and this faith sustains us in the most trying places, when everything around us seems to contradict God's Word.
The Psalmist says, "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of living" (Ps. 27:13). He did not see as yet the Lord's answer to his prayers, but he believed to see; and this kept him from fainting.
If we have the faith that believes to see, it will keep us from growing discouraged. We will "laugh at impossibilities," we shall watch with delight to see how God is going to open up a path through the Red Sea when there is no human way out of our difficulty. It is just in such places of severe testing that our faith grows and strengthens.
Have you been waiting upon God, dear troubled one, during long nights and weary days, and have feared that you were forgotten? Nay, lift up your head, and begin to praise Him even now for the deliverance which is on its way to you.
--Life of Praise

Talk about being convicted. The Lord used this, among some wise words from loving friends, to bring sweet conviction to my heart this past week. The revelation I am seeking to take firm hold of, is that true faith is different, much different than pining away for something, waiting and waiting looking for evidence that the thing is on its way. It is believing that God has done the thing, and in HIS perfect time, will be given and revealed to me. How comforting, how challenging, how simple. 
All this time, I have been wrestling, and growing. But now I think I am seeing and believing. True faith is the assurance that God is a promise keeper, that he is good, that he does not withhold, and that he knows far better than I. 
Just wanted to share this little tidbit of grace. 



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