The Faith Factor...

I was having lunch a few years back with my Dad. (I love my Dad, just a side note). I would have conversations with him about life and faith. He had his own ideas and beliefs. One day he decided to share an intimate moment in his life with me about why he stood where he did in his faith.
It all took place when I was about 3 yrs old. My dad had moved down to good ole Dallas, TX. He was living there for a little while and decided to try church out, but mainly for social reasons. He figured it's a good place to meet some nice people. That's probably true, I could see his line of thinking, for the most part.
So he's doing the church thing and his thoughts start going deeper than just making it a social event. He starts to consider, "What if there is a God". So one night he was out jogging, it was a clear beautiful night under the stars. He looks up and says "If your there God then show me."

What my dad was asking for was evidence before he was going to believe or make any type of commitment. He said " I didn't see anything, so from that point forward I made up my mind that there is no God". I was actually thinking back to that conversation this week and what I thought for the first time was He looked up and missed the fact that there were millions of stars. The magnificent sky and all it's beauty stretched out before him. The amazing galaxy and all the planets suspended in orbit. The wonder of God's creation stared back at my dad, but he said "I saw nothing." So he dismissed God.

This isn't unique to my dad. This happens all the time. People tell God if you show up, then I’ll give my life! God if you provide, then I’ll follow you! If you get me out of this mess, I promise to turn to you.

That's our line of thinking, but that's not how God set it up to work! He set up something called faith.

What We see in Joshua ch 3 is a turn of events that speaks to this very situation in your life. God told the people they were going to cross the Jordan River. A flooded river that was probably violent and tearing over the top of trees, this wasn't some stream or creek. He continues on to say, and when the priests walk into the water, THEN the water would stop flowing.

This is so significant because their whole Journey in the wilderness God leads them out of Egypt by wreaking havok on the enemy. Its easy to follow God when He's blowing up the enemy, right?. He parts the Red Sea. AMAZING! I can follow that kind of God, thats easy. He constantly Proves Himself and provides evidence for them their whole journey in the wilderness. But when we get to THIS point in the story, God flips the script.

He switches it to a faith factor. He says When YOU step in the water, THEN I'll stop it from flowing and For the first time God says YOU MOVE, THEN I'LL MOVE! HE WAS transitioning them from spoon feeding to faith. God knows He's faithful. He knows He'll come through. That's not the question. The real question is are you faithful? He's given you life. He's ready to lead you into a new year and give you directions along the way. Are you willing to GO, and step out into a new year trusting God's got your back. GOD IS FAITHFUL, HE WILL COME THROUGH! We must operate with faith, God will never disappoint.