For we walk by faith, not by sight – 2 CORINTHIANS 5:7
Do you ever find yourself in a situation that has you questioning your faith? You know a situation where you can feel the Holy Spirit bubbling in you, but you ignore the call and you stay silent because you do not want to ruffle feathers. Or maybe it’s because you know full well that you are out numbered….
Instead in that moment we give into fear and we drop the armor that God has laid upon us. Our amazing God equipped us for moments just like this. That bubbling you felt was the Holy Spirit preparing you to speak the truth. That was God urging you to speak because he laid those words upon your heart and even though you were out numbered in the flesh… he had your back. He was sharpening your sword and handing it to you, for he knew this battle was coming and he chose you to send.
I had one of those moments last night. A moment where I felt the bubbling and as I glanced around the room I knew I was out numbered. That the women I was sitting with fully didn’t understand the words they had just laid. Encouraging us to tell women “if you are sinning you cannot grow closer to God. That if you are sinning, Jesus, he doesn’t want to be around you and he won’t work in your life…..”
Yeah let those words sink in deep….. like really deep. The last time I checked Jesus sought out the broken, the sinners, the weak, the misfits, the prodigals, the thieves, and he washed the feet of prostitutes….. the broken were his people. The pages of history tell me that the broken are who you use. That the first will go last and the last will get the crowns. Jesus didn’t seek out the perfect….. he sought out the broken. He sat with the low end of society, he broke bread with them and he stood by them. Jesus does not turn his back on the sinner, that is in fact when he is near.
How do I know this? Well friend the Bible tells me so. Story after story. Promise after promise. Tells me that Jesus does not abandon us and that he is always near. That he never turns his back to those that need him most. It’s the broken that he uses for his glory. Those sinners are the testimonies that will move mountains and bring the unfaithful to their knees.
That will bring the unfaithful to their knees… In that moment they realize that someone else has walked this way before. That someone else clawed their way out of the darkness and that if Jesus loves them, then he can love me too. Perfection is an unattainable goal, living on the straight and narrow isn’t living, it’s merely existing. Because friend God made you for more, he made you for a big vibrant life that’s full of trials and triumphs. We don’t always get it right, but what’s important is that we dust ourselves off and we learn from our mistakes. We may not understand it in the here and now, but one day we will understand it. So we must continue to walk by faith, for his hand is crafting our every step.
I will be the first to tell you that I am not perfect. I am a sinner and not a saint. I’ll probably sin a little bit more and raise a little cain before they lay my body down. Am I bothered by this? No, no I am not. For I know my name is written in his book and that my crown is waiting for me. An angel knelt down and whispered the first go last and the last get the crowns…. I cannot wait to be in the company of misfits, prodigals, undesirables, and sinners. For those are the ones who truly lived, for those are the ones who got the message. The message that Jesus loves knows no bounds and that his forgiveness has no limits.
For those are the ones who walked blindly into the night. Because God his promise holds true, the dawn will always break the darkest of nights. His love will seep into the coldest of hearts, and those very hearts will become a beacon. Beacon of hope, to remind us to walk by faith and not fear. Because if we walk by faith we cannot fail. For God he knows our hearts, he laid this very path knowing full well what was in store for you and all you have to do is walk it.
Walk it until you no longer can. There will be times where the journey is hard. You will be tested and retested until you feel like you are going to break. There will be days where nothing goes right and those nights will seem even longer. Those are the moments, where you dust yourself off, tighten your laces and whisper “I am the storm” into the night. Those very moments are your lessons, God is teaching you to walk by faith, not by sight. God is teaching you to walk blindly and boldly on the path he laid for you. This very path is yours and yours alone, comparison has no place here. No one else can walk this path the way you can and no one else’s can feel the path like you can. When the path gets to hard listen to your heart, give into that bubbling feeling and walk forward with boldness.
Now that bubbling you feel is a little thing called faith and once you give into faith you will walk boldly into the unknown. When you truly step on to the path without a thought you are letting him be your sight and he will never steer you wrong. So walk by faith and not sight for he knows your destination and it’s ok if you miss a turn or two, he will always get you back on track. You were always meant to miss those turns, for the lessons you learned during the reroute led you back to the path you were always meant to be on.
Yes the exact path that you were always meant to be on. You see God never wanted you to be perfect, if you are perfect and free of sin, then there is no room for him to grow in you. Each and everyone of us is a work of art crafted by his hand and only he knows what our final portrait will be. We can live a life to the letter or we can live a life worth dying for. A life that is filled with vibrant stories, a life that is bigger than our testimony, and a life that is truly walked by faith and not sight. A vibrantly loud beautifully faith led life. Now that life, is the life I want to live.
Maybe Swearing Helps 