Thursday, September 22, 2016

Says Jesus, Come Into a Faith of Trust Beyond Hope

“We can hope that God’s real our whole lives, but why not know that He’s real.”
— Kristene DiMarco
It is only my faith in God that can explain how life-shattering sorrow can be turned to a deep abiding joy.  Or, that gripping fear can flip into courage tantamount to conquest.  Or, that guilt and shame would make way for gracious forgiveness that emanates from the soul — something that could never be truer.
The faith we’re invited into is a faith that looks beyond hope, knowing that it knows that it knows, that God is real, and because He’s real, His will comes to pass.
His will is all that matters.  That’s our outlook when we really know God is real, by faith.  When God’s will is welcomed at every juncture of our lives, suddenly Scriptures like Psalm 37:4 make sense because we see them in the light of Jesus’ imperative of Matthew 6:33 — “Put first the Kingdom and His righteousness, and all else will be given to you.”
Faith is that cherished attitude of self that forgets self, almost as if the hurt part of our hearts can no longer hurt, because we’ve resolved to place our self into His hands, by faith.  Such a state of being must stem from being encountered by God.
Faith is something that transcends hope, for hope is still something that must lift faith, and true faith needs no such help.
A faith that has transcended hope is a faith that has decided to follow Jesus, whatever the cost.  This is a faith that is possible, and never easier is such a faith when we know God is real.  Trust God because He is real, and the faith He supplies shatters the moment’s doubt.
Needing to hope suggests a doubt-sullied faith.  Not that that’s a bad thing.  Much of the time it’s all we’ve got.  But faith that needs no reliance on hope is faith on conquest for Jesus.
Nothing better than a Jesus faith is worthy of Jesus, and in all-out surrender we ought to strive for it.  In the peerless surrender of our strength for His.  Such a faith would be reckless if it weren’t haemorrhaging in trust.

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