FAITH: FRIEND OR FOE?

Matt. 21:21-22  Then Jesus told them, "I assure you, if you have faith and don't doubt, you can do things like this and much more.  You can even say to this mountain, 'May God lift you up and throw you into the sea,' and it will happen.  If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."  NLT

      The more faith we have, the greater our authority to move the mountains in our lives will be.  There is nothing that can hinder us if we have the faith to move forward.  Faith can be either our greatest friend or our worst foe.

       Faith is our friend when it is a real presence in our lives, when it is actively working to draw us closer to God.  It helps us to grow up and become more effective lights of grace in the world.  It helps us to be able to handle whatever life throws at us with a calm confidence and unshakeable peace.  It provides for us a purpose for living and dying.

      Faith is our enemy when we don't exercise it and give it opportunity to take root and grow in our lives.  When we don't nurture it, we live in misery.  To believe in God without living in God saddles us with a life without peace, joy, and no real hope.  We try to justify ourselves with our knowledge of God, but we can't.  We base our relationship with God on what we think we know, instead of with whom we know.  We try to live without God influencing our lives and yet thinking it's okay since we believe in God.  One of the biggest problems that plagues a Christian today is the thinking that we are saved and alright with God since we mouthed some words at some point in our lives.  Faith that is a saving faith is a faith that changes the way we think and live.

      Faith can be your friend or your foe.  It's up to you.  Make a commitment to nurture your faith so that it can grow in you and you will be able to command the mountains of your life to go away, and they will.