When I used to teach teachers how to teach Sunday School I would warn them that during the week leading up to their message, God desired to interact in their daily lives with the lessons they were preparing for the children for Sunday. It was a warning because some days teachers were teaching difficult lessons like, "Peter in Prison Praising God" or "God Loved a Man Named Job" or "Be Joyful in all Situations." Teachers picked up packets knowing that God was going to give them lots of "material" during the week to bring the lesson to life and show that the Bible is not only applicable- but it (and God!) is active and alive.
When I first read the title Pastor Joe gave me, "The Power of God," I thought, "well that can't be too bad."
All day today I have sat at my desk reading through fantastic stories of God's power in the Old Testament and then that same power demonstrated through Jesus Christ in the New Testament.
Yet, while I type, I am simultaneously watching my phone for incoming messages from my sister-in-law on my nephew who is in the hospital.
I have to remind myself that faith is not necessarily answers or understanding, but standing in the tension of what I know to be true about God and what I'm actually experiencing.
Biblical faith is not determined by the "amount" of faith I personally have, but instead by what (or who) my faith is in. Which is why my measly mustard seed of faith, put at the foot of the cross, can cause the miraculous to come to pass.
Years ago I heard a sermon on Galatians 2:20 that has forever stuck with me. It wasn't until I picked up an NT Wright book that it all came together in my head and is making some sense.
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
The sermon went something like this: see that small prepositional word "in?" Correctly translated, a better word for the context of the sentence is the article "of" which shows to whom the faith belongs. "I live by faith of the Son of God." It's not my faith- but His faith.
“On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me, and I am in you.” John 14:20
"Faith by itself is no good - especially if it is faith in a god who is as powerless as a block of wood! What matters is the Creator God, who is the object of faith." - N.T. Wright, Small Faith Great God
Despite my sometimes faltering personal faith, I serve a great, powerful and constant God and He is the basis of my faith.
God, reveal your power to my nephew!
Love and prayers to you, Matthew!
