faith is not ...

As I sat considering God’s Word, I could not help but to think about how many of His verses have become clichés or catch phrases for the body of Christ.

• Fight the good fight of faith
• Encourage yourself in the LORD

Great admonishments, but what does it look like practically? For the answer, let’s look directly at the Word of God and see what encouraging oneself and fighting the fight of faith look like.
 

Psalm 42

As the deer pants for the water brooks,

so pants my soul for You, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God?

My tears have been my food day and night,

while they continually say to me,

“Where is your God?”

When I remember these things,

I pour out my soul within me.

For I used to go with the multitude;

I went with them to the house of God,

with the voice of joy and praise,

with a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.

 

Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God,

for I shall yet praise Him

for the help of His countenance.

 

O my God,

my soul is cast down within me;

therefore I will remember You

from the land of the Jordan,

and from the heights of Hermon,

from the Hill Mizar.

Deep calls unto deep

at the noise of Your waterfalls;

all You waves and billows have gone over me.

The LORD will command His lovingkindness

in the daytime, and in the night

His song shall be with me –

a prayer to the God of my life.

I will say to God my Rock,

“Why have You forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning

because of the oppression of the enemy?”

As with a breaking of my bones,

My enemies reproach me,

while they say to me all day long,

“Where is your God?”

 

Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God;

for I shall yet praise Him,

the help of my countenance and my God.

 
The psalmist acknowledges extreme feelings of sorrow, confusion and even despondency. Yet, he still acknowledges God as his hope and finds the strength to encourage himself.
 
Faith is not denying what you are experiencing or feeling. Faith is not delusional. Faith is not oblivious to reality. Faith is not escapism.
 
Faith is, however, a determination not to be controlled by experiences or ruled by feelings. Faith is an unwavering resolve to trust in who God is, even when everything that is transpiring contradicts what He said. It is a daily fight of crucifying the flesh and making a conscious decision to live out of the spirit.

Never stop fighting!