Unshakeable faith (10/17/04)

In the book of Daniel, I'm sure you've all read about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Read Daniel 3 to refresh your memory of the story. It's a short story but it portrays unshakable faith in a manner that is hard to comprehend. I want to have faith like these 3 men. I want to trust God even in the blackest periods of my life. I don't want to just have fair weather faith. So it raises the question - how do we go about getting this kind of faith - unshakable faith?

When we spend a lot of time with somebody, we normally start to see their flaws. Even more so if we live with that person (just ask my wife). Now think about the 12 who lived, ate, traveled, and spent enormous amounts of time with Jesus during His 3 year ministry. They had 3 years to find kinks and flaws. 3 years to poke holes in their own faith. Yet all these 12 saw was the perfection that is our Lord. Most of them died martyr's deaths defending their faith. Just thinking about the reality of this gives me faith. In short, realizing Jesus is who He said He is should make our faith unshakable. And spending our own time living, eating, walking with Him allows us to see the perfection that is our Lord.

In a similar way, if I believe the bible is truly the word of God, my faith should be unshakable. We talked a lot about this in last week's message. Once again, I think experience is the key. The more time we spend in the word, studying it, getting to know it, and living it, the more we realize its divine nature. I heard a pastor this week who put it this way - "the bible has more than 40 writers but it only has 1 author".

So this Wednesday, as we fast, let's spend some time walking with Him, praying for unshakable faith. Faith that's just as strong in the lowest lows as it is in the highest highs.

Have a great week and a great fast.
Your brother,
Bob