Lately God has been speaking mightily to me about faith. Between reading Ezekiel and the dry bones, Moses and the burning bush, Hebrews 11 and the sermon from NewSpring Church entitled "Well Done!" I can't escape what He's saying to me. I feel most times when it comes to doing something, I rarely will do it unless I know it will succeed. I think the reason I do that is the feeling that, if I don't see a success with what I do, I'm doing the wrong thing. That's not having faith that God will work His plan, in spite of me. One of the main points of the sermon was to "take a risk." A risk means not knowing the outcome. If I knew the outcome, I wouldn't be acting in faith! It would make life easier if we knew everything that was going to happen, but nothing would require faith. I know that I need to step out, have faith God will work, and do something that will only succeed with God's working. We might not see the results we want, and we might not even see the fruit of our labor ever. That doesn't mean what we did wasn't what God wanted from us, it just means His plan is greater than ours and His idea of success is different from ours. He wants us to act in faith and let Him take care of the results. The result He wants is our trust in Him to bring the results, but we can't get results if we don't first take a step of faith.
My hurdle I've been overcoming is with the small group I'm going to hopefully be leading. I have been not obedient to God acting in faith for multiple reasons. The first is that I feel inadequate to lead. I don't feel smart/wise enough, or mature enough in my faith to lead a small group. Moses didn't feel like he was smart enough, or eloquent enough in speech to lead Israel out of Egypt, but God chose him to do it. God uses the weak to shame the strong, the foolish to shame the wise. He wants to use people who have no faith in their ability because it will show how powerful He really is. I can't let my lack of faith in my abilities hinder God's work, because it shows a lack of faith in God.
Another hurdle I have had is just feeling like it's a ridiculous request for me to lead a small group. I don't have a ton of extra time, I work horrible hours, and I have a young child and amazing wife I *love* spending time with. Reading Ezekiel (dry bones) God spoke to me in a powerful way. I need to act in faith that God telling me to lead this group, not because of my abilities or time schedule, but because He will speak through me to these guys. Ezekiel probably didn't feel like he had the ability to put the dry bones together to form an army, but God called him to prophecy it anyway, and he did it. It probably sounded ridiculous to Ezekiel, but he trusted God would bring results if he did what was asked of him. God will use us, no matter what we think we can do, or what we think we have time for.
Lastly, in Hebrews, God spoke to me that we might not always get the results we want or expect, but that doesn't mean they're not going to happen. Abraham never saw the nation of descendants that were to follow him while he was on earth, but that happened. We might never see our neighbors/coworkers/grocery clerks that we're witnessing to ever come to know Jesus, but we can still tell them about Him, and who knows what will happen. Just because the results aren't happening the way we want them to doesn't mean we shouldn't act. If this small group falls apart and the guys never show up, it doesn't mean God isn't using me or working His plan, it just means the results I want weren't what God was working for at that time. God will always work His plan for our good, but what He sees as good isn't always what we see as good.
While this isn't one of my more "organized" posts, I hope it speaks to you the way God has been speaking to me. He is so much bigger than us, and if we trust in Him, He will do amazing things through us.
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