Sustaining Faith

^20. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Gal. 2 (NKJV)

While reading my Joel Osteen devotional a few days ago, I stumbled on something that struck me so strongly; a phrase Joel Osteen called Sustaining Faith. If you know me or have read any of my blog posts, one common theme you would notice across them is Faith. Maybe it is because of how fun it was to learn about it when I attended VBS (vacation bible school) back in the early 2000’s. Either ways, as a Christian, we are called to live a life of faith; after all, according to Heb.11:6, we can’t please God without faith. I’ll give you a good example. This morning, I found out that water had finished in the house and as usual, there was no light. I thought about my situation, prayed to God for light and went back to bed. A few minutes later, lo and behold, they brought light, I pumped water and minutes after I was done, they took it. As minute as it may seem, it was a miracle for me. Why? PHCN hardly ever brings light at the time they did; Joel Osteen called this delivering faith. Faith for when your situation instantly turned around. But what caught me was sustaining faith. While the bible doesn’t state the different types of faith, I found this concept interesting. One because I never thought of it and two because that is the faith we need to have when we are in the middle. When the excitement of starting something new (a company, a relationship, moving to a new place etc) fades away and reality sets in; anxiety, doubt and any other negative thought you can think of comes up and tells you that you will not make it. Or maybe you just recently entered the labor market after leaving a company you loved, 5 months down the line, no job offers, not even a congratulatory email to say you’ve made it to the next level of the application process. Or you've being believing God  for healing or freedom from an addiction and months/years down the line, there's still no change or it's even getting worse. This is the period when sustaining faith comes in and tells you to stand strong (like Eph. 6:13 said); tells you to trust in God and in the valiant arm of the Lord (Ps. 118:15 – 16). With this kind of faith, you will look the storm in its eye and scream: Though he slayed me, yet will I hope in Him (Job 13:15); A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you (Ps. 91:7). Job was a great example of someone that had sustaining faith! He lost it all! Property, children, money (you name it! lol), everything! His situation was so bad that even his wife said in Job 2:9 (NKJV): Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? [a] Curse God and die!” Get this, the book of Job has 42 chapters, this was just chapter 2 and see what she told him. Do you know what he said? Check out Job 2:10 (that’s your assignment)! Despite everything Job went through, not once in the 42 chapters of the book of Job did Job say a single thing against God or turn his back against God and guess what happened? 

In Job 42:12 & 16 (NKJV) it said: Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning.......After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. Imagine that! That my dear friends was sustaining faith and we all need that kind of faith. Faith that gets us through the night that is dark and full of terrors and the long winter (#GoT) lol. After all, remember what Heb. 11:6 said.

The charge is simple, regardless of any situation you’re facing or how long the situation has lasted, remember there was a man called Job. Remember that through it all, he never turned his back on God or spoke against God; draw strength from that, look the storm in the eye and scream Ps. 91:7, 118:13 – 17! Stay blessed!

P.S. Winter is here

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