Faith is Not an Emotion
5 years ago this week, I resigned as the Director of Finance at Grace Covenant Church to focus all my attention on The Marketplace. Why did I do this? Because God said to. Following God is not a cake walk. I remember waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat thinking, “DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING?!?!” I had no idea if this would work. We signed a 2 year lease at the Oak Street and I said to Lou, “I will work as hard as I can for the next 2 years and even if I fail I know that I was obedient and gave it everything I have.” I am not going to lie, the pressure was intense but I had to keep reminding myself that The Marketplace was not mine, it was God’s. My job was to direct it.
It’s time to remove the smoke and mirrors on The Marketplace. We get no ongoing support from any organization and we are not owned by a church. We are a grass roots operation. We have no debt. We don’t have an accounting team, a marketing and social media team, a designer, a buyer,... What do we have? Faith. Lots of it!! Our faith is our belief that God will do exactly what He promised. Faith is not a feeling or an emotion. Faith doesn’t look at your current circumstances and do a risk assessment to see what the likelihood of good results are. Faith is walking to the edge of the cliff, seeing nothing below you, and jumping because God said to JUMP!! It’s leaving behind things that are currently working and stepping into the unknown because God says it’s time. It’s shutting out the voices of people who tell you you are going to fail to follow the One who beckons you to get out of the boat and walk on water with Him. It’s refusing to play it safe and sit by waiting for the “perfect moment.” Spoiler alert: the perfect moment will never come.
Faith isn’t easy. Faith isn’t comfortable. And by all means Faith doesn’t feel good. In my personal experience, God doesn’t really care if I am comfortable. Honestly I believe the more uncomfortable I am, the happier He is. Why? Because I quit relying on myself and let Him take the wheel. You know that song Jesus take the Wheel? You may sing it but do you really want Him to do it? Because if He does you are going off roadin’.
What is faith? The blessed assurance that you don’t have to have all the answers, He does. It’s believing He will always do His part if I do mine. It’s knowing that the world doesn’t revolve around me and my feelings but there is a bigger picture in play. It’s knowing who God is and actually trusting Him. Take some time today to do a faith assessment. This will show you who you believe God to be.
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