Daily Devotional

Faith Goes Out
Lynn had to go to the dentist this morning, the day I wrote this.  She could have stayed home.  She could have told herself it was too hard.  There might be pain. They might find things wrong.  She could have said, “I am afraid of the unknown.”

By faith, Abraham went out.  He went out not knowing.  He went out discovering.  He went to live in another land.

Faith goes out.  Abraham went out.
Lynn went out to the dentist.
Fear sits at home, and asks too many questions.

Faith Goes Up
I don’t like heights much.  I get electric weakness in my legs. I get airy and zoned out in my head. There came a request to me years ago. My brother in Christ, Ken, had a metal barn being built that needed quick covering due to impending weather.  It was high!  The empty I-beams on the developing roof, running upward and then down, were about the width of a balance beam.  Several of us showed up.  We had no safety belts or nets.  At 30 feet high?  We dragged material along, walking on those beams, covering the structure. The wind blew some.  I could have died!

But I went up.  Faith goes up.
Daniel went up to his upper room to pray, against the king’s command.  He could have stayed below and prayed privately.
It is fear that stays down.  It watches others do the work.  It wished it were braver.

Faith Invests
After her marriage failed, my daughter, Anne struggled financially.  She decided to invest time and money to get a college degree while raising two children on her own.  Fear could have kept her home.  It could have left her waitressing, and not making it.  She could have said, “That’s all I can do!”

Faith invests.  Fear buries its talents.
Faith profits.  Fear loses its buried riches.
By faith, Noah constructed an ark.
Fear would have made him idle.  Faith made him invest himself.

Faith Takes Action
My hedge needed trimming last week.  I had to make changes.  I had to cut it out underneath.  A lot.  My neighbor, Nancy, had believed the hedge belonged to her.  She planted it, but it is on my property.  She likely will not be pleased when she sees it.  I did it while she was out of town!  But it needed to be done, so I could work on the watering system, which we both are concerned about.

Faith takes action.  Fear paralyzes.
By faith, Moses took his stand against Pharaoh and led his people out of Egypt.
He could have remained in the desert, pondering the burning bush experience.

Please do not take all this to mean that I have always done these faith steps well.  I have had too many failures.  I turned a summer basketball camp into a kind of gospel outreach.  I showed some nature movies in the evening and made a kind of altar call.  Probably half of the youth responded!  But a father complained to me a day later.  I backed off!

At my first church in Reedley, I led successfully for 15 years.  Then I got discouraged.  I turned away from how God had shown me to lead.  That led to my hasty exit a year later from my position.  It led to the church splitting.  Half of it exists now, but many also left.
I could list dozens of other failures.  Yet, in faith, I press on.

Faith is our great treasure.  By it, we are saved.  By it, we walk and bear fruit.  By it, we finish our course and fulfill our ministry.

By faith, Abel offered God an acceptable sacrifice.
By faith, Enoch was taken up.
By faith, Abraham offered up Isaac.
By faith, Isaac invoked future blessings.
By faith, Jacob blessed the sons of Joseph.
By faith, Joseph made mention of the exodus.
By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea.
By faith, the wall of Jericho fell down.
By faith, Rahab did not perish in Jericho.

Faith goes out.  Faith goes up.  Faith invests.  Faith takes action.
Everything you want is out there, where faith goes!

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.