Faith

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Faith, Living It Scripture for this sermon is: St. Matthew 6:25 - 34

Take no thought for your own life! Mark 8:35 Tells us that man cannot save his own life. Only by offering all to God shall it be saved!

WORRY, is an inconvenient evil! Have you ever noticed that when you need your wits about you the most, worry shoves it's head into our minds along with his cousin’s panic and impatience to come between you and logical thought? Worry works the same way on our faith in God. When prayer, and total dependence on our Lord are what we need the most, Worry pokes it's head into our minds to stand between our faith and us.
Faith is trust! Trust in our Lord, must be lived. Not practiced or thought of as an idea or concept of theory. True faith in God must be lived as a complete confidence. A confidence on which we stake our lives.

How many times have you said to yourself, "If I could only get this or do that I could accomplish such and such. How much faith we put into our own abilities to fix this or solve that makes us appear almost Godlike in our own minds. We think that we alone can make all right with our world.

In June of 2002, my Grandfather in-law and I were tearing down an old barn. Due to a progression of mishaps, Paw stepped on a twenty penny, rusty nail. This nail went into his shoe and almost completely through his foot. I became worried.

A sister-in-law and I fussed and fumed until we were able to convince him to go to the doctor and have a tetanus shot. His physician gave him the shot but did not flush out the wound. Despite my soaking and doctoring of this foot, it became seriously infected. We later learned that the wound had a certain type of tuberculosis in it. Gram, Paw's wife kept birds that roamed freely throughout the house. The fesse from these birds is what caused this particular kind of TB. Paw's foot was so tender that we could not get a sock on it. He walked around barefooted because of this.
Although we all worried, Paw did not seem to. He accepted the situation with grace and silence. One day, before we knew about the TB, I asked him how he could be to calm about it. By this time he had been in the hospital for over a week because it would not heal and was getting worse. His response was, "Well, we have done all that we know to do to take care of the matter. We must always remember that it is God's plan and not ours. I reckon he can handle it just fine."

When we were told of the TB the doctors said that it would spread rapidly and there was no effective treatment for it. Paw remained calm and we WORRIED!

Twenty percent of all worry is our own dissatisfaction with what we think God has allowed to happen in our lives. We take the attitude that he is responsible not only for our blessings but for the bad in our lives also. The Bible assures us that we will suffer the same woes as the unbeliever. But our Lord promises to bring us through it all if only we believe. If only we have FAITH!

We do not trust him though. The remaining 80% of worry is our inability to consciously believe that it is his will that can conquer all! Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. By submitting to God's will with blind and unknowing faith we are assured time and time again in his word that all will be as he will have it to be. If we have FAITH!

I, and my husband's family were absolutely sure that Paw's foot was going to kill him! It was within months he went home to our Lord.

Through prayer and only prayer, the TB did not spread from his foot. It had actually almost disappeared. He died after living a full and faith filled life of over 86 years, of a birth defect in his heart. A defect that SHOULD HAVE taken him to our Lord in his infancy. But that was not God's plan. Because of this man's faith he was able to live in accordance with God's plan.

If we, as believers trust in his will and his all encompassing love, even in the greatest of trials, prayer and leaving it all to his will is a progression of faith that will physically take us from chaos to peace. Getting out of our own heads and egos, moving as we are intended to, to our hearts, literally leaving all in his hands will bring life's complications into simplicity.

As small children we bring our boo-boos to Mom. She is presented with hurts, broken toys and broken hearts. But Mom cannot and will not always be there. Even when she is, there is not always anything she can do to help. Oh how lucky we are to have an eternal and ever loving father to bring our woes and worries to. A father who is capable of conquering it all. A father who is ALWAYS there to take the burden!!
There will be times that we may think he isn't paying any attention. We may think he has abandoned us. DO NOT WORRY! It is only a test. If we put this doubt from us we will find him there, waiting to take us by the hand. Hebrews 11:6 tells us; But without faith it is impossible to please the Lord for he that comes to him must believe that he is, and that he will reward them that diligently seek and believe in him. With God all things are possible! Without this faith, all that we attempt to fix on our own with our high-powered egos will fail!

It was faith that prompted Able to make a more excellent sacrifice than Cain to God. Faith set Noah to building an ark. Faith sent Moses, reluctantly, to wandering in the desert with God's people as his charges. HOW then can we not trust in our Lord to bring us through our petty trials and tribulations?

Like Paw, let us do what we Know we can do, take the matter to the Lord in prayer and let him have it. LEAVE IT TO THE LORD! When worry rears it's sinful head let us remember St. Matthew 19:26, "With men it is impossible; but with God ALL things are possible."

Without LIVING FAITH we are all doomed for failure.

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