Child Like Faith

The gentlemen's nightclub off of the interstate is always hard to miss, with its brightly lit up white sign accompanied by a red broken heart situated in the middle of it. The word, "Heartbreakers", flash across the top. This place has been in operation for as long as I can remember and always lets me know that we've made it to Houston and the long trek from Austin to visit my parents has almost ended. On this particular trip, my middle son, had complained the entire way that his leg was hurting. Four hours of back seat complaints from an otherwise happy little guy can really wear on a person, but proving that there wasn't much we could do to help him we just had to ride it out. As we neared the entrance to my parent's neighborhood, my husband and I noticed that he had gone silent. We both thought it was a little odd because he had literally been whining the entire ride (growing pains are the worst). I turned to the backseat to ask what was up and he looked at me nonchalantly and said, "Jesus healed my leg" - a look like no big deal mom...Jesus took care of it. I probed further wanting him to elaborate. He said he had read a sign on the side of the interstate a few miles back (which was conveniently erected right in front of the infamous night club) that read "Jesus heals the broken hearted". He calmly but confidently re-iterated that Jesus healed him and he simply believed what he read. I was floored. And it's something that I've been chewing on for awhile.

What if we all, with child-like faith, just believed what we read? Think about that for a moment. I'm writing to all of you reading who follow Jesus Christ (myself included) who make reading His word a priority in your day. What if you - what if I - just believed what we read? If you really think about this question, and just for a second imagine the possibilities of a church who just believed what they read, trusted what they read...can you imagine? The church would be on fire. Miracles would take place. Healings would be the norm. Strongholds broken on the reg. Relationships restored. Community with unity. People coming to the faith in droves. Revival. Revival is what would happen. Heaven invading earth and a perfect bride ready for her groom - Jesus Christ - would be engaged.

Sometimes, if I'm being honest, I feel like the dad who brought his son to Jesus to be healed in Matthew 17, saying "Lord I believe, but help me with my unbelief". In my human fragility, I too easily forget what God has done in the past, so I distrust how His word can carry me in the present or the future. Not only that, but the lies and deceptions of this worldly natural reality can, at times, seem more real than the supernatural heavenly realms I'm currently seated in. And sometimes, if I'm being real vulnerable with you, I just check the box. You know, the quiet time/reading God's word - this is what I'm supposed to do since I'm a christian - box. So instead of a genuine meeting with the Lord of the universe and allowing His word to shape every recess of my being therefore drastically transforming the world around me, I am robotically fulfilling an item on the christian checklist ready to move on to the battles of my day albeit ill-equipped and unprepared. Most days instead of walking around like the born again, blood redeemed, called by name, demon slaying, warrior, daughter of The King that He says I am; I am an afraid, timid, feeling inadequate, and doubting individual who really looks no different than the rest of the world. You too? So what do we do to change it?

To believe God's Word is to trust God. To trust God is to know God. To know God is to spend time with God. To spend time with God is to love God. To love God is to pray and develop a hunger for His word that ignites in us a sensitivity to His Holy Spirit. This sensitivity leads to opportunities that we will face in our day where we can choose to trust whether or not we believe what we've read and what's been deposited into our hearts. Trials and temptations will certainly come our way testing our thoughts, attitudes, and actions but we can choose what to believe. We can choose to rely on the unshakable foundation that is Christ and His authority and Word over all powers of darkness and principalities or we can choose to be a christian that looks no different than the world. I'm afraid that for too long the church has abandoned God. We've let the woes of the world and our lives dominate us. We've forgotten what He's done in the past, so we don't really trust Him for the future - much less the now. We've treated our meetings with Him like a mundane task to check off our list for the day so we feel better about ourselves - thinking He's content with our mechanical offerings. All the while, from the beginning of time until now, God has only wanted one thing. One simple thing.

Our heart.

He doesn't want our performance. He wants our heart. God desires us to be like children. A child believes everything they're told. They believe when they read "Jesus heals the broken hearted" that Jesus will heal them, too. Jesus wants to do more in us and through us than we could possibly ask, think, or imagine. He wants to take what seems impossible to man and make it possible. And He wants you and me as participants in that process. I think it's time we start believing what we read in God's word. We don't just believe the parts that are easy to believe or the parts that have been twisted to make sense to our culture, but we believe the entirety of it. We walk in that belief. Starting today we LIVE IT OUT. We get back to the heart of God, and we watch how Heaven invades earth and revival comes.