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Sunday, July 05, 2009
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What Are You Willing To Believe God For?Bishop Vashti McKenzie
When trouble strikes, what are you willing to believe God for?

• When the tapestry of the 21st century is stained with the blood of the innocent and unsuspecting• When our community is raped by unprecedented violence so bitter that bombers chose death over life in suicide attacks• When evil masquerades as good• When the sounds and rumors of war dominate our lives• When too many of our children go off to defend, protect and serve but never come home from foreign soil• When God seems to be silent, troubles rise, hearts ache, minds break and sickness comes without an invitation• When death calls a family member's unlisted telephone number• When ships fail to come in, checks bounce, friends disappoint and families feuds• When members cleave while others leave, pews empty, budgets are short, and bills long• When you can't make ends meet, the way gets dark, load gets heavy; nights become restless, days become nightmares
What are you willing to believe God for?
• When greed is allowed to wreck the American economy• When distractions take away the seriousness of health care, global warming, war, and jobs going overseas, from public education to prison pipeline, or injustice and fair play in the courtroom
What are you willing to believe God for?
• Hannah wanted to believe God for a baby from a barren womb• The man by the pool of Bethesda wanted to believe God for healing• The blind man wanted to believe Jesus for sight; the lepers wanted to believe God for a cleansing; and the centurion wanted to believe his child would live again
At the core of all that I have mentioned is the most crucial element in our spiritual walk - our faith. What life requires now is more than the average faith, but a radical faith. Radical faith is the total dependence upon God - that becomes supernatural in its working. Radical faith enables you to believe without seeing, go without knowing, do without understanding, trust without wavering, and be secure in uncertainty.
It is difficult answering this question without faith: Hebrews 11:6 - says it is impossible to please God without it. Salvation is impossible without faith - for it is by grace through faith that we are saved. Prayers go no further than the ceiling without faith - for we must believe that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. For faith is the substance of what we hope for, and the evidence of what has yet to arrive.
Noah was willing to take God at his word. Faith is seeing things differently, therefore, you believe differently. It is seeing with our spiritual eyes and not our natural eyes. Our natural eyes tells us that all hell has broken lose, nothing is ever going to work out, or it is as bad as it gets. Our spiritual eyes look through the lens of faith that no matter how bad it seems, God is still able to do more abundantly than which we ask. No matter what- all things work together for good to them who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.
God spoke the judgment and grace. He articulated the salvation strategy and Noah believed God's word.Are you willing to take God at his word? Are you willing to believe what God's word says about your prayers, salvation, perseverance, blessings, obedience, grace, divine favor, suffering, pain or eternal life? Remember nothing is impossible with God.
By faith, what impossible things are you and God going to do today?
As presiding bishop of the 13th Episcopal District of the AME, Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie is a guiding example for women and church leaders throughout the country. Her messages can be heard online daily at www.thisisyourwakeupcallonline.com. For more information about Bishop Vashti McKenzie, log onto www.13thame.com*Bishop McKenzie is a 2009 StreamingFaith.com Guest Columnist.
© Bishop Vashti McKenzie all rights reserved.