I believe God... sometimes

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The Bible describes faith not only as a gift from God (Romans 12:3; Ephesians 2:8), but also as a choice on our part. For example, Proverbs 3:5 commands: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”
This means we all have an important moment-to-moment decision to make: Will we believe the promises of God or depend on our own intelligence and reasoning instead?
I must admit when I evaluated myself to see where I stood with this question, I found that I believe God sometimes. This broke my heart because I know that I broke His heart with my unbelief. I have come to an understanding that I will share with you. Belief and faith are not used as the same thing sometimes, but faith is the ultimate position we must have with God. I have found that this word equation helped me see the difference in the two: Belief +Action=Faith.
We began to form our belief from a pattern of thinking/thoughts. So, what we think becomes a part of what we believe. Then, what we believe determines if we will have any action and no action equals no Faith. Let’s be honest, some of us have said that we believe God will handle a situation for us but yet our actions reveal we have no faith. To say “I give this problem to you God” but then try to handle it yourself is the proof that your belief process has been tainted.

Example time: I previously spoke with some friends of mine who we just found out they are pregnant. We are all very happy for them. I asked the wife why it took so long for her to tell her husband, family and friends. She explained that she was concern about having a miscarriage and wanted to wait before she told everyone. While this is something we have all heard and can understand the feeling of, is it faith. First, I am not alluding to if anyone has had a miscarriage that it is because of their faith, THIS IS NOT WHAT I’M SAYING. What I would like for us to examine is this: If your belief were that of Gods loving involvement in our life, we would not think of the negative. We would believe the positive. If my friend was believing that God would see her through, she would have (action) told everyone from the beginning.
I have found myself not believing God’s word as I should which affects my faith sometimes, but knowledge is power. I am making the decision to have more positive thoughts to construct better belief, not just sometimes but all the time. I understand that things happen that are detrimental to us, but here is what’s required of us in those times… faith that God is with us and that He will help us through the problem, grief, etc.
So why do people sometimes suffer even after they have prayed? Although I don’t claim to understand each and every situation, I know that sometimes things seem delayed because God’s timing is different from ours. We shouldn’t get discouraged if we don’t see an instantaneous miracle every time we pray for something.
I would be giving you the full gospel if I did not also say that I’ve also seen times when God’s blessings were blocked by unresolved sin or disobedience. At the Cross, Jesus defeated both sin and sickness (1 Peter 2:24). But if we expect to access His power, we must also make a commitment to turn from any known areas of disobedience.
Finally, it’s crucial to embrace the truth about God’s desire to see us blessed. The truth will set us free (John 8:32), yet often God’s people are “destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). God does want YOU to have joy, love, and peace. Don’t let the enemy tell you that the blessings of our God is not for you. I encourage you today to resolve in your heart that you will believe the promises of God — for every blessing your Heavenly Father wants to give you. Use your spiritual authority over the devil’s work. Keep standing in faith, choosing to believe God to fulfill His Word!