Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Faith sometimes doesn't change things...

~Lola

Kudos to Mushroom who has just been awarded "Best Summariser" Award by me! Concise, to the point, entertaining and yet from the heart! Reading your summary got me excited to start a little summary of my own...not so much in point form though.

Side track abit...previous entry's contributor was Juls i believe....:)

well, On the last day of the camp, while we had our 'medley' of 3 sermons by the 3 great preachers, it was pretty amazing how all of their sermons linked up so well. Truly, none other than the Spirit of God at work.....
Ps Ong went on to share about Faith..a topic that most of us could share hours on...(maybe!?hah!) 4 concise points -

1) Faith sometimes changes things
2) Faith sometimes doesn't change things...because Faith changes you (BANG! WOW! This hit me)
3) Faith always leads us to make XO decisions
4) Faith will ultimately TRIUMPH
The second point was the one I wanted to share more on...

Ps Ong made this analogy abot point 2...
About the story of Daniel in the lion's den....
What was the greatest miracle in that story?
It was not that the lion did not eat Daniel, but it was how Daniel could still sleep in the lion's den!
I never thought of it that way, but it is true isn't it?
And the greatest miracle about Noah was not the Ark, but the fact that he could STILL preach on even for 100 years even though the people kept rejecting him!
Faith did not change the landscape of belief, it developed Noah's and Daniel's perserverance, attitude.....etc.

i thought about myself....Prior to church camp, i had been suffering for about 3 weeks to a month of dry spell in sales. I was demoralised, as I had shared in cell....for a few weeks, my spirit was low, my self-esteem took a dip and self-doubt started to climb. It was one of those short moments of questioning my faith and trust in a God who is more than able to provide for my every need. How could i ever question His character? How could I ever doubt His providence? Yet, it seemed for those few weeks that God was quiet in granting favour, appointments, sales etc. Everyday seemed like a drag on my spirit, especially on my mind, the battlefield where the enemy never stops planting seeds of negative thoughts. My faith was challenged....Yet nothing changed during those few weeks.

Church camp was an excellent break. Somehow, getting out of country seems like the only most effective way I can stop thinking about work. Maybe it's the idea that I have a valid excuse not to be as responsive to client's requests/needs as I am on a vacation....
So, when I was back after camp...I continued to pray....and I just wanted to share that since you guys prayed for me in cell (last week i think? or the week before?), God has been pouring His favour on me daily. Clients have been calling up to request to meet up with me, out of the blue...and I have been closing sales (albeit small cases) almost every other day for the past week!

Looking back, those few weeks of faith NOT changing anything has made me realise that when God finally changed things around this week, my heart could truly leap with joy and thanksgiving.
When my faith didn't change the circumstances around me, it changed my heart to be more malleable towards the Lord....a heart that was more desperate to seek Him and cry out to Him.

A new perspective to faith...not that I never knew it before, but that's how God reveals Himself to us all the time isn't it? Same Word of God, but the Holy Spirit who teaches us new things everyday which cuts to the very fibre of our spirit during that rhema moment! :)




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