Robert Schuller once spoke of his father who was a farmer in the Midwest of America, a place that was very familiar with tornadoes. A tornado came and literally cleared the surface of the earth. It destroyed all the barns, the houses, and took the cattle and the tractors up into the sky and they never saw them again. He has a favourite saying: Tough times don’t last but tough people do.” All those farmers moved away but his dad went back and rebuilt his farm and started again.
Faith is a doing word. It’s no use sitting down in your armchair and waiting for God to miraculously come and put everything right. God will honor hard work every single time. Faith is actually the substance of things hoped for, it’s the evidence of things not yet seen (Hebrews 11:1). God gives you a Word as you wait on Him, then you go out and you do it. If Peter hadn’t got out of the boat and walked on the water, Jesus could never have helped him. Peter had to get out of the boat and walk towards Jesus.
Yes, the troubles of his life can sometimes swamp you, like they did with Peter. He took his eyes off Jesus for a moment and looked at the size of the waves. Fear came into his heart and he started to sink but, praise God, the Lord was able to reach out and pick him up. Many a man of faith has started going under at some time in his life, but God always honors faith and He will time and time again help a man who is walking by faith. But, no matter how many natural gifts he may have, the man who stays in the boat, who stays seated in his armchair, will never achieve his full potential unless he gets up and starts to move.
When a person said to Gary Player,”You’re so lucky, Gary, that you’re such a good golfer.” He said, “Yes, it’s amazing. The harder I practice, the luckier I seem to become!”
Faith is a doing word. As we start to exercise our faith and begin to use the natural abilities God has given to us, we will literally move mountains for God.
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