"FAITH IS FACING REALITY WITHOUT BEING DISCOURAGED BY IT."
Read that again
"FAITH IS FACING REALITY WITHOUT BEING DISCOURAGED BY IT."
They are not my words, but the words of Rick Warren
that pierced my heart with such power
reminding me that
FAITH IS COURAGE
because it moves you beyond
"What Is "
to
WHO IS
HOPE
PEACE
JOY
&
LOVE~
All what we really want
&
all that we really need
especially when we may have to
face a reality
that we wish wasn't the reality
that we may be facing right now?
WHAT IS YOUR "REALITY" THAT YOU WISH IT WASN'T?
In the midst of our "REALITY"
we all need
FAITH~
"NOW FAITH IS CONFIDENCE IN WHAT WE HOPE FOR
AND ASSURANCE ABOUT WHAT WE DON'T SEE." (Hebrews 11:1)
FAITH TAKES COURAGE~
to take a step
forward
to
the
HOPE
that
WE DON'T SEE
because
"Hope that is seen is no hope at all.
Who hopes for what they already have?" (Romans 8:24)
Hmm...
so if I don't have and if you don't have
what we really want to have
then
HOPE
is our only option~
"BUT IF WE HOPE FOR WHAT WE DO NOT YET HAVE,
WE WAIT FOR IT PATIENTLY" (Romans 8:25).
FAITH + HOPE = COURAGE
and
COURAGE
is what moves ones forward in the middle of wait
because
COURAGE
is
FAITHFULLY
clinging to
HIS HOPE
HIS PEACE
HIS JOY
HIS LOVE
when reality is dark & gloomy
when reality is bright & sunny
because
what we see
what we feel
in the here & now
is not
what our
True REALITY
is
for
"We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as GOD sees us, knowing HIM directly just as HE knows us!
But for right now, until that completeness,
we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation:
TRUST STEADILY in GOD,
HOPE unswervingly,
LOVE extravagantly" (I Corinthians 13:12-13 MSG).
FAITH IS looking discouragement right in the eyes~
"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen,
since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (II Corinthians 4:18)
FAITH IS looking discouragement right in the eyes
with our eyes fixed on the
Unseen~
because of the
ONE who has COURAGEOUSLY
gone before us so that we can
COURAGEOUSLY face
whatever "reality" may come our way.
So let's
COURAGEOUSLY HOPE
by
"FAITH" (listen to the song below)