Seeing Faith Happen
I was in-flight and fidgety & restless from the changing of planes and passing through timezones. I decided to journal and sort out my thoughts as a way to pass time until I made it to my destination. I was well into writing when God stopped me and said: “Believe me for more.” This was strange to me and out of left field because nothing I was journaling about had anything to do with the things I needed or wanted. “Well, I want this plane to land….”, I silently responded. I was more than 20,000 feet in the air and the only thing I was honestly expecting God for was a safe landing. Immediately, He shot back, “Ok. More”.
I should’ve felt like I was just given a million dollars! I mean this was a personal invitation to ask the Creator of All things for the things that I hoped for and desired. Like freezing up for a performance, I was stunned and didn’t know what to say or how I was supposed to respond. I felt like my faith was being questioned. If God was asking me to believe Him for more, was I even believing Him for anything currently? I was frustrated with my inability to verbally say what I wanted and needed from God.
I remember taking training for a position in customer service a few years back and my manager at the time gave me useful advice for my position. She explained when you have a customer who is not satisfied with the service being provided, simply ask them ”What can I do to solve this problem?” She explained a good amount of customers are more focused on the problem than they are the solution, by you asking them exactly what they desire in the situation you are diffusing a potential argument but more importantly you allow them the space to think about what it is they truly want. Although I had not been unsatisfied in the moment, God pulled a me on me and had me stumped when told to believe Him for more.
I had absolutely NO idea of what ”More” would look like in my life and I realized that the unawareness of ”more” is a risky place for me to be in. I had gotten so comfortable with viewing the blessings of others but had begun to feel that God’s favor in my life was limited; like I had capped out for the year on His blessings for me. It's not that I didn't believe in God’s ability to bless me or even His willingness to bless me but I had gotten to a point of complacency in what I had and literally became blind to envisioning things beyond what I was currently experiencing and seeing.
My expectations were low and I placed a limit on God when He was just warming up. Recently I celebrated a major milestone and was so thankful for God blessing me in this amazing way. However, I felt like expecting God for more would mean I was ungrateful for what He had already done. FALSE!!!!! When it is in His will, believing God for more does not make you ungrateful in any way; have expectant faith! (Mark 11:22-24)
Many kids have already begun sizing up the gifts under the Christmas trees and are imagining the endless possibilities of what may be behind the shiny wrapping paper, large bows and ribbons. After opening up the first gift they receive, do you think they will say “one gift is enough, I’ll open the next gift you have for me NEXT Christmas??” Absolutely not! In the same way, we should be looking forward to and imagining all of the things God can do in our lives. And in looking forward to those things, really believing that it can and will happen.
The favor of God and His blessing come in many different forms and will not always be something that you can physically touch. What does “more” look like for you? Maybe it’s not tangible but it’s a healed heart or self-control. God can do way more than what you could even think of (Ephesians 3:20-21). In God challenging me, I realized that it’s necessary to have more faith to see God move in my life in ways that I haven’t yet seen. Like the lady with the issue of blood, her expectant faith is what healed her (Mark 5:25-34). I believe God is waiting to bless His children in ways we can’t begin to fathom if we would just dare to believe Him for more. I want to encourage you to really reflect on what you need and desire from God and be courageous enough to sincerely and truly believe Him for it!