Faith

Recently, I heard someone give some definitions for faith and some of the terms surrounding faith. I would like to start by sharing those with you:

Belief - Is my Conviction
Faith - Is my Confidence in God that allows me to act on my belief
Trust - Allows me to wait and not act while God acts
Patience - Is enduring, being consistent and maintaining
Hope - Is the outcome expected in the future that causes me to act the way I do today.

They all just tie in together.

I have been a Christian since I was seven years old. And I think I have always had faith, but I don't think I have always trusted. A short time after we moved to Texas in 1992, I began to feel that God wanted me to enter a ministry, but I didn't know what.

In September 1995, I lost my job and began to earnestly seek God's will for my life. I went for eight months without a job, and during that time, it became clear to me that God was calling me to go into marriage and family counseling. I was excited, but I only had one year of college and needed at least a master's degree. And I didn't have a job.

In faith, I enrolled at Dallas Baptist University in March 1996, and I got a job in May of that year, even though it paid about $20,000 a year less than my old job. However, from then until May 1998, God supplied all my needs. I don't think there was a minute during those two-plus years that I experienced any financial stress, worry, or concern. Marlene and I were both working full time; we had a little additional money coming in to help. And I got my bachelor's degree in May 1998. It was easy to trust God.

Matthew 14 talks about Peter when he walked on water to meet Jesus. Starting in verse 29 it reads, "Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and began to sink"

Peter had faith, he stepped out of the boat and he walked on water, but a little wind came along, his faith weakened, and he began to sink.

I had faith in God, I stepped out of the boat, but in May 1998, I began to see the wind. The extra money that was coming in, stopped. In June My wife fell and broke her ankle and missed about six weeks of work, and in order for me to continue with the additional schooling I needed, I had to cut my work hours down to 32. And the real blow came when the IRS sent a notice that I owed an additional $2500 from 1995. To tell you the truth, my feet began to get wet, actually more like soaked.

Matthew 14:29-30 continues, "Peter cried out, 'Lord, save me!'" I began to cry out, too. "God, help me!" It was difficult to trust while the wind was blowing, and the more I doubted, the wetter my feet got. But now, as Paul Harvey would say, "for the rest of the story." The scripture goes on to say "Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. 'You of little faith,' he said, 'why did you doubt?'"

And he reached out his hand to me also. He wasn't going to let Peter drown, and he wasn't going to let me drown. Matters began to improve. My feet began to dry out. Finances became more manageable again.

Since the time I started on this journey, there has never been a time that I have not felt that I am in the will of God. I am doing what he has asked me to do. And I have never entertained the thought of changing my direction. I don't expect the next few years to be totally smooth. I believe I will have to dry my shoes from time to time. But I am growing and my faith is growing. I still have unbelief from time to time, and I will probably never reach maximum maturity in this lifetime.

In Mark 9:20-24 we read about the father who brought his demon possessed son to Jesus. The father said to Jesus, "If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." Jesus told the father that "everything is possible for him who believes." And the father replied, "I believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

I have faith. But my constant prayer is, "Help be overcome my unbelief."

Dwayne Collins, MA, LPC

Email: Heart Change Counseling

Phone: 469-261-5123