WALK BY FAITH?

"We live by faith, not by sight."

"Have faith. Trust in God. Believe His promises. Walk in His truth." I heard these statements over and over as I grew up. I tried to believe, and I tried to understand what religion was all about. I just never could get it to click in my head, and the more I tried to fake it through my outward actions, the more exhausted and fed up I became. The truth however was that living in sin seemed way more fun at the time, studying my Bible meant opening up to a random page and skimming a few verses, and prayer was an emergency call for help on a test. In reality, my exhaustion was from running in circles through a purposeless routine that was "outwardly wasting away."
I thought somehow I was supposed to produce faith. Funny, I never could seem to muster it up - not even the faith that is as small as a mustard seed. What a huge misconception! Just when I thought I'd had enough of the silly game and was ready to quit all together, God began a series of works that only He could have opened my eyes to. This led to the single greatest truth God has ever revealed in my life: Faith is a gift of God! What started as a pitiful plea for any sense of purpose has grown into a daily request for deeper faith to take me and make me sold out to the purpose of Christ!
The purpose in writing this is because a young girl said she felt like a bad christian because she just didn't get it. She reminded me of myself just a few short years ago. She knows there's more than the little box that she has ritualistically been taught to stuff God into. She's dying inside, just as I was. I got to share with her the freeing news that God doesn't put it on her shoulders to make her heart grow in faith. While she must put forth the effort to meet Him, God alone produces faith. My faith grows as I humbly ask God to show me TRUTH, but most importantly, I fully expect Him to reveal it! God GIVES the gift of faith and love to His children who believe and ask. As Paul says, "The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus."

For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:8

If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. Matthew 21:22