Last Sunday, I preached a message entitled "Got Faith?" This message was the first in a series on what faith really is and the series is based upon the old "Got Milk?" commercials. The heart of the message is that faith is not a magic wand that we can point at a situation, wave and expect results to appear like magic. Neither is it the answer that allows you to get everything you have ever wanted delivered to your doorstep. When we really examine what faith is, we find that it is a deep and abiding trust that what Jesus said was true. It is true whether or not I feel like it is true. It is true regardless of whether it looks like it is true. It fact, it is true irrespective of whether I even think it is true. When Hebrews 11 declares that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, it does not mean that if we have faith everything in our life will be perfect. Rather in means that even when things are going wrong, faith continues to believe that what the Word of God declares is true regardless. Near the end of the chapter we find the faith of those who were sawn in half, tortured and destitute applauded. This clearly means that faith remains even when things are bad. The truth is we don't like that understanding of faith. We would rather believe that if we really have faith everything will all go well, but the reality of it is that this understanding of faith in desperate times in far more powerful than a faith that makes everything easy.

I have to admit that after preaching this message, I was severly tested in the realm of physical sickness and I have had to endure some literal pain. However, I want to encourage you that enduring this hardship has only strengthened my resolve that faith works and it is not based on what we see, hear, feel or think.

Got Faith?