Streams in the Desert - Feb 17
by L. B. E. Cowman and Jim Reimann
The land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. (Joshua 1: 2 KJV)
God is speaking about something immediate in this verse. It is not something He is going to do but something He does do, at this very moment. As faith continues to speak, God continues to give. He meets you today in the present and tests your faith. As long as you are waiting, hoping, or looking, you are not believing. You may have hope or an earnest desire, but that is not faith, for “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Heb. 11: 1). The command regarding believing prayer is: “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11: 24). We are to believe that we have received— this present moment. Have we come to the point where we have met God in His everlasting NOW?
~from Joshua, by A. B. Simpson
True faith relies on God and believes before seeing. Naturally, we want some evidence that our petition is granted before we believe, but when we “live by faith” (2 Cor. 5: 7), we need no evidence other than God’s Word. He has spoken, and in harmony with our faith it will be done. We will see because we have believed, and true faith sustains us in the most trying of times, even when everything around us seems to contradict God’s Word.
The psalmist said, “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Ps. 27: 13). He had not yet seen the Lord’s answer to his prayers, but he was confident he would see, and his confidence sustained him.
Faith that believes it will see, will keep us from becoming discouraged. We will laugh at seemingly impossible situations while we watch with delight to see how God is going to open a path through our Red Sea. It is in these places of severe testing, with no human way out of our difficulty, that our faith grows and is strengthened.
Dear troubled one, have you been waiting for God to work during long nights and weary days, fearing you have been forgotten? Lift up your head and begin praising Him right now for the deliverance that is on its way to you.
~from Life of Praise
Reference
Cowman, L. B. E.; Reimann, Jim (2008-09-09). Streams in the Desert: 366 Daily Devotional Readings (pp. 78-79). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Categories: spiritual