Faith

Today, I realize that I only just began to understand what faith means.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

- Hebrews 11:1 ESV

This is the verse most people think about when they want to define faith, same for me. I have memorized and quoted it many many times, but something about it today was just different.

One thing I have been struggling with and praying about is the courage and boldness to declare my faith to those around me as I ought to. In my mind, the idea was this: God would hear my prayer, and He would answer it with a yes since it's according to His will. I would wake up one day with some level of extraordinary boldness and be able to speak about Jesus to anybody and everybody, and until that happened, well... God hadn't answered me yet, and I would have faith, keep praying, and waiting for that day.

Yesterday night, I read Psalm 96, and I felt like a lot of the verses were calling me out:

v. 2 "tell of his salvation from day to day."

v. 3 "Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!"

v. 10 "Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!"

Then today, I read the Hebrews 11:1 verse again, and it dawned on me that having faith regarding what I have been praying for doesn't mean believing I will wake up one day with that crazy boldness, but believing that I have been empowered to do it even though I can't see or feel that crazy boldness just yet.

This is quite a confusing story, but my point is this. Faith is not passive, it doesn't end by saying, "yeah, God will do it someday." Faith is active, "I know God has done His part, so I'm going to take those necessary steps today in response to that." This doesn't mean there are no times of waiting, but even in those, there are ways to actively exercise faith.

Peace and love of God be with you all!!