Courageous Faith reflection

The Sunday morning messages this month on the Book of Daniel have been wonderful for me. I want to be a person with unshakable faith. I enjoyed the message this past Sunday because it gave us some insight into how we can develop our faith in God.

On Sunday morning, Kevin started his sermon by asking us to identify the pressure points in our life. Coming off of a challenging year, it was easy for me to identify a few pressures or difficult areas in my life. The first one that came to my mind was – loss. My father recently passed away, and I miss him. But despite missing my dad, I can celebrate God’s promises and His gift to us of eternal life. As believers, we know that God has won the battle, so no matter how we feel, we can know that God is sovereign and He is in control.

We can increase our faith in God by knowing that he can save us. We can read about the unshakable faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3:17 when they said to King Nebuchadnezzar – "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and He will deliver us from your majesty’s hand." I especially liked the challenge that Kevin gave us, which is to live a life knowing that God is able.

Increasing our faith also comes in believing that God will rescue us because not only is God able but he is willing. Think about the fact that the Bible gives us over 7000 promises. The promises of eternal life have brought me comfort the past month as I grieved my father's loss. My dad had incredible faith. He loved the Lord God and was faithful in spending time in the word. In my father’s passing, knowing the promises of eternal life gave me peace and comfort. Verses like: John 3:16,

1 Peter 5:10, 1 John 2:17, 2 Corinthians 4:18, and 1 John 5:13.

Lastly, we increase our faith by remaining in Him no matter what happens. We saw this play out for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3:18. They said, “but even if He does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” We know that we don’t always get the outcomes we pray for or want in challenging times. Sometimes God gives us a “yes”, sometimes we get a “no,” and then there are times that we wait. And in our challenging times, this scripture shows us that we need to place our loyalty with God. We need to say that no matter what, we will be unshakable in our faith.

If you were unable to hear the sermon on Sunday, please click on the audio link.