Just Keep Swimming!

I made a previous reference to Dory from the movie “Finding Nemo” when talking about letting go of those things that are actually keeping us from following God and inheriting the good he has for us. If you take even further it also leads into faith. That little blue fish continued to sing that song and keep going despite the surroundings, despite the odds of actually reaching their destination, and despite the attacks. I look at this as how our faith in God should be.

In order to first have faith, we need to hear from God. He is our guide, he will lead us in the right directions. When he gives directions or instructions, our job is to follow. We follow despite our surroundings, despite our situations, despite our FEELINGS! This is faith. When God says to do something and you can’t figure out how it’s going to work out, but you do it anyway is faith in God.

My students, as always, come to mind as I think of this topic. When I give them directions on completing assignments, sometimes the directions sound complicated or pointless. Sometimes my students don’t see the point or don’t understand the connection to the expected outcome, or sometimes don’t even realize what the outcome will be! But I tell them to TRUST me. I give them a little bit at a time. Complete the first direction. When you’ve done that, I will give the next. 

Sometimes they are too afraid to move forward because of fear of failure. I reassure them that it is okay and that I will not let them fail. They then move forward. By the time they complete all of the directions, they have a full project completed. I can then review the steps that they took and show the connections. They can look back and see how they figured things out and worked out problems and see how it led to the final project.

If we follow God’s directions like we should, we could see so much growth and so many completed projects, but because we lose faith, we have so many unfinished projects and are completely unaware of their rewards. We have to follow God’s directions despite what people may say, despite what they may think, and despite how it may makes you look. We have to follow even when the situation seems like you can’t make it. When it seems like there’s no way through. When it seems like it won’t get better. When it hurts too bad. When you have no more strength. Because everything you need comes from God. Your peace, your bravery, your boldness, your strength, your endurance! Keep faith and He will supply all of your needs (Philippians 4:19)! Your needs to get through. Your needs to keep going. Your needs to overcome!

Misconceptions of Faith

Many people, even believers, have this idea that faith is naming, claiming, and believing God for something. Their mindset is solely on physical/material things. If you want a brand new BMW 7-Class with ALL of the upgrades, we believe if we go to the dealership, lay hands on it and name it, claim it, and believe God for it, then it will show up in our driveway with the title and all and be ours. Now, faith doesn’t work like this. Not faith. If you want something, I’m DEFINITELY not saying God can’t or won’t make it happen for you, but this isn’t faith. This is just wanting something material and hoping God honors your request to have it. No different from a child wanting a special toy and hoping their parents get it for them. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. It depends on if the parent sees fit. Same with God. If He sees fit, then he will make that way. Also, if that child is making bad grades and not doing their chores, misbehaving, more than likely the parents will not give that child that special toy. They haven’t earned it. They haven’t showed themselves deserving. 

We can claim a shiny new car all day long, but if don’t even work for it or towards it, or don’t take care of what we already have, or don’t behave like we should, why would God bless us with it or see fit to let us have it??? This is the misconception of faith. Faith in God isn’t that if I name it and claim it then it’s mine. If you want something, you simply work for it and work towards it. Faith is so much BIGGER than this.

Faith is so much BIGGER than material things and how fast and how much you can get. Matthew 21:22 says “and whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” So, first you have to make sure your prayers are even heard. Proverbs 28:9 says that those that turn away from the law, even their prayers are an abomination. If you’re not following the law, you can pray all you want! 

What is the law? Read Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Or check out this list of God’s laws. If you follow God’s law, you’re following God’s word! When you do this, as you pray, you will know what to pray! Even when you are unsure what to pray about, God will give it to you! It will come out in your prayer! I have done this many times. I’ve felt like there was SOMETHING I needed to address with God, but couldn’t figure it out myself. I just went into prayer and He provided me with what I needed to ask for or pray about. Our desires are HIS desires! That’s why when we ask, we receive because God already wants it for us.

There are so many that quote Romans 4: 17 where it says, “calleth those things which be not as though they were.” But people neglect to look at the whole thing. It says, “As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations, before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” GOD is the one that calls those things that be not as though they were!!! It doesn’t say you do!! You are supposed to have FAITH in the GOD that calls those things that be not as though they were! When someone dies, you don’t see people always hollering, “The bible says to raise the dead!!!” But when someone wants a shiny new car to flash in front of everyone or a gigantic house, then it’s “God said to speak those things that be not as though they were!!!!” But God did not say that. This was Paul talking about Abraham’s faith in the God THAT raises the dead and CREATES ALL NEW THINGS!!!

What is Faith?

Faith is believing God’s word. It’s believing God’s word when, as said above, everything around you says, shows, and feels the opposite. Faith is believing in God’s word and moving on it despite how you feel or how bad your situation is. Faith is moving on God’s word when you don’t even understand the purpose. Faith is believing and moving on God’s word when you don’t know what the outcome will be. Because God said it, you do it. Because God said it, you believe it. Because God said it, you trust it. Faith is when you want to quit because you see no end or no escape, but God says just “keep swimming”, keep going! Trust Him! Depend on Him!

Faith is when you are in a dark place and you see no way out, but God says, “I am the light of the world, Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life,”(John 8:12) so you KEEP walking and what do find? LIGHT!!! That’s how faith works! Faith is NOT believing in your wants. You know the routine, people see something they want (a shiny new car) and believe they are going to get that want and say “God said that’s my car!” No, you said it’s your car. That’s believing in a want, not having faith in God.

What I’m saying is faith is believing and trusting God’s word despite the situation or the possible outcome. “Faith comes from HEARING, and hearing the WORD of GOD!” (Romans 10:17) Faith is believing and trusting what you have HEARD God say. What does he say? Well, we can read his WORD all through the Holy Bible! That’s how we even know what faith is! Build your relationship with God and learn to HEAR Him speak to you. When His WORD is shared in services, pay attention!

If there is something you want that is material, it’s okay to want, but make sure having that thing is God’s desire for you. We get having faith confused with wanting things. So, if there is something you want, let me share with you how to handle that without becoming greedy for worldly things and never being satisfied or content.

As I’ve said before, build your relationship with God. Get close to Him so that you can tell when He is speaking to you and you understand what He is saying. He will guide your steps throughout your day. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths (or guide your steps)” (Proverbs 3:5-6). So, once you’ve built this relationship, your desires will be his desires. “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). This is because once you become close with God, your desires are actually his desires for you. You will want what it is God wants for you! When you let God guide your every step, you tend to want what it is he wants for you and when that’s the case, he will give it to you!

Let me give you a personal example. When I was in my first year of college, I was looking for a part time job so I could make my own money and start being more independent and learning more adult skills. I had been looking for a job since I was 16. I was 18 at this point. I never had a job before, with all the applications I had filled out and turned in, I had never even been called for an interview. I was well into my studies in college and job searching was just getting really frustrating and tiresome. I started to wonder if I really needed to be pursuing a job at the time. After all, my parents had always thought I should just focus on my studies and they would help me with whatever I needed. So, I was wondering if that’s what God wanted, too. I wanted to do what he wanted me to do.

After a long day of putting in applications, I sat in my car on campus and just cried out to God. I knew he already knew how I felt and what was going on, but I just needed to pour out my heart and my frustrations and seek guidance because my way was not working. (This is where I learned that I can’t depend on things happening my way!) I asked God what he wanted me to do. I asked him if it was his will for me to have a job at the moment or did I need to wait. I let him know that I was on the brink of calling the job searching quits. I let God know that if he wanted me to have a job then, I would be happy.  I also let him know that if he did not want me to have a job yet, I would be happy. I just wanted to do what he wanted. I knew he would guide my steps and everything in my life would, to me, fall into place, but to him, go as planned! This was a Wednesday when I sat in my car having this talk with God. That following Friday I got a call for an interview and was hired on the spot! I started my first job that next Tuesday! I can even go into how this job was aligned with God’s purpose for me, but I will save that for another post!

My point is, faith is believing in God’s word. Desiring THINGS is not faith. When desiring things, make sure it all aligns with God’s will. If it doesn’t, you don’t need it. Therefore, should not want it. Nobody wants the best for you as much as God does, so why would want something he doesn’t even want for you? Think about it. And stop “having faith in getting a car” and have faith that God will lead you to be the person he has created you to be despite the world!

About The Author

Amy McCutcheon is a loving wife to Angelo McCutcheon and mom to two boys, AJ and Amauri McCutcheon. She is the creator of A Supermom’s Journey, a blog about motherhood and all that it entails. You can read more about the journey at  www.supermomsjourney.com.  Amy is also an educator and teaches middle school ELA and reading. She also teaches English online to ESL students in China. Amy is also the creator of the YouTube channel A Supermoms Journey and runs a tutoring service called AR Learning where she tutors students ages 4-18 in all core subjects and helps adults with obtaining their GED, college entrance essays, resume writing, and document proofreading. You can book an appointment at www.arlearning.wix.com/home. Amy is in ministry with her husband. They run EBT Ministries which is an outreach ministry to help believers truly understand Yah’s (God) word and the truth about being a child of Yah. You can learn more about the ministry at www.ebtminitries.org. Amy is the creator of this blog GMEL (God, Marriage, Education, Life) where she writes about what Yah’s word says about life for a woman. To continue to read, go to www.gmel2000.blogspot.com.

Want to contact Amy?

Email: mrsm3108@gmail.com