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Desperate Faith - Part 3 - What Kind of Faith do You Have?

by Jerry Ousley  
8/16/2013 / Christian Living

I've told the story before about a scar I carry on the left side of my neck. It is from a surgery I had during my mid-teens. A cyst had risen up. People prayed for me but frankly, thinking like a teenager instead of a Christian, I didn't want to be healed because I looked forward to getting a couple of weeks off from school. But later on, when the cyst reappeared and I was faced with a second operation, then I let my faith kick in. I didn't want to go through that experience again. God honored my faith and the cyst went away without surgery and never reappeared. That time I had strong faith.

There have been times during my life when I have had weak faith; like the time early in my ministry when I was called to visit a young man who was going through some pretty tough times. It goes against my grain to admit to this but nevertheless, it happened. I didn't want to visit with the man. I felt it was going to be a waste of time. I had made dinner plans with some friends and promised the man that I would come to his home after dinner. I really didn't want to go and secretly hoped that he'd call the meeting off. He didn't. After dinner I fulfilled my obligation out of responsibility but I was only going through the motions. I walked into the man's home, a very small house, nearly a shack. He spilled his guts to me and I began feeling guilty for my weak faith. I related the plan of salvation and right there we kneeled and he accepted Jesus Christ as he personal Savior. Because of my weak faith I didn't deserve to be used of God like that, but He used me anyway, despite my weakness.

Then there have also been many times when I had desperate faith. These were times when an answer was needed right then. There was an instance, when as a child, I nearly drowned. We had gone swimming with my uncle's family. A path led from the road to the lake and we had finished and were going home. I was at the end of the line right behind my uncle when I made the quick and irresponsible decision to go back in for one more dip. I swam just like a rock! In other words I couldn't swim at the time and would sink right to the bottom, so my definition of swimming was merely wading around in the water. That particular lake had a drop off point where the bottom just fell beneath your feet. When I ran out into the water I hit that point and before I knew what had happened I was under water watching the fish swim. I prayed, "God help me! I don't want to drown!" and before I could take that fateful breath of water into my lungs my uncle was pulling me out. That was desperate faith.

Often in the Bible Jesus accused His disciples of being those of "little faith." This was weak faith. Yet, after the day of Pentecost, we read of Peter locking eyes with the lame man at the temple gate and telling him to rise up and walk. The man did and he was healed. But before that, it was Peter who took his eyes off Jesus when walking on the water and he began to sink. That time Jesus referred to him as one of "little faith." Much later, Peter found himself in prison waiting to be executed the next morning. God sent an angel to take him from prison and miraculously he escaped. I'd say that was a situation of desperate faith.

The point is that we may have weak faith, strong faith or desperate faith. No matter which circumstance you may find yourself it is important to have faith regardless the type. We may have faith with reservations, yet we still have faith. We may have faith like Thomas had when he told the other disciples, "Let's go with Jesus to Jerusalem so that we can die with Him." It was a negative, weak faith, but at least he believed enough to go. Our faith, our belief, that God is God no matter if we are weak, strong, or desperate, is the important factor.

I've often spoke of the scenarios of Daniel in the lion's den and the martyred Christians in the Roman arenas, facing mad, hungry lions. I've questioned why did God spare Daniel and allow the Christians to be torn to pieces by those beasts? The answer I received was that their faith didn't lie in being delivered from the lions, but in believing in God and holding tight to their salvation in Jesus Christ regardless the outcome. Whether delivered to safety or delivered to death, their faith remained. That is faith. Stand strong in the Lord despite circumstances, whether we live or die, whether our answer comes or doesn't come, whether we are healed or not healed. Our faith isn't the result or the outcome, but it is holding steady, fast and true regardless. Believe in Him today. Never waiver in your belief, no matter what, and you will know the blessing of real faith.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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