All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.
-Hebrews 11:39-12:3 (NLT)
I’ve heard countless messages preached that when you pray for something, and God doesn’t give it to you, it’s because He has something better, and to trust Him.
Simultaneously, I would hear messages on taking up my cross and dying to myself…to live for God and not to store up treasures here on earth but in Heaven.
It’s interesting how beliefs like, “when God closes one door, He opens another” and “He said ‘no’ because He has something better” subconsciously begin to override all the other biblical messages of what true faith and perseverance look like as a believer and follower of Jesus…always hoping for something better to come along that helps us process a closed door or life setbacks.
That way of thinking becomes the extent of faith and trust — believing something better is coming, putting a very worldly spin on what’s “better.”
I realize those messages can spark a level of hope in certain situations and feel good to hear but those messages have set up many of my brothers and sisters to have shallow faith and a misunderstanding of where our hope belongs, leading many to a pit of discouragement and hopelessness.
Because what happens when the perceived better doesn’t come?
I’ll tell you what happens.
Our trust in God begins to shake, and doubt sets in. We struggle to believe that God is for us, and we find ourselves asking God “why,” completely losing sight of what we have in and through Him. From there, salvation gets reduced to something we experience when we get to Heaven, and we are left to merely survive this time on earth, praying for God to cut us a break so we can breathe again.
We don’t feel peace.
We struggle to trust God.
We walk through life carrying the weight of discouragement…
I could go on, but I think you’re getting my point.
Friend, these confusing, conflicting, feel-good messages that have been circulating through the body of Christ are not setting us up to be more than conquerors!
They’re just not.
We end up living like victims of unsuspecting circumstances, not understanding what it means to live by faith and where our true hope belongs.
We are bound by our feelings, with a limited scope on life, completely missing the new life we have through Christ — the life we should be sharing with the world around us.
Yes, there are absolutely times when the promotion comes, or the situation gets turned around, and where God miraculously parts the waters…but it’s not always the case. There are times and seasons of serious drought and pain.
If our belief system and faith are hinged on things getting better circumstantially and everything goes south, our faith gets shaken, and we shake with life yet, we are supposed to be unshakable in Christ with our lives firmly built on the ROCK!
If the storms of life have to ability to knock us down and leave us struggling and discouraged, it reveals that we didn’t establish our faith on the firm foundation of Christ.
That may sound harsh and condemning, but it’s not. We have got to be willing to be corrected and get ourselves firmly established in the faith.
Believe me — I’ve had to take a hard look at where my belief system was shaped around my ideas, not God’s, allowing Him to perfect Himself in me through the trials, making sure my feelings no longer override my faith.
We need to get a wider scope and see life through God’s perspective so the hardships we experience don’t stop us from running our race!
As Christians and citizens of Heaven, we have to get a strong understanding that life will be hard, but we are empowered vessels of the Holy Spirit, and we can walk through the fires of life unharmed and unfazed!
We “glory” through it all because we know JESUS is our better!
Our hope is what we have in and through Him.
He already paid for our victory.
He already paid for our deliverance.
He already paid for our freedom.
We don’t need to worry about tomorrow because our tomorrow is already secure.
We don’t need to fear what the devil is up to because we have the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions!
It’s time we stop seeking out the messages that our flesh wants to hear to feel better because our better is knowing Him, the restoration of our original design, and His presence.
I’m praying the Holy Spirit gives you a supernatural revelation of what it means to live focused on the prize, strip off the belief systems (and sin) that slow you down, fix your eyes on Jesus, and run your race with perseverance and faith!
