How God Builds Our Faith..

that is the topic of my Daily Devotional from Rick Warren....gee, how appropriate because my faith needs building.... As I reflect on this message I see the faith Parker has in us. He trusts we will feed him, love him, change him, not drop him when we hold him (see the faith he has in his siblings holding him in the pics!),etc... I want to have that childlike faith, help me Lord build my faith...





Here are the high points all of which come from Rick Warren's devotional today... "Faith is like a muscle: it can be strengthened. It can be weak or it can be strong, depending on how much you use it." I think mine must be weak...despite the fact that it is all that we have been living on the past few weeks because I feel like I'm unable to parent Parker the "right" way and I feel overwhelmed about all the things he will "need" to succeed in life....."How does God build your faith? He uses a very predictable pattern that we will look at this week, and, if you understand it, you can cooperate with Him in developing greater faith." OK, I am really listening here Lord because I need help strengthening my faith....."It's like when the father, seeking help from Jesus for his son, said, "Have pity on us and help us, if you possibly can!" (Mark 9:22 TEV)Jesus replied, "What do you mean, 'If I can?' . . . Anything is possible if a person believes" (Mark 9:23 NLT)." Hmmm..this is where I always have trouble...I do believe, but honestly that is easier to say than do...





"The first thing God does to build your faith is give you a dream. When God wants to work in your life, He'll always gives you a dream—about yourself, about what He wants you to do, about how He's going to use your life to impact the world." My "dream" is a reality, a beautiful gift from God named Parker.....There are many examples in the Bible of this.• God gave Noah the dream of building an ark.• God gave Abraham the dream of being the father of a great nation.• God gave Joseph the dream of being a leader that would save his people.• God gave Nehemiah the dream of building the wall around Jerusalem.



How do you know when a dream is from God or when it's just something you've thought up yourself? The Bible tells us that God, "by His mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes" (Ephesians 3:20 LB). In other words, if a dream comes from God, it will be so big in your life that you can't do it on your own." The thought of Mike and I raising and parenting Parker on our own is at best daunting, so I know this "dream" is from God.....don't miss this part...."If you could do it on your own, you wouldn't need faith. And if you don't have faith you're not pleasing God, because the Bible says whatever is not of faith is sin (Roman 14:23)." Ouch, without faith I am not pleasing God...





"God starts to build your faith by giving you a dream. He may be speaking to you now, but you just don't recognize it for what it is. That dream you have—the idea, the concept, that thing you've been thinking about doing that would be of real benefit to other people—where do you think that idea came from? God will never tell you to do something that contradicts His truth. In other words, He won't give you a dream of leaving your family and kids and moving to Hollywood to be a movie star. If you've got that dream, then you can know it is not from God.





God starts with a dream as He works within your life to build faith. "





Thank you Lord for our "dream", Parker, that you have given to us to build faith. He is a constant reminder of your faithfulness. May we be good shepherds of your precious gift Parker while he is in our care.