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From Budding Faith Comes The Blossom Of Confident Knowledge Part 2


Part 2 Beholding the Bud

Some of the most hurtful things in my past seemed hurtful because I lacked the ability to understand why they happened. I couldn't understand the motives and presumed they were against me and meant for my harm. Having been taught that our God is omnipotent and powerful to rule over everything that exists, I had a tendency to ultimately "blame" Him. But I struggled with this. After all, why would the God who claims that He loves me allow me to be hurt? I didn't dare to challenge Him - I believed that He meant what He said, but things didn't add up. It only stood to reason that He had to have allowed it, so confusion prevailed ... until He crushed all of my previous incomplete perceptions. At times we may make presumptions in order to reason or "understand" things that aren't clear to us and we measure the motives for these things with worldly perspective. It's what we're taught by the powers that exist in this world and I confess that at one time I was guilty of following this persuasion.

But it's when we believe in faith that His word is true in all things, including when He tells us that He loves us, that we can presume that His motives are pure and perfect and we begin to look for His good work in us ... His true motivation.

Romans 8:28 NLT
"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them."

We can then begin to see things in an entirely different way. When we look to Him in true faith, we can learn to see things through different eyes - Godly eyes. This requires that we move outside of the comfortable box of our worldly reasoning and accept simply by faith the fact that God is good and that everything He does or allows is meant for our good as He promised - whether we're able to understand it at the time or not.

Romans 5:3 NLT
"We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us -- they help us learn to endure."

It's a different perspective and there are some things that we won't be able to understand until He decides to reveal them to us. But by accepting His word in faith we're empowered to endure and move forward in Godly confidence in the work of His good intention. Living by faith in what we can't see or understand is a risk by worldly standards, but it's also the key to experiencing all that God in His loving, perfect wisdom has promised. It's the learned worldly standards and the weaknesses of our flesh that are the problem ... His truth is empowering!

James 1:2-4

2 "Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. 3 For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything."

I didn't come to my belief in these things by accident or simply by accepting them. I was governed by an incomplete and damaged perception of my God from my youth that was too deeply ingrained in my understanding to simply dismiss. So it became necessary for Him to break it down - to crush it so He could rebuild it correctly. It was only by His grace and mercy that I came to recognize that if our understanding of who He is is lacking, if we don't really come to know Him intimately, our faith could be in serious trouble...

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