Faith in the new season

11th August. 8:12pm

The Night My Daughter Sat Me Down and Questioned Mine

Last night, my daughter summoned me before bed.

Not casually.

Not for a story.

Not because she needed something.

She asked me to sit down because, apparently, she had something to say to me.

And she wanted me to listen.

She sat me down as my daughter, looked at me seriously and said:

Mum, I know you are my mother, and I respect you. But I also love you.

Then she said something that immediately caught my attention.

Today, I sat for 30 minutes and thought about your life.

I remember looking at her, wondering where this was going.

Then she began.

Mum, get close to God. Stay close to God. Be close to God.

She paused.

Then she asked me a question.

Do you know who God is? Do you truly know who God is?

She began to describe Him.

The Creator of heaven and earth.

The One who created everything in it.

The God for whom nothing is impossible.

And as she spoke, I found myself thinking:

Why does this child sound like me?

She was using words I have used before.

Words I have spoken to other people.

Words I have probably preached to myself.

But somehow, last night, those words were coming back to me through my own daughter.

Then she asked me:

Do you trust Him?

And then came the question that stopped me.

The question she kept returning to.

The question that seemed to be the entire reason she had called me into that conversation.

Mum, do you have enough faith?

I paused.

Then she asked again.

Do you know what faith is?

That question stabbed me.

Because she did not just ask it and move on.

She dwelt there.

She kept coming back to it.

Faith.

She reminded me of the woman with the issue of blood.

A woman who had suffered for years.

A woman who had tried everything.

A woman who had probably reached a point where she was simply tired of her situation.

But one day, when Jesus was passing by, she believed.

She saw an opportunity.

And she said, in essence:

If I can just touch Him, my life can change.

She touched the edge of His cloak.

And immediately, her situation changed.

My daughter looked at me and said:

Mum, what is that?

Faith.

Then she said something that caught my attention. 

God can do the same thing for you. Immediately. Now. Tomorrow. He can change your situation. Anything can change.

Then she looked at my life.

And this is where the conversation became uncomfortable.

Because she was no longer talking about faith as a Bible lesson.

She was talking about me.

Mum, this is not you.

I listened.

This is not where you belong.

I laughed nervously at one point.

She looked at me seriously.

Mum, you think I am joking?

She was not.

Her eyes were intense. Her voice was firm.

She said she had taken time alone during the day just to think about me.

To think about my life.

To think about what I had accomplished.

To think about what I was capable of.

To think about what I have and where am at in life.

And then she said:

You don't have enough faith, and you are not doing enough. HER EXACT WORDS YOU ARE NOT WORKIMG HARD ENOUGH.

Aiiih.

Now imagine sitting there as a mother and being analysed by your own child.

I wanted to laugh.

Part of me was shocked.

Another part of me was thinking, Heh, child!

But the more she spoke, the more I listened.

She kept repeating:

This is not who God wants you to be.

This is not your life.

You deserve more.

And then she said something that deeply challenged me.

You are settling.

That was the word.

Settling.

She believed I had become comfortable with a life that was smaller than what God had placed inside me.

That somewhere along the journey, I had accepted average.

Accepted limitation.

Accepted survival.

Accepted circumstances.

Perhaps even accepted a version of my life simply because I had lived in it for so long.

Mum, you are small, and you have accepted this life for too long.

Those were heavy words.

But perhaps that is what love sometimes does.

Real love does not always tell you what makes you comfortable.

Sometimes love holds up a mirror.

Sometimes it confronts you.

Sometimes it reminds you of who you were before life convinced you to become smaller.

She spoke about the car I drive.

Where I live.

My job.

My life.

Not from a place of disrespect or materialism, but from a conviction that God was bigger than the limitations I had accepted. THAT OF I HAD A LITTL MORE FAITH THE WOMAN WITH THE BLOOD ISSUE AND SEEK GOD EARNESTLY AND ONE MORE TIME HE WILL TURN MY AVERAGE LIFE AROUND TODAY.

She kept saying:

Do you know what God is capable of doing?

She told me to get closer to God.

To read the Word.

Not just from my phone as I always do.

But to carry my physical Bible.

To have a Bible everywhere.

At home.

At work.

To read it.

To know it.

To keep God close.

Then she gave me one final challenge.

Mum, dare God.

Dare God.

Have faith.

Stop limiting Him.

Stop joking with your life.

Stop settling.

Get serious.

And see what God can do.

Last night, my daughter did not just speak to me.

She awakened a question inside me.

Do I truly know what faith is?

Because sometimes we become so familiar with a word that we stop exploring its depth.

We say, Have faith.

We tell people, Trust God.

We quote Scripture.

We pray.

We believe.

Or at least we think we do.

But then life happens.

Disappointment happens.

Loss happens.

Delay happens.

Betrayal happens.

Doors close.

Prayers appear unanswered.

And slowly, without even realizing it, something happens.

We begin adjusting our expectations.

We become more realistic.

More careful.

More guarded.

We stop expecting too much.

Not because we no longer believe in God.

But perhaps because life has taught us to protect ourselves from disappointment.

And maybe that is where I found myself.

Still believing in God.

But had I stopped believing God could do certain things for me? 

Still praying.

But had I quietly reduced my expectations? I have never reduced my expectations maybe my choices and decisions.  Choices have outcomes.

Still speaking about possibilities.

But had I accepted limitations in my own life?

Still telling others that God is able.

But had I unconsciously stopped expecting Him to move with magnitude in my own story? I Don't think so. I habe never stopped believing God.

And so today, I woke up with a question.

What is faith?

Not the Sunday-school definition.

Not the verse I can quote from memory.

What is faith now? In this season?

But what is faith in reality?

What does it mean to truly walk by faith?

How do you increase your faith?

How do you work your faith?

How do you move from simply saying, I believe in God, to living with the conviction that nothing is impossible for Him?

Perhaps that is what this season is teaching me.

Sometimes you read the same Scripture you have read a hundred times.

You hear the same message.

You know the same stories.

But then life changes you.

Pain changes you.

Experience changes you.

And suddenly, you see what you thought you already knew through an entirely different lens.

With greater depth.

Greater understanding.

Greater urgency.

And perhaps greater conviction.

As I navigate this new season of my life, I am beginning to see that God has been confirming many things.

Every day, something seems to speak.

A Scripture.

A conversation.

A closed door.

A new understanding.

A moment I cannot explain.

And now, a child sitting her mother down and asking her:

Do you have enough faith?

This journey has not been easy.

And perhaps it will not always be easy.

But I am beginning to understand something:

Faith is not pretending that life is easy.

Faith is knowing that God is greater than whatever life places in front of you.

Faith is looking at what is and still believing in what can be.

Faith is refusing to allow your current circumstances to become the final definition of your life.

Faith is trusting God enough to pray.

But also trusting Him enough to move.

To act.

To prepare.

To build.

To apply.

To start again.

To leave what is no longer serving your purpose.

To heal.

To learn.

To become.

Maybe my daughter was right.

Maybe somewhere along the way, I had started living beneath the level of faith I preached.

Maybe I had allowed disappointment to negotiate my expectations.

Maybe I had become too familiar with survival.

Maybe I had become comfortable with what God was asking me to outgrow.

So today, I return to the question that a little girl asked her mother before bed.

A question that has stayed with me.

A question I cannot ignore.

Do you know who God is?

And if you truly know who He is—

Do you trust Him?

Because perhaps faith begins there.

Not with the size of your bank account.

Not with the evidence around you.

Not with your current circumstances.

But with your understanding of who God is.

And perhaps the real question is not:

Can God change my life?

Perhaps the question is:

Do I truly believe that He can?

My daughter challenged me last night.

And today, I am taking that challenge seriously.

I want to understand faith again.

I want to read about it again.

Pray about it again.

Live it again.

Not as a religious word.

But as a way of life.

Because maybe faith is not something we simply have.

Maybe faith is something we exercise.

Something we grow.

Something we act upon.

Something we choose every day.

And maybe, just maybe, this is the beginning of a new question for me:

What would my life look like if I stopped limiting God and truly dared God?

I forgot and she said Mum? Stop limiting God.

I don't have all the answers yet.

But I am willing to ask the questions.

And sometimes, perhaps that is where faith begins.

With the courage to believe again.

*****

Faith, in reality, is trust in God that becomes the basis for how you think, speak, decide, wait, and act.

It is not pretending a problem does not exist. It is not simply wishing for something. And faith is not trying to force God to do whatever we want.

Biblical faith says: I see what is happening, but I also trust who God is.

 1. What is faith?

The clearest definition is:

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. — Hebrews 11:1

Faith lives in the space between what you can currently see and what you are trusting God to do.

For example:

You may not see the job yet, but you prepare, apply, learn, and trust God.

You may not see healing yet, but you pray, seek appropriate help, and trust God.

You may not see the future relationship yet, but you become healthy, whole, wise, and open to God's direction.

You may not understand why something ended, but you trust that your life and future are not over.

Faith is therefore trust + obedience + perseverance**.

2. Faith must have an object

Biblical faith is not primarily faith in yourself or faith in positive thoughts.

It is faith in God.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.— Proverbs 3:5–6.

Sometimes we think faith means, I must believe hard enough.

But the deeper question is:

Who am I trusting?

Jesus even taught that faith does not have to begin as something enormous.

If you have faith as small as a mustard seed…— Matthew 17:20

The power is not in the size of your faith alone. The power is in the God in whom you place that faith.

3. How does faith work?

I would describe biblical faith like this:

1. Hear God's truth

Faith needs something to stand on.

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” — Romans 10:17

If fear is constantly speaking to you, fear grows.

If God's truth is constantly entering your mind, trust can grow.

2. Believe beyond your current circumstances

For we walk by faith, not by sight.” — 2 Corinthians 5:

This does not mean ignoring reality.

It means refusing to believe that your present reality is the only reality God can work with.

You can say:

Yes, this is where I am today. But I refuse to believe this is where my story must end.

3. Pray with faith

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” — Mark 11:24

Prayer is where you bring your desires, fears, needs, and hopes before God.

But mature faith also says:

God, this is what I desire. But I trust Your wisdom, Your timing, and Your will.

Even Jesus prayed:

Yet not as I will, but as you will. — Matthew 26:39

That is not weak faith. That is deep faith..

4. Act on what you believe

This is where many people misunderstand faith.

Faith is not sitting still and saying, God will do it.

James says:

Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.— James 2:17

If you are praying for a business, build the skills.

If you are praying for a career, prepare yourself.

If you are praying for financial breakthrough, become responsible with what you have.

If you are praying for a healthy marriage someday, heal, grow, and learn what healthy love requires.

Faith moves your feet.

You pray as though God can do the impossible, and you work faithfully with what is in your hands.

5. Continue even when nothing changes immediately

This may be the hardest part.

Faith is often tested in the waiting.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. — Hebrews 10:23

And:

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.— Galatians 6:9.

Faith is not only believing when the answer comes quickly.

Sometimes faith says:

I still trust God while I wait.

A simple formula for putting faith into practice

I would put it this way:

WORD → BELIEF → PRAYER → ACTION → PERSEVERANCE → TRUST

Word: What has God said?

Belief: I choose to trust Him.

Prayer: I bring my desire before Him.

Action: I do what is within my responsibility.

Perseverance:I don't quit simply because results are delayed.

Trust: Whether God answers immediately, differently, or through a process, I continue walking with Him.

Important Bible verses on faith

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Hebrews 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please God…

Mark 11:24

Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Romans 10:17

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:7

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

James 2:17

Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

Proverbs 3:5–6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding…

Matthew 17:20

If you have faith as small as a mustard seed…

Psalm 37:5

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will act.

Isaiah 40:31

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength…

Romans 8:28

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…

So how do you get your faith to “work”?

Start with this every day:

1. Identify what you are trusting God for.**

Be specific.

2. Find what Scripture teaches about God's character and promises.

Build your faith on truth, not panic.

3. Pray honestly.

You do not need to perform for God. Tell Him your fear too.

4. Ask: “What is my part?

Then do it.

5. Refuse to let temporary circumstances become your final conclusion.

6. Keep surrendering the outcome to God.

That last part is crucial.

Faith is not:

God, if You do exactly what I want, then I will trust You.

Faith is:

God, I bring You my desire. I will ask boldly. I will act faithfully. I will wait patiently. And even when I cannot see the whole picture, I will continue trusting You.

Todaya and eveey single day, I choose faith over fear. I may not see the full path, but God does. I will do what is mine to do and trust God with what only He can do. I will not be controlled by what I see today, because my present circumstances do not have the final word over my life. I walk by faith, I act with wisdom, and I trust God with the outcome. Amen.

Hebrews 11, the woman with the issue of blood, Abraham, faith versus wishful thinking, how to increase faith, and how faith becomes action.

Mathew 9.Mark 5 and Luke 8

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