Psalm 71

I just highlighted this verse in my Bible last night. I love that even though I've been using the same Bible for 10 years and have read the thing front to back several times, there are still new things that God wants to bring to my attention.

The Psalmist has so much confidence in God. Despite many troubles he proclaims that God will restore his life. He is able to see past his current circumstances and into the bigger picture.

And then, in verses 22-24 he goes on to tell all the ways he will praise God. He is praising God during the storm--not after--because he has a trusting anticipation that God will do what he has promised. He will restore. He will heal. And he doesn't change.

No matter what's around you or ahead of you God has the ability to restore it. In the meantime, he is still worthy of praise.

Find hope in that.

Increase My Faith

Last summer as I was reading through Luke, I came across a verse that really caused me to think and pray in a new way.

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

Luke 17:5

Jesus had been teaching the disciples about forgiveness. Their response to him was asking Him to increase their faith. I realized how often this is my prayer request in regards to whatever Jesus is teaching me. No matter what I'm waiting for, going through, experiencing; my response to Jesus is to simply ask Him to stretch my faith--to make it bigger.

Jesus' answer to the apostles was to tell them that even small faith can do great things.

He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

Luke 17:6

The smallest amount of faith released can yield big results. Because in our smallest moments of faith, we are giving the power over to our mighty God. And he can make things happen. 

So, while my prayer is always that my faith is being increased daily, I also realize that I must use what faith I currently have. Repeated moments of small faith yield a bigger faith because God will not leave us empty handed. 

We must have confidence even when our faith feels small, because God can take what faith we have and turn it into a miracle. 

Whatever circumstance you find yourself going through--a bad time, or a good time, pray that God might teach you to use your current faith in order to increase it.