I loved this quote by Bill Winston; “Faith is now and in the present tense because it knows that God already did it.” Present tense. God already did it. What a powerful and accurate statement of what faith is. The confident assurance that He heard and delivered even when you don’t yet see it in the natural. When you just ‘know’ it’s a done deal.

Hebrews 11:1 ERV says: Faith is what makes real the things we hope for. It is proof of what we cannot see.”

And in the Amplified reads: Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].

Did you read that? Faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses. Let me add to this that faith without works is dead. You have to do something and the bible is very clear on giving first in order to receive. What is God saying to you to do?

OMG! Just thinking this morning of the times in my life when God was faithful. The times when it looked one way but just in time, the answer came through. Ever have times like that in your life? Since Christmas is just around the corner, let me share a true event that happened to Walt and I the year after he lost his job in the early 80’s.

The girls were small and we lived in a sleepy farming community in the middle of nowhere. We had moved there to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and it had a very good but small school where Stacy would start that fall. Walt had been with his job a large bakery for over 11 years, we were even looking to buy our first home. Then on a Thursday he was handed his pink slip, they were closing the doors the next day and with no warning, we were unemployed in the middle of the worst recession. He put applications in  as far away as W. Virginia but nothing opened up. He took a part time job at a meat market working minimal wage, I started cleaning houses, we bartered our rent by painting the old farm house we were renting. God was faithful, but provision didn’t come in the ways we expected.

Then came Christmas with no job but something wonderful happened. We never shared our plight, but God knew. The company that our landlords owned decided that instead of exchanging names at Christmas, they would pool their money and buy groceries for the unemployed family. That family was us. The week before Christmas, they backed a car up to our back porch and unloaded a trunkful of groceries to our kitchen counter. I remember weeping and thanking God for his faithfulness but he wasn’t finished yet. The next day, a local family brought a trunkful of wrapped gifts to put under our tree. We’d never met them before, they didn’t even attend our church, but he said to us that a few years back they were in the same situation and someone did this for them. They decided than and there that they would make a habit of doing this for a family every year. We’ve followed their example, because the joy of knowing that you’ve been the hands of God to someone else is the most amazing feeling in the world.

What will you do this year with your faith? Will you put legs to it and do what God has lovingly placed in your heart to do or will you just wait for God to bring some answer to you? You could provide a Christmas tree and some hot chocolate while you watch a family decorate it. You could take your children to the store to buy something for someone else’s children, wrap it and allow them the honor of giving. You could buy some groceries, practical items like pillows and pillowcases, laundry soap, baggies, things we use daily and think nothing of it. We must remember that Gods kingdom works selflessly as givers, not takers. We live to be a blessing to others. 

Over the years, I’ve shared this story countless times to challenge others to stop thinking of Christmas in the way they’ve always done. Jesus came into the world as a giver, there was nothing selfish in how was born or how he lived. He taught us that it is far more blessed to give than to receive. May His life be honored as we celebrate His birthday by being a giver everyday.