Walking in Faith – Obedience is God’s Love Language

You clearly heard the call.  You did everything you felt God led you to do.  You prayed. You believed, and you walked in faith.  Then it all fell apart.  Life went from bad to worse.  It did not work.  You failed.  God failed you, after you did what you know is precisely what He asked you to do.

Now, here He is asking you to walk in faith again.  He is asking you to answer the call again.  He is asking for blind obedience again, and you are unsure you are willing to take the risk.  You doubt that he will come through.  You are scared, and you are discouraged because “last time…”

I have been there.  I am there.  I have watched my prayers go unanswered and, worse, heard the “no” when I needed a “yes” more than ever.  And I am still healing from being angry at God.  Now, He has the unmitigated gall to ask me to walk in faith again – after I already failed, after He already let me down.  Now, He dares to ask for obedience.  I did that already, and obedience to God got me nowhere.

For anyone else who has been there, for those of you who walked in faith and failed, know this…I am here to whisper the same words to you that God whispered to me, “If it did not kill you, then it is not over.”

God is still here.  He is still answering prayers.  He is still in the miracle working business.  He is in the process of clearing out doubt.   He is in the process of clearing out fear.  He is working to eliminate disappointment and discouragement.  He simply needs your obedience…again.  He needs you to keep going again.  He needs you to get up again.  He needs you to do it…again.

This time you are going in stronger.  This time you are going in wiser.   You know better what walking in faith actually looks like…what obedience looks like…or maybe you need a crash course.

1.  Walking in faith is not always easy street.

You will not always feel like doing whatever it is he asked you to do.  The devil will not let you cruise into your purpose without some resistance.  Do you think he really wants to watch you live your best life and inspire others to do the same?  Do you think he wants to see you on your knees battling to save yourself, and in the process save others?  Sometimes you will feel like you have been tricked.  You would have said “no” if you had seen what was coming before you set out on this journey.  You want to turn around.  You want to go back.  You will do no such thing.  You will keep going.  You will cry.  You will sit down.  You will lay down.  You will rest.  You will heal, and then you will get up and keep walking.

2. Walking in faith will CHALLENGE your faith.

Walking in obedience stretches you.  It challenges everything you thought you knew. Contrary to popular belief, faith is not the opposite of fear.  Faith is doing it afraid.  You are going to have to do some stuff right in the middle of your fears.  You can absolutely fail again.  You can walk in faith and find yourself right in the middle of a storm…again.  You have to trust that God knows what He is doing even when you cannot see…even when you cannot understand.

3. Walking in faith ALWAYS produces results.

They just do not ALWAYS look the way you expect them to look.  You have an idea in your head of what His answer should look like.  You know what success should look like, and when the results look different than what you expected, you claim failure.  You did not fail. You just cannot see the bigger “yes” He has for you … yet.  Give Him time, even when you think the deadline has past.  Trust Him even when you are looking at catastrophic losses.  People died.  Relationships ended.  Houses went into foreclosure.  Bank accounts are in the red.  Eviction notices are on the door.  Friends parted ways indefinitely.  Projects failed.  You are not healing properly, and you cannot understand why He asked you to walk in faith to bring you to this place – the exact place you tried to avoid.  Know this – every single result that comes from an act of faith is one step closer to your purpose.

My best friend sent this to me, and I have read it over and over since the day I began this blog post – the day God asked me to walk in faith again…to answer the call again..to obey again.

“While you make up your mind about if you have enough in the tank to become who you dream of being, there’s a life out there waiting to meet you.  There’s a single mother who needs your blog.  There’s an insecure student who needs your new clothing line.  There’s a lost person who needs you to speak up at your job,” Ryan Leak – Chasing Failure Day 4 via the Bible app.

(You can purchase the book Chasing Failure in its entirety here on my Amazon.  I get a little back if you use my link.)

I will leave you with the words from that same devotion that resonated with my entire spirit:

“I had a million excuses as to why I shouldn’t even try, but I had one reason that outweighed my excuses: God told me to do it. Our excuses serve as legitimate reasons why we delay our destiny, but God’s word serves as a legitimate reason to overcome…We think other people are a better fit to do the thing God created us to do. But God has already given us everything we need to be who He’s called us to be…So what are you waiting for? You may have the answer to that question. But here’s a better question you may never know the answer to: Who’s waiting on you?”

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What are some words of encouragement that you can offer those who seek to walk in faith?

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Check out my other blogs on walking in faith:

1.  When You’re Angry at God
2.  Doing Away with Self-Doubt
3.  Dream Bigger – Overcoming Doubt and Discouragement
4.  Living Your Purpose…Because Life Happens Before You’re Ready
5.  Live a Blessed Life in Real Life