If you are going to accomplish the dream God placed in your heart, it will require faith – unstoppable faith. Our natural inclination is to believe something will happen or come to pass when we see the tangible signs of it in the natural realm. But that’s not the way it works in the kingdom of God. God wants you and me to believe first what He promised us when there is no outward indication anything is happening. Then when the time is right, and only God knows that, we will see the actual results of what God put in our hearts.
Take a woman who gets pregnant for example. When she first conceives, there is no apparent sign that she is pregnant. People just assume everything is normal. But over time as the baby begins to grow inside her, she starts to show. In months seven, eight and nine, everyone can tell she is pregnant. People begin to ask questions and congratulate her because the baby will soon be born. But the truth is, the mother-to-be was equally as pregnant when there were no signs of a child inside her. In the same way, when God speaks to you regarding your purpose or a promise He makes you, He will require you to believe Him by faith when there is no visible sign of the promise coming to pass. You are still pregnant so to speak, but you will have to dig your heels in and trust God’s perfect timing for Him to bring your God-given dream or promise to completion! You will have to have unstoppable faith!
The Bible says, “Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses].
In other words, faith is the confidence and knowing that what God has said to you, He will bring to pass. It’s not just wishful thinking or believing for whatever you want with extreme optimism and sheer determination. God actually puts a divine knowing inside of us to believe for the dream He gave us. It could be that God has told you that you will have a child or a family one day, but you aren’t married yet or even dating anyone. To complicate the matter, you are advancing in years, time is ticking and you can feel the pressuring mounting to start a family. Yet deep on the inside, you know that God has spoken to you that you will be married and have a family. Hold on to that! Or maybe you have a deep desire from God to launch a ministry or a business, to purchase a home for someone else around the world that needs help, to write a book, to be a great leader of a company or to influence your city or country for the cause of Christ. In the natural you don’t see a way forward. How it could possibly come to pass? But in your spirit, you know that you know that God has spoken to you. He has given you the seed of faith to believe. You don’t know how all the details will work out, but you know that God can and will make a way where there seems to be no way in the natural. That’s where faith comes into play.
Abraham and Sarah lived by faith
Abraham and Sarah had to learn to live by faith, too. We read in Hebrews 11:11-12 NLT, “It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep his promise. And so a whole nation came from this one man who was as good as dead—a nation with so many people that, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, there is no way to count them.” Against all odds and against their natural circumstances – their old, worn-out bodies – God supernaturally gave Abraham and Sarah the ability to have a child when he was 100 years old and she was 90 or 91! They didn’t know how it was going to happen; they simply believed that what God promised them, He would bring to pass in His perfect timing. And He did!
The same is true for you and me. We don’t have to try to figure it all out ourselves, exhausting our resources, our efforts or our brain power. What God authors, He finishes. He is called the Author and Finisher of our faith. This not only applies to our salvation, but everything else that God wants to do in us, for us and through us to help others.
Believe when you don’t see
Elijah could sense in his spirit that God was sending rain on the land of Israel after 3.5 years of extreme drought. There was no physical sign of rain, not even a cloud in the sky! How did Elijah know this? By faith. He could sense what God was speaking to him deep on the inside.
“Then Elijah said to Ahab, ‘Go get something to eat and drink, for I hear a mighty rainstorm coming” (1 Kings 18:41 NLT)!
After Elijah’s interaction with King Ahab, Elijah told his assistant to go to the sea to see if there were any clouds forming. NOTHING! Yet, that didn’t discourage Elijah. He told his assistant to go back and look again. Still nothing. Finally on the seventh time, Elijah’s assistant brought back a report that there was a cloud in the sky the size of a man’s hand. Soon after, the clouds grew bigger and bigger and darker and darker and then a massive rainstorm ensued.
What is the point? Elijah could sense that rain was coming long before any physical evidence of it. He knew by faith what God was speaking to him in his inner man. That’s the way God works. He wants us to trust Him with what He told us in our hearts long before we see the outward manifestation of it coming to pass. The righteous shall live by faith!
What are you believing for? What has God whispered to you in the depths of your heart? Hold on to that promise from God. Don’t give up on it, even if you don’t see any sign of it happening. Take up your shield of faith to protect yourself against the flaming arrows of the enemy trying to get you to abort your dream. Don’t do it! Keeping believing, keep holding on to your promise. God is faithful!
In God’s perfect timing, you will give birth to the promise
Joseph had to believe God against all odds! When he was just 17 years old, God gave him a dream that he would be a leader with great influence one day and his family would serve under his leadership. The problem was, he was the 11th son of 12 brothers. It didn’t go over well when he told his brothers and father his dream. They couldn’t see that little annoying Joseph was pregnant with a divine dream from God. But God could!
Sometimes, our own family or those closest to us can’t see the calling of God on our lives. That’s okay. Don’t be discouraged. Just keep being your best and do what you know God has asked of you. Eventually they will see all that God created you to be! You are pregnant with God’s divine purpose for your life, you just aren’t showing yet.
Joseph’s brothers looked for a way to get rid of him, so they sold into slavery out of sheer jealousy. They tried to stop Joseph’s divine dream from coming to pass, but they couldn’t! No person or devil can keep God’s plan for your life from coming to pass. Only you can. That’s why it’s important not to give up when you don’t see the evidence of what God promised you right away. Again, that’s where faith comes into play. You keep holding on to what you know in your spirit verses what your circumstances in the natural are telling you. God is faithful! What He started in you He will bring to pass. Remember, He is the Author and Finisher of your faith!
Joseph continued to hold on to the promise even in the midst of extreme difficulty. If being sold into slavery wasn’t bad enough, Joseph was wrongly accused of a crime he didn’t commit and was thrown into prison. Just when it looked like his dream was further away than ever and he was at the darkest point of his life, God suddenly opened the door for Joseph to step into his divine purpose. Pharaoh summoned Joseph because God had given him the unique ability to interpret dreams. Joseph was asked to decipher Pharaoh’s disturbing night terror, and because Joseph gave divine, wise counsel, Pharaoh promoted him to the prestigious position of Prime Minister or second in command of all of Egypt! He literally went from prison to the palace overnight! Joseph was now in a very powerful position and had great influence. Eventually, due to a great famine in Egypt and the surrounding region, Joseph’s brothers had to come buy food for their starving families. When Joseph saw his brothers, the Bible says that Joseph remembered his God-given dream. God was faithful to bring the promise He made him to pass, which meant his brothers and entire family came under his leadership. God ended up using Joseph to save all of his family and the entire nation of Egypt from the great famine that plagued the region for 7 years.
What we learn from this story is that Joseph had resilience and a deep trust in God. He kept believing against all odds and that’s why we are reading about him today! Joseph and these other great men and women of faith in the Bible didn’t give up when their circumstances looked hopeless. They knew the God of the Impossible, the God of All Hope! They remained steadfast in the midst of trying times. They held on to the promise God made them and God was faithful to fulfill it.
The Apostle Paul said this, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful (2 Timothy 4:7 NLT).
Can I encourage you to keep holding on to the dream God placed in you? Don’t let go of it. The world needs the gift God put in you to come to fruition. Trust God to do it His way and in His divine timing you will give birth to your dream. You will need faith when it feels like it’s taking too long or when there are unexpected twists and turns you didn’t see coming. All of the trials and difficulties are preparing you for the moment you will step into your divine destiny and the promise from God.
Keep going, keep believing. God has given you unstoppable faith!
