From the Inside Out

Let’s say you’ve just arrived home after a long day at work and in fifteen minutes you have to head out again for a dinner engagement.

No time to shower, but a quick “freshen-up,” a change of clothes, a brush through the hair, a touch-up of the make-up (for the women reading this!), and violá—you not only look more presentable, you actually feel more energized.

Such a scenario highlights a strategy we can apply in the spiritual realm as well. We can freshen up our faith. Sometimes all it takes is a new perspective, obtained in less than fifteen minutes!

For example, browse through the following quotes that offer notable perspectives on faith in God. See if your heart doesn’t liven up while reading one or two.

FAITH DEFINITIONS

“Faith is not about everything turning out OK. Faith is about being OK no matter how things turn out”—Unknown.

“Faith isn’t the ability to believe, long and far into the misty future. It’s simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step”—Joni Eareckson Tada.

“Faith is letting down our nets into the transparent deeps of the Divine command, not knowing what we shall draw”—Francois Fenelon.

“Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want. It is the belief that God will do what is right”—Max Lucado.

FAITH IN SPITE OF DOUBTS

“Trust God’s Word and his power more than you trust your own feelings and experiences. Remember, your Rock is Christ, it is the sea that ebbs and flows with the tides, not Him”—Samuel Rutherford.

“Feed your faith and your doubts will starve”—Debbie Macomber.

Hope is no less real because it seems small amid the darkness. Faith is no less yours to claim because you struggle against doubt” (Bodie and Brock Thoene, Take This Cup, 224).

“Don’t dig up in doubt what you planted in faith”—Elisabeth Elliot.

FAITH IN SPITE OF TROUBLE

“Faith doesn’t always take you out of the problem, faith takes you through the problem. Faith doesn’t always take away the pain, faith gives you the ability to handle the pain. Faith doesn’t take you out of the storm, faith calms you in the midst of the storm”—Unknown.

Jeremiah [the biblical prophet] often felt terrible and he was treated terribly. He felt weak and often was near despair. In fact, he was always strong. His emotions often failed him, his faith always held fast”—Eugene Peterson, Run with the Horses, 57.

“Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand”—Oswald Chambers.

“I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love even when I cannot feel it. I believe in God even when he is silent”—Unknown.

FAITH INSPIRATION

“Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible”—Corrie ten Boom.

“Face the future with expectancy. Believe that God will act in due time. He cannot lie, but he is not in a hurry . . . Thanking God that it will be so before it is so, that’s faith—Arnold Prater, Bonding with God, 81.

“Faith invites us into an enchanting journey—one marked by mysteries of divine beauty, holy courage, irrepressible hope, unending love”—Margaret Feinberg, Wonderstruck, 7.

“Faith is putting all your eggs in God’s basket, then counting your blessings before they hatch”—Ramona C. Carroll.

I pray these quotes did indeed freshen up your spirit with renewed faith.

Which one did you find most revitalizing? Why did it stand out to you? Please share in the comment section below!

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