FAME

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The Power of Faith

Tami McKinney

"I can remember when... " are the words I find myself using a lot when speaking to my two teenagers. I can remember when mom jeans were popular for the first time. I can remember when we were driving our parents crazy in the house and they would say, “Go play in the street.” and we actually could and did. I can remember when, my own mother, a great woman of faith, would pray in a chair for hours for us kids. I can remember when my mom would fill up a school bus full of kids on a Sunday and take them to church.One of my favorite, "I can remember when… " is when I was 8-years old sitting in church and found myself singing at the top of my lungs the words, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.”

A lot of time has passed between that 8-year old little girl to this adult woman and I’ve learned that faith in Jesus is the most powerful force on the earth today. You can overcome any hardship with your faith. Your faith can and will move mountains. Your faith will bring you miracles. Your faith can overcome any difficulties and bring you through your darkest times.I could make a list, as long as the years I’ve lived, of the overwhelming challenges and obstacles that I’ve had to faced.  Faith in Jesus has always brought me through with victory!The Bible has a lot to say about faith. It says everyone is given a measure of faith. (Romans 12:3 - God has allotted to each a measure of faith.) The scriptures say, faith comes from hearing God’s word. (Romans 10:17 - So then Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.) The Bible also says in 1 Cor. 12:9 that there is a gift of faith given to us in times of difficulty.What is Faith? Faith is what you believe and have complete trust and confidence in. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” I believe faith is ultimately believing what God’s Word says in every situation.On my own personal journey of faith, I read, read, and read until God highlights a verse in my mind and spirit that addresses my situation. Then I read it over and over, I pray the verse out loud and this helps me to believe it! I have also have been learning more about faith through the weekly teaching at my amazing, church home, the City Church San Diego.My three simple faith steps that are not always easy:
  1. Reading God's Word.
  2. Praying God's Word.
  3. Declaring God's Word every day and keeping it alive in my heart.
A few years back I found myself sitting in a Florida emergency room at 2am with my 15-year old daughter being told she would need to have her appendix removed within the next couple of hours. The two of us sitting in the emergency room was not something new to me. The past couple of years we had spent probably over 20 hospital visits in either emergency rooms or hospital stays to help her get relief from infections that attacked her body. This time however being almost 2500 miles from our San Diego home and without my husband or our family I felt very alone.I needed my Bible! I needed a verse (or verses) that I could turn to that would help tell me that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13). I needed God to replace the fear I was fighting with faith and peace. I knew if I had a scripture to pray over my daughter that Jesus was with me, it would calm my thoughts and emotions. I immediately reached out to my good friend, Tami, who I knew would text me scriptures to build my faith and I knew she would pray for me.I turned on worship music, meditated on the scriptures and prayed the verses. I fought through the fear by repeating God's Word; I prayed into the early morning hours until presence of God came into the hospital room bringing me peace. I heard God say that it all would be ok and my daughter would get the healing she needed.
What do you turn to when life is hard, painful, scary and full of uncertainty? How do you fight through fear, anger and every emotion that can steal your joy and peace?For me, it is almost 40yrs later and I am still singing “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.” Will you join me in this decision?Love you,Simone PascuaP.S. I have attached this great song so you can listen to it:[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYk8ziwmMog]This song was written 150 years ago by a man from India. A group of missionaries shared the gospel with a village. Many people were saved. When the word got to the Chief he quickly went to the village to kill the first person who received Jesus. He gathered the village people together and brought the man and his family out. He told the man to deny Jesus or he and his family would be murdered. The man instantly composed this song in response. “I have decided to follow Jesus.” He watched his children and wife be shot with arrows as he sang the 2nd verse, "though no one joins me, still I will follow.” He then sang the 3rd verse, “the cross before me, the world behind me.” and was shot with a deadly arrow. The village people and the Chief watched his unbelievable faith and a powerful revival broke out the entire village and Chief were saved.