Faith belongs to risk takers

IF, “Faith belongs to risk takers.”

AND, “If you haven’t taken a risk, you don’t need faith.”

THEN, “Faith is a vision of what God has already put in place to take care of you.”

New Psalmist Baptist Church, Baltimore, MD. Bishop Walter Thomas, on Palm Sunday, made these provocative quotes in his message – truly representing the way he has led this church since becoming senior pastor in 1975, Warren Bird reported in LEADERSHIP NETWORK LEARNINGS http://learnings.leadnet.org/ (First-hand reports of what innovative churches are doing!).

Warren Bird has been a close friend and teacher/mentor to me since we first met at PAC in 1998. We have spent countless hours talking about innovation and church growth in today’s world. I have learned much of what I know on the subject to date and have been challenged by the conversations we have had. Warren has developed relationships with amazing network of successful growing churches as well as written much on innovative churches.

Last night I was scanning this blog which Warren contributes to on a regular basis. When I came upon these three quotes concerning faith, I was reminded again that Christianity is really an action sport and living by faith is not always for the faint hearted. These three quotes on faith caused me to reflect about taking faith based risks in my own life. Twenty-five years ago I wrote in the inside cover of my Bible, “No reserve, no retreat, no regret”

Many times in my life I have stepped out in faith into the unknown not knowing how things would turn out, notably in 1996 moving to a new company in New Jersey leaving a secure career in Minnesota and then leaving this career of 32 years in 2001 to start a new career in ministry.

Hebrews 11:6 is my current favorite verse on faith. Faith is how we please God. We really have nothing in this life to offer Him that He doesn’t already have except ourselves, in a sense being available to Him. We make this choice by faith. We can go boldly into His presence with our prayers and petitions because of faith. His promise is that He will reward those who earnestly seek Him. We trust this promise by faith.

God always has been faithful to me even when my faith was faint hearted. II Timothy says that when we are faithless, He is faithful because He cannot deny Himself. In a sense even faith is from Him, not me.

While I liked all three quotes at the top on the posting, my favorite quote is the third one because He knows my future and has already made provision for it. My next step in life will be made the same as my other ones, by FAITH.