Love & Faith

by Jeremy Pierce

During our lives we all seem to have our highs and lows, like waves crashing against the seashore and the ever changing tide coming in and going out. Our faith is so much the same, sometimes I feel the Highs, being so close to God and feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life and sometimes the Lows, feeling alone and abandoned.

I know when I feel the lows I feel like I’m being punished, like I haven’t been good enough, haven’t obeyed the commandments or I have offended God in some way or the other.

A few months ago I started this part-time job, initially colleagues would show me a task, watch me do it, then I would slowly learn more and more of the task until I was able to do it on my own. Nowadays I find myself telling them “Hey, do you want to go away? I've got this!”

The trials and tribulations of our life are no different to those of many in the bible, how we choose to react to our situations or circumstances can however change the outcome.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Sounds like a great piece of scripture but believing it and walking by faith in God's words, is never easy. Well faith and easy shouldn’t go in the same sentence really...

Exodus 12 -13

We read the story of how Moses promises the Israelites that he will lead them out of Egypt to the promised land, one evening Moses is summoned by Pharaoh and asked to leave Egypt, with all the Israelites. One can imagine how excited they all were. We see miracle after miracle of God's work in their lives, walking through the Red Sea, God providing food, water and shelter for them, (over a million people) in the desert.

On the way to the promised land we see the Israelites complain that they would have rather stayed and died in Egypt where they at least had meat to eat, and God provides quails for them. The Israelites wander in the desert for forty years before their hearts are changed and they reach the Promised Land.

Well we don’t have Moses or clothes that will last forty years but we do have the bible, and the Holy Spirit. Just like the Israelites wandering through the desert we sometimes get purified in our lives, we have this emptiness that we feel inside, the feeling of abandonment, of being alone. When we walk with God and feel that intense presence, then stillness, I know that it’s not because He has abandoned us, it is because He's taught us something and is sitting back watching how we react on our own, I guess it's like me telling my boss at work “Hey, do you want to go away? I've got this!” or maybe a dad who has taught his child how to ride a bicycle, letting go of the bicycle, I can see that protective dad still there, but letting go, watching, looking and will catch you if you fall.

How are we going to react to our situation? That proud dad wants  to see his child ride on her own, and he's there.  She can cry, insist on dad holding the seat and never know what it feels like to be on her own. She may stop and decide to jump off the bicycle, however, she could try and with dad's help she can succeed and could maybe teach a friend how to ride a bicycle too.

What are we doing with what we have been taught or nourished with? What do we learn at mass, at STAY, from reading the bible?........the trials of our lives, are scary, we want to give up, we want to stop!

But we have to believe that God's word is true, that there is a Promise land (a purpose for our lives) that in  Jeremiah 29:11 is true in our lives.

We need to set our eyes on God and fill ourselves with His world while we wait, while we journey like the people through the desert, through our trials. We may not have all the answers but God's word does tell us in Psalm 119. / ¹⁰⁵ Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Proverbs 18, ²¹ The tongue has the power of life and death,  and those who love it will eat its fruit. Talk life into our lives and dreams into our promise land, let us learn from the Israelites and not complain.

So how much faith is required to move mountains?

How big is your mountain, how big is your trial? I wonder, if your problem was bigger would it require more faith than someone who has a smaller problem?

Today’s reading,  Matthew 20, The Parable of the master getting workers to work in the vineyard, they come to work at different hours in the day and still get the same wage. So if the master is the Lord (God), the Vineyard is Heaven, then the wage they get paid is grace.  God would give us all the same amount of love and grace; it wouldn’t be based on our own efforts, all that is required of us is to  believe.

So the Bible is so contradictory to how we would in our every day culture, think or reason. One would expect if you worked longer you would get paid more in your wage, than one who worked less than you.

So what if less is more?

-    You relied less on yourself and more on God.

-    You just need to believe, God will give you the Grace and Faith you need to move that mountain.

-    A little faith can move the biggest mountain.

Romans 10, ¹⁷ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

So what are you hearing?

-        Your trials, not good enough, can’t do it, never, fail,.....

-        Gods words, love, future, sufficient, great, mighty, conquer?

So what are you hearing?

                                            So what are you hearing?

                                                                                         So what are you hearing?

                                                                                                                                      So what are you hearing?

So what are you hearing?????

*** I Will Give You Praise (Only You)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6c6xCiPaeE