Keep the Faith

I want us to spend a little time talking about something we all need- not just as Christians, but as women trying to navigate life, our relationships, our families, our dreams, and our walk with God.

And that is faith.

Sometimes, we can look like we have everything together. We come to church, pray, serve, encourage others, and even do a powerful Bible study with someone.

But then we go home, and we’re waiting for that one thing. That one prayer that seems delayed. That one situation that keeps making us ask, “God, are You really there?”

And I think that is where faith becomes real.

My prayer is that by the end of this, we will not just feel encouraged, but that our faith will be strengthened.

When we think of faith, what comes to mind?

Hebrews 11:1 says:

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

And Hebrews 11:6 reminds us:

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

But what exactly is faith?

Faith is accepting that something is true, even when you cannot physically prove it.

We all exercise faith in everyday life. When you sit on a chair, you believe it will hold you. You do not first inspect every screw before sitting down. You trust the chair because you believe it is strong enough.

But there is a difference between faith and trust.

Faith is believing the chair can hold you, while trust is actually sitting down.

And I think sometimes, as Christians, we say we have faith in God, but we are still standing beside the chair instead of sitting.

We believe God can provide, but we are afraid to obey Him. We believe God can forgive us, but we keep holding on to our guilt.

We believe God can work things out, but we are constantly trying to control everything ourselves.

And tonight, I want us to ask ourselves:

“Am I just saying I have faith, or am I actually trusting God with my life?”

And that leads me to my first point.

POINT 1: GOD IS FAITHFUL

2 Timothy 2:13 says:

“If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”

And Deuteronomy 7:9 reminds us that God is the faithful God who keeps His covenant.

Faithfulness is who God is.

To be faithful means He is loyal, reliable, and true to His promises. And sometimes, we need to remind ourselves that our feelings do not change who God is.

There are days when we feel close to God, and there are days when we feel far away. There are days when we pray and immediately see answers, and there are days when we pray, and nothing seems to happen.

But God is not faithful only when we feel Him. He is faithful because that is His character.

Earlier this year, we had a transition in our household, and we needed to downsize and find another apartment within a month. And honestly, thinking about what we had gone through the first time we were house hunting, my faithlessness just came out.

I remember saying, “We can’t find a cheaper apartment within this short time.” I had already surrendered to the possibility of staying in the old apartment, even though the rent had increased. But little did I know that God was already working.

One day, my sister and I decided to check around a particular location, just to see if we could find something cheaper. We started looking, and we almost got an apartment at a far distance. We were ready to pay, but the morning we were supposed to pay, they told us someone else had taken it.

And honestly, I wasn’t even as sad as I thought I would be, because I had prayed about it the night before. So, I went online again, and I don’t even know what made me type a closer location to my workplace into the search box.

But an apartment popped up, within our budget and close to where we used to stay before.

And I thought, “This must be fake.”

But we called, we went to check, and to our greatest surprise, we found an apartment. We paid for it, and then we had to start furnishing and fixing things. And we didn’t have the money. But God provided. A day or so before we moved in, we got what we needed. And I remember being so blown away.

Then one Sunday, I was at church, and a teenage girl came up to me and gave me a beautiful painting with the words “Faithful God” written on it. And I was so encouraged because that had been my experience with God.

But do you know what happened the following day?

My colleague died.

And suddenly, the same God I had just been celebrating as faithful became the God I was questioning. I found myself saying, “God, You are faithful… but are You really faithful?”

And I had to wrestle with that for months. I had to remind myself that God’s faithfulness is not dependent on whether I understand what He is doing.

Sometimes, we think that if God is faithful, nothing bad should happen. But the Bible never promises us a life without pain.

What it promises is that God will never leave us or forsake us, as He says in Deuteronomy 31:6.

What are you currently going through that is making you question God’s faithfulness? Is it something concerning your family, education, health, finances, relationships, your future, or a prayer that seems delayed?

Or maybe something happened that you still cannot understand, like the death of a loved one.

I want to encourage you tonight: Your situation may change, but God’s character does not.

And if you are struggling to believe that right now, you do not have to pretend. You can be honest with God. And you can even lean on the faith of your sisters. Because sometimes, when your faith is weak, you need someone else to remind you of who God is and to stand in the gap for you in prayer.

POINT 2: TRUST GOD’S PROMISES, EVEN WHILE YOU WAIT

Do you know how many promises are in the Bible? There are over five thousand.

But the question is: How many of those promises do we actually know, believe, and claim?

Sometimes, we say we have faith, but we do not even know what God has promised us. And that is why we need to study the Word for ourselves. Because you cannot confidently trust a promise you do not know.

Let’s look at Abraham and Sarah.

Hebrews 11:8 says:

“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.”

God called Abraham to leave his country, his family, and his father’s house and go to a land He would show him.

Imagine that. You are comfortable where you are. You have your family, your community, and your plans.

And then God says, “Leave.”

And you are like, “Leave to where?”

And God says, “I will show you.”

That takes faith.

But God also gave Abraham promises. He promised to make him a great nation, bless him, and make his name great. And yet, the promise did not happen immediately. They had to wait for years. And waiting is one of the hardest things in life.

Because when we are waiting, we can start to wonder:

“God, did You really say that?”

“Maybe I heard You wrong.”

“Maybe I should just do something myself.”

And that is what happened with Sarah.

In Genesis 16, Sarah became impatient and decided to take matters into her own hands. She gave Hagar to Abraham, and Ishmael was born.

But that was not the way God intended to fulfill His promise. And sometimes, we can do the same thing. We can be waiting on God, but then we start looking for shortcuts. We start listening to other people. We start comparing our lives to the world.

We start thinking, “Maybe I should just do what everyone else is doing.”

And that’s why we have to be careful who we listen to. Does this advice match the Word of God? Does it help me trust God, or does it make me compromise? Because trust and obedience go together.

And I want to be honest, because I have had my own fair share of waiting. There have been times when I have struggled with the idea of marrying late, or not marrying at all. And I have even struggled with the thought of not having children because of getting married late.

And sometimes, I have had to ask myself: “What if I have to wait longer than I expected?” And those are real struggles.

But I have had to learn that my faith cannot be built only on the things I want God to do. My faith has to be built on who God is.

And I want to encourage us tonight: Do not let the world pressure you into compromising your faith. Do not let fear make you settle for something God has not called you to. Do not let the waiting make you forget that God is still working, even when you cannot see it. And that’s where faith comes in.

Fortunately, Sarah’s story did not end in disappointment.

Genesis 21:1–2 tells us that God fulfilled His promise to Sarah. She gave birth to Isaac.

And I love this because Sarah was not perfect. She laughed, she doubted, and she made mistakes. But God was still faithful.

And that is such a beautiful reminder for us. God does not require us to be perfect before He can work in our lives. He is faithful even when we have made mistakes.

So, what are you waiting for? What prayer have you been bringing before God?

God’s delay is not His denial.

And as Genesis 18:14 reminds us:

“Is anything too hard for the Lord?”

Absolutely not.

POINT 3: KEEP YOUR FAITH ALIVE—FOR YOURSELF AND FOR LOST SOULS

Faith is not just about what God is doing in our own lives. It is also about what He wants to do through us.

1 Corinthians 3:6 says:

“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.”

And I think sometimes we can become so focused on the harvest that we forget our role is to sow.

When we share our faith with someone, when we study the Bible with someone, when we follow up with someone, that is our part.

But it is God who changes hearts. It is God who gives the increase. And sometimes, we become discouraged because we are so focused on the results.

We share our faith with someone, and they do not respond the way we hoped. We study with someone, and they stop coming. We invite someone, and they do not show up. And then we start thinking, “Maybe I should just stop.”

But Galatians 6:9 says:

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Do not let past disappointments stop you from obeying God. Do not let the fear of rejection stop you from sharing your faith. Do not let your own struggles make you forget that God has called you to be a light.

Daniel 12:3 says:

“Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.”

And I want to remind you: You are called to shine for God. You are called to be a light. You are called to help people know Jesus.

So let us keep sowing. Let us keep praying and fasting for souls. Let us keep following up. Let us keep inviting people to church. Let us keep believing that God can change lives. Because God is faithful.

THREE PRACTICAL WAYS TO KEEP OUR FAITH STRONG

Matthew 7:7 says:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

And I love this because it gives us three simple things to do.

1. ASK — Pray for growing faith

Pray daily. Ask God to increase your faith. Ask Him to help you trust Him more. Ask Him to help you believe His promises. Because we never arrive at a point where we have all the faith we need. We need faith for each day.

2. SEEK — Study the Word

Study the areas where you struggle. If you struggle with waiting, study what the Bible says about waiting. If you struggle with fear, doubt, forgiveness, or your identity, study those areas.

Because Romans 10:17 says:

“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”

And let’s be careful what we allow into our hearts. Because the devil is always trying to uproot what God is sowing into us.

3. KNOCK — Put your faith into action

Faith is not just something we talk about. It is something we live.

So what does that look like for you?

Maybe it means sharing your faith more. Maybe it means being open about your struggles. Maybe it means obeying God in an area where you have been hesitant. Maybe it means choosing to trust God instead of taking matters into your own hands.

Faith is like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes.

So let us keep exercising our faith. Let us keep praying, studying the Word, obeying God, and trusting Him.

And God will continue to bless our hearts.

Thank you.