Genesis 11:24. When Nahor was twenty-nine years old, he had Terah.
25. After Nahor had Terah, he lived 119 more years and had other sons and daughters.
26. When Terah was seventy years old, he had Abram, Nahor, and Haran. The Family Tree of Terah
27. This is the story of Terah. Terah had Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
28. Haran died before his father, Terah, in the country of his family, Ur of the Chaldees.
29. Abram and Nahor each got married. Abram’s wife was Sarai; Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of his brother Haran. Haran had two daughters, Milcah and Iscah.
30. Sarai was barren; she had no children.
31. Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and Sarai his daughter-in-law (his son Abram’s wife) and set out with them from Ur of the Chaldees for the land of Canaan. But when they got as far as Haran, they settled down there.
32. Terah lived 205 years. He died in Haran.

I’ve been wondering how come it’s so easy to have faith in people but not in God? It’s strange isn’t it? The bible says:

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

So what does that mean? What is faith exactly? Faith is going for a job interview, hoping that you will ace the interview and then getting the job. The boss says, “You are going to start tomorrow, be here at 9 and the pay will be $1500 a week.” The next day you came to work at 8:45 (impression and preparation are everything). You work that day and 9 more days before a check appears in your hand for 1.5k minus taxes. That’s faith. Now faith is the substance (work) of things hoped for (the job), the evidence (a paycheck!) of things not seen(10 days later). You worked in advance, hoping that at the end what they boss told you they were going to pay you, they would.

Most people don’t have great faith. We’ve been disappointed enough to know that not everyone/everything comes through. God does come though. Here is a story from the bible

Matthew17:14 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” 17 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Okay, so here’s the story, the disciples didn’t have the faith even collectively to heal a boy who was an epileptic. Why? Jesus said it was because of their unbelief. He said that if we had faith as a mustard seed we could have things move in our lives. The mustard seed is the smallest seed, it’s tiny, smaller than a peppercorn. So we only need a tiny bit of it to move the mountains in our lives. We only have to believe a little bit.

The problem I am seeing is that we have faith and patience to wait for the paycheck from our job but if God doesn’t snap to it, we give up! Don’t give up on that thing you are believing for. Don’t give up on that job you want or that promotion, don’t give up on that marriage and don’t give up on that baby.

Sometimes the answer is no. The Apostle Paul asked for God to heal him from an affliction. The bible doesn’t say what the affliction was and it doesn’t even matter. God said no. Almighty God answered Mighty Apostle Paul, “My grace is sufficient.” In other words, “I am taking care of you and you’re fine just as you are. These times are disappointing but not fatal.

Sometimes the answer is yes but it takes a long time in coming. We get desperate for an answer but God is coming with one. Sarah and Abraham had to wait years and years to have a baby but God had said yes and so they waited. The wait paid off in their old age when their son Isaac was born. Can you imagine the joy?

Don’t lose hope. Don’t get impatient. God is moving in your life and he will answer you. Have a little faith!

James 4:1. Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves.
2. You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.
3. And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way.
4. You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way.
5. And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that “he’s a fiercely jealous lover.”
6. And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find. It’s common knowledge that “God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble.”
7. So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper.
8. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field.
9. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious.
10. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.
11. Don’t bad-mouth each other, friends. It’s God’s Word, his Message, his Royal Rule, that takes a beating in that kind of talk. You’re supposed to be honoring the Message, not writing graffiti all over it.
12. God is in charge of deciding human destiny. Who do you think you are to meddle in the destiny of others?
13. And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, “Today – at the latest, tomorrow – we’re off to such and such a city for the year. We’re going to start a business and make a lot of money.”
14. You don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. You’re nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing.
15. Instead, make it a habit to say, “If the Master wills it and we’re still alive, we’ll do this or that.”
16. As it is, you are full of your grandiose selves. All such vaunting self-importance is evil.
17. In fact, if you know the right thing to do and don’t do it, that, for you, is evil. -“The Message”