Welcome to Buoy, a Life in Deeper Water podcast.

Episode 44. I am a Witness of God’s Presence (the past seven days, gettin’ real)

(click here to listen now)

Hello human.

A little reflection today on faith, what it is, and how it is illuminated through God’s presence in our lives.

At the launch of Buoy, In episode 1, I defined faith. And what our faith has to do with God’s divine persuasion.  

I am returning to it today, because understanding this marks spiritual growth and understanding why God, why His Son Jesus and the apostles tell us to return to God’s word, to pray without ceasing, to love unconditionally. So, in review, here’s how I define it, then I will take it further down my spiritual road.

Isn’t that what growing in my witness is all about? Deepening my spiritual well?

According to Strong’s concordance, faith (4102/pistis) is always a gift from God, and never something that can be produced by people. In short, pistis (“faith”) for the believer is defined as “God’s divine persuasion.” It is distinct from human belief (confidence) yet involving it. The Lord continuously births faith in the yielded believer so they can know what He prefers, i.e., the persuasion of His will.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, 8 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Grace is a gift from God through faith—God’s divine persuasion of our hearts. We do not save ourselves, and we do not persuade ourselves, and when we try, we fail. I see belief and faith consistently used interchangeably. They are not. Belief comes from human capacity, as having confidence that something is true. And we often characterize faith as something we do for ourselves.

“Have faith” as if it is something we have.

“Keep the faith” as if it is something we keep.

“Strengthen your faith” as if it is something we ninja our way to the buzzer.

Mental affirmation is something I have the power to do. I believe in God. I believe in His Son, the crucifixion and resurrection. I believe in the Holy Spirit.

The Persuasion of the Heart

But the “knowing”, the conviction, the persuasion of the heart, is not of human origin.

If left to self-persuasion about the power of God’s divine love, we lose the debate. If left to God, we gain the conviction of the heart to motivate us to definitive action. Persuasion is God’s power play, not ours. So, what is the consequence of that? We bear witness.

This happens by God continually birthing faith in the yielded believer.

Romans 12:3 says, “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”

Another translation says, “by the measure of faith” God has distributed to each of you. If we make the choice to believe. In His Son, that He saved us, God will provide the conviction of the heart to live out our witness.

This is a critical distinction I need to make between God and me. If I try to own the things of the spirit, attain those things, by my own human nature, I will continue to fail. I need to know what faith is and isn’t. Who has the power, and who doesn’t.

When we “know” faith as His divine persuasion we continue to look to His nature for direction, wisdom, inspiration.

In Peter 1:5 he says, “5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Faith unleashes God’s miraculous power in the life of the believer. God is the giver of faith. God sent His Son. As Hebrews 12:2 says, 2 “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”

Our Witness Illuminates Our Faith

Our witness illuminates our faith—it is how we represent God’s divine persuasion to each other. It is when we act in response to His persuasion.

I outlined a personal affirmation in episode 1, that my faith is solely defined by His divine persuasion in my life. It is as strong, deep, and wide as the divine revelation of Him in my actions. He is the only source.

This brings me to now, and my experience in speaking to others about what faith is. Faith for the believer is a convicted heart, with God convicting us through the Holy Spirit. It is highly personal.

Faith is God abiding in us, and our witness is the evidence of his presence in our lives.

So, what is the evidence in my life? Say, within the past week? It’s personal, so I will spare some details but hope this gives you some cues so you can consider evidence in your own life. Not a panoramic view. No, get into the daily grunge of it. Being a human in God’s world. His human.

This should not have been as hard to do as it was. But if I don’t shore up my awareness of God’s presence, and how I turn it toward others through my witness, isn’t my life an empty hope salad?

God Persuades Me to Obedience

That His divine persuasion about whose I am and how I should act defines my actions, that my actions represent, better yet, exemplify my faith.

So I reviewed the last 7 days to name examples of…

HOW God persuaded me…

1. To obedience:Working on a church project, feeling the weight of it. Obedience, which is what I was answering to by being involved in it, is liberating I think. Just do what God shows you to do. It is enough.  Even in the middle of it—when the sun feels hot, and too many miles left in the race. God persuaded me about the simple power of obedience, that doing that is in and of itself complete.

2. To deliver on and rest in provision:Making efficient choices about the food my husband and I would prepare for the lifeguard dinner our church provides every month. Typically, baking brings a certain amount of competitiveness to the surface, but God calmed my ambitious nature. I needed nothing. Just follow-through, and enjoy the bountiful riches of being a provider (like God). Not just on my own, but being a joint-provider with my husband, working together, but separately in the kitchen. Resting in provision is a beautiful state of mind. Nothing more.

3. To trust:God’s assurance in the middle of an anxious 13 days, that ended last Thursday, knowing my son was crossing the Pacific Ocean. Somehow feeling so far away, yet never so close to him as then.

4. To remain calm, positive, and patient:During the message at our Sunday  service– one statement upset me, angered me, felt like an “untruth”, and very personal, it threw me spiritually and emotionally for a few hours. I got a headache, and felt physically ill. God calmed me, and has given me the patience to follow-up on my concern in His timing, not mine.

5. To reach out:Via a text exchange with my neighbor… God is a master at creating the shortest, most meaningful connections that go a long way. Social media has nothing over my God.

6. To be honest: Cleaning at the church, I accidentally messed up an activity in a classroom and I was horrified. It happened in a second and there was no recourse. I immediately told a friend in my Connect group who works with the children’s programs; she was so reassuring, and kind. Honesty dissipates anxiety.

7. To ask for help:I made a connection with another church acquaintance, encouraged by her quick response for my request. Efficient, helpful, supportive.

8. To patience:I had a conversation with my husband about our car: he has worked on it non-stop when not working, trying to find the problem… he is very good with cars… he said “I will try this, and this…” then I will see what I need to learn, what my lesson is from there” – he was talking with the assurance that God would guide him, and solve it, given time. Patience. That persuaded me to patience, to align with him, and God.

9. To stay in God’s moment:I helped serve communion to my connect group last week… when administering it, it is hard to stay in the moment. Yet, God set the pace.

10. To support a friendship:I made a commitment to spend time with a friend in September… take lunch (she is working from home) and just chat for 30 minutes. Just make the connection.

11. To trust in a conversation: I connected with a young mother for our event… and trusted in God’s presence in the conversation.

12. To say His name:I had a conversation with another neighbor. To tell him it is not about “so many religions and gods”… that it is just one God, and it is between Him and you.”  And I felt peace at saying God’s name, and spiritually confident that, if not me, who? No fear.

13. To revisit confusion: I had a conversation with a friend to straighten out confusion. I am not done with that, the prompting continues form God, but I see Him closing the loop.

Don’t you see human, that when we align with loving God more than anything else, He takes hold.

Close Enough to Hear His Voice

I am returning to what faith is today, frankly because I encounter a lot of people who have not done the work to understand what faith actually means. And. To grow in my understanding about why God, why His Son Jesus and the apostles tell us to return to God’s word, to pray without ceasing, to love unconditionally. Because He is convicting me through His Word, through my prayer to Him, through loving unconditionally, which means loving when I don’t feel like it.

That doing this, draws me close enough to hear His voice: God’s persuasion happens through the Holy Spirit… and my free will cannot be playing any other song, to hear it.

The Holy Spirit. I do not yet have a spiritual grasp on what this means. Episode 45.