I find it “coincidental” that my last two posts have unknowingly followed a progression that will be completed with this post.

If you’ve been following along, you know that recently God has given me a greater level of faith and the right “heart” desire to walk out that faith.

Since I’m in a season of life that is requiring faith and I find myself struggling to walk out that faith, I decided to read up on it today. I needed some encouragement, so I went to the Word. Pretty cool idea, huh? ;)

Here’s an excerpt from The Bible Exposition Commentary.

… faith is based on God’s Word, and it involves the whole man. [...] The whole person plays a part in true … faith. The mind understands the truth; the heart desires the truth; and the will acts upon the truth.

I’m going to go through those three things, but the focus of this post is really on the third one (the will).

The Mind Understands the Truth

The truth that I’m understanding nowadays is the object of my faith. It is definitely and utterly no longer myself that I have faith in.

“Faith is only as good as its object.” The new object of my faith is in God and Jesus Christ.

The Heart Desires the Truth

Really, I think this boils down to an internal surrender. A willingness to let go of your life and allow God to freely direct it as He sees fit. This is the kind of heart attitude and faith that says . . .

“Bring me anything that brings You glory.” Bring it. I’m game.

The Will Acts Upon the Truth

This final stage is where I find the current battle taking place. I have the mental understanding. I have the heart attitude.

But now, I need to walk it out. This is where it sucks to be me. And probably you if you’re in a similar situation. ;)

James 2:21-22 (NIV)
21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.

Only when the three things above (the mind, the heart and the will) operate does faith become complete.

If we want to see completion happen in our current situation, not only do we need to understand who our faith is in, surrender the situation completely to God, but we also have to execute and walk out surrender in our daily lives.

Had Abraham not continued to walk up the mountain to the place where God wanted Isaac sacrificed, Abraham’s faith would not have been completed. God’s plan would not have been completed. Abraham’s promise would not have been completed.

Faith and action work together in order to complete God’s work in us and in order for God’s work to be complete through us.

Imagine walking up the mountain as Abraham.  With every step, you look over at Isaac.  You know full well what you’re about to do, but you continue walking.

With every step and every look at your “Isaac,” you are one step closer to completion.

Continue walking to the place of completion.

There you will find God returning what you have given Him (Genesis 22:12; Luke 6:38).

I received some advice once. It was “give it back to God.”

That advice really began to come alive at a concert I was at couple of weeks ago. MercyMe was closing out the night with a song called “Bring the Rain.”

God was wrecking me through this song. ;)

The chorus goes something like this:

Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there’ll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that’s what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

During this song, God gave me a new take on the story of Abraham and Isaac.

There are times when God asks you to surrender the very things He’s given you. The very things you hold dearest and closest to you.

In the case of Abraham, God asked him to sacrifice Isaac. The same son Abraham had waited 20 years to conceive. The same son that Abraham had raised as a boy and understood to be part God’s promise to him.

The thing closest to your heart.

White-knuckled and protective. The thing you hold the tightest.

“Give it back to God.”

It hurts. There’s turmoil. Inner pain. Rampant emotions.

But should we expect anything less? God expects our very best. He wants our first fruits. Why wouldn’t he also want whats dearest to us?

What struck me about the song was the line “But if that’s what it takes to bring You praise.”

If my pain brings You praise. If my sacrifice brings You praise.

Then Jesus, “Bring me anything that brings You glory.”

We may focus on the hurt it brings us. But is our hurt not an act of worship?

You want to fight it. You want to make sure it never really leaves your hands. The flesh wants to retain control. You look around. Maybe there’s a way out.

There is. “Give it back to God.” Freely and completely. Complete surrender and sacrifice.

It is worship that hurts.

Abraham worshiped God in this way. The power of this story is that God returned the sacrifice back to Abraham.

If I were Abraham, I probably would’ve cried afterwards.

You know why?

I knew what I was about to do would have hurt me in a ridiculous way. I knew how badly I wanted to modify God’s plan (even just slightly) so that the hurt would be less. I knew the internal struggle my spirit had with my flesh and how drained I was.

But . . . I sacrificed willingly and completely. I worshiped God with my pain.

I would have cried knowing God had returned it back and it was untouched and unblemished by me. Instead it was purified and accepted by God.

It had God’s approval on it.

Alright, it’s time for some post-fast thoughts and reflections. God has been doing so much that I really need to take the time to “log” it all.

To summarize, God is doing something way different in my life. I remember half kidding awhile back that I’ve been through more valleys than mountaintops.

But whatever God is up to now in my life is making all of those valleys completely worth it. It is a feeling/sense that I’ve never felt before. So let’s take it all from the top . . . the start of the fast.

I think what initiated all this was a message Pastor Stovall Weems gave on fasting called God’s Chosen Fast. I had struggled with the reasons to fast before, but now fasting made complete sense and I was excited to take part in the 21 day fast at the church. Based on the message Pastor Stovall gave, I had four very specific and some off the wall prayers that I was going to focus on during the fast.

As I began to pray, God began to stir a faith within me that was quite frankly scaring me. It was like “whoa, who is this guy in this Asian body and what have you done with the other guy who didn’t have much faith?”

It was a steadfastness. A confidence in God. A complete trust.

Not just a faith that believes God answers and wants to act on our prayers. But a faith that goes far beyond what God does, but more a faith in who God is.

A faith in a loving God. A faith in a God that follows through on His promises. A faith in a God whose plans are far greater than my own.

What I’m experiencing now would really disqualify my past “level of faith” as faith at all. ;)

I’m telling you. A faith on a whole new playing field . . .

There are valleys and then mountaintops. And then there’s Mount Everest.

I find myself chillin’ 8500 meters above sea level and the perspective is a lot different.