Without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Hebrews 11:6 ESV
Dear Friends and Members of IBC,
On Sunday, we heard from Tim Faulkner, General Secretary of the IBC Convention, preach on the subject of the Great Commission. He mentioned that he had met with some of IBC’s leaders on the previous day, at a leadership retreat. The photo above was taken at the end of this retreat day.
I was personally very encouraged by this day together, as Tim shared with us about how God uses our setbacks and failures to prepare us for greater kingdom effectiveness. We considered the life of Peter, and how Jesus prepared him to be one of the early Church’s leaders by restoring, renewing, and recommissioning him, especially after he had repeatedly denied being one of Jesus’ disciples.
We also spoke about how we all go through crises and periods of suffering and that these are often learning opportunities, forcing us to ask ourselves who we really place our trust in. Very few people welcome crises in their lives, but if we allow Him, then God will use them to expose gaps in our faith, a faith that must mature and grow or it will wither and die.
A question that was asked at the start of the retreat day, which seemed to reverberate throughout, was how Christ has used times of crisis to develop our confidence in Him. I was so moved by the honest and brave personal testimonies that this question brought about. We know that Jesus has told all of us that in this world we will have trouble (John 16:33), that none of us are spared. These times of trouble may go on for years, they may cause intense heartache, they may be very humbling, but they ultimately produce something more valuable than gold, which is a firm, strong, enduring faith in God. We know that without faith, we can’t please God (Hebrews 11:6), and so He is always at work in us, chiselling, sledgehammering (thank you Stefan!) and refining away so that this faith is pure.
Let me leave you with a final thought about faith that I found beneficial from this retreat day. It might be helpful to think of an act of faith as being like a ‘self-forgetful’ act. Instead of looking at ourselves and how we are going to overcome a tough time, how we are going to manage the pain and struggles, let’s forget about ourselves and rather look to the One who died for us on the cross, who has given us His Spirit and has promised never to leave us.
God bless you
James