The Wonder of God's Voice Part 3: "God Calls Us to Faith"

 LBS

The Wonder of God’s Voice

Part3

God Calls Us to Faith

    A young man decided to follow in his father’s footsteps as a lumberjack. Full of vim and vigor, he was committed to chopping down more trees than any of the other men with whom he worked. As he headed to the job site, he set his heart, mind, and body on what he believed was an attainable goal. He wanted to chop down more trees than the company’s average of fifteen per day. 

   His first day on the job, he managed to chop down ten trees. He realized that to reach his goal, he needed to work harder and smarter. He retuned to the job site on the second day, committed to chopping down five more trees than the day before. But at the end of the day, he counted only ten, He hand’t made a bit of progress.

    The third day he worked long and hard, but when he tallied the trees, he had chopped down only seven. Though puzzled and frustrated, he refused to give up. Maybe he was having an off day. The following day, he returned to the job but chopped done only five trees. 

    Each day his progress lessened. He experimented with changing the way he held the ax. He shifted he body position. He focused his mind. Yet at the end of each day, the number of trees that fell grew fewer and fewer. Several weeks passed. The discouraged young man approached a veteran lumberjack and explained that despite his best efforts, he was getting less done each day. 

    The grizzly lumberjack sized up the newcomer. Then he observed, “I see the calluses on you hands and the strength in you arms. I can tell you’ve been swinging your ax with everything you’ve got. But I can’t help wondering, when was the last time you sharpened your ax?

    Like the lumberjack, we may feel that we’re giving everything we have, but sometimes it doesn’t feel as if we’re getting anywhere. We need to remember that, like the lumberjack, we need to sharpen our spiritual axes. How? By remembering the promises God had made to us. 

    Though we may feel discouraged or worn down, God’s Word is full of promises that sharpen us as His blood bought children, filled with His Spirit. God calls us to faith. He calls us to believe in Him and all that He can do in us and through us. 

Though the disciples spent three years with Jesus and had the privilege of being with Him day in and day out, they still recognized the need for their faith to be increased and sharpened. In Luke 17, Jesus discusses the roles of faith, sin, and duty. 

1. Read Luke 17:1-10. Why do you think the disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith?

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2.Read Ephesians 6:10-18. Match up the pieces of amor for what they represent.

Pieces of Armor	Represents
Belt
Breastplate
Shoes
Shield
Helmet
Sword

God invites us to trust Him wholly and choses to walk by faith. At times, we may be tempted to forget just how impotent faith is to our spiritual journeys, but it’s essential to following God.