Blind eyes to a faith that can see

So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. (II Corinthians 5:6-8 NKJV)

In the Movie "Facing The Giants" the coach challenges the captain of the football team to crawl on his hands and feet with a 160 lb. man on his back to the 50 yard line (that's HALF the field)! The player says there is no way. The coach doesn't settle for that answer and challenges him anyway, but he goes even further. The coach says to do it blindfolded because he doesn't want him to give up when he sees the impossible.

See, the player thinks he is going to try to get to the 50 yard line which he already believes is too hard. But what he doesn't know is the coach has a bigger plan in view, but if the player knew what he was planning there is no way he would even attempt it. So, he blindfolds him to keep from seeing the impossible.

The player gets the blindfold on, gets down on the ground and the other guy lays on his back. This guy, by the way, I believe represnets the burden or cross we must carry in our struggles. The only thing the player can see is darkness but he can hear his coaches voice right next to him saying "YOU CAN DO THIS AND IT'S NOT TO HARD, KEEP GOING!!!"

As the player unknowingly gets to the 50 yard line, he starts to say things like, "I'm about out of strength", "I can't go any further", "This is too hard". Then the coach gets down to his level and says "YES YOU CAN!!!" He pulls out all stops to encourage his player! Then as he finally finishes, the coach takes the blindfold off and the player finds himself in the ENDZONE! He covered the whole field of 100 yards on his hands and feet with 160 lbs on his back when he believed he couldn't even do half of that! What a victory!

See, that's the way we need to be with our Christain walk. When God calls us to a certain tasks and to live according to His Word, we start out saying we can't. It's impossible. There is no way! Left to ourselves, we can't. but we have the blindfold on and if you are spending time in prayer and in God's Word every day, you will hear His voice bent down right next to you saying "YES YOU CAN"!

This is from Oswald Chambers (My Utmost For His Highest)...

"Because you have kept My command to persevere . . . —Revelation 3:10

Perseverance means more than endurance— more than simply holding on until the end. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says, “I can’t take any more.” Yet God pays no attention; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets the arrow fly. Entrust yourself to God’s hands... 

There are areas in our lives where that faith has not worked in us as yet— places still untouched by the life of God. There were none of those places in Jesus Christ’s life, and there are to be none in ours. Jesus prayed, “This is eternal life, that they may know You . . .” (John 17:3). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we will take this view, life will become one great romance— a glorious opportunity of seeing wonderful things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power."

If this is a picture of how we are to live out our faith on the field, what does your field look like? What areas do you struggle with or what thorns has God allowed you to bear? What kinds of things in your life causes you to say, "I can't take one more step"?

I'll share a little bit of what my field looks like... I struggle so much with working alone. I'm the kind of person I have to work really really hard to motivate myself to do any work if I'm left by myself. Its the way ive always been. And I'm in a job that requires me to work alone a lot of the time. See how God uses that to build up in us what is lacking? I also struggle a lot with "Self protective pride" that is I get very defensive and even very angry when I FEEL like I'm being attacked even if that isnt really what is happening. 

Those are just some of the things that I struggle with on a daily basis. And do I walk perfectly on my hands and feet like that player? Haha! I would like to say I do but the fact is I fall and walk backwards it seems more than I'm walking forward. I fail and fail and fail all the time. But I can hear my Lord Jesus's voice still saying to me "you can make it"!

-Doug McGowan