Jesus said to him,

If you can!’ Everything is possible to one who has faith.

^{Mark 9:23}

Our Alive theme this week is ‘We Can Review’.  I want us to review a word we are all familiar with. Usually when we talk about the word faith, religion may be the first thing that comes to our minds. However, when looking for other words to describe faith, I came across these: Trust, belief, confidence, hopefulness, and expectation. Are there any other words you would use to describe faith? Discuss as a tutor group for a couple of minutes.

These words can be used in a religious context, but also in everyday life. We all have people and things that we trust in. We all believe things about the world, ourselves, and others. Confidence is something that can be applied to many different things and situations, and without hopefulness and expectation, it’d be pretty hard to wake up every day and plan for the future. But what do we do when our faith is tested?

For all the people mentioned in the video above, their belief and confidence (aka faith) was tested through rejection, the hurtful words of others and difficult circumstances. But each of them had a choice to make. They could let the words of others and their difficulties become a reason to give up and stop having faith in their dreams, or they could keep trying until they succeeded.

Faith isn’t simply having a belief in something. In Hebrew, the word for faith is Emunah (Em-oo-nah), which is a word of action. It means to act on what you believe. 

What do you believe about yourself? Is it positive, is it negative? Is it limitless, or limiting? The famous quote goes, “The person who says they can, and the person who says they cannot, are both correct”.

Dear Lord,

Thank you that you’ve given us the ability to believe and make choices. This gives us the power to act in a way that can lead us to achieve great things. Help us to follow our dreams, and to not be put off or put down by the tests that come our way. Amen