Clouds

Heat is measurable. There are even multiple gauges to measure it with. It is energy. Cold is only measurable in terms of the absence of heat.

Light is measurable. Darkness isn’t, really. Once you get down to the point of NO light, darkness doesn’t get darker. Light is measurable above and below the ranges at which our eyes can’t perceive it, but there is a point at which there is zero of it of any frequency that is simply, completely dark. No further darkness past that.

Faith and doubt are a different sort of opposites. We were designed to all have faith (Romans 12:3). Some have been given more faith than others, even to the point of there being a spiritual gift of faith (1 Corinthians 12:9). Because it is also a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22,23), the amount available in us at different points in time varies, based on how submitted we are to Him when we respond to problems or opportunities.

We always have faith at work in us, because we were designed for it to always be active, even in small measure. Small seems to be much, though – Jesus told Peter that he didn’t have much faith after he had just walked on water!

Faith and doubt seem to be opposite of each other like cold and hot, because even though faith is always working, it is only aimed at a certain target. Faith in one thing amounts to doubt in another. Even if I have a disease that I have completely surrendered to, seeming to have no faith at all, my faith has targeted the power of the disease to take my life. I therefore have doubt in all of the possibilities of types of healings.

Faith is able to see past the clouds on a dark day and believe that the sun is still shining on top of them. It is able to take a prophetic word that says I have been called to Palestine from Egypt and see past the desert trip to not just the validity of, but the real-ization of the promises. It allows me the ability to hold in my heart the things that I am hoping for, so that, in time, I will hold them in my hands.

Doubt the likelihood of your failure. Doubt the abilities and strategies of your enemies. Doubt the power of rejection and loneliness and insufficient information and others’ jealousies and of fear and any other contrary thing you could make a list of here.

It is hard on days to tell the difference between pretending something is true and standing in faith. That is true whether what you are pretending is true really is true or not. It is true whether what you are pretending is true is good for you or bad against you.

So don’t worry about it. Prefer living with hope for the things God has promised you to living in fear or other misery of believing that they can’t happen. Lean over into what feels like pretending. Let your imagination create a space where faith can create a space where Abundant Life can fill the space.

Be filled with faith in the Lord your God, and His everlasting love for you.