Faith or Fear?

 “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” John 16:24

 This verse is filled with a joyful promise from God; but it doesn’t mean God is your personal vending machine. God still has a plan for your life.  If what you are asking is for the right reasons, by that I mean not out of selfish desires or pride, God may answer your prayer.

Andy Andrews has a book called The Traveler’s Gift.  In one chapter the traveler David Ponder, meets Gabriel in heaven and he takes the David into a warehouse filled with racks and racks of stuff.  There are photos of children, wheelchairs and cures for disease, anything anyone could imagine.

The David asks, “What is this place?”  The Gabriel replies, “ This, my friend, is the place that never was.” Gabriel goes on to explain, “This is the place where we keep all the things that were about to be delivered just as a person stopped working and praying for them. The contents of this warehouse are filled with the dreams and goals of the less courageous.”
 

A Warehouse full of things perhaps no one had enough faith to ask for or didn’t ask for out of fear. Gabriel, in the story, also says that:

 “All men are driven by faith or fear-one or the other-for both are the same.” 

True they are both the same, yet fear takes our faith in the wrong direction. We “fear” the unknown because it hasn’t happened yet and we do not know what to expect. We cannot see it or touch it, only imagine it.  Faith is a belief in something you cannot see or touch- it too is an unknown. But we have faith that it is there just like the air we breathe. Is there a reward in faith? Yes, seeing what you have believed in come to fruition.

"Now faith is being sure we will get what we hope for. It is being sure of what we cannot see." Hebrews 11:1 NLT

Don’t let your dreams end up in God’s warehouse, have the courage to pray for your gift without ceasing, knowing by faith God will deliver your Joy.