Jesus is not only our Savior, He is also the "author and perfecter of our faith." (Heb 12:2) Grab with both hands the thought that He is the "perfecter of our faith." The faith Christ started in you, He is now working to perfect. That Christ seeks to perfect our faith makes a fine doctrine but, in actual life, we deeply resist the idea; we know faith, to grow and be perfected, must be tested.

In our unbelief, we would limit "faith" to merely being a compilation of Bible facts or an intellectual assent to our need of salvation. Christ desires we obtain a trust in Him that can actually withstand and overcome the terrible storms of life. To amass biblical knowledge takes primarily time; to possess true, saving faith, I will tell you, takes courage.

So I wonder, do we truly know the Jesus of the Bible and what He is seeking to work in us? Too often, I think we desire a Savior who, after assuring us of eternal life, leaves us alone until we next need Him. We want Him to comfort us, but never convict us; we desire Him to heal us, not inhabit us. We want the Holy Spirit to help us obtain the "American dream." What we have is a Holy Spirit who, instead, seeks to give us the dream of God: man living in the image of Christ (Gen 1:26).

So, God's goal is not merely to save us, but to conform us to Christ. He seeks to perfect us, not merely protect us. To perfect faith, God intentionally allows conflicts to storm against our soul. I know we picture Jesus as gently holding us, patting us on the back, saying, "There, there, it'll be all right." Listen, that's not the voice of Jesus, that's your mother speaking. Thank God for mothers, but Jesus is seeking to get us to stop being such babies. He wants us to grow up into His image.

Remember, I'm talking about the real Jesus now, the One who said, "All things are possible to him who believes" (Mk 9:23). If the Jesus you are following is not leading you into the realm of the impossible, you are probably following the wrong one.

You see, we do a disservice to people when we tell them, "Give your life to the Lord and He will keep you from trouble." That's really not true. We would be more honest to say, "Give your life to Christ, and He will empower you to overcome every adversity." Yes, He will take care of you, but He does so, not by putting you in a harmless world void of problems, but by perfecting virtue, by developing character, by requiring faith -- all of which create the spiritual shelter of a transformed life.

A Storm, a Ghost or Jesus?

Get used to the idea that Jesus is seeking to perfect your faith and that He will probably use some otherwise impossible situation. Sooner or later, the real Jesus will require you to look the impossible right in the eye and trust God for the opposite to occur. Consider the incident when Christ walked on the water. (See Matt 14:22-31) First, Jesus decides to wait until a storm to come walking on the water to His disciples. He could have, obviously, simply arrived at the other side supernaturally without stopping in the middle of the lake. So, He has come to them with something in mind: He has come to teach a lesson on trust.

Please take note that this is a violent storm and that He offers no "preliminary course," no "Basic Water-Walking 101." He doesn't let them practice on puddles or wait until winter so they could walk on frozen water first. He waits for a storm to teach water-walking. Then, of course, He doesn't come in daylight; He comes at night. So, Jesus comes to the disciples in the middle of the lake, in the middle of a storm, in the middle of the night to teach them to walk on water. He does not make it easier; He has come to teach them about trust.

Remember, I'm talking about the real Jesus with His real disciples. Let's add that they were already terrified by the storm. Then their fear intensified when they saw Him because they thought He was a ghost. Some of the things we're sure are demonic upheavals and "ghostly" are really the Lord stirring life to set the stage for a lesson on faith.

As He approached, in the midst of the swirling wind, the darkness, the blowing water and the roll of the ship, Jesus called out, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid".

When Jesus says in the midst of your storm, "It is I," it's a call to faith. When He says, "Take courage," it's a call to action. True faith will always, at some point, require courage.

Peter says, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." This is wonderful, really. Here is an insight, not only into Jesus Christ, but into Peter's relationship with Jesus. Ever since Peter has known the Lord, He has required Peter to do the impossible. Over and over, Peter has seen Jesus work miracles; over and over Jesus has empowered Peter to do what He saw Jesus just do. This is Peter's discernment: "If it's really the Lord, He'll tell me to do what He's doing: something impossible."

Jesus responds to Peter with just one word, "Come!"

Now listen: Peter is not about to walk on the water, not really. When he steps out, he is walking on the word, "Come." This is all about trusting the integrity of Jesus Christ's word. Do you think Peter felt power when he stepped on the water? I don't think he felt anything besides the storm. No goose bumps. No glory chills. Peter sits on the side of the rocking boat; his legs hang in the churning water. Peering through the wind and rain, he looks at Jesus' outstretched arms, then stands upright in the water and begins to walk!

Yet, Peter, looking at the waves, takes His eyes off Jesus and begins to sink. Of course, thankfully, Jesus saves him and immediately they are both in the boat. Maybe we would expect the Lord to have said, "Peter, you did it!" Maybe Peter was expecting praise for his short water-walking career, but no, Jesus rebukes him saying, "Why did you doubt?"

I'm still talking about knowing the real Jesus. We want a medal every time we do something for God. Hey, only two people in the world walked on water and the first rebuked the second for unbelief. What about the other disciples; they didn't even leave the boat. Sorry, no excuses. Christ sees the beginning of something great within us and He doesn't want it contaminated by pride or self-pity. He isn't about to let us build a monument to our accomplishment. If this miracle of Peter's was done among us in America, in two weeks we'd have tours, T-shirts and commemorative celebrations of the day we walked on water. But Jesus will allow none of that for His disciples. He sees greatness emerging in Peter and He won't encourage anything other than His image in His disciple's heart.

Remember: God's goal is that we become Christlike. The real Jesus is going to call you to do the impossible. It'll be something you see or sense Him doing. And He will offer the opportunity to do the impossible in a storm.

Faith and Humility

You say, "What's the difference between faith and presumption?" The difference is humility. Faith operating with humility can be guided and corrected. Yet, the real issue we should be concerned about is not whether we are presumptuous, but whether or not we are trusting the integrity of God's word. Certainly mistrust is a far more grievous sin than presumption.

This is no little thing, beloved. Mistrust of God's word is the most serious, prevalent sin in the body of Christ. It abides unchecked among us; it is accepted and tolerated by leader and follower alike. Our mistrust is a systemic disease in the body of Christ and has rendered us impotent to change our society.

Sometimes prayer, if not mixed with joyful, expectant, trusting faith, can be a smokescreen for an unbelieving, religious heart. There are many times I have heard oppressed Christians murmuring a prayer, "O' God, O' God, O' God" when they should be saying "O' devil, be gone in Jesus' name." I'm sure I've done this myself.

You see, there's a difference between real faith and typical prayer. Faith is the fuel that powers prayer but, without faith, prayer alone is of little consequence. I know I'm offending some, but the fact is millions pray daily, religiously, without faith or results. They chant, use prayer wheels and rosaries; others, do not use visual aids, but their prayers are just as mechanical and ineffective. Think of it: There's always value in coming to God and pouring out our hearts to Him; yet, according to Jesus, vain or repetitious prayer without faith, is without value. Indeed, without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6) and whatever is not of faith is sin (Rom 14:23).

Do you desire God's power in your life? You spell power: T-r-u-s-t. We think God's power is a mysterious, magical "goose bump" thing that happens outside of our will. No. Power is the ablity to trust God when He tells you to do the impossible.

Some of us don't tithe. Why? "Well, because I don't have enough." No, you don't tithe because you don't trust God's promise to supply all your needs (Mal 3:8-10). Can we trust God? When our eyes don't see and our ears don't hear and our understanding fails, can we still trust that God is good, that He will supply and that He will be there for us? That's the real question. Can we trust God in a storm?

God doesn't forget us. He is patiently watching what's happening in your heart when your senses and powers of analysis do not detect His presence. The Father sees in secret. That means, you can't tell He is there, but He is. He is watching your reactions when your world seems exactly opposite of what you were expecting. During those times especially you must trust Him. Either there is a God or there is no God. Either God is good or He is not good. Those who know Him trust Him. They will see storms as opportunities to do the impossible.