Belief - one layer at a time

Today I spent some time thinking about the word "belief". Webster's dictionary defines it as "a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing". More than a few times over the last few years, God has communicated with me with that one simple word. A dear friend and mentor recently highlighted in her blog, the power of one word. She mentions 2 young people that she recently counseled who were able to break down their life's call to one root word. I guess for me, "Believe" would be the one word that continues to define my spiritual journey. I don't know if that word actually qualifies as a call but it certainly comes up a lot in my time with the Lord.



"Of course it does" you say, "We are believers - Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved... is what Christianity is all about". Yes, but in my life the word seems to have more layers than my southern mother's italian cream cake. In some research I found that "believe" is used in the Bible 143 times (my mom's cake has almost as many layers). The Lord has used it at least that many times in our communication in the last 2 years alone. It comes up in ways I don't expect. For instance I have felt the Lord say to me, "Do you believe I am who I say I am?", "What do you believe I am capable of?", "Who are you going to believe & why?" Some of those questions have stopped me in my tracks. Being a creative sort and having a vivid imagination, I am thankful for those times when God interrupts my snowballing thoughts and brings me back to His reality with those questions.



I remember a specific time in July of 2006, when a situation within my family was at a critical point. By all appearances, God had not answered fervent prayer and the situation could only end gravely. That day in prayer, the Holy Spirit led me to pray something so bizarre for this person, it was apparent that I could not have come up with it on my own, and from there He asked me to BELIEVE. The devil really attacked my thoughts after that prayer and infiltrated my mind with gloom, depair and no end to the situation. That attack became so intense that it consumed me for several hours. Then just before going to bed that night, the Lord said to me, "Are you going to believe me or the devil...what are you going to believe?" It was spoken so clearly, it caused me to get up from my chair and begin to walk about, saying out loud, "I believe YOU Lord, I believe what you have said, I believe the things you have promised". If my family had been awake, I'm sure my pacing and chanting would have frightened them a little. The short version of the story, is that a phone call at 6am the next morning came to verify that God had in fact, called me to BELIEVE that night. He had answered our prayer. I don't know that I can give accurate description to that one, very intense, call to belief but it was just that...a call to belief.



In retrospect, that was one small layer of "belief", that God introduced me to. A layer that I could not reach on my own, one that the Holy Spirit had to guide (or thrust!) me to. So to have "Audacious Belief"...what does it mean? Webster defines "audacious" as intrepidly daring, adventurous, or recklessly bold. Wow - that sounds really exciting. It could also be really frightening if I let my own thoughts take hold. I feel sure that iAUDACIOUS BELIEF is a journey, meant to be digested one nutty, sweet, overwhelming, yet fulfilling layer at a time...much like mom's cake.