The Best Is Yet To Come

And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. (Joh 2:1-5)

If you want to know what faith is like, there you go. Mary had faith and Jesus worked a miracle. Never mind arguments about whether it was wine or "grape juice" and forget any arguments about drinking alcohol. That's completely beside the point here. The point is summed up in this: "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." Yep.

Now, notice something important here. Mary shows no indication that she has any idea about HOW Jesus will provide wine. She just says, "Do what he tells you to do." See? She knew Jesus could provide even though she doesn't know how it will happen. That's important.

There is something about faith that many who say they have faith never catch on to. When we pray for God's deliverance, in faith, usually we have some idea in the mind of HOW God will accomplish that deliverance. That's a bit of a problem. It means we think we know 1) what the problem is and 2) how the problem should be solved. All we want God to do is provide the power to get it done the way we want it to get done. Right? Yep. And that is a problem because it is not really faith.

God knows our problems better than we do. He knows what is at the root cause, and also the real purpose of our trials and tribulations. So, when you pray in faith for God's deliverance you have to trust that He is going to go to work on the REAL problem, which may not be at all what you think it is, and then end up doing something remarkable. For example, maybe you are sick and need a physical healing. But, maybe (in fact most likely), the sickness is a result of some life-style thingy that you don't even realize is a problem. If the sickness was just healed miraculously, you'd be sick again in a few weeks and then - well right then is where a lot of people get upset, thinking all that prayer and faith didn't do any good. But God knows your REAL need and will go to work on that if you trust Him. Yep.

But the thing is, you really have to trust Him. Like I said to start with, we usually think we know HOW God is going to fix things and when the plan we have in mind doesn't materialize in the manner we think it should we get to thinking maybe God isn't doing anything and maybe He isn't listening or maybe I did something terrible and maybe... maybe... maybe. Enough already.

Here's a little analogy about faith that I like: Say I'm going to mail a letter to a friend. I put the letter in an envelope, address it, put a stamp in it and drop the letter in the post office box. Then I just... walk away. I don't go to the mailman and lay out a map and show him how to get the letter to it's destination. I don't call every ten minutes to check to see if the letter is going the right way. I don't have to know HOW the Post Office is going to deliver my letter. I have to have faith that they will deliver the letter and then take action based on that faith. Yep.

That's what faith in God must be like. If you think you know HOW God is going to work a miracle you are almost assuredly wrong. So keep that in mind. When you pray for deliverance you have to be like Mary was. Whatever He tells you to do, just do it. Your faith does not need to see HOW God is going to solve the problem. Faith is the assurance that God can and will solve the problem, not the knowledge of HOW He is going to solve it.

And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. (Joh 2:6-10)

See what I mean? They needed wine and Jesus is saying to fill the pots with water. I don't know about you, but my first impression would be to argue that we need WINE not WATER! Maybe there was some miscommunication here. Nope. All they needed to do was listen to Jesus and do what he told them to do. That's called faith.

With that in mind you can avoid some of the stumbling blocks that interfere with your faith. What happens if you think you know HOW God will solve the problem is that you may miss entirely the things that God is doing and as a result your faith may falter. Things don't happen the way we expect, we get anxious and try to force something to happen opposite of what God is doing. That is where most faith fails. So, don't do that.

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. (Rom 8:24-25)

Faith takes courage, tenacity, patience and a willingness to hold on no matter what starts happening. This is difficult of course. Once you have prayed in faith for deliverance, watch and wait to see what God is going to do. It may seem at first like nothing is happening, but if you truly have faith you know that the unseen power of God is already working and will eventually manifest a solution. If you accept whatever God starts doing, then your faith will be strengthened as you begin to see changes take place that you never could have conceived of. That's when we jump and shout for joy and God gets even more glory. Yep.

One last thing that should put it all into perspective: "thou hast kept the good wine until now." That's what I'm talking about. That's a good thing to remember. The things that God has in store for those who trust Him are beyond our imagination and better than anything you have yet experienced. Don't shortchange God's plan for your deliverance by trying to get it all planned out for Him. Let Him work out in your life and show to you what He has planned for you from the beginning. Let His will work itself out over time. Wait and see. The best is yet to come.

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Rom 8:18)