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Choosing to Believe Without Demanding Proof · Grace for My Home | Christian Women, Growing in Faith

• 1:13
  Audrey: Hello, friend.
• 1:14
  Audrey: Welcome back to Grace for My Home.
• 1:17
  Audrey: I am Audrey McCracken, and it is such a blessing to be back with you again this week.
• 1:22
  Audrey: I hope that you're doing well.
• 1:24
  Audrey: We are doing great.
• 1:25
  Audrey: It has been a busy week.
• 1:27
  Audrey: We're in that busy season right now with school and other things going on.
• 1:31
  Audrey: I have a junior this year in high school, my last one in high school, and he has so many things going on right now.
• 1:38
  Audrey: And I keep telling myself, we might be busy now, but there'll be a day that we miss it.
• 1:44
  Audrey: And that helps a little.
• 1:46
  Audrey: It helps a little.
• 1:48
  Audrey: This past week I had the opportunity to speak with a group in North Carolina at the Robinson County Christian Homeschool Educators.
• 1:57
  Audrey: And it was such a blessing to speak to that group.
• 1:59
  Audrey: One of their members, Allison, found my podcast, and we've been talking back and forth, and she invited me, and it was such a blessing.
• 2:06
  Audrey: I am a former homeschool mom.
• 2:08
  Audrey: All of my boys have transitioned out of homeschool.
• 2:12
  Audrey: They went to public school, and now I have one who is still in public school and two who are in college.
• 2:17
  Audrey: But I loved homeschooling and I will always think of myself as a homeschool mom, even though I'm not currently homeschooling.
• 2:25
  Audrey: But it was such a blessing to be able to meet those ladies to encourage them because I really believe in the work that they're doing.
• 2:33
  Audrey: I know that it's hard work, but it's also very important work.
• 2:37
  Audrey: And it was such a blessing to meet them and hopefully encourage them on this job that is so important in the lives of their children.
• 2:46
  Audrey: So just a shout-out to them and a thank you for the invitation.
• 2:50
  Audrey: This week I want to talk with you about faith and about belief and what it means to trust the Lord, what it looks like to have faith.
• 3:01
  Audrey: You know, the the Bible talks a lot about faith and about faith in God.
• 3:07
  Audrey: You know, I'm very grateful that I grew up in a church.
• 3:11
  Audrey: Now, I my parents were not Christian.
• 3:14
  Audrey: I did not have a Christian home growing up, but my grandmother made sure that my sister and I were in church every Sunday.
• 3:22
  Audrey: And I'm very thankful for that because even though that's not the church that I attend now, I'm thankful that there was a church there for us that taught us about God and that gave us the story of the gospel, because that's the most precious thing that you can give a child.
• 3:41
  Audrey: Because even though I grew up and ran from God, I still, I still knew the story.
• 3:48
  Audrey: And even though I questioned the validity of it and the truth of it when I got into college, and I just wasn't sure what I believed anymore, I'm just thankful that I had the opportunity to make a choice.
• 4:00
  Audrey: You know, there's a lot of people who don't believe because they've never heard or they never heard it put correctly.
• 4:06
  Audrey: But I knew about Jesus and the sacrifice that he had made and the the need that I had for him.
• 4:14
  Audrey: But when I became an adult myself, I ran from the truth.
• 4:19
  Audrey: And now when I look back, I just think, you know, when the Lord started dealing in my life and started bringing me back to him, I knew where to go.
• 4:28
  Audrey: And that in itself is priceless.
• 4:32
  Audrey: But I remember struggling through those early days of being a Christian as an adult and trying to wrestle with what do I believe?
• 4:40
  Audrey: You know, what it what was I taught that was true?
• 4:43
  Audrey: And and were there parts of that that were not true?
• 4:46
  Audrey: And, you know, is this the only way?
• 4:49
  Audrey: And I'm very thankful to the Lord for, you know, first of all, for opening my eyes.
• 4:54
  Audrey: You know, I I mentioned that last week in the podcast, that you know, that's God's job.
• 4:59
  Audrey: People can tell you, people can pray for you, but God has to open up your eyes to see.
• 5:06
  Audrey: And I, he, he allowed me to get to a point where I needed him.
• 5:10
  Audrey: I really needed him.
• 5:11
  Audrey: And and my eyes opened up that not only did I need him, but he was waiting for me to call out to him.
• 5:20
  Audrey: And when I came back to the Lord, it was for me, it was a miracle.
• 5:26
  Audrey: And I'm so thankful that he came for me.
• 5:28
  Audrey: I'm so thankful that he sent people to tell me about his great love for me and to open up my eyes because we've because I had people before I was ready to hear it trying to share about his goodness and about his love and about all that he had done through the cross for me.
• 5:45
  Audrey: But I wasn't ready to hear it.
• 5:47
  Audrey: You know, until our heart is ready to receive the truth, then a lot of times those seeds just fall on hard ground, on hard and stony ground.
• 5:56
  Audrey: But there came a time when I was ready to hear it.
• 5:58
  Audrey: And and then when those words came, I grabbed a hold of them and they grew.
• 6:04
  Audrey: And so I'm so thankful for that today.
• 6:06
  Audrey: But I want to talk with you a little bit about, you know, that struggle that many of us have to fight to believe.
• 6:14
  Audrey: You know, maybe you have never fought that fight.
• 6:17
  Audrey: I I dare say 90% of us have.
• 6:20
  Audrey: You know, it's it's so funny.
• 6:22
  Audrey: Now my children are having they're having to fight their own fight.
• 6:26
  Audrey: You know, I've taught them what I know.
• 6:28
  Audrey: I've tried to pour into them all that I know.
• 6:31
  Audrey: But even when you grow up in a Christian home, you still have a choice to make because you know nobody can make that choice for you.
• 6:39
  Audrey: It is a personal decision that I am going to believe.
• 6:43
  Audrey: And it's more than just belief, because even the Bible says in James, it says the demons believe and they tremble, but we believe and obey.
• 6:55
  Audrey: And that's how we know that we're true believers is that not only do we believe what Jesus did, not only do we believe that he is the Son of God, but we put our trust in him and we take our life and put it in his hands and we live for him.
• 7:11
  Audrey: That is a true believer, someone who doesn't just say, Yes, I believe that, but someone who takes their entire life and trusts God with it, who takes their life and puts it at his feet and says, God, I am yours, and I believe in what you've done for me, and I choose to obey you.
• 7:31
  Audrey: And that is a miracle.
• 7:33
  Audrey: That's a miracle.
• 7:34
  Audrey: It's called being born again, and only the Holy Spirit can bring that miracle about in a person's life.
• 7:42
  Audrey: And today I want to read to you a passage of scripture.
• 7:46
  Audrey: As I was reading the Bible during my quiet time the other day, I came upon this passage, and I thought, this is something I want to share with my listeners.
• 7:55
  Audrey: But in the Gospel of Matthew, starting in chapter 12, verse 38, Jesus had been going around, he'd been doing miracles, he had been performing all kinds of healings, and these people, these men, it says the scribes and the Pharisees, they came to him and they said, Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.
• 8:18
  Audrey: And he answered them and he said, An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet.
• 8:29
  Audrey: For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
• 8:40
  Audrey: The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold something greater than Jonah is here.
• 8:52
  Audrey: The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold something greater than Solomon is here.
• 9:07
  Audrey: So these scribes and Pharisees, they come to Jesus and they want him to prove himself to them.
• 9:18
  Audrey: They want a sign, they want him to do something that only the Messiah could do.
• 9:24
  Audrey: Prove yourself to us, Jesus.
• 9:27
  Audrey: And he says, No.
• 9:28
  Audrey: He says, No, I'm not doing that.
• 9:31
  Audrey: He said, This generation is demanding a sign, but he's saying you are demanding a sign, but Jonah, look at him, look at what Jonah did.
• 9:42
  Audrey: Jonah went to Nineveh, which was not a city of Israel or Judah.
• 9:48
  Audrey: Nineveh was not a part of God's covenant.
• 9:52
  Audrey: They were not God's people.
• 9:54
  Audrey: Well, they were an evil city.
• 9:56
  Audrey: And God sent Jonah to them to repent.
• 10:00
  Audrey: And when Jonah finally got there, it took him a while to get there, but when he finally obeyed God and he did what God said, those men repented and they believed, and they did the works that are necessary for repentance.
• 10:17
  Audrey: And he is saying he is comparing these who are demanding a sign from heaven to these men in Nineveh who did not get a sign, but at the preaching of the word, they repented, they believed, and they they they will be, and he's saying, in the day of judgment, they will have more to stand on than you do.
• 10:39
  Audrey: And then he mentions the queen of the south.
• 10:41
  Audrey: In some translations, it says the queen of Sheba.
• 10:45
  Audrey: And this woman, she was not part of the covenant either, but she heard of the wisdom of Solomon, and so she sought him out because she knew this is different, this is this is important, and so she sought out wisdom from God, the wisdom of God, because she believed.
• 11:06
  Audrey: And he is comparing these people who had no covenant with God, who believed and did the things that he wants his own people to do that they won't even do.
• 11:18
  Audrey: He's comparing it to them who are standing in front of him, saying, Give us a sign, give us a sign.
• 11:24
  Audrey: And to me, it's like they're saying, make us believe.
• 11:27
  Audrey: You know, we don't believe.
• 11:29
  Audrey: Why don't you do something and make us believe?
• 11:32
  Audrey: But keep in mind in the chapters before, he's doing miracles.
• 11:36
  Audrey: He's doing, he's performing great signs and miracles and healings.
• 11:43
  Audrey: And the those who follow him, who have put their trust in him, they got to see all of the miracles.
• 11:52
  Audrey: But see, these men aren't putting their trust in Jesus, they don't believe him.
• 11:57
  Audrey: They want him to make them believe.
• 12:01
  Audrey: And they're putting him to the test.
• 12:04
  Audrey: And see, true faith doesn't do that.
• 12:08
  Audrey: True faith says, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.
• 12:14
  Audrey: And I and I believe personally that as we walk with the Lord, then our faith grows.
• 12:22
  Audrey: But it doesn't necessarily grow because we see all these miracles.
• 12:27
  Audrey: As we get to know him and we get to love him and we get to know his heart, he reveals himself to us more and more and more.
• 12:35
  Audrey: And our faith grows more and more and more.
• 12:38
  Audrey: The scripture says we go from glory to glory, we go from faith to faith.
• 12:43
  Audrey: And that is all part of being born again, of being a Christian, of loving him.
• 12:50
  Audrey: You know, God requires us to submit to him.
• 12:56
  Audrey: He doesn't want us to serve him half-heartedly.
• 12:59
  Audrey: You know, he doesn't want to just be our religion or what we do on Sunday.
• 13:05
  Audrey: He wants us every day of the week and he wants us to be completely devoted and sold out for him.
• 13:11
  Audrey: And when we do that, we do see miracles.
• 13:15
  Audrey: You know, I've my life itself is a miracle when I look back at what God has done.
• 13:20
  Audrey: You know, I I believe in miracles because I am one when I see what God has done in me and in my family.
• 13:27
  Audrey: I know that God saves.
• 13:28
  Audrey: I know that he redeems, I know that he sets free and he delivers because he's done that in my life.
• 13:35
  Audrey: He's brought such healing in my life.
• 13:38
  Audrey: Guys, I I believe in physical healings because I have seen them.
• 13:43
  Audrey: I have seen God do miraculous things in people's bodies.
• 13:48
  Audrey: But to be completely honest with you, I am most thankful in my life for the healing that He has done in my heart and in my mind.
• 13:59
  Audrey: You know, this body eventually is going to wear out.
• 14:02
  Audrey: You know, I I I try to eat right, I've try to exercise, you know, I try to do the things that I can live, not just a long life, but hopefully a life that I can enjoy, you know, have a quality life so that I can one day enjoy my grandkids.
• 14:17
  Audrey: But eventually, from dust I came and to dust I will go.
• 14:22
  Audrey: And I understand that's that's just the way it is.
• 14:26
  Audrey: So even if I need a physical healing today and God chooses to heal me, you know, great, that's wonderful.
• 14:32
  Audrey: And I'll praise the Lord for that.
• 14:34
  Audrey: But there'll be a day that either He comes or calls, and I will shed this body.
• 14:41
  Audrey: So it is not forever.
• 14:43
  Audrey: From dust it came into dust it will go.
• 14:47
  Audrey: But the healings that he has brought in my heart and in my mind, the places where he has set me free from the lies of the enemy, from the identity that the enemy has tried to put on me, from the chains that I thought were permanent in my heart and mind that he has set me free from, those are forever.
• 15:10
  Audrey: You know, I will forever be thankful for him, number one, saving my soul, number one, showing me my need for him and meeting that need, but also for showing me his great love, for showing me, for healing my heart when it was broken, for for forgiving me, for setting my feet on solid ground, for turning my life around, for showing me that he made me for so much more than the way I was living, and that he has good plans for me and for my family.
• 15:49
  Audrey: Guys, that is the miracle that I'm most thankful for.
• 15:54
  Audrey: But we get to see those miracles when we believe.
• 15:58
  Audrey: We get to see God do those miracles when we walk closely with him and when we obey.
• 16:04
  Audrey: You know, we can't go to God and demand that he do things the way we want him to do it.
• 16:11
  Audrey: And we can't even go to him.
• 16:12
  Audrey: We can go to him and say, I want you to do this now because I serve you.
• 16:18
  Audrey: We can do that, but he's an in he's under no obligation to oblige.
• 16:24
  Audrey: And so when I when I read this story and I see how, you know, these people who really didn't want to believe anyway, they were putting him to the test.
• 16:34
  Audrey: And, you know, he didn't play their game.
• 16:37
  Audrey: And we live in a world today that they they despise God, and they'll say things like that.
• 16:45
  Audrey: Well, if God is good, why this and why that?
• 16:48
  Audrey: And if prayer works, then you know, what why why didn't this happen?
• 16:52
  Audrey: Or why does this happen?
• 16:54
  Audrey: And, you know, I don't need to know how to answer all those questions.
• 16:59
  Audrey: All I need to know is that I follow him.
• 17:02
  Audrey: And as I follow him, I get to see him do miracles in my life and in the lives of those around me.
• 17:10
  Audrey: You know, those who followed him, they saw the miracles.
• 17:14
  Audrey: It was the ones who stood on the high horse and demanded a sign that they were the ones that did not get to see the glory of God.
• 17:24
  Audrey: You know the saying, when I see, then I'll believe.
• 17:29
  Audrey: But the kingdom of God is different.
• 17:31
  Audrey: In the kingdom of God, we believe first and then we see.
• 17:35
  Audrey: Believing in Him opens our eyes to the purpose that He created us for and to the miracles that are all around us.
• 17:43
  Audrey: And guys, He loves us so.
• 17:45
  Audrey: He loves us so much, and He has so much in good, He has so much good in store for us.
• 17:54
  Audrey: But He's not gonna make us believe.
• 17:56
  Audrey: You know, belief will always be a choice.
• 17:58
  Audrey: We always have the choice to believe.
• 18:01
  Audrey: There is a great reward for us who do believe, but He it is always a choice of our will.
• 18:08
  Audrey: God gave us a free will, and I'm so thankful for that.
• 18:13
  Audrey: He gave us a free will, and we get to exercise that free will by choosing him.
• 18:18
  Audrey: That is the right choice, whether we whether we exercise it or not.
• 18:23
  Audrey: That is the right choice is to choose him.
• 18:26
  Audrey: But he loves us so completely.
• 18:27
  Audrey: Our free will is so complete that we can even reject him.
• 18:32
  Audrey: But I encourage you to run to him.
• 18:34
  Audrey: I encourage you to throw your arms around him and love him and dedicate your entire life to him because that's that's why you were made.
• 18:43
  Audrey: That's why you were created.
• 18:45
  Audrey: And as you believe, as your faith grows, faith is like a muscle.
• 18:49
  Audrey: I used to tell my kids that faith is like a muscle.
• 18:52
  Audrey: The more we use it, the stronger it gets.
• 18:55
  Audrey: And yes, we'll go through seasons of doubt and seasons of testing, but the more we use our faith, the more we hold on, the more we trust, the more we believe, then the stronger our faith gets.
• 19:06
  Audrey: I hope that this message has encouraged you today.
• 19:10
  Audrey: We see because we believe, and we are invited to choose him.
• 19:14
  Audrey: And he's not going to make us, but we are invited to choose him.
• 19:18
  Audrey: And guys, there is no better choice.
• 19:21
  Audrey: There is no better decision that you'll ever make than to dedicate your life to him, and to serve him, to love him, to believe him, to trust him, and to hold fast to him.
• 19:31
  Audrey: Let's pray.
• 19:32
  Audrey: Father, in Jesus' name, we come to you today and we just thank you for your many, many blessings and miracles that you've done in our life.
• 19:41
  Audrey: God, I pray, I thank you for faith, and I pray, Lord, that you would help us to grow stronger in our faith.
• 19:48
  Audrey: I pray, Lord, that you would show us, Lord, how to come near you, Lord, how to draw near to you, Lord God, and that, Lord, our faith would grow.
• 19:57
  Audrey: I pray, Lord, that our faith would would grow.
• 19:59
  Audrey: Lord, we believe.
• 20:01
  Audrey: Help our unbelief.
• 20:02
  Audrey: Lord, I ask you to strengthen us.
• 20:05
  Audrey: I ask you, Lord God, that you would open our eyes, that we could see, that we would not walk in darkness, but Lord, that we would walk in light as you are in the light.
• 20:15
  Audrey: And Lord, we just thank you for it in Jesus' name.
• 20:18
  Audrey: Amen.
• 20:19
  Audrey: God bless.
• 20:20
  Audrey: Have a great week.