"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen." - Hebrews 11:1

The fuel guage on our truck read "Empty."

My wife and I headed out for our regular Wednesday night church services tonight when we realized that we had failed to purchase fuel before leaving.

We attend church in a neighboring city, approximately ten miles from our home.  There are no facilities to purchase fuel between our home and the next town.  In fact, there are very few houses.  

To add to the circumstances, tonight was an exceptionally cold night for our area, even for the middle of winter.  A brisk and gusty wind was blowing and with the wind chill factor hovering around 10-12 degrees above zero, a two mile walk back to our home would have been very unpleasant.

I looked at my wife and with complete confidence I said, "The guage may read empty, but the tank is full."

She looked at me with a rather puzzled expression on her face that said, "What do you mean?  If it shows empty, then it's empty."

"I believe that the Lord is going to provide for us and bring us safely to the fuel station to refuel." I explained.  "That's as good as having the fuel already in the tank."

Faith.  The Bible says it is "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."  My paraphrase?  "Faith is believing so much that something is going to happen, it is as if it already has."

I firmly believed that the Lord was going to provide fuel for our vehicle.  Instead of worrying about whether or not we were going to make it, I drove to the next town as if fuel were already in the tank.  That's faith.

Want to know if we made it?  Of course, we did!

Now, I want to make one thing clear.  Just because we believe something is going to come to pass, that doesn't obligate God to allow it to happen.  God isn't some cosmic errand boy who grants everything we announce that we expect to take place.  Oh no, faith isn't posting a list of things that we expect God to do.

But, I do know this.  The Bible does teach that faith moves mountains...even a little bit of faith.  Faith causes things to come to pass that might not have happened under normal circumstances.  

I know this, also.  My God is a great and mighty God!  My Jesus can heal cancer and restore marriages and change lives.  The God I serve is all-powerful and can do anything.  There is nothing outside of His strength.  

I'm here to tell you that the same God who can part waters and consume soaked altars with fire and allow shouts and trumpets to tumble down walls and raise people from the dead and turn a few loaves into food for thousands...that same God can heal that ailment that is wearing you down.  That same God can fix that broken relationship in your life.  That same God can calm your nerves when you've got a house full of screaming children and the clothes aren't folded yet and you just burned supper!  That same God can allow you to have children even when the doctors say biologically it's impossible.  My friends, the God I serve can do anything!

That's right, the God who allowed three Hebrew boys to come out of the fiery furnace without even a hint of smoke on them, the God who kept Daniel safe in the lion's den, the  God who cast out demons and healed the blind and caused the lame to walk...that same God can provide you the money to pay that past due electric bill.  That same God can work out your financial troubles, cause your boss to stop complaining so much, save your neighbors and fix your broken water pump without pausing to catch His breath.  He's powerful, He's mighty!

Christian, this morning, it doesn't matter what the odds are.  Doesn't matter what others say, even what the experts say.  It matters what God says and what God can do.  What's your need today?  Can God meet it? (The answer is "yes," silly!)  Then, ask Him to do it.

Faith.  Faith.  Faith.  It's time to start expecting great things out of our Great God!

This morning the gauge may read "empty," my friend...