Too many people are checking out on life, feeling depressed, defeated and rejected.  They are deceived into believing they are failures or unworthy.  There is hope.  We are not who we are because of what we have done or who we think we are.  We are who God created us to be.  To be the person we were created to be we must accept Christ as our personal Savior and become His Disciple.  We then become who God says we are.  Our identity no longer comes from what we did or who we were. 

Once we become a new person, in Christ, we will develop a new attitude with new perspectives.  We must accept a faith and a confidence to trust God.  We cannot please God without faith.  Faith is a confidence and trust in God. 

We must believe God is faithful and will do what is right and will fulfill every promise that He has made.  We must believe He knows everything about us and knows our future.  He knows every need we will ever have.  He has the power to fulfill those needs and more.  We must have the faith to realize that His Spirit will be with us every second and He will never forsake or leave us as one of His children.  He will never lie to us and we can believe His Word.  We must know that God will never change.  He is today what He was millions of years ago.   What He says about eternity and what happens after life is a certainty. 

It was October 14, 1947 when pilot Chuck Yeager flew a plane faster than the speed of sound, (758 miles per hour) and broke the sound barrier.  Prior to breaking the barrier, the plane shook, the controls discontinued working and suddenly there was complete silence as he entered the sound barrier and the controls began to work again.  A number of pilots had previously tried but thought that their plane might shake apart, they slowed down and gave up. 

The same things happen to many Christians seeking faith; there is a problem in obtaining it and they give up.  They find all kinds of reasons to not trust the approximately 700 promises God made in the Bible.   But it is not just Christians, as we read the number of suicides occurring, the number suffering depression, road rage, anger and the many people living miserable and sinful lives.  The reason many are giving up on life is they lack the courage and faith to face their problems.  It may take the same courage to break the faith barrier as it did the sound barrier.  This is what the Bible says:

Hebrews 3:10 – 11 – “That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’  So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”  Doesn’t every one of us want that place of rest that brings peace and calmness?  It does not come without faith. 

The Hebrews coming out of Egypt to the promise land were told to go and take the land.  They refused!  They had seen all of the miracles God had performed.  They gathered at the bottom of the mountain and heard His voice.  He was angry because He had proven Himself to them time and time again but, they did not have the faith to follow His directions.  Therefore, they would not be able to enter God’s rest. 

Hebrews 3:12 – “See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.”

The greatest sin in the world is unbelief.  The second is disobedience to God.  Hebrews 11:6 – “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

Once we have been given all the evidence we need and we still refuse to trust, God may say, you shall never find peace and rest.  We may not realize it but, every thought, emotion and desire comes from the heart and when we harden our hearts against God, we do so in action, attitude, thought and belief. 

Faith in God is an absolute requirement and those who believe can come to God and discover that He is approachable.  Believing God exists is the first step toward spiritual faith.  To continue pleasing God we must have a relationship with Him.  We must reconcile with God.  We cannot reconcile with our old nature.  Reconciling with God requires a surrendered will.  A surrendering of our self-centeredness is done in love. 

Matthew 21:21- “Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.” 

This does not mean that enough faith, all of our prayers will be answered.  If we have enough faith we would not ask God for something He knows would hurt us or it would not be in His Will.  Christ was pointing out to His Disciples their lack of faith.  What kind of mountains do we face?  Have we prayed to God and asked for His help?  How strong is your faith?  God promises that not only will we will have rewards in heaven for our faith but we shall also receive them in the presence. 

In life, we may face many storms.  We must realize that in every storm, in the storm’s eye, there is peace and calmness.  In order to gain faith, we may have to face many storms and problems.  Many Christians are unwilling to go through life’s problems that provide experiences that will help them gain faith. Faith isn’t cheap and breaking the faith barrier may be just as difficult as initially breaking the sound barrier.   We must not forget that we have a God in control and everything that happens He allows.  At the same time, He is in the storm with us and is there to give us His rest and peace.  If we have enough faith to move mountains, we should have received the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  It is the fruit that increases our faith.