Where Is The Faith?

Nevertheless when the Son of man comes, will He really find faith on the earth? Luke 18:8

Often when I read this scripture, I wonder if He was thinking of marriage when He spoke those words. Walking with our daughter through their divorce this past year has once again opened our eyes to the dismal lack of faith for marriage healing that surrounds all of us. Far too many Christians, many of them leaders in the Body of Christ, have expressed their joy for Cristine that she is now free and can seek a new husband.

I wonder what their reaction would have been had she told them her husband was battling cancer. I imagine they would have met that news with promises to pray for his healing. There is a lot of faith in the Body of Christ for physical healing. Not so much for the healing of a marriage.

Why can’t people see that God has plans for every person? When Jesus hung on the cross, He saw everyone of us as we are and as God has designed us to be. He had faith for all of us and gave His life that we might become that vision of God.

Yet, so many only see people the way they are today. Imagine what Saul’s friends must have thought of him before the Damascus road. Would any of them ever have imagined that God could transform a man’s heart so completely? Paul became a man filled with the Holy Spirit and fire. His heart and his life were totally transformed by a touch from Jesus.

Can that not happen today? Is God limited by time and place?

Is He a respecter of persons?

I remember how many people told me years ago that Michael would never change and that I should just get on with my life. They saw him only as he was, not as God saw him. They told me God had a good husband for me, a Christian man who loved Jesus, and they were right. The only problem was they never realized it was the same man!

It amazes me that people believe one human being is so powerful! That one person, man or woman, has a will stronger than God’s. Think about it. That is what people are saying when they believe a person will never change. Yes, he or she needs to make choices. We cannot do that for someone else. But scripture says, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”  2 Corinthians 10:4-5 NIV

God has given us divine power in warfare. The enemy may be pulling one way, but what God says carries more weight than that. It is not an even battle! Where will we place our faith? In what God says? Or in what we see the enemy doing? Who is more powerful?

I think the reason people have lost faith for marriage is they have only been watching the work of the enemy. The destruction they have seen has convinced them that there is no hope for change. How truly sad that is!

We need to fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, and listen to what He is speaking about marriage and family. His Word stands for all eternity! What we see with our natural eyes does not even compare with what we should be seeing in the supernatural. If we keep our eyes on Him, and not on the circumstances, we will begin to walk in His faith for our situations.

No one is impossible. No circumstance is beyond God’s ability. How I long for the day when the Body rises up as one to confront the enemy who has the gall to attack a marriage and family. May we all begin to realize that Jesus died for the transformation of hearts. May we begin to see each person through eyes of faith and stand solidly, unwavering on God’s promises for him or her. Love, Marilyn

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

Author: Marilyn Phillipps

Married 49 years, we have three children and six grandchildren. My initial career of nursing prepared me to work with marriages that are wounded and in need of healing. For 35 my husband and I have led 2=1 International, a ministry to marriages and families around the world. We have seen miracle after miracle when many had given up hope.