My Way of Faith

I claim it because the Lord gave it to me to keep forever. I had one question this morning when I set out to walk and talk with the Lord. What is my way of faith? Of course, in the back of my brain I looked for a set of instructions, but we already know that doesn't work. One has only to turn back in the Bible to the Law to find a complex and complete set of instructions for living the perfect life. An entire nation could not keep those instructions and rebelled against God seemingly at the turn of every scripture page. I am not better than the ancient Israelites, and a set of instructions is not the way of faith. However, what about a general way of life that I already own?

Years ago, as a part of my treatment of healing for PTSD, a counselor gave me a passage of scripture to memorize. God made sure that I had time to work on memorizing these verses for some time before I asked Him to give me a way of faith. Here it goes, from memory:

REJOICE! in the Lord always, again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus. Finally brethren, whatever things are good, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. Philippians 4:4-8

That is my way of faith. At first, I thought that the first promise is the one of peace, but then I saw that the Lord is at hand. But that isn't the first promise either. The first promise is rejoicing always. How is that even possible? That is of course the first promise, that in the Lord it is possible to rejoice always. Some circumstances may seem too sad for rejoicing, but we are not to rejoice in the circumstance but in the Lord. Every circumstance has a lesson for us, sometimes a reward, and sometimes a journey into deeper faith. Step by step, the first step in my way of faith is to learn to rejoice in the Lord always.

God bless,
Bucky