“Every God-begotten person conquers the world’s ways. The conquering power that brings the world to its knees is our faith.
The person who wins out over the world’s ways is simply the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God.”
1 John 5:4-5 MSG
How do I overcome the temptations? What helps me get out of bed everyday? How do I keep my mouth closed in the face of ridicule?
What keeps discouragement at bay? FAITH!
Faith that God’s word is true. Faith that God will do what he said he would do. Faith that I will win.
One day, a donkey fell in a well. Someone walking by heard his cries but after tossing several ideas out as to how to get this donkey out of the well, finally decided to be merciful to the donkey and put him out of his misery. He grabbed a shovel and started heaping shovel upon shovel of dirt down the well intending to bury him.
The donkey, thinking he was being rescued, couldn’t understand why the dirt had started to rain down on him. After a couple of shovel-fulls had landed on his back, the donkey looked up and made a decision; faith, not failure. Still looking up, when each scoop of dirt hit the donkey’s back, he simply shook it off and stepped up. Time after time, shake it off and step up. Shake it off and step up. Always keeping his eyes on the sky above. Before long, enough dirt had been thrown in the hole, enough shaking and stepping up had transpired that the donkey triumphantly stepped out of the well, thanked the Shovel Man, and walked off into the sunset triumphant.
The world will throw all sorts of dirt at us but through faith in the true victor, we can shake it off, step up, and walk through this life victorious.
~ Michael D Simpson
