The Power of Belief

Talisa

My son Bryan was invited to share his story at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. He was one of two featured speakers on a night when almost every participant in the room shared some kind of disability.  Disabilities included Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS), asthma, depression, cancer, arthritis, etc.  Each person was asked to write a poem about their challenges and to highlight what was bad as well as what was good.  Then, throughout the evening, volunteers could come to the front of the room and share what they wrote.

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The aching and the elation in that room were gripping.  Bryan was applauded for sharing his faith—the visible effects of his stroke and 72 treatments of radiation on his body powerfully lending credibility to his testimony.  Others birthed into the microphone anger, apprehension, feelings of being marginalized or oppressed. Sarcasm formed speech as did gratitude.  Suicidal thoughts were momentarily spoken and then put to rest.  The contrast between futility and hope was profound.

The power of belief is most inspiring in those who possess pain yet who wear their armor knowing victory will come.  Perhaps Talisa Caldwell, an artist and musician who shared her poem entitled Hope, says it best:
 
Hope is a dangerous thing
Hope is freeing
It’s limitless
It is the ultimate bliss
It takes me away
From the disappointment of today
And yet it’s stirs up a feeling that I’m not really about
Because once there’s hope, there is room for doubt
While hope says “maybe,” doubt says “no way”
So I’m trading my hope for belief today
Where hope can leave room for failure and nay say
There’s no doubt, so long as I BELIEVE this is the way
Though hope is a powerful thing
Belief is much more daring
Hope means that it might
Belief means that it will
So I choose to believe
So that the doubt can heal.
 
Meditation
1 Peter 1:20-21--He was chosen before the foundation of the world but was revealed at the end of the times for you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
 
How amazing is it that God, the timeless Father, would give us the promise of eternal life through His Son.  That in Jesus, the One who conquered death and glorified His Father, we would find the power of belief.  He was chosen that we might be redeemed from all our troubles.  Something to think about . . . in reveration!  
 
Inspiration
I do not seek to understand in order that I may believe, I believe in order that I may understand.—Saint Anselm 
 
©2019 Daniel York  ARR. Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)