The Author of Faith
"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith..." Hebrews 12:2 KJV
A few nights ago in deep prayer, I prayed these words from Scripture: "God you are the author and finisher of my faith. I trust in you." After these words, I stopped in dead silence from that fervent prayer.
Author...
Saying that word has a new meaning now. I was hearing it for the first time from the perspective of being an author. Despite fear and insecurities, I've authored regular blogs and written 2 books that are both in the editing phase, all since October. I can now say I've walked the road of being an author.
I began scribbling notes of how authors write stories in a specific genre, they start with an introduction, move to the body of the story, and finish with a conclusion. Stories have characters, settings, plots, climax's and much more. These were my initial thoughts written down.
Given the season I'm in, what especially impacted me was the context in which the word "author" is used in this Scripture. It's referring to our faith. So this tells us that our faith is a story being written by an author...and not just any author...JESUS! So, each of our faith stories written by Jesus have:
Characters: the different people who've helped on our journeys (either in negative of positive interactions) that Jesus has used to build and write the stories of our faith
Settings: the different seasons and places in our stories that have contributed to our faith (living with parents, going to college, living on own, getting married and living with spouse, etc.)
Plots: the main event of our story that I'd describe as our purpose, call, and destiny that takes radical faith to reach
Climax: the part of our story where our faith has its highest tension and can also be described as a crisis
As I continued to meditate on this word, I asked people on Facebook to tell me their thoughts about the word "author." WOW! The responses brought even greater depth to this discussion. Many expressed similar thoughts of God writing or creating our story day by day with His omniscience and being the author of our story and life (Miguel, Jen Dybala, Tawana, Tara, Kenneth McCloud, Donna Keely, Yerinita, and Barbie). Several even quoted the very Scripture that's the basis for this blog that I prayed out loud (Catalina & Carolyn Thompson). The below additional responses are in quotes and I tied their responses about an "author" into Hebrews 12:2 of Jesus being the "author" specifically of our faith. THANKS EVERYONE for your responses! This was a fun journey together and you added such amazing insight into writing this!
Abronia (a good friend from Juvenile Court):
Jesus, being the author of our faith story, "relates to His audience," which is us. We are His audience. He came to earth as a man, was born a human birth, and can "relate" to the things we (as His audience) go through. He experienced siblings, He experienced betrayal, He experienced friendships, He experienced temptations, He experienced physical pain, and He experienced death. And because He chose to relate to His audience and dwell among us, we have resurrection power. Jesus has a position of relatability as the author or our faith.
Paige (my cousin's beautiful daughter):
In our story of faith authored by Jesus, it will for sure take "lots of persistence." I always say, if faith was easy, you wouldn't need faith. As our story of faith is written by Jesus it takes a lot to persevere through disappointments, set backs, failures, slander, physical hardships and everything else that's thrown our way. But through the "persistence," a beautiful story of mature character and faith is written and authored.
Evelyn (a soldier I did human trafficking outreach ministry with):
Our author, Jesus Christ, inspires us and others on our faith journey to makes changes. Changes that take faith to make. As our author, He is the "inspirational change maker." Faith powerfully inspires and changes outcomes, destinies, and perspectives. It's scary when you're in the middle of it and takes tremendous courage. However, I cannot tell you how many times people shared how inspired they were by a tough faith decision I made that Jesus was writing. Our faith inspires others to take bold steps because they see the faithfulness of our God through our obedience.
Mickie (another cousin):
"An author is trying to show me what he wants me to see through his/her eyes." How true! Jesus is trying to show us to see mountains and challenges through His eyes. Through eyes of faith and not fear. Through eyes of the Messiah and not through eyes of the enemy. As our author, Jesus is "trying to show"us to see our story through faith.
In her post, Mickie also shared about how her son won Best Screenplay in LA as an author, yet is "still rewriting it and is taking more classes to make it even better." Isn't this true of our "screenplay" or story that Jesus is writing? He is always refining us and making our faith better, stronger, and deeper. Shouldn't we be studying and "taking classes" in studying the Word of God to make our faith "screenplay" better? We can never have the posture that we've arrived and are the best we are going to be. We are an unfinished screenplay until we take our last breathe. Every day we are being molded by the potter's hand into a more beautiful masterpiece.
Michelle (who I've known since she was in our youth group in Chicago (AHHH) who is an AMAZING song writer...watch this video here of one of the anointed songs she helped write and sings in this video):
"I think of self critical, constant rewriting and editing. Authors study and research, but most importantly — they leave a piece of themselves in every work." As my faith is written, Jesus constantly has me being "self critical" by being introspective to see how I can better mirror His image. He is constantly rewriting and editing the way I think of other people, myself and my circumstances to align with His truth and not my flesh. And think about this truth...how spectacular to know that Jesus has "left a piece" of Himself "in every work" of faith that He has authored in your life. Gives me goosebumps to even try to fathom that! He is inside of me and smitten with me. Wow! A filthy rag like me. Thank you Jesus!
Stephanie (my armor bearer):
Authors are "creative, use spell check, and are captivating." When Jesus moves you into something that requires faith, it will always look spectacular. When His "creative" inspirations come to you it will be nothing short of "captivating." You know those books that are so "captivating" that it draws you in and you can't put it down. That's the faith story Jesus writes when you follow. It "captivates" you to want more and to increase your faith. And "spell check?" Well let's just say THANK YOU JESUS for spell check (coming from an author who is a terrible speller). But seriously...when our words get jumbled, misspoken, or misused, Jesus (as our author) checks those misspelled words and tempers them under the Holy Spirit so they come out with the correct meaning. He is our spell checker as our author. He's the best editor!
Mark (a co-worker and friend from Juvenile Court):
An author "skillfully & creatively uses the written word to communicate ideas to others." God's "written word" communicates truths with such craftsmanship ("skills") that it's the best selling book of all time and all humanity. It's endured more scrutiny than any other book and is inspired, inherent, and infallible. Those are fancy words to say that His written communication (the Bible) is written by God Himself, permanent, and has no errors, flaws or mistakes. And Jesus has been oh so "creative" in how He has written my faith journey. He speaks to me and He speaks to you in such specific ways that only a "creative," supernatural God could do.
So today, I pray that you will let Jesus be the author of your faith. Don't try to be your own author and don't even try to be the co-author with Jesus. Let Him lead. Let Him write. Let Him spell check your life. Let Him inspire the plot of the story. Let Him guide you through the climax of the story. Let Him write the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. He is skillful, creative, and captivating!
Go get published as a story with the Best Selling Author!
