2.  The author and perfecter of our faith. He is the author and perfecter of our faith. Yet, He may not be perfecting our faith. He CAN but He won't force it to happen. When we look at all the potential problems of serving others, it can overwhelm our faith. We look at ourselves and our resources and we see too many limitations. If we allow Jesus to step into the situation and perfect our faith, He will add the "God factor" to our view of things. What would happen to the list of potential problems of providing food, clothes, visitation, housing, and nursing; if we added God to the picture? Oh, well, that would change everything. With God, nothing is impossible. This is what Jesus did to His disciples over the period of the Gospels. Their faith buckled under the load of each assignment, case, after case, after case. Oh, you of little faith, Jesus would say. Over and over again Jesus kept saying that to them. Gradually, through constant exposure, Jesus authored and perfected their faith. His disciples fixed their eyes on Him and they finally got their faith perfected. They developed a total perspective of the "God factor." They stopped looking at what they could do and provide and started seeing what God could do through them.

Faith isn't hope. We can hope all we want and it won't get the job done on things God has already provided.

Heb 11:1 (NIV) Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

The next major aspect of our faith getting perfected is to KNOW what God is GOING to do. This is where a lot of people run into problems with God and His Word. Many want to pick which Scriptures they are going to apply to which situations. Just as the piano keyboard exposes all of its keys to whomever wishes to push its keys, so does the Word of God expose its verses to whomever wishes to read and quote them. But, a musician will usually submit themselves to a composer by looking at a sheet of music the composer wrote. They will allow the composer to tell them which keys to hit, what keys to combine with them, how hard to hit them, and how long to hold them down. Many times, our application of Scripture is similar to a baby banging on a piano keyboard.

2 Pet 1:20-21 (NIV) Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Eph 6:17 (NIV) Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

The Word of God, the Bible, didn't originate with humans, wasn't given meaning by humans, and it isn't applied by humans. It is the sword of the Holy Spirit. He controls its use. A lot of people have been stabbed by the Word of God as it was being wielded by humans. We don't have the ability to properly combine faith and the Word of God together and thereby accomplish the work of God. The Word of God says it and I believe it. However, how that is applied to each situation is going to have to be decided by God. We, faith, and the Word of God must remain under the control of God.

Once we submit our life and ministry to the control of God, He will start confiding in us. He will let us know what, when, where, how, and many times why He is going to do something. When God tells us that He wants us to go do or say something, that will produce faith in us for accomplishing the task. At that moment we will not only know that God CAN do it, we will know that God is GOING to do it because He just told us to go do it.