Link to Video: https://youtu.be/Kw9zAG3qqkU?si=dJtmUqzhzQz4i2xS

I started this series because I think one area that is often attacked is our faith. Our faith in God, His goodness, who He is, and who we are in Him. When we look around the world it can bring fear, worry, depression, and chip away at our faith, so I want to use this series to do the exact opposite and build our faith.

I am not sure how many episodes this series will be, and I am not sure what days/times I will be doing each episode, but I will for sure post the announcements in advance.

For each episode I am going to take one, or two, people from the Bible and talk about what we can learn from them to apply to our lives to increase our faith. Some of the discussions will be about what not to do and what to avoid while others will be clear examples of what to apply to our lives.

Episode 1-Jonah

When I was sitting with the Lord about who I should talk about for the first episode of our new series Jonah immediately came to my mind. At first I was thinking I must have heard wrong because he is definitely not the first person, in the Bible, who comes to mind when faith is the focus, so I gave it sometime and asked again. Again, I felt the Lord laying Jonah on my heart so here we go!!

Let’s start with a summary of his life.

The book of Jonah is found in the Old Testament. He was a prophet that God gave an assignment that he did not want. He was told to go to Nineveh and tell them unless they repented, they would be destroyed by God.

Nineveh was a very wicked city. It was the capitol of Assyria. They were not Israelites, so they were not the children of God. Jonah was an Israelite and Nineveh would have been seen as an enemy that the Israelites believed deserved total destruction because they were so brutal, ruthless, and evil. They were known for their cruelty and brutality in warfare which included torture, mutilation (cutting off limbs, noses, and ears), and horrific executions. They would not have been looked at as deserving God’s mercy. They would have been looked at as a people that could easily bring harm to the Israelites.

When God told Jonah to go to Nineveh he disobeyed and instead got on a ship to run away from what God was calling him to do. He went on a ship that going the opposite direction from Nineveh.

After he left on the ship God sent a violent storm and the sailors became very afraid. They prayed to their gods, but it did not help. They found out Jonah was running from his God and that he had not obeyed. They ask Jonah what needed to happen for them to be saved. Jonah told them they should throw him overboard. They did not do it at first, but as the storm continued, they decided to throw him overboard and the storm stopped.

A great fish swam up and swallowed Jonah. Jonah prayed to God from inside the fish and after three days and three nights the fish vomited Jonah onto dry land.

After he was vomited out of the belly of the fish God commanded him to go to Nineveh for a second time. This time he begrudgingly goes. He gives the message to the people, and they believe the message, fast, prayer, and repent and God does not destroy them at that time. The people of Ninevah were not even the children of God. They were evil in their actions, and yet when they heard the Word of the Lord they turned from their wicked ways and repented.

When Jonah sees they repent and are not destroyed he is displeased and exceedingly angry. He told God the whole reason he did not want to go give them the message was because he knew if they did repent that God would be faithful to His word and not destroy them. He said, “I knew that You are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love relenting from disaster.” He did not want God to show them mercy and instead he wanted them punished, but he knew God was true to His word.

He leaves the city and sits to watch from a distance to see if they will be destroyed after all. God provides a leafy plant to shade Jonah because it was very sunny and hot. The next day a worm destroys the plant, and Jonah was left with no cover. Jonah complained to God and then God used the situation to teach him a lesson. Jonah cared so much about a plant that he did not even create, but he was angry at God for caring about the city of Nineveh and the people who lived there. The book ends without us seeing if Jonah had a change of heart, but let’s look at what we can apply to our lives from this story.

Jonah knew Gods character for himself. We are not told how he knew God, but from what he says about God’s character we know he knows Him for himself. God spoke to him and he knew the voice and character of God. He knew if the people repented God would forgive them because God is a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

If we want to have faith in God and trust Him and His character, we must first know Him for ourselves and not just what others tell us about Him. That requires a personal relationship, and we cultivate a personal relationship with Him through prayer and reading His Word. It takes both and we cannot have a real relationship without both. Faith grows from reading the Word and really knowing that we know that we can depend on God and His character.

What Not to Do- This list is much longer.

When God tells us to share the gospel or pray for someone, we should not question His timing but have faith that He knows when they are ready, and we must trust in His timing.  

We should not be in a place of thinking that someone does not deserve God’s mercy, love, and grace. How easy is it to look at certain people and feel like they do not deserve God’s mercy? But this story shows us our job is to say yes Lord and share what He tells us to with who He tells us to share it with. If God gave us an assignment to reach out to someone who was an abuser, a homeless person, someone from a pagan/false religion, a different political viewpoint, a different religious viewpoint, etc.  would we do it or refuse because we do not think they deserve it?

How many times does God give us an assignment and we don’t do it for one reason or another? Sometimes we simply don’t like the assignment, and we don’t want to do it. Maybe we think it is beneath us, or we don’t feel like we are equipped to do it, or we just are too busy to even hear the Lord speaking to us.

Living a life of faith means we take the Lord at His Word. We trust Him, His timing, and His assignments. We don’t look to our own ability, and we do not judge whether or not we think the people are worthy that He is sending us to. We say yes and leave the rest in His hands.

Blessings,

Nichole Henson

Fullness of Joy Ministry