Faith Is Risk

One day as I was cleaning my office I came across a scrap of paper and on it was written, “Faith is risk. If there is no risk, there is no faith.”

“Wow! That’s good!” I said to myself. On further investigation, I discovered the author of the statement was none other than G. Mark Denyes, my former pastor of 25 years. I had written the statement down during one of his sermons.

Sometimes cleaning has benefits one doesn’t expect.

Faith is risk. If there is no risk, there is no faith. When you think about it, you can see this scenario playing out all through the Bible. When Abraham went into the mountain to sacrifice Isaac, the risk was that he would lose his son that he loved beyond description (Genesis 22). Hebrews says that Abraham thought he would actually kill his son, but God would raise him from the dead (Hebrews 11:18).

If you are a student of the Bible, you have discovered that the things God asks us to do often defy common sense. They make no sense at all to human thinking, in fact they are often the opposite of practical reason. But if what God asks us to do makes perfect sense, then where is the test of our faith? There is no risk in doing what makes perfect sense. But it takes faith to do something that seems to make no sense to us.

Another example is Gideon. Gideon had an army of 32,000 to go up against the Midianites, who were oppressing God’s people at the time. But God said, “You have too many men, Gideon” So Gideon told those who were afraid, to go home, and 22,000 of them went home, leaving an army of 10,000 men.

“You still have too many men, Gideon,” God said.

The next test was to see how the men drank from the stream. God instructed Gideon to only take those who stayed in an upright, kneeling position, and scooped water from the stream with their hands. There were 300 of them. So 300 men went into battle and routed the Midianites. Was that a risk? Certainly to human thinking that was a huge risk (Judges 7).

What about Peter, when Jesus told him to go catch a fish and in its mouth would be the exact amount of money needed to pay the Roman tax? In your human thinking, have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous?

Ester needed to talk to the king in order to save her race. The law said that if you approached the king without being summoned by him, you would be killed. Having no regard for her own safety, Ester approached the king. She took a huge risk, the risk of her very life . . . and the king received her. As a result, wicked Haman was exposed. The enemy of her people was hanged on his own gallows, and Ester gained ultimate favor with the king (See the book of Ester).

If we are going to use our faith, there is risk, sometimes huge risk.

We will not advance in our Christian walk, we will not grow in our faith, we will not accomplish much without risk. Faith is risk!

I remember so clearly the journey I was to take with $16 in my pocket. My friend, Pastor Harry, had requested that I drive to the west coast and lead worship for his pastor’s conference. When it came time to go, I had $16 dollars in cash and $500 in Shell gas cards that Harry had sent me for the trip.

At the time, I had just come through a financial meltdown that left me without many options. I had no credit cards. What I had in my pocket was all the money I had.

I must admit, I was more than a little disgusted with my situation. At the time, no financial contributions had come into my post office box for several days. I said to the Lord, “I’m just going to sit right here until money comes in for the trip.”

“Oh, no you won’t,” He said. “I want you to leave tomorrow.”

Well, that got my attention. I knew from experience that it was futile to argue with God. When had I ever won an argument with Him?

I began to pack, including my sleeping bag, which I threw in the trunk. I might have to sleep under an oak tree . . . or whatever kind of trees they had out there.

Normally, I didn’t use Shell gas stations. Now, on my way to the west coast, I noticed they were few and far between. My first stop was to visit Pastor Terry and his wife, Diana, in Faith, South Dakota, where I stayed the first night. In the morning, right after we prayed together, Terry pulled a $100 bill out of his pocket and gave it to me. Okay, that would take me down the road a piece.

When I entered Montana, I discovered two things that weren’t encouraging. There wasn’t a single Shell gas station in the whole state, and neither did they have T-Mobile coverage, which meant I was in a communications blackout . . . except for email.

By the time I reached the western side of the state, I was nearly out of money . . . down to the same amount I left home with . . . $16. At the gas station, I stood looking into the horizon as if it would cough up an answer. What was I to do?

“Just send an email to your intercessors,” the Lord said.

I found a McDonald’s, bought a senior coffee, and used their internet to advise my intercessors of the situation. Then, I decided to use $10 of the $16 I had left for gas. That would take me to Helena. I was hoping I could get far enough west to again get into cell phone coverage.

By the time I reached Helena, it was nearly 11 p.m. and I just wasn’t going to drive all over looking for a cheap motel. The first one I came to was a Day’s Inn that was $80 a night. Knowing my cash card would bounce in the morning, I used it anyway. I just had to have some sleep!

Finally, around 1 a.m., I checked my bank accounts, which showed less than $4 combined and then I went to sleep. At 4 a.m. I woke up, the weight of my predicament still fresh on my mind and I decided to check my bank accounts again . . . which was ridiculous. I already knew they held less than $4.

But when the balances came up, I thought I was seeing things. $340 had come into the ministry account overnight. How was that possible? I rubbed my eyes and looked again. There it was . . . $340.

Now, I was wide awake. There would be no more sleep, so I showered, dressed and hit the road, singing merrily as I drove along. How did the money come into my account? It had to be supernatural. God must have just put it there!

Then, my phone dinged, signaling I had come into T-Mobile coverage. I called Daisy in Fort Wayne, Indiana, one of my longest and strongest intercessors. I had to tell someone!

. . . and from Daisy, I learned what had happened. When she got the email around 3 p.m. the previous day, she was headed for a prayer meeting . . . where she met Ellen. “George is on his way to Seattle,” she said, “and he needs money.”

“How do I give,” Ellen asked?

Daisy had our bank account number in her purse. She had asked for it earlier because she wanted to make a contribution directly into our account.

“Here,” she said. “Just go down to the bank and put the money in this account.”

And that’s how God financed my trip to Seattle, after He had demanded I take off with $16 and and $500 in gas cards.

Faith is risk. Without risk, there is no real faith. If you are going to serve God without reservation, then risk is definitely headed your way.

Don’t push it away. Rather embrace it, because there are great rewards in taking God-breathed risks.

Photo taken and designed by Lorraine