“We live by faith, not by sight.”

–– 2 Corinthians 5:7

Faith is a popular theme in religious circles. We sing about it, we pray about it, we talk and study about it, and we say we live it. We really want to believe that we can and will live by faith and not by sight.

When things are going well, we don’t think that scripture verse is hard to apply. We don’t really need to use our faith. When the economy is good, why do we need our faith when we have money n the bank and our stocks are growing? When our health is good, why do we need our faith, when we can physically do everything we want to do? When our relationships are good, why do we need our faith, when we have people who surround us who like us and even love us.

It is when things seem to go bad, that most of us even attempt to apply faith to our lives, hoping that God will magically make all the negative things stop and restore us to our self–reliant ways. In those difficult times in our lives, using our faith for the first time is very hard for us. We should prepare ourselves by living by faith before we face those difficult hours.

Each one of us will go through dark times in our lives. Some of us will face financial struggles. Some will face health related issues. Many of us will face relationship problems. Some of us will face unexpected tragedy.

When you are faced with hard times, what does it mean to live by faith? It means simply this: I will ask God to direct my life. I will seek God for advice, wisdom and truth.

I will look for God’s blessings in my life and the lives of those I love. I will not be afraid or scared to ask other people of God to pray for me.

I will be willing to share my faith, my heart and my resources with God’s church and God’s followers.

Throughout history, times of struggle, are the very times that God reveals Himself to humanity. That is because we finally realize that we cannot live by sight, we must live by faith.