By Mark Maher
“There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven. A time to tear down and a time to build up.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 3)
This is the time to build our faith up, which will lead into the building up of others. “Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
What are you building? Are you maintaining status quo? Or are you looking to take it to the next level? What’s Christ calling you to do right now? Maybe you need to tear some things down in order to rebuild.
“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” (Psalm 127:3) The Lord does the building, He is working on an inner infrastructure. An unshakable faith. (Hebrews 12:28)
We can stay stuck in the devastation or we can rebuild again. Christ is too prevalent in my life to stay broken. I’ll build by faith, knowing all I have to do is put a high, high priority on Christ. He’ll take care of the peripheral stuff. “You ought to discover some principle, you ought to have some great faith that grips you so much that you will never give it up.” Martin Luther King
Put faith and Christ on my heart, keep it top of mind. Marinate on the Word “when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 6:7)
Nehemiah was determined to build the wall. His resilience and focus are examples of how we are to walk in faith. Nothing slows down our progress. “Not the worries of this life or the distractions of this world.” (Mark 4:19)
Let’s build a faith community. Let’s build a group of people that can support each other and encourage each other in the faith. Who picks you up when you’re weary? Build the relationships. The habits of today will shape your future.
Building back up takes vision and courage. A righteous man falls seven times but gets up again.” (Proverbs 24:16) Life is a game of building and rebuilding, even Christ said leave everything and follow me. This is the call, to evolve, to change, to grow, to be alive in Christ. So you have to be fluid, and you’ll have to adapt. Where does God want you today?
Faith is always on the move. Life is seasonal.  In this season God is alive and active doing new things. But He calls me to even newer things on the horizon, counseling those walking in grief, spending time at hospitals, additional small groups, as He’s always building you up for more, equipping you in His timing, opportunities will present themselves, and I’ll be ready when they arise.
“You might be fighting the same battles, but a stronger you is fighting now.” Holly Furtick
Your relationship with Christ should change your relationship with adversity. The greater the trial the more faith is required. After going through it, and while going through it, and if you’re wise before you go through it, “your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:5)
The one thing I won’t do is stay stuck. He’s taking me somewhere, so we must build, and the foundation will become so strong that nothing can thwart it. Build your faith. Build up those around you.
Run to God as fast as you can every single day. Those that keep up with you, those are your people. I encourage you to surround yourself with these people. To go where I want to go, I need these people. I need the ones that won’t let me fail. I need the ones that encourage my potential, that recognize my faith and bring it out of me, the ones who are also on the same walk for Christ. We will build together and the work for Christ will flourish.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.”(Matthew 5:24)
I choose to build this life on the rock. He will be the firm foundation. If it all starts with Christ, it’ll all work out. Christ will “do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” (Ephesians 3:20)
Ministry is born out of pain. It’s the fuel for the fight. It’s the place of empathy.
“That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.” (Romans 8:28 MSG) We keep building, because FAITHFULNESS never falters on the mountain and even in the valley. Faithfulness perseveres, it maintains and if need be, it crawls to the next assignment, but we never lose our faith. It’s what separates us. I’ll see you again on the next mountain.
