Recently, I took my sons, Elijah (10) and Shiloh (7) to meet the horses at beautiful Freedom Reigns Ranch. I went along with them and while there; something happened that really helped me see the power of faith.
Elijah was paired with Boston and Shiloh was with Pogo. The boys were really learning from Anjelica and the horses and enjoying their time. Everything was going really well. Suddenly Boston completely stopped and after a few minutes, Elijah expressed a desire to dismount. Carissa was there observing and asked Elijah why he wanted to stop riding. He said that his feet were tired from pressing in to Boston, asking him to move. Then he asked if he could switch with Shiloh and ride Pogo. Carissa said, “ I thought you didn’t want to ride anymore.”
He admitted that he just wanted to keep moving and Boston wouldn’t move anymore. He was holding the reins the right way, squeezing his legs and feet the right way but Boston was not moving. Carissa told Elijah that he needed to really believe that Boston would move and he would, that the horses feel your thoughts and respond to them.
She talked Elijah through getting his energy back up and imagining Boston moving while asking him to move by squeezing his legs. In hardly any time at all, Boston was once again on the move! Wow!! What a lesson in faith!
He was doing all the right things but without believing. Faith without works is dead and works without faith doesn’t work! Have you ever felt like your life just isn’t moving like you wish it would and you’re doing everything you know to keep going but now you are tired? Sometimes you have to reactivate your faith to get your horse going again. Galatians 3 says, “Who put a hex on you? You were running this race so well... Do you believe what was started by the work of the Spirit, you can finish with the arm of the flesh?” We can stay in the struggle of working without faith or believe our way to victory!
In Matthew 9, two blind men wanted to see. Jesus asked them if they really believed He could make them see. They said, “Yes, Master”. In the Message translation, Jesus said, “Become what you believe”. And it happened. They saw!
In Matthew 25, we see that not only do we become what we believe but God becomes what we believe Him to be. The servant with one bag of silver believed the Master to be a hard taskmaster and hid his bag of silver instead of investing it or doubling it. While gracious to the other servants, to that servant the Master took what he had away and threw him out. He became to that servant what he believed Him to be.
Jesus is the Savior of the world but He can only save those who believe Him to be their Savior. After we got home that day, we were talking about someone who needed to have faith for God to move in a situation they were facing and Shiloh, having also learned the lesson with the horses said, “Its all about what you believe”. If there’s something in your life that needs to change, stop wearing your feet and mind out. Believe in faith and become what you believe. (Written by Shi-Anne Ragsdale Eakin)
