Michael Todd is the lead pastor of Transformation Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and author of Crazy Faith: It’s Only Crazy Until It Happens. He aspires to reach people with the Gospel presented in a relevant and innovative way. He has more than 100 million views on his YouTube channels and pastors some 5,000 people in person and over 10,000 people online.
What is “crazy faith”?
One thing that everybody seems like they’ve lost is faith. Faith in people, in themselves and in God. Believing God for the impossible is what he wants every one of his children to do. My kids believe what their mother and I say. They believe we have great things planned for them. If I as an earthly father, just figuring this out, can do those things, how much more for our Heavenly Father?
Crazy faith is trusting in something that you can’t explicitly prove. Our generation believes in Google more than God. Yet the God who parted seas, who made the sun stand still, who gave Abraham and Sarah a baby in old age, is the same God in our lives today.
People may say, “That doesn’t really make sense.” I look at our faith heroes in the Bible. How crazy it would seem for Noah to go out every day to build an ark and gather his family to do it. And it’s never rained. That’s crazy faith. But it was only crazy until it started raining. Or, like I say, it’s only crazy until it happens. Things that people feel are crazy now will one day be the things that people account as faith.
What helps us see God move in our lives?
The Bible is one of the main ways that God speaks to us. It’s the only book that you read it and it reads you. When you allow the Word of God to get inside you, it increases your faith.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been going through a situation and I’m just reading the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and God speaks to me through his Word and it changes my situation and allows me to start walking in crazy faith. It allows me to forgive.
Forgiving is crazy faith. It’s not just huge miracles. Crazy faith allows me to give generously to somebody who I don’t even think needs what I have. But when God says give to them, I obey. Crazy faith is hearing from God through his Word or in prayer, then obeying what he’s saying.
How can someone hold on to their faith even as things are falling apart around them?
We all go through seasons that feel as if our life is falling apart, whether relationally, spiritually, emotionally. Our faith gets us through. Thomas said, “If I don’t see Jesus for myself, if I don’t feel the nail prints in his hands and in his side, I’m not going to believe.”
I think Thomas is like all of us. He was in a bad spot, and his faith was fading. The beautiful thing is, even though he doubted, he was allowed to be around the community that believed. That’s why community is important when your life is falling apart. As soon as Jesus walked in, he didn’t address everybody else. He addressed Thomas and said, “Here are my hands. Here is my side.”
If you continue to wait on the Lord, if you are weary, stay in a place of community that can help you anchor yourself. At some point, Christ is going to show up and give you the opportunity for your faith to be restored.
For more inspiring stories, subscribe to Guideposts magazine.
