Today I was sitting on my back porch swing thinking about some things that were coming up the next week. I knew these things would impact my days and my life in a great way. I knew it would not be easy to change my life to accommodate the changes but I also knew something else about me. Something I learned when I first began to fast.

            I learned that if I half-heartedly decided to fast that it would be a battle, I would crave every kind of food known to man and more than likely I would not complete my fast. On the other hand if I ever set myself to fast, nothing could stop me or tempt me and every time I set myself to fast, I completed my fast, every single time.

            I began to think about a scripture in Isaiah 50:7; For the Lord God will help Me; therefore I will not be disgraced; therefore I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed.

            The word 'flint' means to set your face like a stone, it also means from a dream, a prophetic dream. If God gives you a dream and you set your face like flint, there is no doubt in my mind that you will see that dream fulfilled. However, if you feel like 'I will give it a try' or 'I will do my best to believe' then it is not likely you will see the dream fulfilled, in the same way my times of fasting went.

            Some people believe they have set their face like flint but the first storm that comes rocks their faith and they find they weren't set like flint after all. The face represents the intimate part of you, as in face to face, you have to set the most intimate part of you like flint and refuse to back up or back off what God has promised you...no matter what comes your way.

            Another thing that will often affect someone's stand of faith is time. Many times we start out strong but time passes and more time passes and we begin to let go of the promise. We begin to allow doubts to slip in. We begin to listen to the devil and all his 'did God really say that?' It is at that time that our faith begins to slip and we find that we didn't really have our face set like flint after all.

            A few weeks ago I was talking with a friend about something I had been standing in faith about for many years...I do mean years. It is something that God told me to trust him for but it is also something that I could have taken care of myself. I begin to wonder if it was something I should just take care of myself...or at least that was the thoughts that were coming to mind. My friend and I talked about a few other people we knew who were believing for the same thing but had given up on the promise and taken care of it themselves. I don't think I have better faith than anyone else, I don't think I have stronger faith, it was not that at all. The truth is that I set my face like flint that day. Because I set my face like flint, all the things that have happened along the way have not been enough to cause me to let go of the promise. To let go of the promise I wouldn't be simply giving up on the manifestation of it but I would also be giving up on a part of myself. And if I let this go, what will I have to let go of next? I refuse to go down that path; instead I choose to keep my face set like flint.

            You see I have a promise from God. If I set my face like flint, I will not be ashamed. I will not be disappointed. I will see the promise fulfilled...IF...I set my face like flint.

            I will admit, there have been things that I have wanted to believe God for, or a promise I let go of, in those cases I didn't set my face like flint and I didn't see the promise fulfilled. But just as with my fasting, each time I set my face like flint, each time I took the deepest part of me and set it like stone to see the promise fulfilled, I saw it fulfilled each time. Not always that day...or not even that year...but each time I set my face like flint, I saw the promise fulfilled.

            I believe he is showing me something today and that something is the difference when I 'try' to believe and when I set my face like flint. There is a difference. There is a difference in the way I believe, the way I start out believing and the way I continue to stand in faith. AND there is a difference in the outcome...the difference is that I will not be ashamed or disappointed and I will see the promise fulfilled.

            Today, check your stand, check your faith, is your face set like flint? Are you determined and passionate to see your promise fulfilled? Do you refuse to allow anything to shake you off your promise? Are you as firm and determined today as you were the first day you believed? Tell me...is your face set like flint? If not, change your stance today and set your face like flint...you will not be ashamed...you have His word on it.