Bulldog Faith

This post is about one particular aspect of faith.  Bulldog faith ain't pretty. It ain't easy. It certainly ain't a gimmick. It's the type of faith that clamps down on the desired result and won't let go come hell or high water. A person doesn't have to be holy to have bulldog faith. They just have to have the will to fight through to the end, ignoring everything else, convinced that the prize will be theirs if they just don't let go.

When I think of bulldog faith I think of examples from 4 different men. The first comes from the Bible and his name is Jacob. It says of him in Hosea 12 - “In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his maturity he contended with God. Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed; He wept and sought his favor. He found Him at Bethel and there He spoke with us, even the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord is His name.” In Geneses it says that Jacob wrestled with the angel through the night. As a reward Jacob got two things. God blessed him and changed his name to Israel and his hip was dislocated as a reminder.

The second is the story of my father-in-law receiving the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. After reading about it and becoming interested he attended a couple of prayer meetings at an abbey where he observed the power of the Holy Spirit demonstrated. Believing that this was indeed from God and desiring the Holy Spirit baptism with the evidence of speaking in tongues he went home and spent the entire night praying the name of Jesus. He went to work the next day but then spent that night as well, all night long, laying in bed and praying the name – Jesus, Jesus, JESUS! Night two ended, he went to work and when bedtime came on night three he again began to pray – Jesus, Jesus, JESUS!. Then, almost right away, he began to speak in an unknown tongue with which he praised God the entire night.

The third is another account from the Bible, found in 2 Samuel chapter 12 of David's prayer for his infant son, born to Bathsheba as a result of his lust for her.  Because of this and sending her husband Uriah to his death  Nathan the prophet spoke this word to David; "Because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme;  the child also that is born to you shall surely die."  The child becomes very sick and "David fasted and went and lay all night on the ground".  On the seventh day the child dies.  "So David arose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes and he came into the house of the Lord and worshiped."  David then goes to his own home and eats.  This confuses his servants who ask why, when the child was sick David fasted and wept, and then when the child dies David stops crying and eats.

David replies;  While the child was still alive I fasted and wept; for I said, 'Who knows, the Lord may be gracious to me, that the child may live.'  But now he has dies;  why should I fast?  Can I bring him back again?  I shall go to him but he will not return to me."

My last example is a man who ministered in the first half of the 1900's. Smith Wigglesworth was a Welsh plumber who was saved through the Salvation Army movement in the 1890's, got filled with the Holy Spirit during the next decade and then had a powerful worldwide ministry for the next 50 years.  He was rough, uncut diamond, fairly uneducated and always direct.  There are many stories of him encountering someone who had a tremendous need, dropping everything else, and praying through the night for that person until victory was achieved. I guess it takes an uneducated plumber to realize that some things just don't get fixed unless you keep at it.

I've told the story before about my father-in-law's heart attack but it's worth relating again. For 6 days he was in the critical care heart center on the fifth floor of Borgess Hospital. He had been a man of great fatih, a gifted teacher of scripture and had prayed with many for salvation and/or for baptism in the Holy Spirit. He had also prayed with many for healing and deliverance. As a family we had learned to pray as well but we had always kind of relied on him when crunch time came. Now crunch time was here for Harry and we were in almost constant prayer for him during those 6 days.

One of the prophetic words during that time came from a vision that God gave my daughter Ceci. She was with Jackie and some of her aunts and cousins praying intensely for Harry. They were in a semi-secluded area in the hallway, near the visitors waiting room on the 5^th floor at Borgess. In the vision she saw angels with their swords drawn, coming into the hospital on the first floor and fighting their way up to the 5^th floor. She gave the play by play to the women as the vision unfolded.

To me this vision represents two things. First, there is power in collective and intense intercessory prayer. God was showing in the vision that He is in control and that He does respond, even if the result was not the recovery that was being prayed for. And second, we think we are praying for the thing right before our eyes without realizing that at the same time we are often engaged in spiritual warfare. We struggle with doubts and despair, with losing hope, with fear, with growing tired, with looking at things as they are and not as they can be. Everything works to make us want to give up. 

I can't tell you how many times I've tried to pray through for things and have grown weary after only an hour or two. Sometimes after only 10 minutes!  If I was with the disciples in the Garden on Holy Thursday I would have been the first to get out my sleeping bag even after Jesus had asked to hold Him up in prayer. As I've said at the beginning; Bulldog faith ain't pretty and it ain't easy. But if you are willing to put aside your comfort, to trust that He will reward those that seek Him, then I believe that the little faith that you and I have will grow as we hold on tight.