Faith

FAITH… And what it really is!

Hebrews 11:1 tells us that "… faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen".

“If only I can believe.”  That is what many people think faith is. If I can get myself to believe something, whatever it is I am praying for, the reason my prayers are not answered is because of the inability to believe enough, I lack enough faith...  This concept is totally unbiblical. We cannot have faith in our faith! If we believe in our faith then there is no need of God.  That is not faith!  Jesus said, “Have faith in God,” in Mark 11:22.

Faith is not a law! There is no law of faith (as many so called Christian teachers claim). If faith is a law then I’m the one who is in control of my destiny in order to get what I want. I just use it to get what I want. Faith is not a force or some power... or of my mind. It does not believe that something will happen... We are told to have faith in God, totally trust in Him and in His promises, faith puts me in touch with Him and allows me to experience what He will do for and through me.

1 Peter 1:21 – Through Him believe in God, who raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God.

Why any believer would want to put the burden of the outcome of answered prayer on their own ability to believe is beyond my comprehension. I've heard all the progressive ideas about positive thinking and possibility thinking. It doesn’t make any sense, but selfishness just drives the human brain. 

We’re very self-centered creatures, when we want something for ourselves.  Not too many people have really surrendered their lives 100% to the Lord. (Even when I thought I have, something happens that has shown me another area of deficiency.)

Here the basic problem with thinking that the outcome of answered prayer is based upon our own ability to have enough faith… maybe it’s not God’s will.  Am I going to force my will on Him?  Well, if I just had some technique, if I could just believe it strongly enough.  If things happen because you believe they will happen, then you don’t need God, that’s just mind power.  Maybe what I’m asking for is not God’s way, He’s going to do it another way.  Maybe it’s not God’s time.  I can’t force God to do something when I want it to be done.  So, there are a lot of considerations here, but prayer is not a religious technique to get our own way.  We just set our sights on what we want, and then we spend the sweet hour of prayer trying to talk God into working it out for us.  That is not faith!  Sometimes we can even think we know God's will... but maybe it is our will and we want (and expect) God to bless our will!

We shouldn't cry out, O, God, please heal me. But we should cry out, "Lord, if it's Your will to heal me, that’s up to you, whatever you want, I want your will, not my way!" There is nothing better than His Will for our lives. I have encountered many people, who think that everything that happens to them negatively is because of their own lack of faith, or lack of belief. They seldom consider that it may be God's desire to bring them into a closer walk with Him!

 It takes some understanding of the scriptures, as we get more insight into the deviousness our own character, that helps to walk by faith and desire that which is of God...  faith is a walk with God.

If we think we lack faith, what we actually lack is trust.

Another way of defining faith is: “being confident of what we hope for; and certain of what we do not see”.  

Faith is a channel of living trust—an assurance—that stretches from man to God.  

Faith is the assurance that God’s promises will never fail, even if sometimes we do not experience their fulfillment in our earthly existence. Hebrews 11 emphasizes the fact that we trust God to fulfill his promises for the future (the unseen) based on what he has already fulfilled in the past. So, our faith is not blind, but based squarely on God’s proven faithfulness. 

Consider the eleventh chapter in the book of Hebrews which is often called the biblical Hall of Faith:

Faith is rational – By faith we understand that the universe is not self-existent but were designed by the Creator (v.3). Faith and logic go together.  

Faith involves trusting God – By faith Noah began to build the ark even though he had never seen a flood (v.7).  By faith Abraham left Chaldea even though he did not know (or trouble his mind) about where he was to go (v.9). Trusting the unseen Lord is a vital factor of true faith.

Faith is an Action Word – While many seem to think that faith is a mental conviction, this chapter in Hebrews reveals that faith, in order to be valid, must act.  By faith Abel 'offered" a sacrifice, (v.4), Noah "prepared" an ark, (v.7), and Abraham "obeyed" the Lord (v.8). Faith without obedience is dead James 2:26).

Faith Discriminates – It chooses the spiritual over the material, the eternal over the temporal. Moses chose heavenly riches over the riches of Egypt (v. 26).

I pray that we would… "Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong" (1 Corinthians 16:13).

For whatever we may experience while in this earthly body, trust God!