We all know that faith is an inherent part of our walk with God. Without it we cannot even please God! But before we can start to dwell on what it is, we have to come to terms with what it is not!
IT IS NOT A COLLECTION OF OUR BELIEF SYSTEMS OR IDEAS
“What faith are you?” This is a very common question that we hear being asked all the time. People reply with “ I am a protestant, catholic, hindu…”. Now biblical faith is not what denomination or sect you belong to. You may have a lot of beliefs and wonderful ideas but it is not biblical faith. Unless you belief system is originated from the word you might as well dump it in some trash can. Bottom line here is faith is not what you believe or do not believe. Faith is a gift that God gives (It substantiates his things).
FAITH IS A FEELING
For many of us faith is that warm feeling near our heart. That tingly feeling which when (we think) becomes strong can raise the dead. My friends faith is not a feeling at all. Feelings follow faith not vice versa.
FAITH CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS
Most people do not think about this but just think if Christians could move mountains! Boy there would be mountains flying all over the place. Everyday in the papers there would be reports of bosses, spouses, mother-in-laws, neighbors being smashed by mountains! The truth is you don’t move anything, Faith connects you to God who moves mountains!
FAITH MOVES THE HAND OF GOD
Again there are a lot of people who think that if you have a lot of faith you can twist God’s hands for getting what you want. Something like paying with lots of money. The bible can be divided into facts, promises etc. Faith is for the facts ie. That which is a reality because God has already done a work.
FAITH IS HOPE
We mix these two all the time. Let me give you the difference. While hope is for the future, faith is for NOW. We don’t have faith about Jesus’s promised return, we have hope(it is a promise). Likewise for a fact like healing most people have hope on the matter. They say Yes I am sure God will heal me some day(yep! You are right in Heaven where there is no sickness or sorrow!!) but God wants us to use our faith in this matter. Not God will heal me tomorrow but accept that he has already done it. Hope is a powerful thing but faith and hope are two different things.
FAITH PRODUCES
From our view we need to understand what faith does. Why did God give us this entity called faith. What faith does is this- IT RECEIVES. So don’t see your faith as some manufacturing plant. Faith receives of God.
FAITH WILL GET YOU A CAR
Just to avoid confusion and to make my point clear let me illustrate this with examples. Do you know of anyone who has bought a car for using its lights. Let me give you a simpler one. Do you know of anyone who buys cereals for the spiderman or batman toy inside. Yes of course you know… KIDS( I can see some adults blushing as well!). When we were immature we run around trying to get this and that. But as people who are moving on with him we need to realize God gives you faith to receive of his life. It is from here that everything else flows. So basically you are not trying to receive of the providence but receiving of the provider, the healer, the savior, the deliverer..
ACTIONS STIMULATE FAITH
One man desperately wanted to be freed of his spectacles. One day he realized the healing was for now and he threw away his glasses. Immediately he was cured. Another man seeing this started praying and then threw his glasses and…..well he had to get new ones! Faith is always followed by actions (that’s how you know whether it is the real thing or not) but actions can never cause faith to raise. From scripture we see that a shout of Joy follows us believing a report.(Isaiah 53 and 54).
READING THIS MESSAGE WILL GIVE YOU FAITH
If you are looking to spiritual books or writings to strengthen your faith, then you are mistaken. It is like growing mustard seeds on a wet tissue. These writings are just pointers to the real thing. Only reading and meditating on his word will cause faith to strengthen in you. Romans 10 says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Have you allowed the word to speak to you?!
YOU DON’T HAVE FAITH
For those who have been born again of God this is a misnomer. Eph 2 says God saved you through the gift of faith. JESUS is the author of our Faith. And so we see the origin of our faith as thus…Who do you say Jesus is. The same question that Jesus asked peter. See faith is a connector. People say faith is all you need. Nope Jesus is all we need.You don’t need mammoth faith for the problem that you are facing. You just simply need to see that you are connected to a mountain moving God! See faith like a mustard seed!!
FAITH HAS TO INCREASE
Faith has to do with coming to God. There was a point where the disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith. Jesus immediately refutes the idea. Faith is not like cooking oil. God give me 2 more liters!!! Jesus corrected them by saying that Faith needs to be strengthened.
I encourage you to look at his word closely on the matter because for building on a good foundation we need to chuck out our pre conceived notions. With this message I hope that you will learn the fact that next time you go need something you will not waste your time looking for faith but rather look to JESUS.
Amen bro, but if you look into the Faith Chapter [Hebrews 11], where people are commended for their faith….you find something contrary to what we believe faith is. Vinod uncle showed us this and it’s been revelatory…
These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. [Hebrews 11:39]
Faith is not simply receiving from God. In our day, there is so much emphasis on “claiming” and “receiving” from God. But all that is just an extension of faith. True faith has to do with commitment to God.
Look at the three Hebrew boys response when asked to bow down to an image of gold:
“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” [Dan 3:17-18]
That statement may seem like doubt to some, but that is strong faith….the basis again….commitment…=)
Sidhu
Such a great post. Thank you. And I agree wholeheartedly with you Sidarth.
Faith is what received our initial salvation when we believed. So you have to admit that the main purpose for faith is recieving. Do you really think that any commitment from your part is of yourself. Absolutely not! Faith is a connector and it has to do with coming to God. Also i mentioned that the orgin of faith is the question you answer ” Who do you say that Jesus is?” (according to many teaching, it is a supermarket!). when we answer this question we must not forget the verse ” Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks!” therefore it is mandatory that you have deep commitment when you answer “Jesus is my Lord and saviour, where else can I go”.
We are talking only about true biblical faith , not what we think or believe.But I am glad you brought up the name it claim it “thingy”. that is the main reason why i mentioned the”faith will give you a car” topic.
People faith is not some kind of fetish. We need to start walking in faith!
Yes, true, amen, in no way am I denying that faith is the key to receive, but what I was saying was that it is simply not the essence of it. It’s like saying “It’s because of faith I received the ring from my wife during our marriage”. The essence of it is a relationship…a covenant. Of course, we receive the gift of salvation, we receive healing, we receive a lot of things because of the Covenant, but that is not the essence of faith. The essence of faith is the Covenant. Do you know that the Greek word used for “confess” in the famous verse “If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord….” is homologue which means “to say the same as in a covenant”.
And Covenant is: “Everything that belongs to me belongs to you and everything that belongs to you belongs to me”. So we receive things, but again the essence is our relationship. =)
Sidhu
Excellent post Titto, Glad that you brought up this topic, Sidhu I always used to wonder about the 3 Hebrew boys why they said something as strange as that.. thanks for clarifying it. Wow it is so marvelous to see such a new dimension to faith.
Amen! We do not have faith of our own but we live by the faith OF the son of God.
Just came over from Mike’s blog and like the writings here.