By Titto Thomas
We have seen that the object of faith is GOD! And God wants us to use the faith He gives us to touch Him. Now we all know what happens to people who are touched by God!
Faith or to be specific, what the bible calls faith, comes from God. God is at the heart of it and we have heard of people who have met with this faith. People gave up their lives, got eaten by lions, and turned this world upside down. In the Fox’s Book of Martyrs there is a particular story that touched me. It tells of a young woman whose baby was held out to her as she was about to be thrown to the lions. Her father holding the baby pleaded with her to renounce Jesus for the baby’s sake. This woman kissed the baby and walked to arena to be torn apart by lions. All these people did these things because they had a confidence in God that came from God.
Therefore let us look at how this kind of faith comes to us.
Romans 10:17 –”Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God”.
The Greek term used for ”word” in the above verse is not ‘logos’ but ‘rhema‘. Rhema means THE SPOKEN WORD. Another way to put it: it is the word which speaks to you. Now refer Hebrews 1:1 & 2 “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through prophets at many different times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son”. Faith begins with the fact that GOD has spoken. Faith for receiving that word comes riding on the Word!
To put it plainly, you don’t get faith by sitting in a church on a Sunday, faith comes out of a revelation of the Word of God. You MUST HEAR FROM GOD HIMSELF ON WHO HE IS AND WHO YOU ARE IN HIM!
When you were saved, there was a question that you knowingly or unknowingly answered. It is the same question that Jesus asked Peter: Who do you say that I am? If we look we can first see that there was revelation first – God showed you/God opened your eyes. What happened to you after this? Romans 10:10 expounds on it – “That if you confess with your mouth That Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him up from the dead, you will be saved.” This was how faith worked in our lives when we got saved. God by the Holy spirit helped us through faith to believe that God raised Jesus from the dead and faith always carrying actions with it made us declare by confession that HE INDEED IS LORD! Now take a look at Colossians 2:6-7 Just as you received Christ, continue to live in him…strengthened in faith as you were taught. So you see, the key to walking in him starts with learning how you received Him.
Faith always carries with it actions…mind you not viceversa! Faith caused us to speak out once we had believed. There is no speaking out (confession) without believing! (Matthew 12:34 and 2 Corinthians 4:13). We are deceived if we think that somehow speaking out will cause us to believe. If that were true, confession would become the object of faith, but as we have seen before Jesus is the object. Thus we first see Jesus as Lord over every situation and thing and once we believe that, we speak out!
Faith centers around a revelation of Jesus. And faith in action sees us constantly declaring His Deity and the great works He has done! So faith comes by hearing from God about Him, not from God about the weather!
To make the above points clearer let me take you to the Old Testament where this same pattern is laid out. Isaiah 53 & 54. To put it in context, the end of Isaiah 52 is talking about the suffering of Jesus and Chapter 53 comes along and makes this proclamation “WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?” and the rest of the chapter expounds on this. This comes as a precursor to Chapter 54. “Shout for joy Oh barren woman” is how this chapter starts. See, the same pattern… You first believe and then out of a belief comes a confession. Isaiah 54 clearly explains the nature of that confession. It is not a mumble that goes “Yeah yeah, I know Jesus is LORD” but the first sign of true faith is a shout of joy. That confession which comes out of a belief in God cannot be smothered…IT ERUPTS!
To conclude, true faith in God has to do with WHO HE IS and how it comes is only by Him out of revelation of the word of GOD. God has spoken and you have heard, now speak out that which God has spoken as that is pattern of the working of faith. It started with your salvation experience and that pattern continues on in this journey of faith.
Titto! There is so much meat in this! I love it. Thank you so much for these powerful scriptures, stories, and enthusiasm. Awesome!
WOW! this is just so good. thank you so much for making it all the more clear!