Faith?

What is faith? Where does it come from? Why is it so important?
Everyday in most people's homes they are required to have faith in others. We trust the manufacturers of our electrical appliances, for example, that they are safe to use. Or put differently we have faith in their abilities, workmanship and testing of that equipment that we use in our homes. So we can see that in faith their is a big trust component.

GENESIS 22 : 1 - 13

22 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”
And he said, “Here I am, my son.”
Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.
Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
So he said, “Here I am.”
12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.

So we can see that Abraham trusted God beyond his own personal care for his son. That is great faith in action. We can also see that God tested Abraham's trust in Him.

MARK 14 : 35 - 36

35 He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. 36 And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.

Jesus was in the garden praying to THE FATHER and He showed His complete trust in GOD. Yes Jesus also has faith. He is our role model and that is the kind of faith that He desires that we will have in Him. We can also see from the examples of Abraham and Jesus that there is an obedience content to faith. Meaning that if you have faith in Christ then you will obey Him.

JAMES 2 : 14 - 23 NKJV

14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.

HEBREWS 11 : 1 NKJV

11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Do you see that the evidence of the unseen God is proven by the works of those who have Faith in Him. If all of our hope is in Him, all of our trust is in Him, then our works will be in obedience to Him and be the evidence of Him.

ROMANS 8 : 14

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Those of us who are born of the Holy Spirit have Him to lead us and empower us in Faith. This is how faith is built in relationship with God in the power of the Holy Spirit. In other words we simply listen to the Holy Spirit and obey Him. That is faith in action. Others will see the evidence of God by our obedience to Him.


ROMANS 10 : 17 NKJV

17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.


This therefore is how we obtain faith and how it grows. For instance if someone sends you on an errand and tells you what will happen when you get to your destination and it happens just as they said that it would happen, then it would be easy to trust them in the future. Jesus did this with His disciples, He sent them out and instructed them and they obeyed Him and amazing things happened. In fact Jesus continually tested the faith of His disciples that they may grow in it. He wants the same for all of His disciples and if that is you, how is your faith looking, are you allowing God to test you in your faith? Are you becoming a person of great faith? If so what are the works that you are doing as a result of hearing the Holy Spirit and obeying Him on a daily basis?


Well why is this all such a big deal?

Because we are justified by our faith in Jesus Christ. That means that if we do not have the kind of faith described above we do not have salvation. In James 2 : 19 above we can see that the demons believe that there is a God and they fear Him, but they do not obey Him, they are afraid of Him. If you do not obey Him in faith then you should also be afraid of Him.

LUKE 12 : 4 - 5 NKJV

“And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!


ROMANS 5 : 1 NKJV

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

JOHN 3 : 16 - 21

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Many people quote John 3:16 in the church today but they leave out the rest. I tell you the truth that you will have peace with God if you obey Him and that is by faith. It is grown through experience with God, simply asking God what He would like you to do and how He would like you to do it and obeying what you hear. Do not worry about what will happen, for if you fail or appear to fail simply ask God why and He will reconcile you to the truth.

PROVERBS 2 : 1 -5 NKJV

My son, if you receive my words,
And treasure my commands within you,
So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
And apply your heart to understanding;
Yes, if you cry out for discernment,
And lift up your voice for understanding,
If you seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,
And find the knowledge of God.

Therefore if you are wanting to be a true disciple but do not know how to take the first step, then you can ask God to teach you how to be led by Him. All that you need to do after that is obey Him as He leads you. Through these experiences you will learn how to trust and obey Him.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

TRUE SALVATION EXPLAINED

You can run but you can not hide.

Authority 2