~Genesis 15:5-6
"If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all."
~Isaiah 7:9b
"But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"
~Matthew 6:30
And Peter answered Him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me." Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"
~Matthew 14:28-31
"For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."
~Matthew 17:20b
And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on the cusion. And they woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" And He awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?"
~Mark 4:37-40
While He was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?" But ignoring what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe."
~Mark 5:35-36
And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and shatters him, and will hardly leave him. And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not." Jesus answered, "O faithless and twisted generatio, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here." While he was coming, the demon threw him on the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And all were astonished at the majesty of God.
~Luke 9:38-43
The apostlse said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" And the Lord said, "If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."
~Luke 17:5-6
"No distrust made him [Abraham] waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promisded. That is why his faith was 'counted to him as righteousness.'"
~Romans 4:20-22
"For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold out original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, 'Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion[in the wilderness].' For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who are disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief."
~Hebrews 3:14-19
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
~Hebrews 11:1
"And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him."
~Hebrews 11:6
In three of the gospel passages I've quoted, the Lord was called "Teacher." My tendency in the past is to want God to just fix things in me. Sometimes He does. But often He wants to be our Teacher, because our joy should be the revealing of God's glory, and as a Teacher He reveals things to us. My most recent lesson has been on faith.
Today, faith has been diluted. It is only the belief in a invisible God. That is not biblical.
As long as we believe God to be invisible, He will remain invisible to us. Belief that He exists is important, but we must also believe that "He rewards those who seek Him." I have a tragic tendency, and since we all share in the flesh, I'm supposing many of you do too, to think that God will sometimes reward me for seeking Him, that I can't always expect something of God. He holds out to us amazing gifts, promising them if we'll come to Him, and we come to Him shoving the gifts aside, and then standing there miserable wondering why we're not getting anything. O we of little faith!
"He rewards those who seek Him!" That is a promise! If we were to truly believe that, He would always reward us! The church today is so rooted in fake humility and being 'busy' for the Lord that we have forgotten the reason we were saved for in the beginning! Christ did not save us so we could work for Him. He doesn't have an employment problem. He died on the Cross to forgive us, so that the Spirit of Almighty God, the fullness of God, could dwell in our hearts and bring us into a new realm of fellowship with our heavenly Father! How many clergy today actually have that kind of fellowship? We need to renovate our definition of faith.
If we are to take scripture as God's word, to take it as He says as a promise then we must agree on these things:
- faith, trusting God to fulfill His promises, leads to righteousness before God
- faith is how we stand firm
- faith in God's provision will lead to peace about our needs
- faith will enable us to fulfill all God asks of us
- faith can make nothing impossible for us
- faith can calm any storm
- faith can heal lives, even restore the dead, including the spiritually dead
- faith can defeat demons (notice in this passage the demon has more faith in Christ then we do)
- faith in God, no matter how small, will remove any obstacle
- faith will make us grow strong
- faith will bring us to the promised land, God's full blessing
- faith will give us full assurance of the promises that we can't yet see
- faith allows us to draw near to God
These are not "if-fy" statements. God didn't add sometimes to the ends of any of these. We ask God why He deprives us of things, while often we are depriving ourselves of things because we don't believe God will actually give them to us.
I'm not a master of faith. I still struggle against my flesh and against the beliefs I've held my entire life that God won't give us whatever we ask for. But I do know this now: faith is synonomous with trust, and trust with abiding. So let us abide in Christ, not hesitantly, fearing what may happen, but with all faith that He will bring us into His rest, which is the life under full control of the Holy Spirit, free from worry and doubt.
"By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God."
~Hebrews 11:8-10
Let us submit to God, though we do not know where He means to lead us, following Him to faith, that He may make us into a city not of our own make, which will be the result of unbelief, but a city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
~sojourner
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