Maybe winter has been a difficult time for you and you hope things will be better in the spring. I am hear to tell you that things can always be better anytime of the year if we make the conscience decision to begin to walk with God in faith.
In the general use of the word, faith is to believe in something or someone. It is to be so confident in that person or thing so that one basis all their actions on what they believe. In other words, to have faith is to be fully convinced of the truthfulness and reliability in that which one believes.
In order to have faith in God, we must place a genuine trust and confidence in Him to the point that our entire life centers on Him. Every word we speak, every thought we possess, and every action we undertake will be based on the thoughts and actions of God, which are revealed unto us in scripture.
True faith comes from the heart. It is not merely possessing intellectual thoughts about God, it is spiritual. It reveals to the heart what one cannot see with the eye: “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” And, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (2Corinthians 5:7; Hebrews 11:1).
Hope is a condition of faith. It is “a positive unwavering expectation of good.” Hope is the anchor for the soul. It keeps us in a state where we can believe, but it is not in itself “faith.” But without hope there is nothing to place ones confidence in, which means there can be no faith.
In order to possess true faith we mustn’t allow ourselves to believe that faith is religion. There are countless numbers of professing Christians who believe that their religious ideas and doctrines, their traditions and ways of doing things that have been passed down to them for generations, is true faith. But faith is not mental assent. It is not agreeing with ones mind. According to the apostle James demons possess that kind of faith. They know and believe in God’s existence, even trembling at the thought of Him. But they have no love or confidence in Him nor will they be saved from the eternal wrath to come (2:19).
True faith is also not a way to manipulate God. It is not a power that we possess that allows us to make God do what we want when He would otherwise be unwilling to do what we ask. God is not an impersonal force that is activated by our positive words like so many today would have us believe. Faith is not magic and God isn’t a bellhop that waits patiently for our beck and call.
Again faith is not hope, but hope is good because it relates to the future. Many people have hope, anxiously waiting for results, but they lack the confidence and present assurance that true faith provides.
True faith is demonstrated by corresponding actions which is demonstrated through the lives of those who are commended for their faith in Hebrews 11:4-37. But a word of warning; it is possible to demonstrate actions, even religious or charitable ones, without real faith. These actions are dead works because they arise out of the heart in a selfish manner; it’s an effort to do nothing but win God’s approval.
True faith hears the voice of God and acts in obedience with a trusting heart. God speaks to us in various ways. The two most predominate ways are through His written word, the scriptures, and through the Holy Spirit who speaks through our conscience, the inner shrine of the heart. The voice that we hear pressing us toward a particular action is the same voice that called Peter, Andrew, James and John away from their fishing nets; Matthew from his tax booth; Zacchaeus out of a tree, and called out to Paul from heaven through a blinding light. Have you heard His voice? If you profess to serve Christ and His Church, it is strange if you have not.
True faith yield’s to God’s prompting and does whatever He asks. Take the man who was born blind in the gospel of John for example. The man was in need of healing so Jesus spat on the ground and made clay with His saliva, anointed his eyes with the clay, and then told him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam and the man obeyed. By acting in obedience before he received healing he demonstrated the kind of faith that God required from him, which resulted in his healing. Had he not obeyed he would not have been healed.
What God asks from each of us is obedience, not perfection. But that doesn’t mean we should cherish the sin in our lives more than pursuing intimacy with God. Many times we have heard that we need to seek a personal relationship with God. But did you know that God seeks a personal relationship with us through friendship and intimacy as much as we desire one with Him? He does so because He is madly in love with us, and we should be madly in love with Him. God is not some cosmic force to be reckoned with, but a real person. He is a person who has feelings, one that loves and can be touched. When we come to understand that God loves us and the depth of that love, that He is willing to forgive us of all the wrongs we have committed, that He will never leave or forsake the one who desires to walk with Him, then we have found the road to intimacy with Him.
May The Peace of Christ Be With You
In the general use of the word, faith is to believe in something or someone. It is to be so confident in that person or thing so that one basis all their actions on what they believe. In other words, to have faith is to be fully convinced of the truthfulness and reliability in that which one believes.
In order to have faith in God, we must place a genuine trust and confidence in Him to the point that our entire life centers on Him. Every word we speak, every thought we possess, and every action we undertake will be based on the thoughts and actions of God, which are revealed unto us in scripture.
True faith comes from the heart. It is not merely possessing intellectual thoughts about God, it is spiritual. It reveals to the heart what one cannot see with the eye: “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” And, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (2Corinthians 5:7; Hebrews 11:1).
Hope is a condition of faith. It is “a positive unwavering expectation of good.” Hope is the anchor for the soul. It keeps us in a state where we can believe, but it is not in itself “faith.” But without hope there is nothing to place ones confidence in, which means there can be no faith.
In order to possess true faith we mustn’t allow ourselves to believe that faith is religion. There are countless numbers of professing Christians who believe that their religious ideas and doctrines, their traditions and ways of doing things that have been passed down to them for generations, is true faith. But faith is not mental assent. It is not agreeing with ones mind. According to the apostle James demons possess that kind of faith. They know and believe in God’s existence, even trembling at the thought of Him. But they have no love or confidence in Him nor will they be saved from the eternal wrath to come (2:19).
True faith is also not a way to manipulate God. It is not a power that we possess that allows us to make God do what we want when He would otherwise be unwilling to do what we ask. God is not an impersonal force that is activated by our positive words like so many today would have us believe. Faith is not magic and God isn’t a bellhop that waits patiently for our beck and call.
Again faith is not hope, but hope is good because it relates to the future. Many people have hope, anxiously waiting for results, but they lack the confidence and present assurance that true faith provides.
True faith is demonstrated by corresponding actions which is demonstrated through the lives of those who are commended for their faith in Hebrews 11:4-37. But a word of warning; it is possible to demonstrate actions, even religious or charitable ones, without real faith. These actions are dead works because they arise out of the heart in a selfish manner; it’s an effort to do nothing but win God’s approval.
True faith hears the voice of God and acts in obedience with a trusting heart. God speaks to us in various ways. The two most predominate ways are through His written word, the scriptures, and through the Holy Spirit who speaks through our conscience, the inner shrine of the heart. The voice that we hear pressing us toward a particular action is the same voice that called Peter, Andrew, James and John away from their fishing nets; Matthew from his tax booth; Zacchaeus out of a tree, and called out to Paul from heaven through a blinding light. Have you heard His voice? If you profess to serve Christ and His Church, it is strange if you have not.
True faith yield’s to God’s prompting and does whatever He asks. Take the man who was born blind in the gospel of John for example. The man was in need of healing so Jesus spat on the ground and made clay with His saliva, anointed his eyes with the clay, and then told him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam and the man obeyed. By acting in obedience before he received healing he demonstrated the kind of faith that God required from him, which resulted in his healing. Had he not obeyed he would not have been healed.
What God asks from each of us is obedience, not perfection. But that doesn’t mean we should cherish the sin in our lives more than pursuing intimacy with God. Many times we have heard that we need to seek a personal relationship with God. But did you know that God seeks a personal relationship with us through friendship and intimacy as much as we desire one with Him? He does so because He is madly in love with us, and we should be madly in love with Him. God is not some cosmic force to be reckoned with, but a real person. He is a person who has feelings, one that loves and can be touched. When we come to understand that God loves us and the depth of that love, that He is willing to forgive us of all the wrongs we have committed, that He will never leave or forsake the one who desires to walk with Him, then we have found the road to intimacy with Him.
May The Peace of Christ Be With You
