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Faith. We hear a lot about “keeping the faith”
as well as people talking about having ‘faith in so and so, or yourself.’ but
what is the beginning of faith? What is its substance all about?
How can
I have faith in God if I don’t know what it really means to have faith in God?
Let’s
look- In His Word!
Some of
you know that I have a jacket I wear that says “Faith over Fear” on it. I have
to keep telling people that I am learning to walk in faith without fear daily!
I know God will get me through whatever I walk through but to walk in faith,
trusting God it takes knowing God. If I do not know God, I cannot have the
faith for trusting in such a big God! Incidentally I also could not love others
if I did not know and love God, because He is love itself, and because He loves
us He grants us each a measure of faith to believe. Isn’t that cool?
God is love, and all who live in love live in
God, and God lives in them. And as we
live in God, our love grows more perfect. So, we will not be afraid on the day
of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus
here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all
fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we
have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.
1 John 4:16-19
Deut
32:20-21
And He
said: 'I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, For
they are a perverse generation, Children in whom is no faith. They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is
not God;
They
have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols.
Psalm 6:1
In the
LORD I put my trust; Ps 11:1
Then the
LORD answered me and said:
…" For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for
it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold the proud, his soul
is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.” Habbakuk 2:2-4
But He
said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then He
arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men
marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey
Him?" Matthew
8:26-27
For in
it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just
shall live by faith." Romans 1:16-17
Therefore,
having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we
stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, … Romans
5:1-3
Therefore,
the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by
faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. Galatians 3:24-25
That
Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and
grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the
width and length and depth and height. Ephesians 3:17-18
Through
these scriptures alone we can see that God has placed great importance in the
word faith.
Faith is…
F- First,
last and always we must have faith in order to believe, faith is believing in
and for what we do not have in front of us. It is tangible in the Holy Spirit’s
presence alone until the day that He brings it to pass. We know that faith will
bring it to us, but we have to rely on God to bring us through whatever it is
by trusting Him. In Hebrews 11:1-2, we are told that Faith is the substance of
things hoped for, with out proof ahead of time just trusting that it will
happen. We have to begin with faith in Christ, believing that He is real,
knowing in our hearts and minds that He died for us on the cross and that He
loves us! That takes faith of the most difficult kind for some. This faith is
only the beginning. Faith brings us to God, and by faith we grow to know Him
more
For by grace,
you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift
of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Eph 2:8-9
Now
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2
For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. Hebrews 11:1
A-
Allow God to work in His timing. “For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
but at the end it will speak…” We are told of waiting on the Lord both in this
scripture from Habbakuk and in many other scriptures. We can’t just expect what
we want to happen overnight, though at times our faith may be strong enough to
believe for that often times we have to allow the Lord to work a few things out
on our behalf that take a bit longer than we expected. In these times we must
not give up hope, for it has an appointed time to come to pass. Each of us was
given a measure of faith God knows how much faith you need. Trust God to do
what He says He will do! Allow Him to work it out, in His time.
For I
say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think
of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has
dealt to each one a measure of faith. Romans 12:3
I- Innocence
in our faith is very important, we cannot let the world taint our faith. It
will try, with false hopes of winning a lottery, or buy one get one at this
wonderful price… these produce false hopes that your money will last longer, or
you will get something if you buy a ticket! God wants our faith to be in Him
alone. He wants to know that we are obediently trusting in Him alone, as a
child trusts in his parents to feed, clothe and comfort him, so our God will do
for us. We know He will do it, but we lack innocence in our hearts to block out
what the world says about it. Faith, in our countries, is tried and trashed
daily as people use the word selfishly. “You just have to trust your
judgement...” and similar sayings bother me. I don’t trust myself, I trust my
God to do the work in me! That is why I prayed for a godly husband that is why
I pray for my children to be wise men and woman of God, someday, because I know
we are fallible but He is infallible! I need to trust Him with the innocent
thought that He will do it and that’s final. Doubt has no place in faith.
T-
Trust Him, I have said that in all three of the above sections I believe. That
is because faith is trusting in a great big God! If we do not trust God, we do
not have faith in Him. Trusting Him to be honest with you, just because He
loves you. You can know that He is faithful and just as you look back to the
times when He has been there for you before, know that He will do it again!
H- Hope
for the lost, the dying, the sick, and the burdened. Our faith is in the One
that is the Hope! He is our Hope and He will prevail! Both of these scriptures tell us of two
different women who trusted, and hoped that Jesus would heal their daughters.
Both of them had Hope in the Lord to do what He came to do, and because of
their great faith, they saw the fruit of their pleading with Jesus the Christ.
Then
Jesus answered and said to her, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be
to you as you desire." And her daughter was healed from that very hour. Matt 15:28
"Be
of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well." And the woman was
made well from that hour. Matt 9:22
Suggested
Readings for this week;
Monday:
Romans 3:all
Tuesday:
Romans 4
Wednesday:
Romans 5
Thursday:
Galatians 3:all
Friday:
Galatians 5:1-6 &6:1-10
Weekend readings: Ephesians 2:1-4:13
Readings
_ Romans 3, 4, 5, Galatians 3,5&6 Luke 17:6-10