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Faith
Faith is not
the standalone spiritual force it has been portrayed to
be. John Calvin once wrote, “It is faith alone which justifies, but the faith which
justifies is not alone.”
The God kind
of faith has an entourage: hope, patience, and love.
What Faith Is
Faith is a
spiritual force which gives substance to the unsubstantial.
Requires hope
Faith is the
means by which we appropriate the unrealities of hope and deliver them into the realm of
reality.
Requires words
Faith is a
spiritual law.
Works every time
Two Kinds of
Faith
There are
two kinds of faith found in Scripture:
- Human (natural) faith
- Word faith
Human Faith
Human faith
is dependent upon the 5 physical senses and is, therefore, quite limited.
Word Faith
Word faith
is dependent upon God’s word alone.
The centurion depends on the word alone
as evidence.
Word faith rises above the 5 senses.
Where Faith Comes From
According to
Hebrews 12:2 faith comes from Jesus.
Again,
Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes from hearing God’s word.
More
specifically, however, faith is the product of hope, and
hope is the product of the promises of God.
We have to put God’s word first in
our lives.
Our faith is supposed to grow.
Faith’s
Entourage
Hope
Hope is what
feeds our faith and keeps it alive and healthy.
- Galatians 5:5
- 2 Corinthians 10:15
- Colossians 1:23
- 1 Peter 1:21
Patience
Patience
carries our faith when the time between “Amen” and the manifestation of
God’s promise is long.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:4
- Hebrews 6:12
- James 1:3
- Titus 2:2
- Revelation 13:10
- 1 Thessalonians 1:3
Love
Love
dictates the actions of our faith.
- Galatians 5:6
- Ephesians 6:23
- 1 Thessalonians 1:3
- 1 Thessalonians 5:8
How Faith
Works
Faith Does
The Work
In the first
place, faith is our servant, not the reverse.
We make
faith work for us, faith does not make us work for it.
The context is clearly that of faith.
We Must Tell Faith What to Do
I do not
like the term, “Release your faith.”
I prefer
“Put your faith to work,” or “Put your faith on assignment.”
You must
speak the words you intend your faith to produce.
- Mark 11:22-25
- 2 Corinthians 4:13, 14
- Luke 6:45
Once we have told our faith what to do, we
need to keep our actions in line with that task.
The Paradox of Faith
Faith works,
but faith is not works.
Nowhere in
scripture do the words “use your faith” appear.
In fact, the
words “use” and “faith” do not appear together in any verse of
Scripture.
Thus, faith is not something you use. We are told to have
faith, but we are never told to use faith.
Faith is not
something we use; in fact, quite the opposite is true. When we have the God kind of faith,
that faith uses us.
Matthew
6:25-34
Here we have
a very remarkable disclosure concerning faith.
Verse 25
The first
words of Jesus to his listeners tell the tale.
Take no thought…
For what you shall eat
For what
you shall drink
For what you shall wear
The Life is more than food and clothing.
The Life
There are 6
key verses of Scripture dealing with “the life” beyond a general sense.
A sound
heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.
Proverbs 14:30
O Lord,
by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou
recover me, and make me to live. Isaiah 38:16
In him
was life; and the life was the light of men. John 1:4
Jesus
said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he
were dead, yet shall he live: John 11:25
Jesus
saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but
by me. John 14:6
(For the
life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal
life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 1 John 1:2
Clearly,
Jesus was not speaking simply of our basic existence when he stated, “The life is
more than food and clothing.”
No one uses
faith. If we use faith, then faith becomes a type of work and is no longer faith.
Verse 25
makes it impossible to use faith, for in so doing, you would be taking thought of all of
the aforementioned elements of life.
Verse 26
Here the
lowly sparrow is used as an example.
The idea is
not to present the sparrow as a sloth, but to show that the sparrow does not make
provision for itself.
The sparrow
simply trusts (with his little sparrow trust) that God will provide for him.
Are you not
much better than they?
You should
not spend your time making provision for yourself. God will provide for you the same as
for the sparrow.
Verse 27
Fretting
will not make you taller, younger, smarter, stronger, or better looking.
You have
direct control over your own body, yet your cogitations cannot change these, the least of
things.
Verses 28-29
There is no
such thing as The Lilies Wearhouse.
The lilies
need not fret about how they will look.
They do not
need to make sure they have enough dirt, enough sun, enough rain, enough green, enough
white, and enough yellow.
Just being
what they are determines how they will look and what God will provide for them.
Verse 30
Another
pivotal verse that you should not allow to escape your understanding.
Since God
takes such pains with the temporal things of this world, which will ultimately cease to
exist, we must understand that God is going to take every measure to insure we are cared
for.
Jesus
concludes his question with the clause—
…O ye
of little faith?
Ye of Little Faith
This is not a rebuke as is usually put forth.
How can
Jesus rebuke his disciples for having little faith when, in Matthew 17:20 he tells them
that is really all the faith they need to move even a mountain.
And Jesus
said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a
grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and
it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Verses 31-33
Do not waste
time in an attempt to make physical provision for yourself.
That is the
sort of thing befitting unbelievers.
Our greatest
efforts, thoughts, and aspirations must be directed toward the kingdom of God and the
righteousness of God.
All physical
needs will be provided for us by the Father.
Verse 34
Tomorrow is a non existent reference of time.
It is used
to denote the day that will follow this current one.
Tomorrow
does not exist.
Do not worry
about what problems might arise tomorrow.
Tomorrow is
not here and its problems, tests, trials, troubles, and misfortunes are just as non
existent as tomorrow itself.
You are only
alive now!
You cannot
alter that which does not exist.
We must
spend our energies on today (now) and those energies must be directed toward the kingdom
of God and the righteousness of God.
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