The Faith Of God Many ask the question what is faith? All types of answers are given to this question but usually fall far from the mark and leave the questioner still wondering exactly what the answer is. Why has this occurred if in fact the answer is in the Scriptures? Could it be that no one really knows the answer or that it is one of the mysteries of God that may never be understood until He comes (and yet He asks His children to have His Faith?) So why then does it seem to many that it would seem reasonable to believe that God would tell His people to do something that is not truly achievable? Yet on the other hand if God can only speak the Truth, would it not then be sensible to believe that those who hear His voice and seek His will would be able to come to an understanding of this thing called faith so that they would not only receive it but also be able to pass on to others what God has given to them? FAITH-confidence or trust in a person or thing. Confidence or trust in a person or thing is what is referred to as the BEGINNING stage of understanding of what it means to have faith. We all start at this point from birth. We learn to trust or have confidence in things around us as we test them and see that they are able to be counted on when we need them. This is a surface trust or a trust built upon our ability to physically see, hear, taste, smell or touch and thus take in enough information so that we may build a foundation on which to make a judgment of faith. But this kind of faith is limited, in that it can be tricked or mislead into believing something that is not true. Yet this is where faith begins, and as long as we are constantly moving along (learning daily from God about His character) then we have no fear of being tricked or mislead and we soon pass beyond this stage of learning. In this process we learn to commit ourselves to God and God is gracious and loving and understands our weaknesses, and He says: ...My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness… II Cor. 12:9 If we can allow it, God’s power is perfected in us, to cause perfection in us, that His power may be made known to those around us, that everyone may become a witness for Him. This is why Paul could write, ...I will all the more gladly boast of my weakness, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. I Cor. 12:9 Paul is not saying that everywhere he goes he tells everyone that he is only a weakling and the most he can hope for is God’s continual grace that covers his frail human behavior; but instead he has learned to stop using his OWN strength and started allowing God to work through him, and he began to see from his past that at his strongest times he was nothing but a weakling compared to the power, dominion and authority of God that he was now experiencing in his life. He saw that if he continued to allow Christ to work through him that he became spiritually strong and a terror to those who were teaching lies and deception. This is a wonderful lesson for us, to help us learn to trust God so that we also may become strong in our weakness. This is the point of passing beyond the physical limits of our strength and walking into the spiritual realm where God’s power flows through all those who put their trust in Him. for we walk by faith, not by sight II Cor. 5: 7 FAITH-spiritual acceptance of truth or heavenly realities not certified by humanistic reasoning. One must finally pass beyond the physical boundaries of this world to be able to take part of the FAITH OF GOD in its full measure. In other words, the way we use to live by comparing God and Godly living by looking at the world around us and imagining it as being a part of our spiritual experience, is now left behind us while we keep our focus on One thing alone, God. This is the place where even those first principles we learned of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God are passed beyond to see the deeper things of God and live as He lives. Therefore we cannot stay in the baby stage of learning (and who would want to do such a thing) but must become mature as children of God and citizens of a better land. Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. Heb. 6:1 The sad part in all of this is so many of the teachings about faith and how to understand God fall short of spiritual maturity. They do not understand that this maturity does not occur because we may feel good about what we believe or that we are biased or opinionated about it, but is far more than that. Maturity in the Word of God is where Freedom and Love are the driving force, and a place where biases and opinions no longer keep God’s children from learning those deeper things and from becoming divine partakers of His character and standing clean before their Lord. It is a place where God lives and He alone is the Guiding force in our life; a place where His voice is the ONLY voice speaking and the body is completely obedient to the Head. It is a place where we come by Faith into the Faith that we may have the Faith of God.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 11:34:07 +0000
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