I go to a great church pastored by a great man of God and his wife and older sons. At first I was very closed, and skeptical as usual. It took a while for me to warm up to the "in your face" style of preaching, non-crucial opinions and viewpoints that I didn't agree with, and the occasional feeling of being offended! Soon, I was faced with the option "dig in or run." I dug in. Too my surprise, these little differences seemed to lose their divisive power, and I began to see the genuine heart of love and concern that the pastor has for his church and community.
We attended a leadership class last fall, taught by our pastor. In it we learned about faith in a way I had not seen before. Let's look at this verse from Hebrews:
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
An interesting point to note is that in the original Greek "Now faith" is considered one word. In fact, it is more than that, being a single concept, "NOW-FAITH". Right-now-faith. Nowfaith. Faith, now. One may read (as I always did), "Now, (talking about) faith, it is the assurance..." But in the original language and by the intent of the author, it was meant to say "Now-faith" (faith that we have right now) is the assurance of things hoped for (in the future), the conviction (my belief-based reality) of things not seen (yet). What on earth does this mean!? Perhaps this helps:
Hope is what we are longing for, praying for. "I hope I can pay my bills." "I hope I get well soon." "I hope my parents will get back together." But if all we do is hope, there is no assurance. Faith is not hope. Because faith is NOW. Hope is future. Now-faith says "By God my provider I will pay my bills, because He promises that my leaf will not wither (Psalm 1)." Now-faith says, "God is my healer, I will not continue to suffer." And now-faith says, "God desires that all men know the truth, and that what God has joined together let no man separate, and God has given us as believers the ministry of reconciliation through prayer, and that the prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much, and ....."
Now-faith stands on God's word as true, and provides evidence in our spirit that what we ask for, if it is in line with God's will, will be given to us. Standing on God's word is key. We can try to say, "I have now-faith for a new car." But is God saying to you, pray for a new car? Maybe! So if He is, then ask! But whatever you do, stand on His word in now-faith, faith that brings the hope of the future into the now, as though it were already done (the conviction, or evidence, of things not seen). "John 14:14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." (John 14:13, John 15:16, John 16:23 , John 16:24, John 16:26, Matt 7:7, Luke 11:9); 1 John 3:22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. ; 1 John 5:15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
So we see that God finds pleasure in answering our prayers. He wants us to experience His faithfulness and generosity. If we ask in faith, it's like plugging into the greatest power source of all time. A great evangelist to Africa, Reinhardt Bonnke, used a fuse as an analogy for faith. Imagine a bolt of lightning, millions of volts of electricity, striking a power pole. Electricity travels through the wires for miles, into every home connected to it. It travels through each wire in each wall, and out of each outlet into every appliance plugged into it - toasters, tv's, light bulbs, hair dryers, computers, and the radio. Imagine turning on your radio, but no sound comes out. It's plugged in, but not a sound. "Ahhh! Perhaps the fuse..." Upon inspecting the fuse, you see that it is "blown", or perhaps even missing. Replacing that tiny fuse with a new one is all it takes to harness the amazing power of electricity.
In the same way, God's power is available to flow into our life, powering every part of daily existence with purpose and providence, peace and over-coming strength. Faith is the fuse which lets the power flow all the way to it's intended destination and accomplish its purpose. In fact, doubting God's faithfulness causes us to be "tossed about, back and forth, like waves in the ocean... unstable in all that we do." (James 1:6,8) So the opposite of faith not only disqualifies us from receiving from God ("James 1:7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord."), displeases God (Heb 11:6), but also hinders God from doing the miraculous in our lives and live of others. "Mark 6:5,6 And he (Jesus) could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching." "Matthew 13:58 And he (Jesus) did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief."
Jesus said in John 6:63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." God's word is spirit and life. We can only access its power for life, answered prayers, and miracles through faith. He said "true worshipers will worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:23,24) In order to access God's kingdom, and even to worship God, we must do so in spirit. Mortal man can participate in this spiritual realm only through faith. So, as I have always believed, faith is simply a DECISION! It's that easy. Just choose to believe, and give doubt the boot! Speak it out with your mouth (because your tongue is a rudder for your life, James 1), and your heart will follow. Then, to your surprise, things will start making sense like never before. If you've never exercised faith in Jesus, please click on the tab at the top of the page, "get Jesus". Its a fun but serious way to "install" Jesus into your heart via faith.
Feel free to post questions or comments. I will be happy to further explain or support these statements.
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