Friday, 28 January 2005 9:40 AM
By Pastor Dave Sunderland
What confirms us as Christ's church? Is it preaching that we must repent, be baptised in water and baptised in the Spirit? Is it that when we're filled with the Holy Spirit we speak in tongues? Is it that we love camping and fellowshipping together? Is it our style of worship and singing? Is it our understanding of the prophetic scriptures that outline the history of the nations and the imminent return of Christ? Is it our expectations about our behaviour and modesty?
All these things help to define us, but at the end of the day it is Christ that confirms that we are His church by the miracles that happen among us. (Mark 16:20).
And miracles need faith before they can happen. It was lack of faith among the people of Nazareth that hindered even Christ working miracles there (Mark 6:3-6). It was lack of sufficient faith that prevented the disciples healing the lame man (Mark 9:17-29).
So what is this faith?
Faith.defined
Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don't yet see. (Heb 11:1). Together with perfect love, it is what distinguishes God's people from all others. We are motivated by love. We are enabled by faith. Faith is a powerful knowledge that despite whatever the current circumstances, God is greater than the need, and can heal, restore or provide as required.
Faith is not an emotion. Emotions fade and change. Faith is knowing that the power of God's Word is independent of how we are feeling, or of what we are having to deal with at that moment. Faith is not just head-knowledge, but heart-understanding.
Faith.is required
God demands that His saints are faithful people (Heb 11:6), and we need faith without wavering to receive anything from Him (James 1:6-7). So maybe we should be diligent about growing our faith from that initial portion that caused us to be saved when we believed in Christ (Gal 3:2)!
Faith.grows
Faith is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22) and is given to us as a seed when we are filled with the Spirit. It is then up to us to feed and water it so that it grows. In fact not just grows, but flourishes - bursting into wonderful fruit.
We say this so often it can lose its impact, but we need to have a healthy prayer life and study the Word (Rom 10:17, Jude 20) to be full-of-faith saints. Without prayer we have no connection to God. Without knowing the Word we are without a weapon.
When Joshua led the Children of Israel into the promised land, they had to prepare themselves for victory by meditating on the Word day and night. We need to prepare for our victories in exactly the same way.
But of course we don't need an education to be saved - being able to read is not a prerequisite for being a saint. But knowing the Word of God is a prerequisite. That's why we share the Word, listen to the Word being preached, share testimonies and study the Word together. It takes effort, but God is not going to leave us without the tool that He says is vital.
It's important for chickens to have to break themselves out of their eggshells to grow their strength. Breaking through our problems and trials will also work to increase our faith (1 Pet 1:6-9).
Faith formulas: Prayer * Word = Faith; (Faith + Perseverance) * God's will = Result
Faith.can be disarmed
So why don't we get answers sometimes? Because we can stop God working in our lives. We can't stop Him loving us, but we can prevent Him reaching us and working for us. The three biggest obstacles to seeing faith work for us are:
- Giving up on the tough ones (James 5:16; Mark 9:29)
- Not forgiving someone - holding a grudge (Mark 11:26)
- Asking with the wrong motives or for something that is really only about our pleasure (James 4:3)
Jesus was frustrated with His disciples in Mark 9 because they couldn't heal the dumb man. But He did not reject them. Rather He continued to teach them and encourage them to pray so that their faith would grow. It is easy to feel condemned when we haven't received a healing for which we've been seeking, but that isn't what the scriptures tell us to do. Instead they encourage us to be more diligent, to call for elders and people of faith to help us through those times, and to hear the Word of God.
Faith.is not natural
Faith doesn't come naturally. Most of us find it easy to believe that God can do miracles. We can even believe that God will work 'at some point'. But it can be much harder to believe that God will work NOW! How many of us can identify with cry of the man in Mark 9 - 'Lord I do believe; help my unbelief'. It's the cry of a man that has seen wonderful miracles, but needs another one - while struggling with a human nature that can make us too afraid to believe.
Faith is not natural, it's supernatural. Our five senses can't prepare us for faith - only the Holy Spirit working within us can do that. Faith is not us 'making ourselves believe', but is a supernatural fruit that is amazingly stirred and encouraged as we realise that the faith that Christ exercised, is the faith we can exercise (John 14:12-14).
Faith.is doing
Faith is much more than just passively believing. Faith makes things happen. And it's not just about God doing things for us, but also about us doing things for God.
It's through faith that we serve God, praying for miracles, exercising the gifts, sharing the gospel with our friends and relatives, and preaching deliverance.
Christ's church is a faithful church where miracles happen. We are His church when we are full-of-faith people.
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