A Look at Faith

There is a worldly side to faith and a spiritual side to faith. You can probably guess which one born-again believers should be tied into. The world has polluted our minds with too much information, making us pass over the most powerful and perfect information, and that is the Word of God. This indoctrination by a lost and dying world has short-circuited our faith and turned it into a weak and lackluster thing that has no power, because it has been compromised. I know believers who cannot live in the wonderful grace of the Lord without putting their own "spin" on it, and it just waters down the whole thing. A born-again believer sins because we are all sinners, and they look at their sin and realize their guilt, but that's when everything goes awry. They make the mistake of wanting to be made right with God, and then they try to do some woop to do to make themselves feel better and get right with God. Crazy!!

We cannot get any more right with God than what we are right now!! His grace is sufficient for the sin He washed away, but in our humanistic reasoning, we think "there must be something more I need to do" and miss the power of God's grace. God's grace is so real and perfect that when we live in the forgiveness He has given us, it has nothing to do with us and all to do with Him. We sing songs like 'Your Grace Is Enough" and don't even live like it is true. Paul spent most of his time convincing the early believers that God's grace was real and complete. Here is what he wrote to the believers in Corinth in 2 Corinthians 12:⁹ Each time he said, 'My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. ¹⁰ That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

We can do nothing in our human state, so how do we fix the problem? We turn to the spiritual side of the whole issue. Remember, the Word of God is trying to convince us of the need for the Holy Spirit. Therein we find the spiritual side of our faith, and we are dead in the water without the wind of the Holy Spirit in our sails. Denominations have scared off or caused believers to either totally doubt the power of the Holy Spirit or led us to abuse it, and there is a better way of living, and it is the Spirit-filled life.

There is one impossibility we must first deal with, and it is the impossibility of pleasing. Here is where those believers who want to add their spin to their faith can really shine until they quit trusting God. The very thing that pleases God from us, His children, is our faith. Hebrews 12:⁶ And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. This is the part where you overachievers can really please your Lord, but this pleasing attitude only comes when we admit "we can't do it" and "we need You God", and we pray in total faith, believing God hears and He responds. So we really don't bring anything to the table after all. OOOPS.

Jesus was always trying to help the unbelief of His disciples, cause he knew that we must have this total all out belief to even live the life of a follower of Jesus. Jesus would bring it back to square one and then say the basic, perfect truth. In John 14:¹² “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. ¹³ You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father.¹⁴ Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it! A weak-faith person will try their best to disprove the basic truth of what faith can do in a person who is filled with the other necessary person, called the Holy Spirit. If you find yourself trying to lessen the power of the Spirit in those verses, you may be a little more worldly-minded than spiritually minded, and that is a problem.

Jesus wasn't playing a word game when He shared these powerful words, because He doesn't work that way. When Scripture says God loves us, it means He really, really loves us. REALLY! Not convinced? Part of trusting God is trusting His love, and we MUST trust God's love and that He wants the very BEST for you and me. Jesus spoke these words in Luke 11: ⁹ “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.¹⁰ For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. ¹¹ “You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? ¹² Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! ¹³ So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

So which is it going to be? Are you going to trust God? Then start today....NOW!!

You just need to search for that part in your will and give your lack of faith to God and ask Him to replace it with the real thing. Begin in the way Jesus said to in the above verses Luke 11:Luke 11: ⁹ “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.¹⁰ For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

Do you want to please God? Then do not insult Him with compromised worldly faith. Live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, and believe in the Spirit. It is a matter of great importance. FAITH has nothing to do with us, and everything to do with God, as the Psalmist wrote in Psalms 25:4: " Show me the right path, O Lord, point out the road for me to follow. ⁵ Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long, I put my hope in you.

I SO love the Word of God, especially the unpolluted version without worldly filters added.

The Pilgrimage Continues,

David Warren