Hebrews 1:Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. 2 Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation. 3 By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen. 4 It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.
The foundation for our lives in Christ is faith. The faith we have in God is not understandable to those who are not believers and sometimes even missed by those who are believers. But, we either believe or we don't!! I believe and I hope you do too. If there is an assault on any area of our life it is in the area of faith. Satan will try to get us to be nonbeliever's because he knows our faith is the foundation for the whole thing. If he can get us to doubt about one thing it is a start to doubting the whole thing. I have heard of Christians who have renounced their faith and given up on Christ and the church. There was a process that probably took place in each of these instances that led to the falling away. The best way to handle the enemies assault on our faith is to catch those doubt feelings early and rely on God's Word to encourage our faith. Another good practice would be for a Christian to hang around other Christians who have a deep faith in God and His ways. Faith encourages faith and you can see the result of this very thing by churches that are growing have a very strong "faith base" in their teaching and that motivates them to believe in God for more.
Faith is something we either have or don't have and it is the essence of our core teachings as believers. In verse 1 of the above scripture the writer of Hebrews makes a very important statement where he says "Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see." In fact our reality as believers is found in the faith we have in Christ. If we don't believe in Christ for anything, we will see our faith, our core, fall away over a period of time. We want to see evidence of God moving and when it doesn't happen like we want our faith dwindles. But look at the last part of verse 1 where it says faith is the "evidence" of things we cannot see." FAITH IS THE EVIDENCE!! Our faith gives us understanding as written in verse 3 and that understanding comes from something unseen. In John 20:29 Jesus said 29 Then Jesus told him,“You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” Our blessing as believers comes from believing in what we can't see, which totally freaks some people out. Nicodemus couldn't understand the spiritual side of the whole issue and when Jesus said you must be born of the spirit it confused him. That same confusion continues even for those who are believers. I think we have too many Christians who are not believers, but doubters. Oh we talk a good game and say "Lets pray for God to move", but many times our prayers don't have the faith God is looking for at all. Jesus qualified the right kind of faith in Matthew 17:20 “You don’t have enough faith,”Jesus told them.“I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”
A life-changing faith is a faith that believes without any doubt in what God's word says. Through the years I have had more Christians show me an example of unbelief more than belief. And the excuses for not believing God's Word are classic. Welllll, they might say the Greek in the text doesn't allow for God to move in that way. Orrrr, our denomational stance is different than that kind of teaching, blah, blah, blah. Why would we who are believers continue to show a "lack" of belief when it comes to God? Something must be behind this whole way of thinking. I can give my opinion on what I think is behind it all. MAN!! Read what Paul said about the whole thing in 1 Corinthians 2:6 Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten. 7 No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. 8 But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord. 9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”
So, it is no longer a mystery what God can do and our faith is an important part of that whole thing. Keep in mind we can "miss it" if we don't stay vigilant in our faith. We can miss seeing the answer to the mystery if we don't think in spiritual terms. You may say "How can I know what the Spirit shows me?" To which Paul goes on in verses 10-12 to answer that question. 1 Corinthians 2:10 But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. 12 And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
So if you are trying to figure out this whole faith thing without the Spirit of God then you will be searching for a long time and searching the wrong place. Our "old" or natural man will look at this from one vantage point, but the Spiritual man will look at it from a totally different vantage point. Paul goes on in verses 13-16 to show us the human wisdom side of it and the Spirit side of it. Verses 13-16 13 When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. 14 But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.15 Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others.16 For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.
Conclusion: Make every effort to deepen your walk with God through studying His word and the Holy Spirit will lead you into a deeper faith and that faith will move mountains and change lives. Not my words, but the Words of Jesus, our Savior and Lord. Remember....all or nothing!!!
The Pilgrimage continues....
David Warren
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