PRACTICAL FAITH

Uncovering the Magic From Faith-A scriptural Analysis

� 2000 William R. Cunningham
October 15, 2000

Be honest and consider the way you know things to be and what you were taught about faith. You may realize that the operation of faith that you were taught in church probably does not correspond with the way things really happen on this planet. Now of course the standard reason for this phenomena is that you have to learn to activate your faith or that you need to learn how to operate or use your faith. I say that these are incorrect and furthermore are not consistent with what the Bible teaches us about faith.

How many of you have tithed your money to your local church with visions of great blessings only to continue giving and continue waiting for that blessing? How many of you have prayed for something and it just didn't happen? How many of you are still waiting for that great blessing from God to manifest itself in your life? You think that if you keep confessing what you want and giving to your local church that somehow magically your needs will be met and all will be well. I should inform you that you are probably misinformed or deceived by the operation of faith and therefore the Kingdom of God.

In no way am I implying that giving does not produce blessings or that confession does not lead to blessings. What I am suggesting to you is that perhaps your perception of how faith works is inaccurate when compared with the teachings in the Bible. Perhaps what you thought was the operation of faith is really a theory, philosophy, or wish. In some cases I would dare say that what you have been taught about faith was to bleed you of your resources, such as money. For example, you believe that you must tithe in order to be blessed of God and yet the New Testament does not mention this in any way. You believe that if you constantly confess the things that you desire that somehow it will happen and yet the Bible does not teach this at all. You are deceived and it is your own fault. Deception comes when you don't know the truth or when you are pulled away from the truth.

I would like to give you an alternative view of faith that is contrary to many of the teachings that you hear in church and religious television shows. I would like to suggest to you a faith that is practical and yet spiritual. I would like to show you what I call, "Practical Faith." You will find that practical faith does not oppose miracles, though you should realize that the scriptures never tell us to depend on, wait on, or even ask for a miracle. You will find that practical faith is consistent with the Bible's teaching and with the way that things really are-the truth. So then let us examine this thing that I call, "Practical Faith."

What is practical faith? First of all let me tell you what practical faith is not. It is not merely a compromise of biblical faith to the way things appear. The way that things appear and the way that things really are (the truth) are very different. Practical faith is defined as faith that is consistent with the way things really happen and what the Bible teaches about faith. Therefore, practical faith is true faith or usable faith and is not based on magic, "blind faith," wishes, or unmerited hopes. Practical faith, as you will see, involves work in addition to dependence on God our heavenly father.

Consider the following definition of faith, which is taken from the Holman Bible Dictionary.

FAITH Trusting commitment of one person to another, particularly of a person to God. Faith is the central concept of Christianity. One may be called a Christian only if one has faith. Our English word "faith" comes from the Latin fides, as developed through the Old French words fei and feid. In Middle English (1150-1475) "faith" replaced a word that eventually evolved into "belief." "Faith" came to mean "loyalty to a person to whom one is bound by promise or duty." Faith was fidelity. "Belief" came to be distinguished from faith as an intellectual process having to do with the acceptance of a proposition. The verb form of "faith" dropped out of English usage toward the end of the sixteenth century.

Now let's look at the Bible's definition of faith from the book of Hebrews.

If you are not careful, you will perceive this verse as being a blank check from God. It is easy to interpret this scripture to mean that whatever you are sure of and hope for will come to pass. However, this verse doesn't say that at all. It merely defines faith. Faith is not based on the seen or the tangible since it wouldn't be faith in those instances. The key here is to identify the source of the hope. I can hope for something for the rest of my life but if it isn't' in God's will then I can't expect God to grant it to me, though I may pursue it and get it on my own accord.

My faith can rest in my own self or it can rest in God. If it rests in myself then I can have faith for anything and expect God to honor "my faith," which isn't biblical at all. On the contrary, I can have faith in God and expect him to honor what he said that he would do. My faith is then based on the Word of God and not merely my wishful thinking or desires.

I hope to show you that practical faith is the faith that is shown in the Bible. It isn't always something that can be explained but it is something that is not magical or a pie in the sky either. I have this saying; "God will not drop a loaf of bread out of the sky to feed you." Yes God could do that, but such would be inconsistent with the Bible's revelation of God. God is not a genie and we therefore shouldn't treat him as such. We can depend on God but not in terms of him being our magician, grocery store, or unconditional panacea for a lazy man. We can depend on God because he is true to HIS word, not ours.

The first thing that you need to know about faith is that God can be depended on because practical faith is founded on trusting God and therefore the trustworthiness of God. Consider the following scripture, which illustrates this point and the fact that practical faith is not magic performed by God.

To trust God means that you depend on Him or that you have confidence in Him. Therefore, trust and faith are many times referring to the same principle. To trust God is to have faith in Him. The Bible repeatedly shows us that we should trust God and that God is true to his word, which means that we can trust him for what he has said. This last concept is very important because trusting God cannot transcend what he has said. This is one reason that faith in God is not magical or blind. It is founded on God's word, which we all have.

So the first thing that we should be aware of is that God is dependable. We can trust him and therefore we can put our faith in him. In addition to this we see that God's faithfulness is to what he has said or done and not according to our own wishes, plans, or activities. We will also see, as I said before, that faith in God does not preclude us from actively working to obtain the things that we desire of him.

Now here is where practical faith differs from magical faith. Magical faith, or blind faith, is simply to believe that something will happen. The theory is that if you believe something strong enough or have enough faith, then what you believe will happen. The problem with this is that the Bible DOES NOT TEACH IT! The foundation of our faith cannot be within us. The foundation of our faith must be outside of us to something or someone that transcends our own abilities and the activities of the world or even the universe. Let's go to the Bible for what I believe is the standard for true faith.

The first thing that I believe that you should realize is that true faith is not self sufficient or self-energizing. True faith must be outside of us. Therefore, I believe that true faith must be placed in God according to what he says. So our task is not to have more and more faith to accomplish something. Rather, our task is to build enough confidence in God for what he says so that we act on it and allow God to actively carry out what he said he would do. These includes the things that you believe he has told you in one way or another or principles of operation in the Kingdom of God that you learned about in your Bible. Consider the following scripture.

This is a powerful scripture that has been taught inaccurately in my opinion. This scripture is usually taught without the emphasis on verse twenty-two. The faith referred to here is not our faith. Rather, it is faith in God. First Jesus said to have faith in God and not to just "have faith." We know that God is true to his word so that tells us that we cannot simply dream something up and expect our "great faith" to cause it to happen.

The first thing that you must do if you want to move the mountains in your life is to have faith in God-not yourself. Don't think that you can just have faith and expect God to do everything for you. Don't expect God to go along with the things that you do if He doesn't want to. Be prepared at all times to abandon your plans so that you can get on his train. Consider the following scripture as an illustration of this principle.

What was important here is that the centurion believed in the power and authority of Jesus Christ. It wasn't the centurion's own faith that healed his servant. Rather, it was the centurion's faith in Jesus Christ to heal his servant that caused the servant to be healed. The centurion believe that if Jesus would just speak a word to affect healing of his servant that the servant would be healed. He believed in the power and authority of Jesus. Do you? Consider another example.

Notice again the placement of faith. The blind men did not merely have faith. There faith wasn't something that they could perfect themselves. Their faith was founded in their confidence in Jesus Christ to heal them. The blind men didn't simply sit around hoping to have enough faith that one day they would be healed. They followed Jesus and approached Jesus when the opportunity presented itself. Jesus' question to them sums up what I am trying to say here. He asked them if they believed that he could heal them. They said that they did believe that he could heal them and therefore according to that belief or that faith in Jesus they were healed. Let's look at yet another example.

Notice that her faith was founded on the power of Jesus Christ. She believed in the power of Jesus and she believed that she could access that power to heal herself by touching the hem of his garment. Her faith wasn't merely a force that she had within her that she could use as a tool. She believed in or had confidence in the power of Jesus Christ.

Faith is not something that we have within us that can cause things to happen relative to God. Faith is founded on our confidence in God. Therefore, true faith is to trust in God that God will do what he said he would do. Our faith is founded upon dependency on God and the faithfulness of God. Practical faith is trusting God to do what he says. Practical faith also means that you don't rely on magic or the miraculous to happen in the situations that you face.

The application of practical faith is very consistent with the way things are on this earth. There is no magic and no high hopes of the miraculous. Practical faith is applied to our lives when we hold on to what we have learned in the Bible (or what we truly believe that God has told us personally). If we find that God will protect then we can rest assured that God will protect us regardless of what happens for example.

The greatest application of practical faith is our salvation. We have no physical proof of our salvation and we can't sit around believing for the salvation of someone. Someone has to preach to that person and reveal the Gospel so that he or she can be saved. However, we do believe what we learn in the Bible about Jesus Christ and how he died for our sins so that we could live and not die. We believe that we are saved because we believe in Jesus Christ according to the scriptures. This is the greatest application of practical faith. We can confidently depend on the salvation of the Lord because God would not lie to us and he will carry out what he said he would do.

However, to merely sit around having great faith without any works (See James 2:17) is meaningless. We must do the work and not expect a miracle or magic to save someone.

There are many situations in life that are not specifically handled in the Bible. For example, you may wonder what car to purchase, what house to purchase, what job to take, if you should go to school, etc. There is nothing in the Bible that will point to the right job for you. Many things in life are left up to you to decide. However, what we do learn from the Bible is that the Holy Spirit is always with us to guide us to the truth. We know that God never leaves us and that he will help us make the correct decision.

There is a path to everything that you want (including dishonorable ones). However, the path that you take should not be based on magic or miracles. I believe that we should never expect a miracle because the Bible simply does not teach that. We should expect God to do what he says and that's it. If you believe that God wants you to be a nurse, then begin to do what it takes to be a nurse. Whatever you believe God wants you to do or whatever you learn in the Bible, simply begin to activate your practical faith by acting on what you believe. That is true faith that God will bless your activities because you believe that he will do what he said.

The Bible says much about working (sowing and reaping for example). Nowhere does the Bible teach us to simply sit back and wait for God to send someone to pay our delinquent gas bill for example. The Bible teaches us to pray and to work. What can you do to get yourself out of your situation? What can you do to obtain the goals and dreams that you have? Well, begin to do it instead of waiting for a miracle. The miracle is sometimes the act of God blessing the things that you do. God is not instant coffee. If you want a particular job then you may have to go to school for a time to get the knowledge that you need. If you want to be able to play a certain instrument effortlessly, then you will have to practice and practice some more. I play the piano and keyboards and wished sometimes that I would just wake up one morning an be able to play like a virtuoso. Instead, I have to practice hours in order to be able to play the songs that I like or need to play.

Practical faith is believing that God will do what he said and it is not based on miracles or magic. You are convinced that God will prosper you in what you do and that all glory and praise will be given to him when all is said and done.

This lesson was an overview or introduction into practical faith. Watch for the full study guide on this topic in the very near future. Now practical faith is faith that is based on the Word of God and consistent with the way things are. It is not based on miracles or magic. Practical faith does not expect God to "just do it." Instead, practical faith expects God to do what he said and to honor your efforts (bless what you do). Practical faith is what is operating in most cases when we witness the Gospel to people. It is not magic that someone believes in Christ. It is your faith in the power of the Gospel message and that God will do what he said that he would do.

God doesn't have to be magical or sensational. He does what he wants and we have to become acquainted with his ways and not merely our way. We have to do what the Bible says to do and not expect God to wave his magic wand and meet our needs. God is not a genie or a grocery store that we go to only when we need something. He is our heavenly father that works through the situations and people on the earth. Sometimes he will do something that would be considered sensational or even a miracle. However, the Bible does not teach us to depend on those. Instead, we should live our lives consistent with God's word and expect God to honor what he said (even personal revelations). Practical faith is usable faith and it means that the responsibility to live a Godly life and to prosper is on us. God is practical in that he works through the natural events and objects on the earth (though he controls such). We should have practical faith to accomplish the things that we desire. Amen.

Pursuing the Truth Ministries