<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="65001"%> Revealing True Faith

Revealing true faith

By William R. Cunningham
August 13, 2006

INTRODUCTION

What does it mean to have faith in God? How can we know if we truly have faith in God? When can we have faith in God? Can my faith in God bring about a new car, new job, new home, etc.? These and other questions are basic questions that many have about faith. We want to know how faith is involved in our lives on a practical level. Jesus said that we should have faith in God and that is an honorable in itself, but doing it is not so simple.

I am sure that many of you who have gone through trouble in your life realize how hard it is to simply trust God. This is evident in the fact that we begin to worry and dispair in such situations instead of just standing firm knowing that God will take care of us. There is something more to "having faith" then merely accepting what the preacher says. There appears to be work involved in faith or that we have to develop faith so that we learn to trust God more and more in life.

Well this lesson is going to discuss just that. We are going to look at and reveal to you true faith from a Biblical perspective. I pray that you would have a much better understaning about faith after reading this lesson.

Scripture lesson

Mark 11:22-25 (NKJV) -- {22} So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. {23} For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. {24} Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. {25} “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.

This verse of scripture is one that would make many people very happy and very excited. For one thing it appears to say that if we have faith in God then we will have whatever we ask God for. Therefore, all I have to do is have faith and believe that I have the things that I ask for and I will have them. However, real life does not seem to be in agreement with that philosophy. Many of us pray and pray, but we don’t get the results that appear to be promised in this and similar scriptures. So what is the problem? Why can’t I have the things that I ask for when I pray in faith?

What is Faith?

The first thing we need to do is qualify faith. What is meant by the word faith and therefore having faith in God? What is meant when the Bible says that we should put our faith in God or have faith in God?

The word faith could mean the following.

To believe
To trust
To accept the whole of Christian doctrine.
Confidence towards God and a commitment to His will for one’s life

Jesus said to have faith in God. The Greek word used here is the word pistis, which means a conviction of the truth of anything, belief. This statement is very important to our understanding of faith. Faith is a conviction of the truth of something.

Where does that conviction come from?
How does one come to have faith in anything?
Why do we believe anything at all?

Faith is also described as a commitment to God’s will as we stated earlier. However, this begs the question of, “How does one know God’s will?” The short answer is that we know God’s will through faith. Consider these questions.

How did Paul know what to do when he would go someplace to teach for example?
How did the Apostles know what to do in the various situations that they faced?
How did people know to trust God in doing some of the extraordinary things we read in the Bible?
How do we come to trust God anyway?

Consider Habakkuk 2:4.

Habakkuk 2:4 (NKJV) -- {4} “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.

What are the characteristics of the proud? For one thing the proud tend to depend on themselves. They are haughty in their attitude thinking that they are better than others because of what they have done or what they have. The key attribute of the proud is the exaltation of self.

The key attribute of the proud is the exaltation of self

Habakkuk goes on to say that the just (the upright) shall live by his faith. This means that the upright are not exalting themselves. The upright realize that they have nothing and can ultimately do nothing without God. The upright know that they must rely on God for survival and for accomplishing their purpose on this earth.

The key attribute of the righteous is trust (in God)

The righteous (upright) lives by faith. That means that the righteous puts his or her confidence in God and truly depends on God for life. This is very important to true Bible faith. Faith is therefore a dependence on God for life. It means that to have faith in God means that we trust Him no matter what. It means that we put it on the line and trust God for the things we pray for and need.

Faith and Reason

There is another component of faith that we must discuss. The interesting thing about Biblical faith is that it is independent of reason, but may accompany reason. For one thing there is no reason that we should expect that anyone would believe anything that the evidence does not support. However, that is the very premise of the Christian faith. We believe things that we have no definite evidence for. Consider the following scripture.

Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV) -- {1} Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Here Paul the Apostle states that faith is the substance of the things that we hope for and it is the evidence of the things we do not see. That is a phenomenal statement. Faith itself is the evidence for the things we do not see (and believe). By faith we believe God. By faith we are confident in victory over our circumstance. By faith we believe that we will be with Jesus forever.

For example, we believe that there is a God, but there is no real evidence of His existence. Of course we can deduce His existence from cosmology, anthropology, and nature, but there is nothing that gives definite evidence of His existence. This is where faith comes into play. Consider this. Our very ability to believe comes from God. We say that we believe something, but the very ability to believe comes from God.

Another interesting thing about faith is that it is our choice. We choose to believe something or not. This is how we can see that faith is definitely not based on reason and even that it transcends reason. For example, someone may have all the evidence that points to solution A, but decide to believe solution B for whatever reason.

Romans 12:3 (NKJV) -- {3} For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

We all have this measure of faith. We all have the ability to believe. Faith isn’t dependant on reason, but is compatible with it. Faith may include reason, but not necessarily be the based on reason as we stated above. The evidence may point to one thing, but I may believe something else for whatever reason (including personal biases, prejudices, etc.).

Faith is necessarily dependant on reason, but it may consist of reason. What I mean by that is that reason my lead me to believe something, but something else in me bears witness to the thing that I believe and that is what truly causes me to believe. Faith that is solely based on reason is only a mental assent and will be as stable as the facts or your perception of it. This is why true faith must transcend the facts though the evidence may point to something else.

Another example is that the Christian holds that the Bible is the true word of God and therefore trusts what it says. We can make our point and build a case for something based on what the Bible reveals. However, this type of reasoning has no impact on someone who either doesn’t know the Bible or does not believe that it is the word of God (someone from another religion for example). Something else must bring these people to believe that Gospel and thus be saved. They can still choose to reject or accept the call of God on them. So you see that faith is not merely a matter of mental assent via reasoning. True faith may take us beyond the facts or evidence.

The bottom line is that we cannot rely on reason for faith because situations change, data changes in regards to evidence, and the evidence changes too. For example, a really bad situation in our lives may point to a dismal outcome. Faith in God says, “I’m going to be alright because God will take care of me.” There is no reason to have such faith, but at the same time something compels us to believe God.

Faith is above reason, but may accompany reason

Trust God

OK let’s get back to our original scripture, which I will quote here for convenience.

Jesus said to have faith in God. That means to trust Him, to rely upon Him, and to have confidence in Him. Jesus gives a living parable (as some believe) of faith. The point is that the seemingly impossible (what the evidence points to) can be accomplished with prayer and faith. It is possible to move those mountains in your life with faith.

Remember that faith is a commitment to God’s will. This means that Jesus’ statement presupposes that our desires are influenced by the Spirit of God and not by lust, pride, or any other vain human attributes.

1 John 5:14-15 (NKJV) -- {14} Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. {15} And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

The key to practical or effective faith is submitting to God’s will

Knowing God’s Will

The question we might have at this point is, “How does one know God’s will in order to follow it?” We can know God’s will by faith. However, this faith or confidence can be developed via experience. We are just going to have to put it on the line so to speak in order to see the faithfulness of God. If God never did anything and we never trusted Him then there would be no need to have faith in God and there would be no way that our confidence in Him would grow.

We can come to know God’s will by first knowing God. We can know God through His word and personal experience. We can experience God and therefore see His faithfulness in action. The more we come to know God and experience Him then the more we can come to confide in Him and trust Him. Basically, we obey God and learn more and more that we can trust Him. We then have to actively trust God.

However, ultimately we just have to put it on the line. We have to just trust that God would work things out even though the evidence shows that we will be destroyed in the end. We have to believe in our hearts that our prayers are answered because we are praying in accordance to God’s will. We know that we are praying according to God’s will based on our relationship with Him and knowledge of His word.

How To Know God’s Will

First let me say that we have a study on this very topic. Click here for the study.

We can know God’s will in two ways.

The Bible
Personal experience

These both add up to simply obedience. Some things are obvious such as knowing that it is not God’s will to steal something or to lie. However, life is not so cut and dry. There are always situations that are not directly discussed in the Bible. Here we have to rely on our relationship with Him and the faith that we do have.

The thing to realize here is that sometimes we are uncertain of God’s will. We can rarely say for sure that God wants me to do this or that God wants me to do that. We move forward based on faith. Sometimes things go awry, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that God’s will was neglected.

So if God’s will is sometimes perhaps most of the time uncertain in an absolute sense then how can I have any confidence at all for following the will of God?

Know God First

We can have confidence of following God’s will by simply pursuing God.

Matthew 6:33 (NKJV) -- {33} But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

The first thing that we should do is to seek the Kingdom of God. Basically, we should pursue God first. Make God the object of your affection. Make God the object of your pursuit. Pursue your relationship with God so that it is on a track of increasing intimacy. This is the only way that we can have the confidence to do anything in regards to the will of God. So pursue God first

Pursue Your Dreams

I believe very strongly in the pursuit of your dreams. Now I have to qualify what I mean by dreams because many could get the very wrong idea. By dreams I do not mean to pursue such things as a Mercedes Benz or a mansion on a hill. I mean pursue the goal and/or purpose that God has placed in you. If you are pursuing that dream then you can have great confidence that you are in the will of God.

If I am pursuing what is inside of me then I know that I can trust God to bring it about. I believe this because I believe that God is the one that placed the unction or dream inside of you. It acts as a motivator, compulsion, and driving force for your life. Your closeness to God will directly affect your pursuit. Pursuing your goal is the same thing as pursuing what God wants you to do. If you are pursuing what God wants you to do then you can rest assured that you are in the will of God.

That is a premise of my life. I believe that we should pursue our dreams. The accomplishment of that dream may include a plethora of things. It could mean a new home, new car, a new job, etc. You never know where God will lead you as He guides you to fulfilling your purpose.

Faith is an integral part of the pursuit of your dreams because you will quickly learn how powerless you are in fulfilling it and how dependant you are on God to do it.

Don’t Be Trapped By Materialism

I have to briefly discuss this since there are so many false teachings in regards to practical faith. The religious community defines faith as a type of force that we can use to get things from God. Here we are told that we can use our faith to get a new car, nice clothes, more money, etc. That teaching appeals to human lusts and self and is not the way of God.

We have to guard ourselves from materialism. It is not about treasures on earth, but treasures in heaven. It’s not all about you, but about God and His will and your part in that. Besides, there is no reason why God should do anything for you anyway since at best you are just a sinner.

Thinking of this type of faith will only take us away from the will of God and therefore the purpose of God. Thinking of faith in materialistic terms will take us away from God and therefore away from true faith and true dependence on Him for our very lives. Instead God will be the genie that we rub who provides us with whatever we want like a spoiled child to the appeasing parent.

Final Remarks

Trust God. Totally rely on Him for everything. Actively pursue God and His will for you. Pursue your dreams and accomplish what God has given you to do. All of these require that we depend on God. Our whole life therefore will necessitate that we trust God to take care of us and guide us no matter what happens and no matter how bad things may get.

True faith in God is not supported by reason. In other words, reason is not the basis for true faith in God since true faith in God may be contrary to what reason tells us. True faith is indeed something that we have from God. We choose to believe either because of the evidence or because of our choice to believe.

True faith is not a force that you use to get whatever you want from God. True faith is not some type of force that God must honor and therefore give you what you want. These are not true faith, but mere false teachings about faith. True faith in the Bible is trust, confidence, reliance. True Christian faith is to believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead and that His redemptive act was enough for your salvation.

So depend on God. Realize that you are powerless in your life. You think that you can choose, but ultimately you can do nothing. The only thing that we can do to truly be successful is to trust God and go where He guides us. Only then can we find fulfillment. Only then can we truly live to our fullest. Trust God. Believe Him and lay your life in His hands. Pursue your dreams and build your life with Christ. Amen.

See these other lesosns pertaining to faith.