By Rev. Tina Barry
Heb 11:1 Now faith is [the] assurance [or, substance] of [things] being hoped for [or, being confidently expected], [the] confident assurance [or, proof] of things not seen. (ALT – Analytical-Literal Translation)
What is faith?
1. To persuade, to draw towards any thing, to conciliate; to believe, to obey.
2. Belief or trust: belief
in, devotion to, or trust in somebody or something,
especially without logical proof
What does Jesus say about faith?
Matt 17:20 …. For truly I tell you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. (ISV – International Standard Version)
A grain of mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds. What Jesus is saying is that you don’t need to be a super faith hero to move a mountain. A mountain is anything in your life that is a hindrance.
Mark 11:22 - 24 Jesus said to them, "Have faith in God! Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' if he doesn't doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. That is why I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.
1. To waver or
fluctuate in opinion; to hesitate; to be in suspense; to be in uncertainty; to
be in suspense; to be in uncertainty, respecting the truth or fact; to be
undetermined.
2. Uncertainty of condition.
God’s word is
true and we can’t doubt Him. Heb 11:6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who comes
to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who diligently
search for him.
We must believe and not doubt if we want to receive. Fear and the need to reason everything out can cause doubt. Fear is natural to man, but we must learn to overcome our fear. It is ok if fear comes on us in a situation, but we shouldn’t act on that fear. We must allow our spirits to overrule our fear.
An old writer says, "Faith and reason may be compared to two travelers: Faith is like a man in full health who can walk twenty or thirty miles at a time without suffering. Reason is like a child, who can only with difficulty accomplish three or four miles. On a given day Reason says to Faith, 'O good Faith, let me walk with thee.' Faith replies, 'O Reason, you can never walk with me!' However, to try their paces, they set out together, but they soon find it hard to keep company. When they come to a deep river, Reason says, 'I can never cross this,' but Faith wades through it singing. When they reach a lofty mountain, there is the same exclamation of despair; and in such cases, Faith, in order not to leave Reason behind, is obliged to carry him on his back; and, oh, how dependent upon Faith is Reason!" Why has God made faith the indispensable ingredient in man's approach to Him? Is it not precisely because man's reason can go only so far? Where reason comes up against an insurmountable obstacle, faith soars above it and apprehends God and heavenly mysteries by this divinely given faculty.
BELIEVE
To have a
firm persuasion of any thing. In some cases, to have full
persuasion,
approaching to certainty
If
you don’t believe how can you receive? God’s word tells us that we
must believe to receive.
When must we believe?
When we pray.
What happens when we believe?
We
receive what we have asked for.
Mark 11:22 -
24 Jesus said to them, "Have faith in God! Truly I
tell you, if anyone says to this
mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the
sea,' if he doesn't doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will
happen, it will be done for him. That is why I
tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and
it will be yours.
Pro 18:20 - 21 A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; [and] with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. Death and life [are] in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof
If we continually walk around thinking and speaking negative thoughts we only empower Satan and our negative circumstances. When we chose to speak the word we empower God and His angels to work on our behalf. Our words either give Satan or God dominion over our circumstances. Who do you want on your side?
Rom 10:9 - 10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
When we confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts we can receive salvation. We should have just as much or more faith that if we confess and believe for our needs that they will be met. If we don’t confess and believe we tie God’s hands and He can’t work in our lives.
1Jo 5:14 – 15 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask
anything
according to his will, he heareth us: And if we
know that he hear us,
whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
We must ask according to His will. We can’t ask for something that would bring harm to another person or that goes against His commandments. We have the assurance that when we ask in alignment with His word He hears and will act on our behalf.
Num
23:19 God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of
man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]?
or hath
he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
Man will always lie and we can’t trust man 100% of the time. We can always trust
God!
Jam 2:17 Even so faith without works is dead.
An old boatman
painted the word "faith" on one oar of his boat and "works" on the other. He was
asked his reason for this. In answer, he slipped the oar with "faith" into the
water and rowed. The boat, of course, made a very tight circle. Returning to the
dock, the boatman then said, "Now, let's try 'works'without 'faith'and see what
happens." The oar marked "works" was put in place and the boatman began rowing
with just the "works" oar. Again the boat went into a tight circle but in the
opposite direction.
When the
boatman again returned to the wharf, he interpreted his experiment in these
strong and convincing words, "You see, to make a passage across the lake, one
needs both oars working simultaneously in order to keep the boat in a straight
and narrow way. If one does not have the use of both oars, he makes no progress
either across the lake nor as a Christian.