HOW TO HAVE FAITH
The key to receiving help from God is faith. When Christians are asked for a definition of faith, various confusing and nebulous answers are given. You have been called to "walk by faith"; therefore you must have a clear, meaningful understanding of this vital Christian virtue if you are to be successful in your quest for deliverance, victory and soul healing. "And without faith it is impossible to please him". (Hebrews. 11:6). "But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him". (Hebrews. 10:38). "For we walk by faith, not by sight". (2 Cor. 5:7). "All things are possible to him who believes". (Mark 9:23).
So then, what is faith? How do I understand it? Is it a feeling, or a mental exercise? "I just can't believe," we often say. By this we mean, "It is not reasonable . . . I cannot accept it intellectually." or "I do not feel the emotion of confidence that this is true." In this subtle way feeling and reason make up our concept of faith. But is it possible for anything made up of these two ingredients to be called faith? If faith depended upon the intellect or reason, those with the highest IQ would be richest in faith.
No, faith cannot be either a feeling or a mental exercise since the Word of God often calls upon us to believe in spite of natural abilities or feelings. Faith cannot depend upon reason because reason is exercised upon the foundations of our experience and knowledge (which is often inaccurate) and God presents promises which are beyond natural knowledge or experience.
The promises of God are always impossible to the natural mind and therefore unreasonable. Likewise faith cannot depend in any way upon feeling -- not even the feeling of confidence, which is basically an emotion and therefore subject to the instability of all human emotions. Confidence (or assurance) may be the result of faith but it is not faith itself!
The hopeless confession "I just can't believe," which is so common to our experience, is the result of our deluded concept of faith. We are deceived into thinking we have no control over our faith when, in reality, we do. We can believe! If it were true that man has no control over his faith, Jesus would not hold him responsible; but, in fact, the heaviest responsibility possible is put upon an individual to believe. His future is at stake in his faith.
What then is faith and how can I have it? In John 7:17 Jesus indicates that it all begins with the will. "If any man's will is to do his will, he shall know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority," According to this teaching, I must will to do the truth, and Jesus promises that if I set my will I shall know the truth. Now, the will is a deliberate choice that is made apart from feelings or intellectual reason. We are not to be ruled by our emotions, ideas or thoughts. God has so made us that we are to be ruled by our choices -- by the will.
However frail or infirm the beginning choices may be, the course of life will be changed. A dear middle-aged widow of a medical doctor came to me for help. She was emotionally devastated and had lost all hope in life. To go on seemed futile and purposeless to her and to make matters worse, she appeared to have been stripped of all faith. When I pointed her to Jesus, she could not believe He existed. When I quoted the Bible, she doubted that it was true. When I suggested she simply call upon God, she could not since she was uncertain that He was real. Clearly she needed God, but I could find no place at which to begin to help her. Eventually, however, I led her into making use of her will by making a simple choice. I suggested she choose God by praying this most elementary prayer, "God, if there is a God, help me. And Jesus, if you exist, please come into my life. As best I know how I choose you." Frankly, I held little hope for any immediate results from such feeble faith, but was amazed to see that it was sufficient for her to find God! God became very real to her, and with renewed life she became a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.
So faith begins with the will. Realizing that faith begins as a volitional act, it is apparent that God has given to everyone the potential of faith. The positive use of the will, together with all the thought processes and attitudes, which follow, we call faith. The negative use of the will, together with all the thought processes and attitudes that result, we call unbelief.
Faith and unbelief are the same power in action -- the difference is simply the direction into which the power is channeled. This obviously makes unbelief as destructive as faith is constructive. This great power lies within everyone and can be used either for or against ones self.
The essential difference between the atheist and the saint is in the use of the will. The saint at one time or another was most likely plagued with similar thoughts and ideas as those which come to the atheist, but by setting his will again those thoughts and choosing instead the thoughts and ideas of God, his life is producing the fruits of faith, while the atheist reaps the harvest to which he has set his will. In lesser degrees we are all constantly making similar choices.
As every problem arises, we put this power within us into action, either constructively or destructively. We put our faith either in God or in the problem. Let me underscore this in your mind: it is the same force or power at work either for you or against yourself! It all depends upon your choice -- your will. There is no difference in essence between faith and unbelief. They are twins born from the same womb but living opposite lives.
In the long journey from Egypt to Canaan, the children of Israel illustrated the truths God wants mankind to know. In Psalm 78 God reveals His displeasure with them because of certain failures on their part, for we read in verses 19 through 22: "They spoke against God saying, Can God spread a table in the wilderness? He smote the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide meat for his people? Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob, his anger mounted against Israel; because they had no faith in God, and did not trust his saving power." Notice especially the last verse, in which the reason for God's displeasure is summarized. Two things are mentioned: "no faith in God" and "did not trust his power." In other words, they did not consider Him to be faithful or able. They were not sure He could do what He said, or if He could, they were not sure He could be trusted to do it. The author of Hebrews when referring to this wilderness experience uses the terms "rebellion," "hardening of heart," "evil, unbelieving hearts", "disobedience." All these terms suggest the use of will in deliberate opposition to God.
The Holy Spirit holds up Abraham and Sarah as examples of faith. In Psalm 78 we found God's definition of unbelief: lack of faith (unbelief) is considering God to be unfaithful and unable. God gives us a positive definition of faith in exactly opposite terms in Romans 4:21, where we read that Abraham considered God to be able and in Hebrews 11:11, in which we read that Sarah considered God to be faithful. The Holy Spirit is therefore clearly teaching us with both negative and positive examples that faith is a deliberate choice of one's will to count or reckon upon God to be faithful and able to do what He has promised. This choice of will is to be exercised in the face of the most convincing contrary evidence -- even when that evidence is found in my own feelings or convictions. "Let God be true though every man be false", (Romans. 3:4).
Indeed, from two passages in I John it is evident that if we receive any other testimony above the testimony of God, it is the same as calling Him a liar. Do we accept the testimony of our reason or feelings above that which God has declared? If so, we put our feelings and emotions above God and inadvertently call Him a liar. To call anyone a liar is to cast doubt upon the worthiness of his character. We cannot say we trust the character of a friend and at the same time say his word cannot be relied upon. Thus the respect with which we receive the word of a person reveals the measure of our judgment of his character. "Have faith in God," Jesus said. This trust in Him will be manifested in our lives by our believing and reckoning upon His Word.
Faith and Fact
Faith is only possible when resting upon a fact. It is not possible to believe something is true when in reality it is not. The Word of God is fact, and true faith is simply counting upon a fact. Faith does not make a fact true, but it depends and reckons upon a fact as being true. So often we hold the mistaken idea that we will make a word of God true by believing it. In other words, we try to believe something is true so that it might truly be so. We try to bring it into reality by believing it into existence. The concrete reality of the truth, then, depends upon my faith to create it. This makes faith a work and my faith the center of attention, No wonder we have trouble with faith! God does not call upon us for such mental gymnastics. He simply asks us to count upon a fact and what He has declared is fact whether or not I believe it. Faith, which is conscious of itself, is not faith at all. Faith is conscious only of God and His Word and therefore unconscious of itself. Our attention must be focused away from self-effort unto God and His Word.
Counting upon that which is real and true brings us into the benefits of that fact. Doubting its reality keeps us from depending upon it; therefore we do not inherit its benefits. It is as though a rich man made a deposit of $1,000,000 to the account of a poverty stricken man, and then announced that fact to him. If the poor man believes the report and begins to count on the word of the rich man, he will benefit from the rich man's gift. If he does not believe or count upon the good news, he could starve to death even though the $1,000,000 is his in all reality and fact. His believing the announcement does not make the rich man's gift a fact (that is so, regardless), but his believing the rich man's word brings the benefit of the gift, because the poor man would begin to use the money given to him. So it is with the truth of God's Word: I do not have to make it true by believing -- it is true already! It is, in fact, true whether I believe it or not, but I do not benefit from that which is true if I do not count upon it. This is the foundation of all God's dealings with mankind. "In the beginning was the Word." The word of God always comes first. He announces to us what He has already done, and as I count upon His announcement it is manifested to me according as I believe. There are three steps in receiving from God: (1) God makes an announcement (promise). (2) Man counts it to be true and continues to count upon it (faith and patience). (3) God manifests His promise to me (possession).
Faith and the Will of God
If faith is the choice of my will to reckon or depend upon a declaration of God, it obviously follows that I must have a clear word to count upon. It is impossible to have a clear faith without a clear word of God to depend upon. In other words, I must be absolutely clear as to the will of God in a given matter if I am to have a clear unhindered faith. The Word of God reveals the will of God. If I can find a promise in the Bible which directly applies to my need or a general promise which may be applied in principle, I have a solid foundation upon which to base my faith. Any so-called faith exercised when the will of God is uncertain is only wishful thinking or self-delusion. God warns, "You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions". (James 4:3).
I cannot seriously believe God will do something if there is any doubt that He wants to do it. Thus the first and most important ingredient in the faith which receives solutions to problems is to have the will of God absolutely clear. "And this is the confidence which we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will he hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of Him". (l John 5:14-15). If we ask according to His will, we already have the answer even as we pray and can therefore count upon seeing it. If I have found a word of God which makes clear His will concerning my particular problem, I can ask in full confidence that He heard and consequently I am receiving the answer even as I am praying.
Faith and Actions
Every step of faith must be followed by an act to manifest the inner faith. "Faith apart from works (actions) is dead" (James 2:26). In many of the Bible accounts of miracle faith, a definite action was required of those who were believing. For example, Moses was commanded to hold his staff over the Red Sea to open it. He struck the rock to obtain water. The Israelites had to look at the brazen serpent, to be healed. The ten lepers were to show themselves to the priest. The hemorrhaging woman touched Christ's garment. If you are trying to believe God for something, what action are you taking to manifest your faith? It may be a foolish act such as Naaman had to do to be cleansed of his leprosy. What you do is not so important as the faith that is made alive through the act. Often this act is simply the confessing with the lips the Word of God.
Faith and Words
The spoken word has power. Proverbs speaks of the tongue as having the power of life and death. Jesus taught, "Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him", (Mark 11:23). Often people claim to believe God but the confession of their mouth is continually negative and fatalistic. They incessantly overflow with problems. These people can never get free as long as they follow this practice. Whatever faith may be present in their hearts is made ineffective by their words: "For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved", (Romans. 10:10).
A man is called right because of the inner faith but he is changed through the confession of his lips. That is, the outward manifestation of the inner life comes as confession to that life is made with the lips. The inner choice of the will must be exercise upon the Word of God, and then that choice must extend to the act of speaking aloud what the will has chosen. The Word of God must find its way to the lips. What a man has chosen to believe becomes established and concrete when he hears himself saying it. Whether or not another human hears him say it is incidental. The important thing is that God and the spirits, good and evil and the man himself hear his testimony. It is easy to speak what we feel, but God wants us to speak what we have chosen to believe.
This is the way to change the feelings. As the positive Word of God is declared, my feelings are being changed into that which I am speaking. On the other hand, if I declare my negative feelings, I will more and more feel like the feeling I already have. If I declare what God says over and against my feelings, those feelings will change to harmonize with the word I am believing and declaring. The Psalmist prays, "Set a guard over my mouth. O Lord, keep watch over the door of my lips!" Do not allow your own words to destroy the faith of your heart. Speak that which God speaks. Your inward faith and outward word must be in unity. Do not allow the comfort of complaining about your circumstance when, at the same time, you are expecting God to change it. Instead, let your words be positive, in harmony with your expectations.
Faith and Patience
It may take some time until the answer to my prayer is manifested. In the meantime, I must by choice of my will count upon the clear promise or Word of God and know the answer will become visible to me as Hebrews 11:1 declares. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," or to paraphrase it: "Faith is the substance things hoped for are made of." It is possible that many of the things we pray for do not become manifest to us because we do not stay around to see the answer when it comes. It takes faith and patience to inherit the promise. The word patience here is used in the sense of endurance. I will not receive answers to my prayers unless I believe and continue to believe. This continuing to believe, the Bible calls patience or endurance: "For you have need of endurance, so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised" (Hebrews, 10:36).
As we come to God with our needs in prayer, we must remember that His interests extend beyond the mere answering of a petition. We must not lose sight of the eternal purpose of God, which is the redemption of the world. In fulfilling this purpose He deals with each individual in a personal way by building a faith-trust relationship between the individual and Himself. God has already declared that His redemption is complete in fact, and a new creation was brought to reality and into existence in His Son. The hearer of this announcement must allow that word to operate in himself through trusting in the truthfulness of God and therefore counting upon God's declaration. In so doing, the word of God becomes life in the individual, and he receives the benefits of the truth, becoming a partaker of the new creation. Thus God's statement of fact becomes the individual's personal possession and experience. He is therefore in the process of redemption.
Faith is not a mere magic genie to produce things for me, but is God's way to reproduce His life in me. The adversities, needs, and problems that come into my life and drive me to God for help are His instruments to form Christ in my personality. These problems set in motion the process of faith. God desires Jesus Christ to be formed in my conscious life; therefore, the answer is often delayed and my faith tested. It is only in the testing of faith that God's redemptive purpose can bear fruit in my life, for if I react properly to the test I will depend upon the indwelling Christ to be my strength to endure. In this way, through trusting His life within me, Christ more and more is formed in my personality. James tells us the testing of faith produces endurance, and Paul, writing to the Romans, instructs us that endurance produces character. James puts it in these words, "For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing", (James 1:3-4).
Yes, even in his apparent neglect of our prayers, God reveals His love for us. He wants us to be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing! Therefore, "count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials." Note that the apostle wrote "count it all joy". This is a word of faith, for no trial ever feels good or joyful. He does not say feel joyful but count it all joy. We may have this positive faith because through it all our character is being changed into the glorious character and life of Jesus Christ. Faith which does not ultimately produce this new creation, either in myself or someone else, is purposeless and vain. God's primary purpose is to form Christ in the human being; therefore, the highest personal benefit from faith results when it is used in cooperation with God in accomplishing His high purpose.
All that I have written here is intended to add to your understanding of the Christian walk after you have had two experiences with God. The first, obviously, is to be born again. It would be ludicrous to speak of living a life before being born. Soul healing begins in the spirit, so the spirit must be made alive by receiving Jesus Christ. The second experience, while not as obvious as the first, is the baptism with the Holy Spirit. God loves us. He is working in us the abundant life and He desires our complete healing in body, soul and spirit. To insure this work, He has not left us to your own resources. Jesus died so that the Holy Spirit could be resident within you. He is your counselor, helper, comforter and guide into all the good things you have in Jesus. He will help you to apply the principles of faith and healing that I have tried to present to you in this booklet.
Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you". (John 14:26-26). "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that He will take what is mine and declare it to you". (John 16:12-15).
"Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart." Trust Him. You cannot fail because God is on your side!
Bert Bauman
If you have any questions or would like literature on this subject I would be happy to send it to you.
I appreciate all your comments and thank you for stopping by.
Blessings
Rebecca
The key to receiving help from God is faith. When Christians are asked for a definition of faith, various confusing and nebulous answers are given. You have been called to "walk by faith"; therefore you must have a clear, meaningful understanding of this vital Christian virtue if you are to be successful in your quest for deliverance, victory and soul healing. "And without faith it is impossible to please him". (Hebrews. 11:6). "But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him". (Hebrews. 10:38). "For we walk by faith, not by sight". (2 Cor. 5:7). "All things are possible to him who believes". (Mark 9:23).
So then, what is faith? How do I understand it? Is it a feeling, or a mental exercise? "I just can't believe," we often say. By this we mean, "It is not reasonable . . . I cannot accept it intellectually." or "I do not feel the emotion of confidence that this is true." In this subtle way feeling and reason make up our concept of faith. But is it possible for anything made up of these two ingredients to be called faith? If faith depended upon the intellect or reason, those with the highest IQ would be richest in faith.
No, faith cannot be either a feeling or a mental exercise since the Word of God often calls upon us to believe in spite of natural abilities or feelings. Faith cannot depend upon reason because reason is exercised upon the foundations of our experience and knowledge (which is often inaccurate) and God presents promises which are beyond natural knowledge or experience.
The promises of God are always impossible to the natural mind and therefore unreasonable. Likewise faith cannot depend in any way upon feeling -- not even the feeling of confidence, which is basically an emotion and therefore subject to the instability of all human emotions. Confidence (or assurance) may be the result of faith but it is not faith itself!
The hopeless confession "I just can't believe," which is so common to our experience, is the result of our deluded concept of faith. We are deceived into thinking we have no control over our faith when, in reality, we do. We can believe! If it were true that man has no control over his faith, Jesus would not hold him responsible; but, in fact, the heaviest responsibility possible is put upon an individual to believe. His future is at stake in his faith.
What then is faith and how can I have it? In John 7:17 Jesus indicates that it all begins with the will. "If any man's will is to do his will, he shall know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority," According to this teaching, I must will to do the truth, and Jesus promises that if I set my will I shall know the truth. Now, the will is a deliberate choice that is made apart from feelings or intellectual reason. We are not to be ruled by our emotions, ideas or thoughts. God has so made us that we are to be ruled by our choices -- by the will.
However frail or infirm the beginning choices may be, the course of life will be changed. A dear middle-aged widow of a medical doctor came to me for help. She was emotionally devastated and had lost all hope in life. To go on seemed futile and purposeless to her and to make matters worse, she appeared to have been stripped of all faith. When I pointed her to Jesus, she could not believe He existed. When I quoted the Bible, she doubted that it was true. When I suggested she simply call upon God, she could not since she was uncertain that He was real. Clearly she needed God, but I could find no place at which to begin to help her. Eventually, however, I led her into making use of her will by making a simple choice. I suggested she choose God by praying this most elementary prayer, "God, if there is a God, help me. And Jesus, if you exist, please come into my life. As best I know how I choose you." Frankly, I held little hope for any immediate results from such feeble faith, but was amazed to see that it was sufficient for her to find God! God became very real to her, and with renewed life she became a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.
So faith begins with the will. Realizing that faith begins as a volitional act, it is apparent that God has given to everyone the potential of faith. The positive use of the will, together with all the thought processes and attitudes, which follow, we call faith. The negative use of the will, together with all the thought processes and attitudes that result, we call unbelief.
Faith and unbelief are the same power in action -- the difference is simply the direction into which the power is channeled. This obviously makes unbelief as destructive as faith is constructive. This great power lies within everyone and can be used either for or against ones self.
The essential difference between the atheist and the saint is in the use of the will. The saint at one time or another was most likely plagued with similar thoughts and ideas as those which come to the atheist, but by setting his will again those thoughts and choosing instead the thoughts and ideas of God, his life is producing the fruits of faith, while the atheist reaps the harvest to which he has set his will. In lesser degrees we are all constantly making similar choices.
As every problem arises, we put this power within us into action, either constructively or destructively. We put our faith either in God or in the problem. Let me underscore this in your mind: it is the same force or power at work either for you or against yourself! It all depends upon your choice -- your will. There is no difference in essence between faith and unbelief. They are twins born from the same womb but living opposite lives.
In the long journey from Egypt to Canaan, the children of Israel illustrated the truths God wants mankind to know. In Psalm 78 God reveals His displeasure with them because of certain failures on their part, for we read in verses 19 through 22: "They spoke against God saying, Can God spread a table in the wilderness? He smote the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide meat for his people? Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob, his anger mounted against Israel; because they had no faith in God, and did not trust his saving power." Notice especially the last verse, in which the reason for God's displeasure is summarized. Two things are mentioned: "no faith in God" and "did not trust his power." In other words, they did not consider Him to be faithful or able. They were not sure He could do what He said, or if He could, they were not sure He could be trusted to do it. The author of Hebrews when referring to this wilderness experience uses the terms "rebellion," "hardening of heart," "evil, unbelieving hearts", "disobedience." All these terms suggest the use of will in deliberate opposition to God.
The Holy Spirit holds up Abraham and Sarah as examples of faith. In Psalm 78 we found God's definition of unbelief: lack of faith (unbelief) is considering God to be unfaithful and unable. God gives us a positive definition of faith in exactly opposite terms in Romans 4:21, where we read that Abraham considered God to be able and in Hebrews 11:11, in which we read that Sarah considered God to be faithful. The Holy Spirit is therefore clearly teaching us with both negative and positive examples that faith is a deliberate choice of one's will to count or reckon upon God to be faithful and able to do what He has promised. This choice of will is to be exercised in the face of the most convincing contrary evidence -- even when that evidence is found in my own feelings or convictions. "Let God be true though every man be false", (Romans. 3:4).
Indeed, from two passages in I John it is evident that if we receive any other testimony above the testimony of God, it is the same as calling Him a liar. Do we accept the testimony of our reason or feelings above that which God has declared? If so, we put our feelings and emotions above God and inadvertently call Him a liar. To call anyone a liar is to cast doubt upon the worthiness of his character. We cannot say we trust the character of a friend and at the same time say his word cannot be relied upon. Thus the respect with which we receive the word of a person reveals the measure of our judgment of his character. "Have faith in God," Jesus said. This trust in Him will be manifested in our lives by our believing and reckoning upon His Word.
Faith and Fact
Faith is only possible when resting upon a fact. It is not possible to believe something is true when in reality it is not. The Word of God is fact, and true faith is simply counting upon a fact. Faith does not make a fact true, but it depends and reckons upon a fact as being true. So often we hold the mistaken idea that we will make a word of God true by believing it. In other words, we try to believe something is true so that it might truly be so. We try to bring it into reality by believing it into existence. The concrete reality of the truth, then, depends upon my faith to create it. This makes faith a work and my faith the center of attention, No wonder we have trouble with faith! God does not call upon us for such mental gymnastics. He simply asks us to count upon a fact and what He has declared is fact whether or not I believe it. Faith, which is conscious of itself, is not faith at all. Faith is conscious only of God and His Word and therefore unconscious of itself. Our attention must be focused away from self-effort unto God and His Word.
Counting upon that which is real and true brings us into the benefits of that fact. Doubting its reality keeps us from depending upon it; therefore we do not inherit its benefits. It is as though a rich man made a deposit of $1,000,000 to the account of a poverty stricken man, and then announced that fact to him. If the poor man believes the report and begins to count on the word of the rich man, he will benefit from the rich man's gift. If he does not believe or count upon the good news, he could starve to death even though the $1,000,000 is his in all reality and fact. His believing the announcement does not make the rich man's gift a fact (that is so, regardless), but his believing the rich man's word brings the benefit of the gift, because the poor man would begin to use the money given to him. So it is with the truth of God's Word: I do not have to make it true by believing -- it is true already! It is, in fact, true whether I believe it or not, but I do not benefit from that which is true if I do not count upon it. This is the foundation of all God's dealings with mankind. "In the beginning was the Word." The word of God always comes first. He announces to us what He has already done, and as I count upon His announcement it is manifested to me according as I believe. There are three steps in receiving from God: (1) God makes an announcement (promise). (2) Man counts it to be true and continues to count upon it (faith and patience). (3) God manifests His promise to me (possession).
Faith and the Will of God
If faith is the choice of my will to reckon or depend upon a declaration of God, it obviously follows that I must have a clear word to count upon. It is impossible to have a clear faith without a clear word of God to depend upon. In other words, I must be absolutely clear as to the will of God in a given matter if I am to have a clear unhindered faith. The Word of God reveals the will of God. If I can find a promise in the Bible which directly applies to my need or a general promise which may be applied in principle, I have a solid foundation upon which to base my faith. Any so-called faith exercised when the will of God is uncertain is only wishful thinking or self-delusion. God warns, "You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions". (James 4:3).
I cannot seriously believe God will do something if there is any doubt that He wants to do it. Thus the first and most important ingredient in the faith which receives solutions to problems is to have the will of God absolutely clear. "And this is the confidence which we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will he hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of Him". (l John 5:14-15). If we ask according to His will, we already have the answer even as we pray and can therefore count upon seeing it. If I have found a word of God which makes clear His will concerning my particular problem, I can ask in full confidence that He heard and consequently I am receiving the answer even as I am praying.
Faith and Actions
Every step of faith must be followed by an act to manifest the inner faith. "Faith apart from works (actions) is dead" (James 2:26). In many of the Bible accounts of miracle faith, a definite action was required of those who were believing. For example, Moses was commanded to hold his staff over the Red Sea to open it. He struck the rock to obtain water. The Israelites had to look at the brazen serpent, to be healed. The ten lepers were to show themselves to the priest. The hemorrhaging woman touched Christ's garment. If you are trying to believe God for something, what action are you taking to manifest your faith? It may be a foolish act such as Naaman had to do to be cleansed of his leprosy. What you do is not so important as the faith that is made alive through the act. Often this act is simply the confessing with the lips the Word of God.
Faith and Words
The spoken word has power. Proverbs speaks of the tongue as having the power of life and death. Jesus taught, "Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him", (Mark 11:23). Often people claim to believe God but the confession of their mouth is continually negative and fatalistic. They incessantly overflow with problems. These people can never get free as long as they follow this practice. Whatever faith may be present in their hearts is made ineffective by their words: "For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved", (Romans. 10:10).
A man is called right because of the inner faith but he is changed through the confession of his lips. That is, the outward manifestation of the inner life comes as confession to that life is made with the lips. The inner choice of the will must be exercise upon the Word of God, and then that choice must extend to the act of speaking aloud what the will has chosen. The Word of God must find its way to the lips. What a man has chosen to believe becomes established and concrete when he hears himself saying it. Whether or not another human hears him say it is incidental. The important thing is that God and the spirits, good and evil and the man himself hear his testimony. It is easy to speak what we feel, but God wants us to speak what we have chosen to believe.
This is the way to change the feelings. As the positive Word of God is declared, my feelings are being changed into that which I am speaking. On the other hand, if I declare my negative feelings, I will more and more feel like the feeling I already have. If I declare what God says over and against my feelings, those feelings will change to harmonize with the word I am believing and declaring. The Psalmist prays, "Set a guard over my mouth. O Lord, keep watch over the door of my lips!" Do not allow your own words to destroy the faith of your heart. Speak that which God speaks. Your inward faith and outward word must be in unity. Do not allow the comfort of complaining about your circumstance when, at the same time, you are expecting God to change it. Instead, let your words be positive, in harmony with your expectations.
Faith and Patience
It may take some time until the answer to my prayer is manifested. In the meantime, I must by choice of my will count upon the clear promise or Word of God and know the answer will become visible to me as Hebrews 11:1 declares. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," or to paraphrase it: "Faith is the substance things hoped for are made of." It is possible that many of the things we pray for do not become manifest to us because we do not stay around to see the answer when it comes. It takes faith and patience to inherit the promise. The word patience here is used in the sense of endurance. I will not receive answers to my prayers unless I believe and continue to believe. This continuing to believe, the Bible calls patience or endurance: "For you have need of endurance, so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised" (Hebrews, 10:36).
As we come to God with our needs in prayer, we must remember that His interests extend beyond the mere answering of a petition. We must not lose sight of the eternal purpose of God, which is the redemption of the world. In fulfilling this purpose He deals with each individual in a personal way by building a faith-trust relationship between the individual and Himself. God has already declared that His redemption is complete in fact, and a new creation was brought to reality and into existence in His Son. The hearer of this announcement must allow that word to operate in himself through trusting in the truthfulness of God and therefore counting upon God's declaration. In so doing, the word of God becomes life in the individual, and he receives the benefits of the truth, becoming a partaker of the new creation. Thus God's statement of fact becomes the individual's personal possession and experience. He is therefore in the process of redemption.
Faith is not a mere magic genie to produce things for me, but is God's way to reproduce His life in me. The adversities, needs, and problems that come into my life and drive me to God for help are His instruments to form Christ in my personality. These problems set in motion the process of faith. God desires Jesus Christ to be formed in my conscious life; therefore, the answer is often delayed and my faith tested. It is only in the testing of faith that God's redemptive purpose can bear fruit in my life, for if I react properly to the test I will depend upon the indwelling Christ to be my strength to endure. In this way, through trusting His life within me, Christ more and more is formed in my personality. James tells us the testing of faith produces endurance, and Paul, writing to the Romans, instructs us that endurance produces character. James puts it in these words, "For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing", (James 1:3-4).
Yes, even in his apparent neglect of our prayers, God reveals His love for us. He wants us to be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing! Therefore, "count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials." Note that the apostle wrote "count it all joy". This is a word of faith, for no trial ever feels good or joyful. He does not say feel joyful but count it all joy. We may have this positive faith because through it all our character is being changed into the glorious character and life of Jesus Christ. Faith which does not ultimately produce this new creation, either in myself or someone else, is purposeless and vain. God's primary purpose is to form Christ in the human being; therefore, the highest personal benefit from faith results when it is used in cooperation with God in accomplishing His high purpose.
All that I have written here is intended to add to your understanding of the Christian walk after you have had two experiences with God. The first, obviously, is to be born again. It would be ludicrous to speak of living a life before being born. Soul healing begins in the spirit, so the spirit must be made alive by receiving Jesus Christ. The second experience, while not as obvious as the first, is the baptism with the Holy Spirit. God loves us. He is working in us the abundant life and He desires our complete healing in body, soul and spirit. To insure this work, He has not left us to your own resources. Jesus died so that the Holy Spirit could be resident within you. He is your counselor, helper, comforter and guide into all the good things you have in Jesus. He will help you to apply the principles of faith and healing that I have tried to present to you in this booklet.
Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you". (John 14:26-26). "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that He will take what is mine and declare it to you". (John 16:12-15).
"Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart." Trust Him. You cannot fail because God is on your side!
Bert Bauman
If you have any questions or would like literature on this subject I would be happy to send it to you.
I appreciate all your comments and thank you for stopping by.
Blessings
Rebecca
Rebecca, your father, and in turn you, following in his footsteps, have been given a great gift of understanding the TRUTH. Thank you for your amazing encompassing post. I love your definition of "faith", as a "deliberate choice of our will" to count upon God to do what He has promised! So Awesome!
ReplyDeleteblessings as you share God's Word and Truth!
Debra
What a great ministry, I am glad to have it to fall into. God will continue to bless you Rebecca.
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Marcie
Rebecca, I am doubly blessed to have found two of your blogs this morning. I became a new follower of both. Your Rebecca's Vintage Living blog was the first (may be others, I'm new to blogging) place that I have seen scripture proudly posted, other than on my own site that I began building a few years ago for business purposes. Kind of a contradiction in purpose, but we need to be salt and light as we go, eh? However, not always the politically or business correct or popular thing to do these days. God bless you and thank you.
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love.love.love. this... thank*u for speaking/writing this*** it is soo lovely... as is all your art work... the star you made for landons' mom was amazing... how touched i was, i can only imagine how she felt... is there a book, literature on this post? and all of the above? i love.love.love all of it... i read scripture daily & love God & all who speak like this... can i copy this...? i love seeing, reading all i can on our Heavenly Father, our beloved Jesus... when you have the time i would love some of these writings... they are just beautiful... thank*u for blessing my life... you are an earth angel... with your words & your art! hugs & blessings, vikki vwtucker@msn.com...
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