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The Amish Voice 10
the One who provides us with the
forgiveness of our sins and the gift of
everlasting life. This type of faith involves
giving up on the idea that you can do
anything on your own to earn your way
into heaven. It is letting go of self,
renouncing sin in your life, and turning
your life completely over to Jesus Christ. It
is not the same as believing in George
Washington, in that it is beyond just head
knowledge; it is believing with your heart.
Consider the following scripture:
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
(Romans 10:9).
When your level of faith goes from the
head to your heart, it means you believe
with all your being that Jesus Christ and
His grace alone can save you from sin and
hell. You can add nothing! He paid it all!
It is finished! When you, by faith, believe
that, you are born again.
Four Levels of Faith
Believers can have:
No faith
(Read Mark 4:35-41).
In this passage, we read about a storm that
arose one evening as the disciples traveled
on the sea. Jesus was sleeping in the stern
of the ship, but the rain storm was so
terrible that the disciples woke Jesus and
cried,
“Master, carest thou not that we
perish?”
(Mark 4:38).
The question revealed their lack of faith in
God. Accordingly, Jesus responded,
“Why
are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no
faith?”
(Mark 4:40).
It is important for us to understand the
following two things about this occasion:
1.
Right before stepping into the ship that
evening, Jesus had been teaching his
disciples about the power of God. He had
gone to great lengths to instruct them about
God’s Word being like a seed and to act on
that Word; then He gave them a test to see
if they had learned anything.
2.
Before they entered the ship, Jesus made it
clear in verse 35:
“Let us pass over unto
the other side.”
He didn’t tell them to
drown halfway across. The Creator of the
sea told them to go to the other side. If they
had understood what He had been teaching
them, they could have put faith in His
Word and have gotten to the other side by
placing their faith in His Word. They didn’t
need to awaken Him.
Like them, whenever we begin to question
whether or not God cares about us at all,
we show our lack of faith.
Believers can have:
Little faith
(Read Matthew 16:5-10).
The disciples, who had seen Jesus feed
5,000 people and then 4,000 more
(Matthew 16:9-10), were still concerned
about physical provision. Christ responded,
“
O ye of little faith, why reason ye among
yourselves, because ye have brought no
bread
?” (Matthew 16:8).
Jesus was speaking of spiritual things and
not carnal things. The disciples were
carnal, not spiritual, and therefore missed
His point (1 Corinthians 2:14). How do we
become spiritual? In this verse, Jesus
linked their hardened hearts to “little faith.”
It is only through faith that we can become
spiritually minded. How does faith come?
Romans 10:17 shows that faith comes
through hearing God’s Word.
Believers can have:
Great faith
(Read Matthew 8:5-8).
When Jesus met the centurion, it was the
perfect opportunity to teach the disciples
about great faith. The centurion asked Jesus
to heal his paralyzed servant, and he trusted
Jesus’ word that it would be done. The
centurion didn’t need signs or evidence of
Jesus’ power. For that reason, Jesus said,
“Verily, I say unto you, I have not found so
great faith, no, not in Israel”
(Matthew
8:10).
Like the centurion, we exhibit great faith
when we take Jesus at His word and trust
Him so completely that we don’t require a
sign that He will fulfill His promises to us.
Believers can have:
Failing faith
(Read Luke 22:31-32).
Unfortunately, all of us falter at one point
or another. Before it ever happened, Jesus
predicted that even Simon Peter would
experience a faith failure. In verses 31-32,
the Lord said:
“Simon, Simon, behold,
Satan hath desired to have you, that he may
sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for
thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou
art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”
I need to remind each one of us that there
are forces challenging our faith, and
sometimes we will fail to trust God. Thank
God that He is a God of second, third, and
many more chances. Even when we fail
and lose faith in His promises, we are
always welcome to return to the Lord and
seek His forgiveness. Our heavenly Father
will even allow us to teach others about His
unfailing faithfulness.
Why is Faith Necessary and Why Did
God Make It a Christian Requirement?
The primary reason the Father wants us to
have great faith is because we respond to
Him in proportion to how much we trust
Him. If we have great faith, He can entrust
us with projects that will have a greater
impact for His kingdom. Secondly, if the
Christian faith did not require any faith at
all, we would become stagnant in our walk
with God and stop searching for a greater
understanding of who He is.
Dear believer, always remember:
...we walk
by faith, not by sight
(2 Corinthians 5:7)
.
We cannot even begin the journey God has
in mind for us if we do not have saving
faith. There is a terrible gap between
intellectual faith and saving faith, and that
gap can only be bridged by letting go of
self righteousness and falling into God’s
Christianity: Faith or By Sight?
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