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| Image courtesy of renjith krishnan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
Have you ever thought much about “your” faith? Do I hear you saying that you do not have faith? Are you saying that you never get anything when you ask God for it? Let me assure that you do have faith.
We all have faith. When we step into an elevator, we have faith that it will go up or down according to which button we’ve activated. We don’t know all about the inner workings of elevators, but we all have faith that they will work. That kind of faith is natural faith; and we all have it to one degree or another.
When it comes to supernatural faith, or faith towards God, we all have that too. Yes, that’s right, we all have it. You cannot even get saved if you don’t have faith. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1KJV
Here’s another fact, we all have the same amount of faith. I know that is true because it says so in the Bible. As Christians, the Bible is the final authority for us on everything pertaining to life and godliness. “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness; through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:” 2 Corinthians 1:3 KJV
According to that verse, God has given us everything we need for dealing with whatever happens in our lives on this earth; as well, he has given us everything we need for dealing with our Christian lives. So whether we are dealing with things in the secular world or in the Christian world (or the spiritual realm, because that is the arena in which we live out our lives), God has given us everything we need which includes faith. “For I say, through
the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” Romans 12:3 KJV
We see then, by the scripture of Romans 12:3 above that every man has been dealt the measure of faith. That little word “the” tells us that we each have the same amount of faith.
Why is it then that some people seem to have tons of faith and get everything that they believe and ask of God; and some folks don’t seem to ever get their prayers answered?
Let’s first define faith and see if we can get a clearer picture of just what faith is; and then we may be able to understand why there appears to be different levels of faith. Now, we need to remember that “the Bible is the final authority on everything pertaining to “life and godliness” according to 2 Corinthians 1:3KJV which is printed out above in paragraph 3. We also need to let the Bible interpret itself, otherwise we get out into the area of man’s opinion; and God’s opinion is what we want to live by. “But he answered and said, It is written, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4 KJV
According to the Dictionary.com faith is:
1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability 2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/faith?s=t
According to the Bible in Hebrews 11:1 KJV: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.” KJV To sum that up, faith (which was given to us by God in the measure) is the substance, (or the stuff, the nothing out of which HE makes things) that we hope for. The fact that we have that faith (which God gave to us) is the evidence (or the proof of) the things that are not seen (yet).
How do we activate that faith or get it really working for us? It is a simple process, but it is not necessarily easy. One way faith is activated is by praising God for doing that thing which hasn’t been done yet. That is using the creative power of the Father. You are talking about something which you have not yet seen in this physical world.
Here’s is how the Bible says it further, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Hebrews 11:3 KJV; and another translation says, “By faith—by believing God—we know that the world and the stars—in fact, all things—were made at God’s command; and that they were made from nothing!” Hebrews 11:3 LNT
Stop and think for a moment, when you pray and ask for something, do you say aloud or to yourself, “I may not get healed.” Or “maybe I am asking for something sinful.” No question about it, that is not faith but it is doubt. Doubt can surely hinder your faith.
God always wants you well: “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” 1 Peter 2:24 KJV ; and if you are saved, you have the spirit of Christ, you can’t ask sinfully: “But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” Romans 8:9-10 KJV
You can make your faith stronger, but I do not believe you will ever have more faith. Look at Luke chapter 10:2-10, and you will find the account of the centurion whose servant was sick unto death. He sent word to the elders of the Jews to have Jesus come and heal his servant. Jesus went with the elders, but before he arrived at the centurion’s house he sent word out that he didn’t count himself worthy for Jesus to come to his house, or him to go to Jesus. His friends told Jesus that the centurion said for Jesus to just say a word and his servant would be healed. This centurion understood authority and all he needed from was for Jesus to speak healing over his servant. When Jesus heard that, He said to the crowd, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” (v. 9) They were sent back to the house and found the servant completely whole.
I believe that by great faith Jesus meant strong faith. Strong faith comes when we believe and do not have doubt in our hearts.
Doubt is natural; faith is supernatural. You can strengthen your faith by reading the Word, listening to preaching that is based on the Word of God, by speaking God’s Word aloud over your circumstance, and by speaking in tongues. All the while you are doing that, you are killing your doubt. If you spend your time thanking and praising the Lord for what he has done for you, and praise him for what he is going to do, if you speak his word over your situation, your doubt won’t have a chance to rear its ugly head.
Remember, you are more than a conqueror. “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” Romans 8:37 KJV
I could go on and on, but I won’t. Here is a list of scriptures particularly related to healing.
Isaiah 55:11; 1 Peter 2:24; Matthew 8:17; Galatains 3:13; Janes 4:7; Ephesians 6:12; 2 Corinthians 10:4; Psalm 91:1; Psalm 91:10; Psalm 34:7; 2 Timothy 1:7; Hebrews 4:12,14; Proverbs 4:22; Romans 8:2; Ephesians 6:11,16; Psalm 112:7 ; also check out this article by Andrew Wommack—“God Wants You Well” http://www.awmi.net/extra/article/wants_well
Have a great day; and remember who and Whose you are.
Brenda Quimby Smith
"Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy." Jude v. 24
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