Many of us would probably say we are realists. If our five senses are engaged we will go with what they tell us and not branch out any further. But, being a realist can take you only so far and will leave you short of the faith factor. Faith goes beyond any of the tangible things that we usually depend on.
Where does faith come from anyway? The Word of God says in Romans 10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.” So if faith comes by hearing the Word, what should we, if are believers, be doing? We should be studying, memorizing and listening to the Word of God.
But before you start doing these things I think it would be a good idea to ask the Holy Spirit to teach you, to enlighten you and to remove any obstacles that would hinder your learning process and to help you see and hear with eyes and ears of faith and to bring every truth back to you that you learn when you need them. Without a good knowledge of the Word we will be hard pressed to reach the faith factor. I think when we pray for whatever we need, or want to take place, in the spiritual realm it would be helpful if we know the promises of God but how can we if we don’t know what they are.
The Word of God also tells us in Hebrews 11:1 what faith is, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is going beyond man’s natural inclinations. I believe every born-again believer has a measure of faith, but it has to be developed to be a stronger faith. I say this is because if you are a believer you have to believe that God exists and that takes faith which was given to you by the Lord before you could be converted.
Many believers will say, if asked, that they have a lot of faith but this is what bothers me. Jesus said in Luke 17:6, “The Lord answered, ‘If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you!” If you know anything about the mustard seed you realize it is the smallest seed in the world. So why do so many believers worry and stress over so many things? Why do we have a tendency to think certain circumstances and situations are hopeless, can’t God do the impossible regardless of the situation? When Satan attacks us with disease or whatever he brings against us, don’t we have the authority in Jesus’ name to rebuke these things?
Have you ever tried speaking healing into your body when you are sick? The Word says in Isaiah 53:5, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” I am not trying to say I have this faith thing down to a tee. I have prayed for healing in my body and have been miraculously healed of asthma, I have also been healed of Macular Degeneration in my eyes and I had no idea I was healed until the doctor told me I didn’t have it any more, praise God. But I have prayed many times for other things to be healed and they haven’t been yet.
Now this is where I see the problem, we pray and pray and nothing happens then doubt creeps in and we start praying repetitiously not really believing anything is going to happen and it doesn’t. Now this can happen in any area of our lives. When we pray for something for a while and it doesn’t happen we get desperate and try to make it happen on our own. We wouldn’t say it, but it is true, then Satan can whisper in our ear, “the Lord is not going to answer your prayers you might as well forget it,” and then we start getting our eyes off Jesus and become our own means to accomplish whatever it was we were praying for.
When that happens, doubt takes precedence over faith and we end up in a situation where we can only talk about having faith but not really having much. Then instead of having our eyes on Jesus we have them on our circumstances and situations and how we can figure them out for ourselves.
I think of Peter, when he got out of the boat to walk to Jesus. He was happy and started out with a lot of faith but then a terrible thing happened, he took his eyes off Jesus and looked at what was going on around him. He became very frightened and started to sink but when he cried out to the Lord to save him, Jesus did. In Matthew 14:31 it says, “Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
And what about Elijah, God used him in mighty ways performing many miracles through him and the next thing we hear he is running for his life because he was afraid of Jezebel, King Ahab’s wife, when she threatened to have him killed. Couldn’t God have protected him? Of course He could, but when fear and doubt are present, faith is hard to be found.
What we need to take hold of here is to never give up believing and keep holding on to faith. No matter what we face or pray for, God is able to provide. So let’s keep our eyes on Jesus, trusting Him to meet our needs. God bless and have a great day. And don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord!
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