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Understanding Faith
I've alluded to this in some of my other essays; this question of Faith. So, what is it? How do we get it? How do we keep it? Like the word Grace, faith can be very confusing to the new believer. I remember, as a young Christian, when someone was making a point about faith or grace, I'd nod my head in agreement, all the while not really understanding what the words meant. First, what faith is not: Faith is not a feeling. Faith is not magic. Faith is not just available to only the super spiritual. Faith is not guessing what God wants and then believing it. Above all, faith is not the ability to accomplish something supernatural because you feel it should happen. As the Matthew 17.20
reference above demonstrates, there seems to be some great powers that
go along with faith. If this is true, it would be good to learn all we
can about faith, wouldn't it? This is a pivotal
scripture in understanding faith. It tells us faith is initiated
by God. We could extend the logic and say, if God doesn't initiate it,
it isn't 'faith'. Strong's concordance translates Rehma
this way: “that
which is or has been uttered by the living voice, thing spoken, word” To
interpret this scripture then, we might say, “Faith comes from hearing
the spoken word of God himself” I think it's fair to say, that this
does not have to be heard through sound waves. What is the use of words
anyway, but to communicate thought to another thinking person; who in
turn interprets those words, thinks about them, and hopefully applies
them to the inner person -the soul. God can bypass all the physical
transmission of his word, and if the heart and spirit are receptive,
then his word can be applied: (Romans 10.8) Faith then, has got to be
first initiated by some directive uttered by God, this allows something
supernatural to happen. The disciple Peter understood this, we see this
in his desire to walk on the water; he said to the Lord; (Mt 14:28) A question might come up:
Where is the “hearing”in having faith in some past event, take
creation for instance? Simply put, the believer will hear God in our
hearts regarding every thing past, present, future. As the Romans 10.8
reference tells us, for the believer, it is 'near' us. We can't even be
saved upon our own volition, somehow God has to speak the word of faith
in our hearts, at that point of time when we are ready for him. When we
respond, the divine transaction of salvation is accomplished. Once we
have been given his Spirit, all the other words he has said in the past
will be confirmed by his Spirit: (Heb.11:3) How then does Rehma fit
in the daily things we pray for? Simple, because God has told us
to pray in all things. Regardless weather we receive what we want or
not, we are still commanded to pray. This is absolutely his will. The
act of praying is his will; he has made this clear in scripture. We are
commanded to pray about everything. (Eph 6:18) But this does not imply
that all things we pray for are immediately available to us; it is only
when God and I agree touching the same thing, that my prayers get
answered. He has required us to pray, that is our part. However, there
are times when we pray and we receive immediate conviction that we are
praying in God's will, this is referred to as , 'the prayer of faith'.
This is a prayer where we have heard Rehma, (Jas 5:15): Notice in James 5, it says, “shall save the sick”. This means that the elders, standing and praying for the sick, must hear Rehma, how else would there be that kind of assurance? Remember what Jesus said
of the stones when he was entering Jerusalem, There was a huge
demonstration of praise from the people, this had to happen: (Lu
19:40) A careful reading of scripture will demonstrate how God's people responded to his Rehma; and you will see how they appeal to God to speak Rehma. In your study, you'll notice, sometimes the power appears to come from individuals, other times, intercession is made to God. The bible, not being a book on instruction, doesn't give us a narrative on all the subtle messages of scripture; however, if we read carefully we'll see God's people wait on the word of God, or some other manifestation of his will. I don't really know how it has evolved that modern Christians feel compelled to “step out in faith”. Where do we get this idea that the impetus of a supernatural event comes through our own will?
But, what does the
scripture say? How do we sort through all the ideas which supposedly are
supported scripturally? This is how I do it: First, as I read the bible,
and all those 'proof texts', I try to remain absolutely objective to
their meaning. Secondly, I put a value to the text I am trying to
understand. Don't worry, about the value, it's entirely subjective; a
true student of scripture is not interested in just proving a point, but
only wants to get to the truth. If your approach to debatable scripture
is honest, your values will be consistent. Be sure to read both
sides of any contradictory argument. Come to some conclusion on what
that scripture actually means, and what it's saying to the original
person that the scripture was sent to. For instance, ask yourself, 'is
this meant to be true for everyone at all times?' (I've borrowed
the following from one of my other essays) Then put questionable text to
a test of consistency: Supposedly, this is a promise that, "it is always God's will to heal"; it must then follow: we then can be confident that if we believe, then healing is promised to us, after all, they say, "God cannot lie". Using that logic, let’s use this rule on the other promises in this portion of scripture: It is always God’s will to use the Christian to heal - It is therefore, because of the same context, always Gods will that Christians speak in tongues. (Yes, it true, some Christians believe this.) It is always God’s will to use the Christian to heal - It is therefore, because of the same context, always Gods will that Christians cast out all demons whenever they encounter one. (I don’t know of any Christian who believe's this, so here there is no consistency) It is always God’s will to use the Christian to heal - It is therefore, because of the same context, always Gods will that we can presumptuously handle a serpent, and since God cannot lie, we will not be harmed by any type of snake, no matter what. Some Christians believe this, and they often demonstrate this in the Southern United States. However, this snake handling, most believe is a trick. Any animal can be calmed and distracted; but to follow this scripture to the interpreters conclusion, God’s protection must be true ‘at all times, in the worst of circumstances; like Paul and the snake shook off in the fire. (Acts 28.5) So you see, there are limitations to these verses. We can not use this portion of scripture, which is a context, to make absolute claims that healing is promised to us. Because if we apply the same rules of interpretation to the entire context, this understanding will prove false. Get your nose away from the pages a bit Finally, get your nose out of scripture; hold the scripture out at arms length! The wonderful thing about finding the truth, you don't have to be a scholar. Phd's in doctrine are a dime a dozen, regardless of the persuasion, so that's no guarantee for finding truth. Everyone's got a proof text to support what ever they want. Here's how you find if somethings out of balance: Take Tithing, the word Tithe is used twice in the New Testament; yet believers, Pastors, Professors all think it's a good idea for the Church to tithe! The Apostle Paul devoted many verses and a couple chapters to the subject of money, but he never used the word Tithe. Another example is Jesus. How much should the Church emphasis Jesus? Should we down play Jesus like the Jehovah's witnesses do? Just do a quick reading of the Epistles, Paul is talking about Jesus constantly, therefore, so should we. How many times did Paul counsel the Corinthians to cast out the demon of lust from a believer, in chapter five? None! He told the church to cast out the believer until he repented. Are you catching on? Get a feel for how the New Testament believer thought; what they emphasized; what they loved; what they hated; how they felt about women; about politics; about everything. Find these things out, and you'll be a well balanced Christian; and no one will be able to sell you some special way God works. Back to Faith Faith is easy, generally it is a
positive response to what God reveals to us. If we respond to what God
wants, we are faithful. If we don't, we are unfaithful. Do you want to
do great things for God, getting ahead of his revealed will wont help.
And here is the problem, because someone was healed in the past, does
not mean God will heal everyone. Sure, we may want it that way, but what
we want isn't was causes faith. Faith is not God responding to our
wants, faith is our responding to what God wants. There is a huge
difference. When I was very young, but feeling very spiritual, I went to
the top of a nearby mountain and began praying. I looked across a valley
to an adjacent mountain and spoke to the mountain. "Be removed into
the sea". I spoke the same three times, nothing happened!
(Matt.17.20) I finally saw that "all
faith" is the size of a mustard seed. It's as simple as planting
the word (Rehma) of God in our hearts and watching it grow into what God
wants. It's only when his Rehma says "Moses, put forth thy rod in
the sea", will the sea part........or the mountain be moved. 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." For
your own peace sake, I hope you see that this scripture is no basis for
any such promise. If you are still not convinced, see the Isaiah scripture
quoted by Peter:(1Pe 2:24-25) And see how Isaiah uses 'healed' in
another place: (Isa 6:10) When my wife and I were newly converted, our church told us the scriptures proved that our physical healing was assured since “healing was in the atonement”. We were under the impression for a long time, but logically, this does not make sense: Our hair grows gray; our teeth decay; our joints get stiff; and sooner or later we die. Clearly, what my wife and I were taught, was counter intuitive; yet, since we believed something to be Rehma when it wasn't, we were living out a misunderstanding of faith. This caused us much frustration and anxiety. Once we understood faith, it was a relief. We found that healing no longer depended on us, but on God's will. Though we still wonder why God answers some prayers and not others, we've learned to simply do our job and pray (and sometimes fast), then rest knowing we've done what was required of us. We learned that God can be trusted with what we don't understand.
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