Faith

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Heb. 11:1).

When you wake up in the dark...and you have to go to the bathroom...and you can't see the floor through the darkness...what do you do?

You put your feet down in faith that the floor will still be there...and you walk across the floor you can't see, believing that with each step, your foot will come down on your floor...until you reach the light switch. You walk on faith.

Then you reach for the light switch in the darkness... believing that it will be there. You flip it on, trusting that the electricity you can't see will come rushing through the wires to provide you light. You reach out in faith.

It's midnight. You can't see the sun. But you believe that it will be there in the morning when you get out of bed. You take it on faith.

So why is it so hard to believe in God? Or to believe the words He speaks to us?

To have faith is to "believe God".

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:8).

"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Rom. 10:9).

"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12).

To have faith is to believe God. When you believe God it is credited to you as righteousness (Gen. 15:6).
 

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." (Heb. 11:6).

Why is it so hard, even for Christians sometimes, to have faith?

How do we know we're saved the very instant we accept Jesus as our Savior? Quite often, we don't feel any different. Many times, we don't see any difference...at first. Yet, we believe we're saved. Why? Because God tells us that if we have faith in His Son, we have eternal life. (John 3:16)

"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God."
(John 1:12,13).

We trust what God says about it. If He says we're saved, then we're saved...because He said so! Not because of anything we've done. It's when we start really believing we're saved that we start feeling different...and seeing the difference.

It's different for everyone. It's like getting into a swimming pool on a hot summer day. Some just jump right in. The moment they receive their salvation they are different! Others may stick in a toe or a foot to test the water. They have enough faith to accept their salvation...to stick in a toe...but they may not know enough to understand exactly what it is they are believing.

They are just as saved, but the Holy Spirit has to build their faith up a little and teach them a little before they start to feel different. Not too many of us are spiritual giants the moment we accept Jesus.

The disturbing thing is that, all too often, faith stops at salvation. We have faith that we're saved. And salvation is all you need, in a sense.If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, you don't have to believe He can heal you in order to be saved. But He can.

If you have accepted Him as your Savior, you don't have to believe He can provide all your needs in order to be saved. But He can.

If you have accepted Him as your Savior, you don't have to believe He can do anything else in order to be saved. But He can do it all.

The only person that's missing out is you! Actually, that's not entirely true. He is missing out too! How? Because He wants you to depend on Him. He wants to pour out His blessings and favor on you! The problem is that because of our lack of faith, He can't!

Allow me to clarify that statement. God can do anything. But if He lays down a blessing on the table for you to pick up...and you don't have the faith to pick it up and receive it...it sits on the table unused. You're out of a blessing and God sits there wondering what it's gonna take to get through to you. He won't force it on you because He's a gentleman. We keep ourselves in bondage because of our lack of faith!

When you get sick who do you turn to? The doctor.

When there is no food in the cabinet or the fridge, who do you turn to? The government. Friends. Family. Strangers on the street.

When the light bill is due and you have no money, who do you turn to when they come to turn off the lights? Nobody. You let them turn off the lights.

If you work for a living, who do you depend on to provide for you? Your employer. But if you lose that job, who do you depend on then? The unemployment office. And when that runs out, you turn to the government for food, let the electric company turn off your lights and you keep looking for another employer that will provide for you for as long as they will allow you to work for them.

We depend on everyone but God. But...
 

"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." (John 14:12)

Take a look, if you will at the following account...

"So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook." (1 Kings 17:5,6)

"Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food." So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, "Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?" As she was going to get it, he called, "And bring me, please, a piece of bread."

"As surely as the Lord your God lives," she replied, "I don't have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die."

Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.'

She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah." (1 Kings 17:9-16).

Elijah, the widow and her son ate for three years off of one tiny handful of flour and just enough oil to make one tiny little cake of bread. (1 Kings 18:1).

Then there's this story...

"The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves."

Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?"

"Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil."

Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side."

She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one."

But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing.She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left."" (2 Kings 4:1-7).

The poor widow that was so deeply in debt ended up having enough oil to sell that she, not only paid off the debts, but had enough left ...not just herself, but for herself and her sons...to live off of.

The Red Sea parted for Moses and his people (Ex. 14:21-22).

There are so many healings and so many people being raised from the dead throughout the Bible, that we should have no question about whether God can or will heal.

Jesus fed five thousand men, "besides women and children", with five loaves and two fish. (Matt. 14:13-21).

"They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over." (Vs. 20).

Then in chapter 15 of Matthew, he turns around and feeds four thousand more with seven loaves and a few small fish.

People part rivers and walk across on dry land. (Peter walked on top of the water!).

A handful of soldiers defeating entire armies.

A child defeating a heavily armed giant with a rock.

Fire from heaven consuming a few hundred false prophets, along with their water-soaked offerings.

The earth actually rotating backwards (2 Kings 20:9,10).

Birds bringing people food. Money from the mouth of a fish. Food that not only doesn't get consumed, but increases. A talking donkey. Dead
people living. Sick people being healed. A guy disappearing from one place and suddenly popping up in another (Acts 8:39-40). Demons fleeing. Storms that just simply stop. Hungry lions that don't eat meat (when it happened to be a man of God). Guys that don't burn up in fire, even when the guys that throw them in the furnace are consumed by it.

And the biggest of all...a God that loves us enough to call us righteous (through His Son) when we're not.

And still, we don't have faith.

I hate the thought of getting to heaven and seeing Jesus for the first time and hearing these words...

"You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" (Matt. 14:31).

I'm sure it will be said in love...maybe even with a smile as He reaches out to touch me. But I sure can't stand the thought that He may have a reason to ask me that question. He tries so hard to tell us... to show us...and we try so hard not to listen or to see.

Do you know what God said to Moses when the Red Sea was at his back and the Egyptian army breathing in his face?

"Then the Lord said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on." " (Ex. 14:15).

Or put another way...

"Why are you crying out to me? Move on! Just do it! I'm here! Have faith! Quit your whining and move in faith! C'mon, child, get the lead out! Remember who's in charge! I gotcha covered! Move!"

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

 And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matt. 6:25-34).

How much faith is enough? Faith the size of a mustard seed is all it takes. And just like in chapter 14 of Matthew, when Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish and made them enough to feed five thousand men, He can take that little mustard seed of faith and make it enough...with plenty left over!

"I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." (Matt. 17:20).

We don't have to live this life in bondage. All we need is a little faith. Even if it's just the size of a mustard seed...