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You might wonder how faith could be
an idol. It is subtle. That is why we are referring to these articles as
OUR SUBTLE IDOLS.
When I was sixteen years old, I was
very committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Committed, but ignorant. It was
after school and I was at home in the little two-room house where my mother
and I lived. On my knees I prayed to God, Please, Lord, I just want to
know that I do have faith. You said if I had the faith of a grain of
mustard seed, I could say to a mountain, Be
thou removed and it would be done. I just want you to rock this
rocking chair that sits in front of me. Just rock it so I will know that I
have faith and that will satisfy me.
I prayed. I cried most earnestly.
I begged. I pleaded. I waited. But the rocking chair would not move. Did
it show that I lacked faith? If I could have mustered up more faith, would
the chair have rocked? What was wrong? What did I lack? I was sincere. I
knew what the Scriptures said. I did believe, I really did. Why then would
the chair not move?
So many times I had heard and even
been taught that if you have enough faith, if you believe strongly enough,
any thing is possible. After all, doesnt the Scripture tell us, If
thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.?
When you add to that what all the gurus of salesmanship were saying, it
seemed that it was a defect in me that the chair did not rock. Napoleon
Hill, Earl Nightingale, and others were teaching salesmen the key to making
sales: simply believe strongly enough and you will prosper.
This produced a number of people who
had FAITH IN FAITH. They believed in believing, not necessarily in
God, just in having faith. There is only one problem with this theory: IT
SIMPLY IS NOT TRUE. Of course the Word of God is true; however, you
must take the whole counsel of God
and not just a piece of it. What is the true teaching of Scripture
regarding faith?
We will not have time nor space to
give a thorough teaching on the subject, but here are some basics:
- Faith is a gift. (Matthew 11:22
Have faith in God. {or,
Have the faith of God} margin note
of KJV; 2Thessalonians 3:2 for all men
have not faith; Acts 3:16 And
his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see
and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this
perfect soundness in the presence of you all. A.T. Robinson
said of this verse, it was through Jesus, the
object of faith and the source of it. And Paul said, God
hath dealt to every man (who has believed in Jesus)
the measure of faith. And again, each man should serve according
to the proportion of faith that he was given.
- Faith comes from hearing the Word of God.
Romans 10:17 Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word (Rhema) of
God. The Word is the message or the spoken Word of God.
Example: There was a man whose right hand
was withered. He had never stretched forth his hand in his
life, but Jesus said to the man, Stretch
forth thy hand. And he did so:
and his hand was restored whole as the other. With the
command of His Word (Rhema) comes the power to obey that word, or the
faith to act in obedience to that Word. By
faith Noah
prepared an ark to
the saving of his house. You could build an ark by faith, the
same faith spoken of by Hill and Nightingale, but would such a faith save
you and your household? I think not. Gods Word (Rhema) was not spoken
to you to build an ark, even if YOU think it is a good idea.
- Faith is not the cause but the response to what
God said. When Joseph received the Word of God by the dream he had,
that dream, the Word (Rhema) of God, carried him through to Gods intended
purpose. Joseph had so many trials, but Joseph knew that the
Lord was with him because of his faith that came from the Word
(Rhema) of God. Joseph simply responded in each situation according to
the faith that was given him by the dream (the Word of God to him).
So, going back to the rocking chair,
why wouldnt it rock?
- First of all, the faith I was exercising was
based on my idea and my word. It was a self-generated faith.
- Secondly, God did not tell me to say to this
rocking chair, Be thou rocked. It was my idea, not His. I was trying to
be in control as I thought best. There is only One Who is in control.
- Thirdly, had God said that to me, I would
simply have said, Be thou rocked and it would rock and if God so willed,
it would be rocking to this day. As it was, nothing happened because all
faith comes from hearing the Word
(Rhema) and not from trying to believe enough.
The Greek word to hear is within
the Greek word to obey. The idea is that you cant obey God if you
havent heard from God. My sheep hear my
voice and they follow me. Man
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
(Rhema) that proceedeth out of the mouth
of God. Behold, I stand at the
door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will
come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
When God speaks His Word into your
heart, you will have faith generated by that Word. If He calls you to a
foreign mission field, to a ministry in your church, to be a witness to
someone, or just what is your next step, that Word will be so strong in you
that you will work hard to accomplish it in His power. Even as Paul said, I
worked harder than all of them-- yet not I, but the grace of God that was
with me. Even working it out is relying on Him: Be
strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
When it comes to your present
circumstances, you may think that because you are behind in your bills, or
you dont seem to have enough for what you want to do, etc. you must not
have enough faith. That is not necessarily the case.
When troubles come (and they will)
if faith honors God, it also puts sinews into man; as great ocean liners
have stabilizers for foul weather, so faith gives the apparently frail ship
of God its even keel in the stormy ocean of a chaotic world.
The life of faith, however, has an uncomfortable shock for comfort-loving
flesh. The history of the early church, the testimony of the apostles, gives
no ground for equating earthly prosperity with Christian discipleship; and
we have learned through these years that a life of faith by no means gives
over-abundance or even simply an abundance. It is much more of a shoestring
walk. Those who have not actually walked this way but have theoretical ideas
about it seem surprised and suspect that a person lacks faith if all that is
needed does not pour in as a continuous stream.
The truth is that the true reward of
faith is not material supplies, but Christ as its treasure both in ourselves
and transmitted to others. This is the abundance and superabundance we seek,
and which the New Testament promises.
There have been many people of God
who lost everything in this world and some by an immediate choice to do so.
Reading Hebrews chapter eleven it seem to me this is both Scriptural and
logical: ''choosing rather to suffer
affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a
season''; ''esteeming the reproach
of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt''; ''strangers
and pilgrims.'' After all, Jesus said, my
kingdom is not of this world''
Again, I am not trying to get you to
examine yourself, NO, NO, NO. Examine His sufficiency in your situation.
Be so set on seeking first the kingdom of
God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
For a man's life consisteth not in the
abundance of the things which he possesseth. For this
is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
So we must stay in His Word (Logos)
that we might have a keen ear to hear His Word (Rhema). For His voice
(Rhema) will not contradict His Word (Logos). So In
all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. We
are not to keep our eyes on our faith (examining ourselves and
turning to an idol)
but we are to fix our eyes on Jesus,
the author and perfecter of our faith.
Dear
children, keep yourselves from idols.
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