I am sure many of us have intuition - where we feel something will happen and its happened that way. But Faith is different in Christian walk with God. Faith is different from the Intuition that you have, Faith is to trust in the name of Jesus of what you believe with a hope and assurance that we will get, even before the things happen. The definition of Christian faith is given in Hebrews 11:1 (NIV) - 'Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. '
As we walk with God every day, Faith is one important fabric of Christian life, without faith we cannot please God Hebrews 11:6 (NIV) - '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. '
Faith is connected to many disciplines of our Christian life to make it more effective ,to see the glory of God. Faith is amplified in the package. See what Paul writes to Timothy 1 Timothy 6:11-12 (NIV) 'But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
For us to fight a good fight of Faith we need Righteousness / Godliness / Endurance and Gentleness, this is the faith package, so what are all the other disciplines that are connected with Faith ?
Disciplines connected with Faith
Sanctification & Faith
Lets look at one examples from Scripture how Holiness and Faith go hand in hand. Look at a person named Samson, he was blessed by the Lord and the spirit of the Lord made him mighty and powerful that he tore a lion apart with his bare hands
Samsons birth and blessing - Judges 13:24-25 (NIV) 'The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.'
Samsons power manifested thought the spirit of the Lord - Judges 14:5-6 (NIV) 'Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. '
When you read Judges 14/15 - it give you the many powers that he did which Glorified God’s might. When you come to Judges 16, His unholy act to go with a prostitute and spend the night with her, because of his unholy alliance with Delilah, he lost his eyes. Judges 16:1,4-6,16-17,21 (NIV) - 'One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.” So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.” With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it. So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.” Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison. '
After he lost his eyes, he lost the power of the Lord, it was due to the unholy act of him falling for the prostitute and later to Delilah.
Lesson for us
Our walk with Jesus, we need to ensure our personal life should be sanctified with God to ensure our Faith in Jesus is stronger and more powerful.
Prayer and Fasting & Faith
Ephesians 6:16-18 (NIV) - 'In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. '
Paul teaches the armour of God to protect against the spiritual battle, for us to have our faith be more strong he asks us to use “Shield of Faith” .. He advices us to “pray in the Spirit on all occasions”
We must pray for our own Faith. Faith is effective only when we are aligned to God’s will - 1 John 5:14-15 (NIV) 'This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. '
Bible Meditation & Faith
Romans 10:17 (NIV) - 'Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. '
Hearing the message “Voice of God”
Message is heard through the word - “Comes from Repeated Mediation of the word”
Two hands of a Christian — Left hand: Shield of Faith / Right hand: Sword of the Spirit (Word of God), Together these are called “armour of righteousness” 2 Corinthians 6:7 (NIV) - 'in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; '
Bible Meditation helps us develop faith and Faith in Jesus helps us meditate the Bible more. i.e. sustained by a walk according to God’s Word of Righteousness
If we neglect God’s Word, Nothing else can inspire our faith
Witnessing & Faith
2 Corinthians 4:13 (NIV) 'It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, '
Here Paul believed the spirit of God leading him, he demonstrated as a living witness for God, so that thru his actions Faith can advance the Gospel
The more we share the Gospel, greater will be our assurance in the power of the Gospel and understanding!
Faith increases when we share our testimony and be a witness for God.
Charity & Faith
James 2:14-17 (NIV) - 'What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. '
faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead
Faith cannot be seen ... Only “works” can be seen, here Paul illustrates the Good works of us thru charity giving to others.
Jesus demonstrated this in his life where he was a friend of sinners / people of leprosy / he did miracles to the poor to feed them from which there were scores of people who were touched by his action to turn to follow him.
Same way if we do good works thru our actions our faith increases, its like one supplementing each other, our good works increasing faith and faith increasing good work.
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