"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you…Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Matthew 7:7-11
Receiving everything as a gift from God is a fundamental activity of faith.
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24
One of the effects of sin is a reluctance to receive anything as a gift. This is because pride makes us want to accomplish things ourselves so that the credit will go to us. But the truth is that everything we have is a gift of God.
What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it,
why do you boast as if you did not receive it? 1 Corinthians 4:7
Freely receiving and giving is the active disposition of faith in God.
You received without paying; give without pay. Matthew 10:8
4. Worshipping and Serving
True faith does not exploit God. Rather it worships and serves Him, honouring Him for his lordship and goodness
You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve. Matthew 4:10
The words for ‘worship’ and ‘service’ in the Bible are the same. If we truly worship God we will serve Him, and our service is the expression of our worship.
Faith is simple and child-like
Hearing and believing, trusting and obeying, asking and receiving, worshipping and serving. We do not need to be clever, religious or self-righteous to have faith. By contrast, to have faith is to become like a little child with his or her Father.
And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. Mark 10:13-16
Rod James
Permission is given to copy in this form. Bible quotations are from the English Standard Version.
June 2007
The attributes and activities of
Faith
Recently I took the funeral of a 94 year old saint. Throughout her life she knew and loved God and would talk about Him often. As a young girl of eight she used to get out of bed early on Sunday morning and take herself off to a nearby cathedral for worship. She would return without her parents even knowing she had gone.
The question presents itself: ‘What was this faith that she had, and where did it come from? A number of thoughts suggest themselves to us:
· Perhaps to be a person of faith you need the intellectual capacity to sift through all the religious ideas and practices of our time and, having evaluated them, to come to a considered view as to what is the truth. Those who do not have that capacity just find it all too confusing.
· Or perhaps faith in God is an inherent human attribute that some people are born with that makes them ‘religious’—a sort of sixth sense. Those who are not ‘religious’ just don’t have that dimension to their being.
· Or perhaps some people are just ‘good’ in a moral sense, and are able to relate to God and His commandments without being crushed by their own evil, failure and guilt. Those who are not ‘good’ give it a go but just cannot live up to what is required of them and so they fall away.
If any or all of these ideas are true then faith is for those who are ‘cut out for it’, and it is just too bad if you are not made that way.
Thankfully that is not the way faith is explained in the Bible. The Bible says that faith is pleasing to God (Hebrews 11:6), so let us look more closely at the nature and activities of biblical faith.
1. Hearing and Believing
Hearing plays a big part in what the Bible says about how we come to know and trust God.
· In anguish God said of His people,
Oh, that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways! Psalm 81:13
· God’s voice spoke out of a cloud saying,
"This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!" Luke 9:35
· And Jesus said, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."
The Bible says that faith, quite simply, comes from hearing.
So faith comes from hearing,
and hearing through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17
Faith is based on what the Bible calls ‘the word of God’—God loves us and so He speaks to us. His word is a revealing and penetrating word that encompasses
· who He is,
· who we are and why He made us,
· how things are between Him and us,
· and what He has done for us in Jesus.
This word is variously called ‘the word of God’, ‘the word of the Lord’, ‘the word of Christ’, ‘the word of his grace’, ‘the word of the gospel’, ‘the word of the cross’, ‘the word of truth’, ‘the word of life’, and ‘the word of faith’.
So faith comes from hearing this word of God’s grace and truth and believing God. The Bible says that ‘It is impossible for God to lie’ (Hebrews 6:18).
God is not man, that he should lie,
or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? Numbers 23:19
God stakes His whole character and integrity on being faithful to His word. Reality is about relationships, and relationships are based on being true to your word. Over and over Jesus said, “Truly, truly I say to you…” God relates to us by speaking to us in His word. We relate to God by believing His word, or by doubting His integrity.
Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 1 John 5:10
The first human beings fell into sin and guilt when they did not believe God’s word. Even so, when we believe God’s word of grace we receive His forgiveness and cleansing, and receive the gift of His Holy Spirit who gives us assurance, joy and power.
Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Galatians 3:2
2. Trusting and Obeying
Because we are ‘sinners’ our default reactions to any stress, pain or need are guilt, fear, anger and pride. Sin has damaged our view of God so that we do not know Him as He really is. When we hear God’s word of grace and believe Him, the Holy Spirit can begin to teach us a new default mode of living. (It is not really new because it is the way things were at the beginning and the way things were always meant to be).
This ‘new’ way of living is the way of trusting and obeying, which go together. We can only obey God’s commandments and His leadings by trusting God and not ourselves. For example, the Bible says that God has called us to a life that is holy and blameless, but it is God who, in His faithfulness, may be trusted to do this in us.
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
Trust that does not obey God is a lifeless, empty thing.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves…For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. James 1:22, 2:26
To trust and obey God is to build your life on a solid foundation.
"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Matthew 7:24
When the Holy Spirit dwells in us He continually gives us promptings and leadings. When we trust God and obey these promptings and leadings we find ourselves walking in the Spirit and not fulfilling the desires of our fleshly nature.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh…If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16,25
3. Asking and Receiving
One of the things God says to us, which we need to hear and do, is his command to ask:
Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:23-24
By asking God for what we need we are honoring him as our heavenly Father. Jesus said,