Faith
Yes, we have become a faithless and perverse generation. Faith should be radical. You know me, I believe
in the latter rain outpouring - this is radical faith. Radical faith and conservative faith are on opposite sides of faith. Radical faith will have signs and wonders following and will serve as a witness to the unbelievers and will be experiential. A view that would hold on to both is neither hot nor cold but luke-warm. Jesus was not conservative with his faith, or His compassion, or his grace, or His love for us. He did not hold back or show partiality but "He laid His hands on every one of them, and healed them." Jesus did not condemn those with little faith but He did remind them of the fact. A conservative faith is in smug self-satisfaction where nothing more is needed. I know from experience that those that are slain in the spirit arise in humility not pride, not arising with a deeper revelation but in the thirst for more faith in awe of the power. It is the purpose here to stimulate our faith so that when Jesus comes, there will be faith on the earth and we will be ready to meet Him. I remember a prophecy about living waters and that we have become broken vessels that can hold no water. Do not be conservative with your faith, release it in abundance and do not despise those that experience the power.
We are not to put faith in this world. What does it mean to not be of this world anyway? It simply means that we are citizens of heaven. In heaven's world there is no sickness, no death, no tears, sorrow, oppression, hatefulness or denominationalism, in short it is a perfect world of love with the perfect King in charge. We are not to put our faith in this world or its worldly leaders, fleshly desires, material trappings and especially we are not to be lacking in the faith that would lead us into the wisdom of this world.
As I checked my web site logs this morning, I saw that someone from a Catholic site had come to visit me. I went there and there was a survey that asked when did you come to the Catholic faith. I mean how many faiths are there? Is there a Catholic faith and a Protestant faith and a pentecostal faith and a mormon faith, presbyterian faith, methodist faith? No matter where I go with all this, it must be toward the true faith, faith in action, faith that bears all and loves and accepts all. When did Catholicism and Protestantism become exclusive cults anyway, thinking that they are separate faiths, the worst of them teaching that they are the true faith? A long time ago, that is for sure. We are to be above all that and we need to grow up. We are the remnant chosen to restore what was lost before these "faiths" became so exclusive that they cast the anathema on anyone who would disagree with their particular "faith."
Remember when John Lennon sang that we should imagine that there is no heaven above us? The Beatles took a lot of flack for statements like that in their singing but now remember what Jesus taught and that the kingdom of heaven is within you. Well, try it. Instead of imagining a heaven above, try imagining a heaven within you, as a part of you, as your very being. Have faith in a God that lives and acts within you and not just a benevolent spirit above and beyond somewhere in heaven. As we allow our souls to actually rest in that heavenly position, we are in that stage of perfection that we are admonished to be in. If we are truly citizens of heaven and that same heaven is within us then we should be acting like it and doing the same works that Jesus did. That will take some unity as well as faith, we need to agree upon these things.
It is very significant that those opposed to faith in divine healing are the same ones that denounce the faith movement. There have of course been many that have maligned faith but without faith, it is impossible to please God. There are the frauds that counterfeit faith and try all sorts of schemes to peddle their gifts and there are those that entice the flock to riches by using the tithe as a bribe to God to obtain a full collection plate but one thing that will always stand is true faith in the true God.
We may argue that there are not enough miracles, not enough manifestations and not enough healing in the world but because we believe and as we are humble enough to know that we are lacking in faith and want more, these things will increasingly come. There is a time soon that we as the remnant will show ourselves to the world suddenly and swiftly as people of faith and nothing will ever be the same. It will come about when the church stops striving toward perfection and starts living the perfect life that we have in us already. This is what all creation is looking toward, the sons and daughters of God working together for the common goal of lifting up an undivided Jesus and praising Him. Let the nay-sayers and skeptics have their day, Jesus is coming soon and a united body will be meeting Him in the heavenlies as well as in the streets as a witness to all that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords.
If we have the faith to believe that with God all things are possible, we should have enough faith to ask God to increase our faith. We are to pray for the latter rain in the time of the latter rain but we are also to be patient and wait for God's timing. We are all in anticipation and just can't wait to see these end-time events come to pass but we need to be prepared first and build upon our foundation. Nothing stops us from now praying in faith except our lack of faith and spiritual inactivity. Pray for the sick now, pray for salvation, pray for spiritual maturity, stop fighting amongst yourselves and witness to the love of God. The world will finally believe when the prayer of Jesus to the Father has finally been answered: "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me."
Kierkegaard: "as the definition of faith: that the self by relating itself to its own self and by willing to be itself is grounded transparently in the Power that constituted it."
John Calvin was a false prophet of immense magnitude. Listen to this because many in the church believe his garbage. Calvin wrote that "election does not depend on faith; faith makes election manifest. Man cannot choose faith or reject it, for grace is irresistible. God freely chooses some and rejects the rest..."
It is not just God that gives us faith, but faith that gives us God. Have faith and it will create God within you. Faith is God coming to your own knowledge. To believe is precisely to lose one's own understanding in order to win God. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Faith should not be a leap in the dark, but a leap towards light. Faith is the ability and the willingness to believe and act where doubt is still possible. For this reason our thought must be so grounded upon knowledge that we shall feel the truth of it.
Not only faith is at issue but power. We have been discussing God's power transmitted through our hands. Jesus also said "according to your faith be it unto you." The question is of faith, of the person transmitting the power and the person receiving it. Not all of us can or should be doing it. Now we should agree that we should not lay hands on others without the power, that would not be wise but foolish and pretentious. The only thing that I lay hands on is my keyboard but when the sickle is fully into the harvest, things will change for many of us. We should desire to have enough faith to be able to resist anything that the devil would come against us. That power is real as well. The disciples did not always have enough power, Jesus told them some only come out by fasting and prayer. Would I show partiality to the man in a satanic cult? No, but I would want to have the power and the prophetic discernment to be able to cast out the demons within him or I have no business laying hands on him or anyone else in the first place. We should have the power to resist the devil or we do not have the faith. If one does not have that power, then we should all agree that there should be discernment as to who we lay our hands on. Mere compassion is not enough, more faith is needed for true impartation. We are to call upon the elders of the church, not the novices.
What is required in the believer toward faith is an effort of will. What will be required is faith as a liberating praxis, this truth will make you free. Faith in a holy cause can be a substitute for the lost faith in ourselves. So we must all acknowledge the reality of doubt for doubt is the price that must be paid for faith.
Watchman Nee asked "What is faith? Faith is my acceptance of God's fact. It always has its foundations in the past." In daily Christian living there is actually no conflict between faith and works. To the faithful Christian, one is impossible without other. Paul never means dead faith, faith and works entwined. When James wrote that faith without works is dead, he meant that true faith will prove the works.
Faith works better when there is no natural hope. Jesus didn't divide men into those who had faith and those who did not, but into those using the faculty and those refusing. The primary signification of this word is "trust." The belief in any truth in any ground belief is what is beyond the sphere of the senses. Trusting in God's testimony is receiving all that God has given to us.
Faith viewed philosophically must be regarded as lying at the base of all knowledge. Faith is not simply the assent of the intellect to revealed truth; it is the submission of the entire man to the guidance and control of such truth. "The devils believe and tremble." The truths of revelation are in many cases above reason, but can never be considered as opposed to it. Such truths were revealed because it is hard for reason to discover them but the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Come, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Earnestly contend for the faith which was delivered unto the saints.. But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost...
Faith is unquestioning belief. It is a remarkable fact that no people have been discovered who do not believe in the existence and survival of souls. Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote, "The first thing that is necessary for every Christian is faith, without which no one is truly called a faithful Christian."
Faith is the key that unlocks the door to salvation but to turn the key without stepping through the door doesn't make sense. Remember what James says that faith without works is dead being by itself? So the problem would be those that think that faith is all they need. We need to be teaching that it is action based upon that faith that brings us to perfection, not just the faith alone. Luther would disagree but he thought that the book of James should be thrown out, he didn't understand and neither did Calvin. Centuries of progressive revelation and study has brought us to a better understanding of what was taught by the early church fathers in that just standing on our position in Christ is not sufficient without the practical application of stepping out in faith and walking in the spirit.
Augustine: "Faith, on the other hand, is an acceptance of, or assent to, something that is not clearly seen."
Barnabas: "For all the time past of our life, and our faith will profit us nothing; unless we continue to hate what is evil, and withstand the future temptations." Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen... But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
Faith is the
assent of the understanding to any truth. Religious faith is assent to any truth of divine revelation and of the events and doctrines contained in it. If it just a historical faith in Jesus, without producing any affect on our lives and conversation; and it is then a dead faith, such as even the devils have. But a living or saving faith not only believes the great doctrines of Christianity as true, but embraces them with the heart and affections; and is thus the source of sincere obedience to the divine will, exhibited in a holy life and conversation. True faith is an essential grace, and a main-spring of Christian life. By it the Christian overcomes the world, the flesh, and the devil, and receives the crown of
righteousness.
[03, 06, 33, 56, 68, 93, 134, 141, 147, 162, 181, 185, 188, 194, 201, 313, 314, 339, 377, BD, I Corinthians, Jude, Hebrews, 380, faith was discussed in the latter rain discussion list with the issue of laying on of hands and the healing discussion]
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