By Dennis Pollock
Every Christian recognizes that faith is important. No one would argue with this, although some may protest that some ministers are obsessed with faith and preach it too much. But anyone who reads the Bible knows that faith is vital in the Christian experience.
First and foremost, it is through faith in Jesus that we enter God’s kingdom and family. The apostle Paul wrote: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God…” (Ephesians 2:8). Saved by grace through faith – who isn’t familiar with that verse and that truth. But it is not just some general faith that saves us. Almost everyone believes in some kind of faith. Often, when attempting to cheer up a friend who has experienced some type of misery, people may say something like, “Just have faith. Things will work out.” But that means nothing. “Just have faith” – have faith in what? Have faith that the universe has a way of making bad situations better, eventually? But things do not always work out. Sometimes they get worse. Marriages collapse, people die of illnesses, wealthy people become poor, and friends become estranged. Cliches and generic, fuzzy, unfocused faith do not solve things and are nothing more than wishful thinking.
Bible faith is specific, focused, targeted faith, and the object of our faith is God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. John writes: “And this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5). The biggest problem of the people of this world, the reason for crime and broken relationships and cruelty and misery is that most people in this world, do not have a genuine, heart faith in Jesus Christ. They may have intelligence, they may have wealth, they may have friends, but they have no faith in Christ. This means they live out their lives in a state of enmity with God, unreconciled, unjustified, and unforgiven.
Deciding to Believe
Faith involves a decision, an action, and a choice to believe in Him. God makes faith possible by moving His Holy Spirit on our hearts, but He does not do the believing for us. We must do that ourselves. And a life of faith is not simply how we enter God’s family and receive eternal life. We will be living and walking by faith all our lives. If we accept Christ at age 20 and then live another sixty-five years, we will need faith in every season of our lives, throughout our youth, middle age, and old age. You will never outgrow the need for faith.
Jesus emphasized faith continually as He ministered on the earth. He was always telling people, “Your faith has saved you,” “Your faith has healed you,” and “Your faith has made you whole.” And those words imply that if these people did not exercise faith they would not be healed or delivered from their afflictions. When the storm came down on their boat as they crossed the Sea of Galilee, the disciples became fearful and woke Jesus in a panic, saying: “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38). Jesus had a hard time understanding why these men were so upset. He rebuked the storm, saying, “Peace, be still.” Then He asked His amazed disciples: “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”
James tells us that faith is the main prerequisite for getting our prayers answered, writing: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord…” (James 1:5-7). And Jesus tells us: “Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matthew 21:22).
Currency of the Kingdom
Faith is the currency of the kingdom of God. Americans use dollars to purchase what they need, Mexicans use pesos, the Swiss use francs, and Nigerians use Naira. But Christians receive grace and blessings from their heavenly Father through faith. Just as an American with only a few dollars is in trouble, a Christian with a weak, anemic faith in God and Christ is in a perilous position. As James puts it: “Let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord…”
Knowing this, we recognize that whatever boosts and enhances our faith, such as spending time in the word of God, prayer, worship, Bible studies, and Christian fellowship – these are important, and anything that robs us of faith must be avoided.
One of the greatest enemies of faith is an overemphasis on the sovereignty of God. Don’t get me wrong – recognizing the sovereignty of God is a fundamental aspect of knowing God. Even King Nebuchadnezzar learned this lesson, declaring (after losing his mind for a while): “He (God) does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’” (Daniel 4:35). So yes, God is sovereign. He does what He pleases, and no one can withstand Him. But God’s sovereignty can be overemphasized. We can get so enamored with the idea of God doing whatever He pleases, that we forsake our responsibilities. We do not need to go out and apply for jobs. We can stay home and trust God to bring the right job to us.
The Way We Pray
And this can also affect our prayer lives. Many Christians refuse to pray with boldness or faith, because, after all, God will do whatever He wants to do, regardless of whether we pray or don’t pray, or believe or don’t believe. Let’s picture a lady who has been stricken with a terrible disease and after church, she asks her pastor to pray for her. But her pastor is so obsessed with the sovereignty of God that he prays something like this:
“Oh, Lord, my sister has a terrible sickness, and I pray that if it is your will, You would heal her. But of course, it may be that you want her to be sick for a good long while, so if that is Your will, please keep her sick, Lord. Keep her sick for many years to come. On the other hand, it may be Your will for her to die in the next few weeks, and if that is Your will, then go ahead and do that Lord, and make sure she dies in the precise manner that you want her to. But of course, I know that You will do whatever You want to do anyway, so my prayer is, Lord, do it. Do whatever you like, which we know You will.”
What kind of prayer would that be? That lady would leave church feeling worse than ever. Does that sound like the prayer James speaks about, calling it “the prayer of faith shall save the sick”? (James 5:15). The reality is this: “There are some blessings that God will bestow upon us, without so much as an “If you please.” But there are some blessings we will have to exercise faith for if we are ever to receive them. And if all we can pray is some weak little prayer like, “Just do whatever you want to do,” we will live without that blessing. There are going to be times in all our lives when we are going to have to ask God for blessings with confidence, quoting His word to Him, and even thanking Him in advance that the blessing is surely on the way. One man approached Jesus about his son, saying, “If You can do anything, have compassion…” It doesn’t seem like Jesus especially liked the doubt expressed in that word “if”, and He turned the matter around, telling the distressed dad, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Yes, there are times we say to God, “Thy will be done,” but there will be other times when we must come boldly before the throne of grace, reminding God of the promises in His word, and thanking Him in Jesus’ name for the victory before we ever see it.
