Maybe it is just the result of growing up in a Charis-pente church, but I have always struggled with the issue of faith. It seems, if I believe everything that I have been taught over the years, to be a very complex issue... what is faith??? If we believe the "Word of Faith" teachers (I use that term lightly) such as Hinn or Copeland then faith is a substance that you acquire, it can only be activated by your words, and if you don't have it, you are not a real Christian. The WofF guys even suggest that God has faith, and put that faith into action when He created the world.
I am not suggesting that the Charis-pente outlook on faith is quite so extreme, though I am sure in some churches it is, but there is still this real mysterious, ethereal quality to faith that no one can really quite explain. I can remember sitting through sermons and even courses on the subject, looking through the usual verses to try and get a handle on it all. On many occasion, I even went through my exhaustive concordance pulling out all the verses on faith, just to get a handle on it.
We are taught that we can heal & be healed by faith, that we can tell trees to uproot themselves, and move mountains and walk on water, and be bitten by poisonous snakes (well, you don't need faith for that, but you do need it to survive) and all sorts of stuff... yet Jesus says that you only need faith the size of a mustard seed to do it all!!!!
So what exactly is this stuff called faith & where do you get it? It must be pretty valuable, even more valuable than gold, or white truffles !!
well, when it comes down to it, the answer is quite simple...
lets turn to a dictionary for a definition - not a highfalutin theological dictionary, just a normal everyday English dictionary...
The Online Cambridge Dictionary says:
Faith (TRUST) noun [U]
great trust or confidence in something or someone:
Pretty complex huh?? Therefore, it could be said that in our context, faith is nothing more than trusting in the Lord.
Faith is trusting in the Lord!!!!
...... - Easy!!!
......... - I can do that!!!
.............- Mountain get up and move!!!
............... - Dang, didn't work!!!
Great trust or confidence... Hmmm, I guess that is what it comes down to; do I really have Great trust or confidence in the Lord??? Peter had great trust in the Lord when he stepped out of the boat onto the water - for a second or two - then the reality of what he was doing sunk in, and so did he...
The Apostles saw healings and miracles happen through their work, why? because they knew what Jesus required, he modeled it to them, they dropped everything they had to follow him, they put their security, future, and life on the line. They learnt to rely on the Lord to meet all their needs, they became like the lilies of the field. They trusted in the Lord for everything.
Maybe this is what we are missing, maybe we are controlling too much of our own lives, not trusting the Lord, watering down what Jesus taught to fit into how we want to live our lives, how every rational person would want to live their lives. Maybe we are more like the rich young ruler than we realise - living a good Christian life, following all the rules, doing the right things. But when Jesus challenges us, calls us out of our comfort zone into complete trust in him, we walk away. It is easy for us to do, we are not faced with the Son of God in the flesh asking us to give up our security, so we can rationalise it, spiritualize the 'sell everything & give it to the poor', and go on living our good Christian life.
Maybe if we could truly surrender ourselves to God, truly trust in him then we would see our faith grow from the infinitesimal little atom that it is now, slowly grow into a small little mustard seed, maybe by that time we would not be telling mountains to move to prove our power in the Lord, maybe by that time we would be praying and acting against spiritual and institutional mountains that are oppressing people to prove that we work for a God who cares for the downtrodden, the insignificant & the poor... makes you think doesn't it?
I am not suggesting that the Charis-pente outlook on faith is quite so extreme, though I am sure in some churches it is, but there is still this real mysterious, ethereal quality to faith that no one can really quite explain. I can remember sitting through sermons and even courses on the subject, looking through the usual verses to try and get a handle on it all. On many occasion, I even went through my exhaustive concordance pulling out all the verses on faith, just to get a handle on it.
We are taught that we can heal & be healed by faith, that we can tell trees to uproot themselves, and move mountains and walk on water, and be bitten by poisonous snakes (well, you don't need faith for that, but you do need it to survive) and all sorts of stuff... yet Jesus says that you only need faith the size of a mustard seed to do it all!!!!
So what exactly is this stuff called faith & where do you get it? It must be pretty valuable, even more valuable than gold, or white truffles !!
well, when it comes down to it, the answer is quite simple...
lets turn to a dictionary for a definition - not a highfalutin theological dictionary, just a normal everyday English dictionary...
The Online Cambridge Dictionary says:
Faith (TRUST) noun [U]
great trust or confidence in something or someone:
Pretty complex huh?? Therefore, it could be said that in our context, faith is nothing more than trusting in the Lord.
Faith is trusting in the Lord!!!!
...... - Easy!!!
......... - I can do that!!!
.............- Mountain get up and move!!!
............... - Dang, didn't work!!!
Great trust or confidence... Hmmm, I guess that is what it comes down to; do I really have Great trust or confidence in the Lord??? Peter had great trust in the Lord when he stepped out of the boat onto the water - for a second or two - then the reality of what he was doing sunk in, and so did he...
The Apostles saw healings and miracles happen through their work, why? because they knew what Jesus required, he modeled it to them, they dropped everything they had to follow him, they put their security, future, and life on the line. They learnt to rely on the Lord to meet all their needs, they became like the lilies of the field. They trusted in the Lord for everything.
Maybe this is what we are missing, maybe we are controlling too much of our own lives, not trusting the Lord, watering down what Jesus taught to fit into how we want to live our lives, how every rational person would want to live their lives. Maybe we are more like the rich young ruler than we realise - living a good Christian life, following all the rules, doing the right things. But when Jesus challenges us, calls us out of our comfort zone into complete trust in him, we walk away. It is easy for us to do, we are not faced with the Son of God in the flesh asking us to give up our security, so we can rationalise it, spiritualize the 'sell everything & give it to the poor', and go on living our good Christian life.
Maybe if we could truly surrender ourselves to God, truly trust in him then we would see our faith grow from the infinitesimal little atom that it is now, slowly grow into a small little mustard seed, maybe by that time we would not be telling mountains to move to prove our power in the Lord, maybe by that time we would be praying and acting against spiritual and institutional mountains that are oppressing people to prove that we work for a God who cares for the downtrodden, the insignificant & the poor... makes you think doesn't it?
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