Category: Established in Faith

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Staying “in Faith”

Being “in faith” is a life-changing mindset and attitude.

in faith

On the windowsill of my office sit two flowerpots. In each is an orchid. One is almost completely dead, with three desiccated leaves, and one tiny, shriveled, yellow-green leaf sitting atop the stem. The other is alive, but only with four, long, drooping leaves, and a brown, stiff flower stem about 10-inches tall. Neither plant has had a flower in many months.

The plants are in this near-death condition because of my inattention. For years they would regularly put up a flower stem on which four to eight beautiful orchids would bloom and last for more than a month. We kept them in our living room window, where they received indirect sunlight. But then we moved them into my office, where there is much less light, and I watered them irregularly at best.

These orchids are a picture of what can happen to a Christian’s faith. Faith does not flourish without attention.

Firm in faith

Isaiah 7:9 says, “If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all” (ESV).

We need to be “in faith.” Faith must be our mindset, our overall attitude. Anyone who knows us well should be able to describe us as persons who have a spirit of faith, a heart full of faith, just as Acts 6:5 describes Stephen as “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit,” and Barnabas as “full of the Holy Spirit and of faith” (Acts 11:24).

But we will not get “in faith” by accident. We need to attend to two aspects of our heart.

Both general and specific

We need to water both general faith and specific faith.

Our overall spirit of faith consists in the firm belief we have in the truths developed in the previous posts of this series, in particular:

If you believe these truths as you believe the sun is hot, you will be “in faith.” Your heart and mind will have a faith culture where faith for specific promises of God will easily flourish. For this reason I regularly review and meditate on these truths.

If you doubt these fundamentals of faith, you will have a difficult time trying to believe any specific promise of God, such as his promises to provide for you (such as Philippians 4:19) and protect you (such as Psalm 121).

Specific faith

When I was in high school, several times a day my father would strap a sphygmomanometer to his arm and test his blood pressure. Keeping track of that was critical to his health.

Similarly we need to pay attention to our level of faith and do the work necessary to be generally in faith rather than generally in doubt, to believe rather than disbelieve.

For most people it is what it is. Like a flag on a pole, which behaves differently as the wind continually changes, their faith is at the whim of circumstances, input from reading and media, irregular devotional life and church attendance, emotions, and trials. Most Christians do not memorize or meditate on faith-building promises as a healthy person pays attention to exercise and diet. When doubt is their prevailing attitude, they are not self-aware and proactive to change it. They ignore it just as I have ignored my orchids for a long time (but no longer. When I finish this post, I will pitch my orchids).

Takeaway

Either faith or doubt will predominate in your heart. On any day, in any week, in any season of life, we will in general be a person of faith or of unbelief.

Being in faith means being aware of the faith level of one’s heart and taking whatever action is necessary to have faith in general toward God and his Word, and faith in specific for particular promises on which we are standing.

My father lived 82 years, more than 35 years beyond when I first saw him regularly checking his blood pressure. You can have strong faith as you pay attention to stay firmly “in faith.”

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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Truth #20 – Faith Pleases and Glorifies God

Faith glorifies God because it shows he is trustworthy.

Faith glorifies God

Prayer and faith can be self-centered or God-centered. Self-centered faith is not wrong. The Bible is replete with stories of people who prayed that God would do things they needed and wanted, as in most of the psalms as well as the Gospel accounts of people coming to Jesus for healing and deliverance from demons. Jesus does not require people to explain and justify their motives in asking him for help.

But as we grow in the Lord, we become increasingly concerned about how our words and actions affect God. More and more we want to please him. We grow in a desire to glorify him by giving him praise and thanksgiving, by telling others about the great things he has done in our lives and in the world, and by offering our lives to him to use as a display of his manifold greatness.

My point in this post is, if pleasing and glorifying God matters to you, then you should be highly motivated to have great faith.

George Muller showed how faith glorifies God

This was the motivation of George Muller, the celebrated man of faith and prayer. He started an orphanage in England in the 1800s, and his main purpose was to show others they could completely depend on God for their needs, that he answers prayer and faith.

To prove that, he made it his policy not to announce the financial needs of the orphanage, even though the orphanage depended completely on donations to function. He only prayed about the needs. He kept a meticulous journal to publish the details of how God worked in remarkable ways to provide for the growing number of orphans living at the home. The account brings God glory and, I assume, great pleasure.

You can read abridged versions of Muller’s story and journal (which I recommend) or the full version. Search on The Autobiography of George Muller. I also liked the biography on Muller by Arthur Pierson.

Four reasons why faith glorifies God

Why does prayer and faith please and glorify God?

1.   Answers to prayer and faith display God’s power and sovereignty over the created world.

When Lazarus died and his body lay in the tomb, his sister Martha had enough faith to say to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” (John 11:21–22)

Martha had enough hope and faith to ask Jesus indirectly to raise her brother from the dead. Even so, when Jesus went to the tomb and told those present to remove the stone, she objected, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days” (John 11:39).

Notice Jesus’s important reply: “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” (v. 40)

If we believe, we can see the glory of God in his sovereign power over our material world. And that is what Martha saw, as Jesus proceeded to raise Lazarus from the dead.

And this display of God’s power in Jesus affected many others. One chapter later in John, “The chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.” (John 12:10–11)

2.   Answers to prayer and faith show his Word is trustworthy.

Notice how Simeon overflows with praise when the Lord fulfills his promise to him that he would see the Christ before he died.

“Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, ‘Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation.’” (Luke 2:25–30)

Simeon connected the dots between God’s word and the answer given and praised God.

3.   Answers to prayer and faith display God’s salvation.

Notice in the following testimony Paul’s motivation to see God receive thanksgiving as a result of his deliverance.

“For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.” (2 Corinthians 1:8–11)

Paul knew from experience that answered prayer leads to the thanksgiving that pleases God.

4.   When God does what is humanly impossible to do, he reveals his greatness.

The Lord shows his power in situations where man is weak.

Notice in the following psalm how the writer glorifies God rather than human power for taking Israel out of Egypt and establishing them in the Promised Land. And the result is that the writer boasts in the Lord and gives thanks to him.

“O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old: you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free; for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them. You are my King, O God; ordain salvation for Jacob! Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down those who rise up against us. For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me. But you have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us. In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. (Psalm 44:1–8)

Takeaway

In the full scope of the Bible, the stories of people failing to pray and believe in God are stories of failure and sadness, while the accounts of people who prayed and believed result in joy, praise, and thanksgiving.

God is pleased and glorified when we lay before him in prayer our needs and desires. He is pleased and glorified when we trust him. And he is pleased and glorified to answer when he wants, how he wants, and according to his will.

And in the end, if God does not do as we wish, he is glorified as the one who has the right of the potter over his clay, working for a higher good than we could ever imagine.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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Title: #19 – God Is Watching Over His Word to Perform It

In Jeremiah 1:12 we see the importance of God’s Word to God himself

God's Word

A few years ago I took a course on how to reach goals. One of the most important takeaways from the class was the necessity of keeping attention on goals.

That is nothing new, of course, but the stress that the instructor placed on it and the variety of ways suggested to do it made an impression on me. He taught that I should have in my schedule a weekly appointment to review my goals and my progress. I should also have a monthly, quarterly, and annual appointment. Furthermore, I should post goals in unmissable places like bathroom mirrors and kitchen cabinets.

I found that the course instructor is right. When you keep goals at the center of your attention, the likelihood of reaching them increases.

Jeremiah 1:12

This is a faint illustration in a fallible human way of what God does in a perfect way. God told his prophet Jeremiah, “I am watching over my word to perform it” (Jeremiah 1:12).

Humans have limited ability to perform most things and to keep many things in their attention. God, on the other hand, has infinite power to do anything he has decided to do, and he can maintain an infinite number of things in his attention. He does not need to put yellow sticky notes on the arms of the throne in heaven to remind himself what to do in your life.

God’s declaration in Jeremiah 1:12, “I am watching over my word to perform it,” tells us two things about God’s relationship with his own words.

1. How God feels about his words

God’s words are infinitely important to him. “You have exalted above all things your name and your word” (Psalm 138:2).

When a woman’s hair is important to her, it affects her conduct. She looks in the mirror often. She spends lots of money at the salon and time in the bathroom in the morning getting her hair just right. When a man’s wardrobe or muscles are important to him, it affects his conduct in similar ways. Whatever is most important to us dramatically affects how we spend our time, attention, money, and energy.

Jeremiah 1:12 shows us that God’s Words are of ultimate importance to him. Ultimate importance. Ultimate, maximum importance. We cannot conceive how important his words are to him because even the most conscientious and honest souls on earth cannot begin to respect their own words the way God respects his own.

That is because he is perfectly truthful and absolutely faithful. There are no stray words from God. No filler words. No throwaway words. And no unintended, accidental words or forgotten words. He cannot lie, cannot prevaricate, cannot deceive.

God comes to humanity with a breathtaking forthrightness and says it as it is, boldly, clearly. His every word is precisely chosen, like the words of a poet, only infinitely more so. God knows every sense of every word of every language in heaven and on earth. He speaks his words knowing past, present, and future, knowing everything about everyone and all that is.

If words had material weight, one of his words would tip the scales with more weight than all the matter in the universe. One sentence from God placed atop the earth would crush it to powder. “Is not my word…like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces,” said the Lord to Jeremiah (23:29).

2. What God does with his words

And with these words God makes promises, predicts the future, and creates what will be out of nothing.

Like a wise legislator working his purposes in the world through the crafting of good laws, God works through his righteous words.

As a good lawyer writing a fair contract, God says what he will do and what we can expect.

Like an athlete predicting a victory, God says what he will accomplish.

And like a blacksmith working through his hammer, God works through his all-powerful words.

According to Jeremiah 1:12 God performs his words. He executes his words in his time, in his way, according to his will. His words are his glory. His words display his name. They unfold his wondrous character and divine nature.

The Lord claims, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10–11)

God’s words perform, and God performs his words.

God’s attention on God’s Word

And these are the words in which you put your trust when you pray and believe. Are these words reliable? Are these words worthy of your trust? Can you depend on them?

Yes, he stands behind them infinitely more than the most highly principled business men or women stand behind their guarantee. You can take God’s Word, rightly understood and applied, to the bank.

“I am watching over my word to perform it” (Jeremiah 1:12).

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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Truth #18 – God Is Gracious

What Moses learned on top of Mount Sinai about our prayers and God’s gracious heart

our prayers and God's gracious heart

Suppose you were not a tech-oriented person, and you needed help with your computer. Let’s say it has recently become extremely slow, and you have no idea why.

And suppose you have two tech-savvy friends. Peter has a computer science degree. He is a generous person who gives time to hanging out with others, thoughtful gifts at birthdays and holidays, and even money when people in his circles go through hard times.

Naomi, on the other hand, tends to be stingy with her time, wealth, and expertise. She too has a computer science degree and a good job with a tech company, but even with family and friends she gets annoyed when others ask her for free advice concerning technology.

Since you have a sluggish computer and lots of bills at the moment, the thought of calling the manufacturer and paying for support is your last option. Which friend will you call first? Peter or Naomi?

Hmmm. That is not a hard question, is it. You call the person who is happy to hear from you and wants to help, not the person who resents your question.

This situation illustrates why our faith gets stronger when we understand and deep-down believe that God is gracious.

Moses’s bold request

Scripture indeed teaches that God is gracious. In fact it is one of the first things God would tell you about himself if you met him for the first time and asked him to describe himself. I say that because of one important conversation Moses had with the Lord.

It happened on Mount Sinai shortly after God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on two tablets of stone. God had already revealed more about himself to Moses than any person who had ever lived, but because God is the most interesting, loving, and wonderful person in the universe Moses wanted more.

So he came right out and asked for it. “Show me your glory,” Moses said.

God replied, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’” (Exodus 33:18–19, ESV)

What happened next is extremely important for those who want to be established in faith by being a person who accurately knows God. That is because God himself tells Moses precisely who he is and what he is like. In other words, this is not a public opinion survey about God’s nature. This is not you asking a good friend what she thinks God is like. This is not a pontificating pundit on a talk show. Rather this is God himself saying, This is who I am. Therefore this is what God wants us to know and rely on.

God’s self-description

Then, “The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious….’” (Exodus 34:5–6)

God’s self-description goes on for several more lines, but I want to stop and call your attention to the second quality he names. He says he is “gracious.”

To be gracious is to be like Peter, the tech-savvy friend in the opening illustration. To be gracious is to be generous with time, money, and affection. It is to be favorably disposed toward others. To be gracious is to welcome and invite others into your presence. A gracious person enjoys helping others and therefore is not annoyed when others entreat his assistance. He is warm and hospitable.

When God does not seem gracious

To think this way about God may be difficult because most of the Bible narrates his dealings with humans who are acting badly. When people sin, God, being perfectly good and just and righteous, responds in opposition and judgment. He abhors evil with a fury that no human except Jesus can fully comprehend. As a result, much of the Old Testament especially narrates God’s acting and speaking in ways that can make a reader think he is not gracious. But by no means is that always the case in the Old Testament, for it is filled with glorious displays of his gracious heart.

Likewise in the New Testament, where his gracious ways are easily seen in Jesus. Jesus said that he is just like the Father. “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father,” Jesus told his disciples. Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus “is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.” So if you think Jesus is gracious, then you can be sure that the Father is equally gracious.

When God finally recreates the heavens and the earth and removes all evil from humanity, then we will truly see how gracious God is, for there will be nothing to provoke him to wrath.

The gracious redeemer

But even now, even in this age of so much evil, God makes known his gracious heart, for “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20).

It was the gracious heart of God that caused him to send his beloved Son to earth and become a man that he could die for our sins. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

To Moses God said he was gracious; to the world God showed he was gracious through the redemption that is in his beloved Son.

Our prayers and God’s gracious heart

What all this means to us who want to be established in faith is twofold.

1. Because God is gracious, he welcomes us into his presence to pray about every care and concern

He does not resent our entreaties; rather, he invites them.

1 Peter 5:6–7 says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”

Psalm 55:22 says, “Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.”

2. Because God is gracious, his default disposition is to answer our prayers of faith

Jesus said, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7).

Hebrews 13:6 says, “We can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper….’”

Takeaway: Our faith, our prayers and God’s gracious heart

When you understand the generous favor of God’s gracious heart, you will pray with much greater faith.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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Truth #17 (part 2) – No Matter What Our Circumstances Say, the Word Of God Will Prove True If We Have Faith

Acting in faith can raise many questions.

acting in faith

In part one we saw that a person of faith lives in the tension of two realities. One is the visible reality of our circumstances, the other is the invisible reality of God, his promises, and the answers to prayer that he assures us we can treat as already being certain even though we cannot see them. As a result, to the extent possible, people of faith live by what the Word of God says, not what their visible circumstances say. “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). And that faith focuses particularly on God’s Word.

We look now at the application of this principle.

Acting in faith

Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).

The person of faith believes God’s Word describes an unseen reality that will prevail over our temporary circumstances.

And the person of faith knows God wants him or her to start acting like it (2 Corinthians 5:7), wisely and appropriately. That is where the tension between the unseen spiritual reality and the circumstances we see can get complicated and perhaps awkward. That is where even wise Christians might disagree about how to live by faith. How much are you supposed to start acting as though the coming reality is already here?

Paul makes plans, acting in faith

Here is a small example. The apostle Paul wrote a letter to a friend named Philemon. Near the end of the letter, Paul said, “Prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously given to you” (Philemon 1:22). He did not say that to Philemon just to make arrangements; Paul was expressing his faith by his words of faith. His coming was not certain in the natural—he was sitting in a Roman prison!—but he was acting as though his coming were certain.

Some people call words of faith a faith confession, or a faith declaration. The idea has been taken to extremes, and been derided as thinking we can “name it and claim it,” but the principle of speaking and acting in faith, properly understood and applied, is thoroughly biblical.

Serious questions

The example in Philemon is safe and non-threatening. Where this principle gets complicated and debatable is when persons with serious physical ailments believe God will heal them.

They have two realities: the current symptoms, which are real, and a faith reality in which the symptoms are gone. Should the person with faith talk as though they are already healed? Should a person who currently has cancer symptoms say they do not have cancer?

Or to the degree possible should they act as though they are already healed? You can read stories of people who have acted in faith but then been crushed by current reality, such as someone in a wheelchair who tries to get up and walk—and falls flat on his face.

Two guidelines

To put it mildly, situations like that are disturbing, and they make it even harder to know how to live by faith in the middle of the tension between two realities. I think two safeguards are essential.

1. We must not test God

When Satan tempted Jesus to jump off the pinnacle of the temple and trust that God’s angels would get him safely to the ground, as Psalm 91:11–12 promises, Jesus responded by saying he would be testing God if he did that (Matthew 4:5–7).

We must not do anything in which we are trying to coerce God to act in the way we desire, whether in physical healing, financial provision, or in the answering of any other prayer. We can ask passionately, we can have faith, we can express that faith, but we can never force God to do anything. If it was only Abram’s idea to change his name to Abraham, that action of faith would not have put God under any obligation. Only God can obligate God, when he freely makes promises and freely wills to fulfill what he has written.

2. The greater the risks, the more certain we must be that God has told us to believe him and express that faith in some outward action.

For instance, when Moses instructed the people of Israel to enter the Promised Land and battle the evil nations now inhabiting Canaan, he was sending them on a suicide mission if God did not fight with them. But God made it unmistakably clear to Moses that this was what he wanted them to do. Scripture says God spoke face-to-face with Moses.

If a pastor of a church of 100 people says that by faith they should construct a building that will cost 100 million dollars, that will raise eyebrows. And rightly so. How certain is the pastor that God has promised to underwrite that project? With that much money at stake, he and the leaders must be reasonably certain they are following God’s direction, not their own dreams.

Takeaway

The challenges of properly applying the principles of faith should not dissuade us from trying to be a wise person of faith in God’s Word. When Jesus told us, “Have faith in God,” he meant it (Mark 11:22).

He meant it when he said, “All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Matthew 21:22, KJV).

He meant it when he said, “Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:23–24, ESV) Again, notice the imperative, “believe.”

And that faith should focus particularly on God’s Word.

No matter what our circumstances say, the Word of God, properly understood and prayerfully applied, will prove true if we have faith.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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Truth #17 – No Matter What Our Circumstances Say, the Word Of God Will Prove True If We Have Faith

When we walk by faith, we live in two realities.

two realities

A few minutes ago I did something many people regard as sheer superstition. Sitting alone in my apartment, I closed my eyes and spoke out loud to a being I cannot see but who I believe is real and able to hear me. We call this activity prayer, and I spoke to God.

When we pray, we show we believe in two realities. We believe in a natural world we can see and discern with our senses, and we believe in an invisible, spiritual reality.

I do many other things that show I believe this spiritual world is real. I give significant amounts of money to Christian organizations. And I read, study, and teach the Bible daily. I stand on the sidewalk and hand out Christian literature.

So I believe the natural world is real, and I believe the invisible, spiritual world is real. And as a result 2 Corinthians 5:7 is true of me: “We walk by faith, not by sight.”

Two realities

Having faith does not mean acting as though the seen world is unreal. It simply means we do things we would not do if we believed only in the things we can see. We believe in two realities, not one.

Moreover, based on God’s Words, we believe in future realities we cannot now see but we are sure will happen. God’s promises are real because they are his eternal plans expressed in his unbreakable words.

For example, two realities were at work in the lives of Abraham and Sarah. One reality was the natural reality of their inability to have children. The other reality was God’s promise to make Abraham the father of people as numerous as the stars in the sky.

One reality was, Abraham did not own any land in Canaan; while the other reality was what God had promised: that Abraham would possess all of Canaan.

God told Abraham he wanted him to live in many ways as though the promised reality was already present. God wanted Abraham to live in the tension of the two realities. Both were real, but only one was manifest in current circumstances.

The tension of two realities

How to manage that tension between two realities is where things can get complicated. At one point in the tension, God told Abram, whose name meant exalted father, that he wanted him instead to use the name Abraham, which meant father of many. So Abram was to conduct daily life using a new name that would be awkwardly ironic to most people. An old man with an old wife with no children was to use a name that suggested he was the father of many.

Consequently whenever Abraham used his new name, there would be some who thought Abram in his old age was losing touch with reality. Can you hear people talking behind Abraham’s back? Have you heard about Abram? It’s so sad. It was painful enough that he had the name exalted father; now he is calling himself father of many! He’s losing his senses.

There were other tensions for Abraham. God told him to live as a sojourner in Canaan. The land would be his someday, but for now Abraham did not own one square inch of it. Nevertheless God commanded him to live there.

God also told him not to regard the firstborn son he had by Sarah’s handmaiden, named Ishmael, as the fulfillment of the promise that he would have many descendants. Although that led to awkward situations, Abraham complied.

Conviction of things unseen

Hebrews 11:1–2 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation.”

These verses show why there can be a difficult tension to navigate for the person of faith. People of faith have perfect assurance and conviction of things no one else can see, things they hope for but that are not yet visibly real. They believe in another reality that current circumstances deny. How do you explain that to others without their thinking you are foolish?

Well, you cannot do it. You have the promise from God; you have the faith in God’s words and so you have another reality; they do not and they likely cannot. At best they might call you a dreamer or a person with vision; at worst, they will think you need to face reality and get on with it, or that you are simply a religious kook.

But that is the life of faith. Notice that Hebrews 11:2 says God commends people of faith who are willing to live in the tension of these two realities. One of the takeaways of Hebrews 11 is God approves of people of faith. He designed the faith life. He wants us to have assurance and conviction based on his words even as others have doubt and disbelief.

Based on God’s invincible words, the person of faith lives in two realities. People without faith are living only in the current reality of natural-world circumstances. The unseen reality makes perfect sense to a person of faith; whereas it is nonsense to others without faith.

Noah the nut case

If anyone understood the tension of two realities it was Noah. Until the rain started falling, he was a delusional old man. He was spending boatloads of money, working long days for decades, building a gigantic boat on dry land. He was preparing for a coming reality—the flood—that God had revealed to him, but which no one else could perceive.

Now that is a tension between two realities. That was hard to navigate and make any semblance of appearing normal to others. In their eyes Noah was wasting time, money, energy, and resources. He was crazy! And what was this nonsense about filling the boat with animals? Can you imagine how hard it was for Noah to invest everything he had in something that was beyond his and others’ experience? Even in retrospect it is hard for us to conceive. How did he do it?

“By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household” (Hebrews 11:7). He did it by faith in God’s Word. The tension of two realities is the inescapable nature of the faith life. The tension of perhaps feeling like a fool and appearing to others as a fool is the nature of the faith life. And the more sensible others are, the more foolish they will think you are.

The current reality is real, but temporary. The coming reality is unseen, but certain. What makes the unseen tangible for the person of faith is God’s Word.

Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).

Jesus said, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit….” (John 6:63). His words have spiritual reality.

Continued next week

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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Fully Inhabiting the Big House of the Believer

The faith life is a better life.

faith life

Imagine an expensive, 10,000-square-foot home in which every room and hallway has a door. Every door is locked, and there is no way to leave a door unlocked. There is one master key that opens every door. There is only one state for every door in the home: a locked state. And there is only one way to access all the beautiful rooms of the mansion: one must use this key.

This is a picture of the Christian life. The rooms are all that God promises his beloved children: The blessings of joy, peace, love, self-control, and a sound mind. The blessings of forgiveness of sin, justification, sanctification, and righteousness. The blessings of loving relationships. And the blessings of the presence of the Holy Spirit, his infilling power, and his spiritual gifts. The blessings of physical healing and health. The blessings of financial and material provision and well-being. And the blessings of fruitful and successful work and ministry. The blessings of spiritual wisdom and knowledge. And most importantly, the blessings of fellowship with God himself. And more.

The master key

But all these doors are locked to a person who does not believe what God says in Scripture. The master key that opens every door is faith. Some Christians have used the key to get through the front door but after that put the key away. Consequently, they cannot enter all the beautiful rooms of the home God intends for them.

Scripture says, “The righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17).

The righteous shall live by faith to begin the Christian life. The righteous shall live by faith to continue it. And the righteous shall live by faith to finish it. The righteous shall live by faith to flourish, grow, and gain the victory in every difficulty of life. The righteous shall live by faith to appropriate every promise God has given, for the promises do not work automatically.

The difficulty and ease of the faith life

In one sense, the life of faith is not easy. The lives of Abraham and Sarah were not easy. It is not easy moving around a house in which you have to use a key for every door. But that is how every promise and every blessing of God is accessed: by faith alone. The doubter “must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord” (James 1:6–7). “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6).

But in another sense, the life of faith is the easiest life one can live. For it alone is the life of victory in every situation. Life is miserably hard for doubters and unbelievers. It is hard just as living in a home that loses electricity is hard, just as traveling in a car that runs out of gas is hard (it is not easy pushing an automobile). A righteous and blessed life runs on faith or it does not run at all.

Sooner or later the person who gets in the house but then loses the key begins to think most of the Bible is not reliable, that the Christian life does not work. It is hard to be a partial believer or a semi-unbeliever. It is a life of disappointment, sadness, and confusion. A semi-believer is trying to live in two, mutually exclusive worldviews.

The intellectual humility of the faith life

No, the victorious Christian life is one lived all-in with regard to faith. We believe everything God says in his Word even when we do not understand everything.

We know we cannot think true thoughts autonomously (that is, by ourselves, relying on our own understanding rather than on God’s revealed truth). And we cannot understand reality autonomously. We are completely dependent on God for knowledge, and that knowledge comes through Scripture rightly interpreted and applied.

So we humble our minds, as God requires, trust him and his words, and walk by faith and not by sight. We believe God’s Word even when circumstances deny the Word.

Taking a stand in faith

About eight months ago I had a chronic problem with sleep. Actually the problem was not with sleeping but with how I felt when waking. Whether during the night or getting up in the morning, I would almost always awake with an emotion of impending evil.

On rare occasions I would open my eyes to a new day and feel complete peace and well-being.

After one of those feel-good mornings I realized how unusual it was and that I had a problem I should not be enduring. I decided, A child of God filled with the Holy Spirit and loved by his heavenly father should not be waking up again and again with a sense of ill-being, having to fight off fear, expecting bad news around the next corner. I should be waking up with a positive emotion and expectation.

The words of Proverbs 3:24 came to mind: “If you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.” And Psalm 127:2: “He gives to his beloved sleep.” I determined that my experience was not lining up with the Word of God and decided to take a stand in faith on the Word.

A simple prayer

My stand in faith was not big and complicated. I spoke the Word aloud and claimed it to be true for myself. And I said something like, “I bind and renounce and oppose whatever in the spiritual realm may be bringing this feeling of evil against me. If there are demons attacking me, I bind you and command you to leave me and this apartment and never return. From now on I will awake with a sense of shalom, a sense of God’s peace.”

Nothing dramatic happened when I prayed, but it worked. My stand in faith happened three or four months ago, and except for the occasional bad dream and the creepy feeling that comes in its wake, I no longer chronically wake up with an emotion of ill-being. I usually wake up with my thoughts on the Lord and with a desire to meditate on his truths. The difference between how it was for the years prior and how it is now is unmistakable.

Using my shield and sword

This happened because I decided to stand in faith on what God’s Word said should be true for his children. And I used his Word in my stand by believing it and declaring it. I cannot say for sure what had caused the problem, but I can say for sure I no longer have it. Praise God!

I experienced the truth of Ephesians 6:16–17: “In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

Takeaway

The level of your faith determines your spiritual standard of living. It determines how many rooms of the house designed by God you are able to live in. The level of your faith determines whether you live by what most people think is humanly possible, normal, and expected, or whether you live by what God’s promises reveal to be divinely possible, normal, and expected.

The righteous live by faith in everything God promises, and keep living by faith.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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Truth #16 – God Always Pursues His Own Glory

Our faith will be most firmly established when by it we are seeking God’s glory.

God's glory

God showed something all-important about himself as the time drew near for Jesus to go to the cross. Jesus was teaching his disciples about his approaching death and said, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” (John 12:27–28)

Notice the desire of Jesus. Naturally he was troubled at the thought of what he was about to suffer, but he was not shaken. His purpose was firm, and that purpose was to glorify his Father by doing his will.

Then, in response to the prayer of Jesus, God says something about himself that is one of the most important truths that anyone who wants to know God and have mountain-moving faith in him must understand:

“Then a voice came from heaven: ‘I have glorified [my name], and I will glorify it again.’” (John 12:28)

God’s glory

God is up to something in the world. He is glorifying his own name. That is, he is displaying who he is—all his dazzling and awesome virtues, attributes, goodness, and ways—and calling us to worship him. This was his purpose from the beginning. It is why he created the universe and why he created mankind.

Why did God save Israel from Egypt even though they did not believe him and repeatedly disobeyed? “He saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power” (Psalm 106:8).

In the time of the kings of Israel when the nation persisted stubbornly in idolatry and broke their covenant with God, why did he patiently wait before pouring out his full anger? He tells us: “For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.” (Isaiah 48:11)

Aligned with God’s purpose

So God seeks to display his glory always, and this is a crucial truth for those who pray to him and set their hearts to believe his promises. The upshot is, if I am not seeking what God is seeking, I am not aligned with him. If I am totally concerned with my desire rather than his, God might choose to display his mercy by answering my prayer, but he might not.

Surely the majority of the sick, demonized, and hurting people who came to Jesus for help did not have God’s glory uppermost in mind; still, Jesus healed them all and thereby displayed his glory as the Savior. God is a loving, merciful Savior, and all who came to Jesus in faith found that to be true.

There’s more

But God does not stop there. He goes on to teach his purposes and will to those who draw near to him through Jesus. He teaches them to pray and have faith in accordance with his purposes and will. Jesus told his disciples, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). Getting prayers answered depends on abiding in Jesus and his words, that is, pursuing his purposes and will.

Similarly, 1 John 5:14–15 says, “This is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”

So confidence—faith—increases as we pray in accord with God’s will and purpose.

Praying with God’s glory in mind

The psalmist prayed with God’s glory in mind:

“For your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great” (Psalm 25:11).

“Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake!” (Psalm 79:9)

“For your name’s sake, O LORD, preserve my life! In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!” (Psalm 143:11)

“But you, O GOD my Lord, deal on my behalf for your name’s sake; because your steadfast love is good, deliver me!” (Psalm 109:21)

A dual purpose

Notice in that last verse how the psalmist could ask God to act both on the psalmist’s behalf and for the sake of God’s name. It does not have to be one or the other. God does not see our desires as mutually exclusive with his glory. No, our desires can be the arena for him to display his glory.

That is the logic behind Psalm 37:4: “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” To delight in God is to delight in his glory. When we do that, he gives the desire of our hearts, for we have navigated our ship into the ocean current and trade winds of his purpose and will.

When we do that, Jesus promises to answer prayers. He said, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13) So the purpose and desire of Jesus is to glorify his father, and he answers prayers for that reason. When we have the same purpose, our faith can have all the weight of heaven behind it.

Moreover, our faith can be firmly established on God’s command. First Corinthians 10:31 says, “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Takeaway

Faith is established only when it is built on the rock of God’s will and purposes. The bedrock of God’s purposes is the display of his glory. Therefore when we pray and believe God’s promise, our faith will be most firmly established when by it we are seeking God’s glory. Faith that is properly motivated is immovable.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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Truth #15 – God Often Requires Those Who Believe His Promises to Wait Much Longer than Expected for Their Fulfillment

Without both faith and patience, we will have neither patience nor faith.

faith and patience

If you intend to be a person of strong faith, who receives answers to prayers—a person established in faith—then you must carefully monitor your expectations about when God will answer.

You do have expectations, of course, and they determine whether you will easily become discouraged or even disillusioned, whether you will give up when the answer is delayed and collapse into a malaise of unbelief, or instead persevere in confident faith.

God tells us what our expectations should be regarding the time frame of the answer we seek.

Hebrews 6:12 and 15 says we should be “imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises…. And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.”

Faith and patience

A person of strong faith must be one of great patience. We must be willing to wait for God. It is through faith and patience we inherit the promises.

This is so because from our perspective, God usually is slow in answering prayer. Abraham’s life is exhibit A in this regard, and he is called the father of all who believe. In many ways his life is the model of the faith life. So our expectation should be that patience will probably be required.

Psalm 27:14 says, “Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!”

Hebrews 10:36 says, “You have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.”

So God’s Word itself, which urges us to believe God and stand on his promises, tells us that God often requires those who believe his promises to wait much longer than expected for their fulfillment.

Proficient at patience

This is not a failing on God’s part, of course. He has wise and good reasons for his timing in all things. He has a plan for us that is vast in scope and literally stretches into eternity, while we have one situation in view.

Naturally the greater our pain, need, and desire, and the louder the clock ticks its reminder that we seemingly are running out of time, the harder it is to wait for God. But that is what faith requires. Faith keeps waiting for God even when it is too late, even when it seems our faith has been futile. The trademark of successful faith is patience.

So get good at patience. Be a master at waiting for God. As time passes and the answer delays, become proficient at growing stronger in faith over time rather than dwindling in faith over time. Never forget or abandon your requests of God.

It is natural to think that the longer the answer takes to appear, the less likely it is that your faith will be answered. Reject that notion! The likelihood that God will answer depends on his Word and your confidence in it, not how much time has passed!

On the road

My approach to long road trips has changed dramatically from what it was when I was young. Then I approached a five-hour trip as though I could somehow turn it into a two-hour trip by pushing the speed limit, urgently passing anyone going slower than I, limiting rest stops and keeping them as short as possible, and maintaining a hurried mindset.

Now I google to see the expected travel time and embark on the trip with that time frame in mind—with minimal stress. My expectation is that the trip will take some time, and I set my mind to patiently drive that long.

When I pray for something, I generally believe the prayer will be answered in the short term, and I think that is the right approach. But when that does not happen, I reset my expectations and settle in for the long haul. I make up my mind to wait for God patiently. I approach that faith situation like a long road trip.

Takeaway

So stand firm. Have biblical expectations about God’s time frame. The Lord is often slow and long. He is patient, and expects you to be patient. He often requires those who believe his promises to wait much longer than expected for their fulfillment.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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Truth #14 – God Does Not Answer the Prayers of an Unforgiving Person

If we want to move mountains by faith, then we need both to believe God and forgive others.

Believing God and Forgiving Others

There is a connection between faith and forgiveness. Jesus said:

“Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” (Mark 11:22–25, ESV)

This monumental teaching by Jesus on great faith concludes by talking about greatly forgiving others.

And he does not set the bar low. He says to “forgive, if you have anything against anyone.”

“Anything” includes an unforgivable offense, a deeply evil deed that hurt you dearly and can never be repaid.

“Anyone” includes that person you despise.

Believing God and forgiving others

Can we move mountains in the world without removing mountainous grudges in our hearts?

Jesus answers that question with a parable. When Peter posed a question about forgiving others, Jesus said:

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.

Gross hypocrisy

“But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.

Justice is done

“When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18:23–35, ESV)

It’s not worth it

According to this parable, we cannot even be saved without forgiving others. So, can an unsaved person move mountains by faith?

Suppose a truly regenerate person struggles with forgiving someone. That is, they alternate between seasons of forgiveness and bitterness. Will they be able to maintain strong faith that their prayers will be answered?

Only God knows, but if none of your faith and prayers seem to be answered over a long period of time, and you are in and out of a grudge regularly, that might explain ineffective faith.

If you get offended regularly, if you feel resentment often, if you are angry with others on a daily basis, if you hate the person who hurt you, that may explain why your faith is feeble and your prayers go nowhere.

Takeaway

Jesus’s expansive promise about faith and prayer is followed by an emphatic call for forgiveness. They are connected. No grudge is worth weakening your faith, or worse, voiding your salvation. Do not give bitterness one square inch of your heart or one slim second of your time. When bitterness knocks, and you open the door, slam that door shut in his face. Do not let anything keep you from being established in faith.