The faith life is a better 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)