01/07/2021
How is our faith? What powers the engine of our belief if not faith itself? Jesus cursed a fig tree and caused it to wither, and He did so by the application of His faith, but what has our faith accomplished for us? Do we have faith, or simply claim to possess it?
“And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.”
Mark 11:21-22 ESV
When my boys were just little tykes, we would wrestle on the floor, and I would ask them if they were strong. Immediately they would raise their arms up, flex their muscles, and with a look of strain on their faces tell me yes. I don’t really know if they believed they were strong, or if they were playing along with me, but it is much the same with our faith. If I asked if you had faith in God, and Jesus Christ, how would you answer me? Would you say yes? What if I asked you to show me your faith by cursing a bush in the churchyard and making it wither, would you still tell me yes? How about if I asked you to throw a mountain into the sea?
“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.”
Mark 11:23 ESV
Using our faith is meant to glorify God, and not to entertain ourselves by exercising His power. Sometimes the Lord strengthens us in faith by allowing us to perform miracles of faith, or to win souls to Him by demonstrating His power through some exercise of our faith. I have seen amazing healings, businesses brought back from the brink of failure, epileptic seizures cured, and other such miracles of faith, but none were done to show the intercessor’s strength of faith through prayer, but rather to glorify God. Our faith played a role, as did the faith of the person for which we were praying, but the real power was God’s and the glory was always His. Listen to these words written in 1800s Africa by Andrew Murray, a great missionary and pastor... he writes of our thoughts, but God’s power and glory.
“Your one desire must be to take time to be still before God, believing that He longs to make Himself known to you. In faith, allow yourself to think great thoughts concerning the magnitude of God’s glory, the power by which He reveals Himself to us, and the depths of the love with which He longs to possess us.” - Andrew Murray
So once again; if I asked you to use your faith to curse a bush in the churchyard, and to make it wither, would you have the absolute faith that this would be done? If your answer is no then I am led to ask you again... How is your faith, but if you answer me as Jesus answered Satan when He was tempted to demonstrate His faith then that would be altogether different...
“Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’””
Matthew 4:5-7 ESV
Jesus never considered the fact that He could save Himself, and we shouldn’t consider that miracles of faith performed through us are of our doing... they are always in obedience to God’s will, by His hand, and for His glory. Remember the raiding of Lazarus from the dead?
“So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.””
John 11:3-4, 40-42 ESV
Our Faith is strengthened on occasion by miracles performed to glorify God in our presence, and sometimes we are taught lessons by this same mechanism of faith, but faith, whether the size of a mustard seed, or the mountain we wish to move, is always meant to glorify God. So if we are to wither a fig tree it must be the will of God that causes us to act... thus our faith is quite simply put, a conduit for the power and will of God... a means by which God’s plan is worked through us, and His glory demonstrated, without leaving a trace of it on us... How is your faith?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for our faith, and your using it to glorify yourself. Thank you Lord for demonstrating through Jesus how we are to maintain our faithfulness so that it will be available to you always. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you who reached out to us, and to lost souls through your Son Jesus, and our faith in Him, and you. Praised be your name for every time we find ourselves within your will, and our faith being used to glorify you. Merciful are you when you heal, and do the other things to help us by using the seeds of faith you have sowed in us. Hear our prayers father as we seek to know your will, and to glorify you as we obey you in our faithfulness. Wash us clean in the blood of Jesus, and glorify yourself in our righteousness through faith. Let the light of your glory shine through the hollow reed of our faith, and cast its light on those who remain in the dark... longing for a glimmer of your light to save them.
““I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”
John 5:30, 44 ESV
Rich Forbes