11/22/2024
Are we waiting to fully understand God before we will allow ourselves to believe? Do we hope he is who scripture says He is, but need more proof? Some of us don’t want to admit that God exists because our own limited intelligence, ability to conceive, or because our lack of understanding who He is, keeps getting in our way. Well, hope is fine, but it isn’t the same thing as faith. Hope is seeing a box, and wanting to believe that God might be in it. Faith is our ability to take the vapor of that hope, and treat it as if it were real. Faith is the first step towards believing… it opens the box in which we have placed our hope that God exists, and allows us to peer inside expectantly. Belief, on the other hand, is seeing the evidence of Him in the box, and realizing that He is not only there in its confines, but is in everything that surrounds it… and abides in us too. So today let’s think about where we are on this path from hope to faith, to belief, and into the eternal presence of God beyond.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”
Hebrews 11:1-3 ESV
Let’s begin today by contemplating the necessity for faith in our prayers; not just in the answer to prayer, but in our prayers themselves. I was prompted to lead us in consideration of this topic by a statement made by Pastor E. M. Bounds when He said:
"We have restricted God to fit into our world, and now we have little faith in His power. We have made Him a little God through our little faith." – E. M. Bounds
This statement shocked me into consciousness because the truth in it is something we witness every day in the world around us. We are prone to think that people have no belief in God, when actually, it is not disbelief at all, but the very small expectation they have of Him... an underdeveloped faith in Him, and the lack of understanding of who Jesus Christ truly is. The book of Luke questions our faith as well, and asks us directly…
“I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"”
Luke 18:8 ESV
Many of us, including clergy, have confused the fact that Jesus was God in human flesh with His ability to function as the omnipotent God in every way. They believe that since He was a man that He gave up His unbounded godliness... but that is not true. Jesus never abdicated His holiness. He says this quite plainly...
“I and the Father are one."”
John 10:30 ESV
We need to unleash our faith, and to do this we must unshackle God within us. Today many of us suffer, not from disbelief or an absence of faith, but by a shortfall, of having “little faith”. My friends, our view of Jesus must not be constrained by our inability to understand the fullness of who He is, and our prayers must not be constrained by our little faith, nor by our limited of understanding of God and Jesus based on our limited ability to contemplate their omnipotence and love for us. Bounds saw this clearly and he wrote these words to guide us...
"The possibilities of prayer are measured by faith in God's ability to do. Faith is the one prime condition by which God works and is the one prime condition by which man prays."
The Bible story of a woman who had a discharge of blood for 12 years also allows us a glimpse at the necessity of faith. She merely touched the hem of Jesus's garment and was healed. What is important to us this morning is what Jesus said to her next...
“And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."”
Mark 5:34 ESV
Her unbridled faith, not her full understanding, brought forth the instant healing. True faith doesn't bottle up the strength and glory of God, but sets it free within and around us. Bounds speaks to us of this as well...
"Faith believes in God's limitless power. Faith gives character to prayer. A feeble faith has always brought forth feeble praying. Vigorous faith creates vigorous praying. We need a quickening faith in God's power."
Yes, we do need a quickening faith in God's power; we need to take the box away in which we have tried to contain God. We have constructed that box from our need to understand the divine before we will allow ourselves to believe… it confines our faith and keeps it small. We have an innate desire to understand all things we experience, but God is beyond our understanding, and If we are ever to experience His unfettered blessings and the unbound power of prayer, then we need to throw the box away... it has been a hindrance, and quite useless, anyway. Job expresses the futility of man’s quest to understand God…
“7 Can you find out the deep things of God?
Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?
8 It is higher than heaven—what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?
9 Its measure is longer than the earth
and broader than the sea.
10 If he passes through and imprisons
and summons the court, who can turn him back?
11 For he knows worthless men;
when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?
12 But a stupid man will get understanding
when a wild donkey's colt is born a man!”
Job 11:7-12 ESV
So, the chasm between the belief we have on earth, and our eternal belief in heaven, is filled by our faith, and only by this bridge of divine faithfulness can we walk from one side to the other. Are we prepared to let go of our need to resolve every mystery of God, and the requirement that we have placed on understanding Him completely, before we will allow ourselves to believe in Him? Or, will we take that first step of faith and trust that we will not fall into our imagined chasm, or into the confines of the box? Both are of our doing, and both of these will separate us from knowing and believing in God. The first separates us from Him entirely, while the second limits His presence and His influence in our lives.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV
Prayer:
Thank you Father for the mustard seed of faith you have placed in all men that it might grow, and lead us to you. Thank you Lord for allowing us to believe through our faith; with a faith that is the unseen hope of all men. Father, help us to remove any constraint we have placed upon you in our minds. Let us see you in our dreams, and visions, in all of your unbridled glory. Lord, let our faith, and the prayers we pray, be without limitations. Give us the faith to move mountains, the prayers that have no bounds, and an expectation that all things are possible, and within your ability to give. Father, we pray today for those who seek to confine you; take the mist from their eyes and allow them to see you as the God of the universe who is beyond their wildest expectation and understanding. Give them a growing fullness of faith as they increase in their spirituality and realize that beyond their faith there is only faith. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who is above us, and greater that our ability to comprehend, understand, and even see. Holy are you who allows us to view you by degree… knowing you little by little as we are able. You are merciful and full of grace Abba, and you give us faith and hope to bridge the gap between where we stand, and where you are. You do this so that we will receive a glimmer of who you are, and know that only our faith can complete us in Christ. You made us in your image Father, so help us to find those characteristics that make us like you, and to may we give you all the honor and glory for each one of them. Praised be your holy name, and may your mystery, and bounds, always be just beyond our grasp and ability to see… may our faith continue to be our one true path towards you, and your Son Jesus our redemption, and only way to eternity.
“Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6 CSB
Amen, Amen, Amen
“Behold, God is great, and we know him not;
the number of his years is unsearchable.”
Job 36:26 ESV
“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:7 ESV
“Then Moses said, “Please, let me see your glory. ”He said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name ‘the Lord’ before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” But he added, “You cannot see my face, for humans cannot see me and live.”
”
Luke 6:38 ESV
“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
Ephesians 4:29 ESV
Rich Forbes