For example: In this world, we have come to realise that some things exist, eventhough we cant see them, e.g the air we breathe in, waves transmitting radio and television signals, etc. Am going to use the television and its signal as an example: we cant see television signals, but they exist. If someone says 'No there aren't, it sure doesnt exist (talking of the television signal)', this wont change the fact that there is, it just mearnt that such person is not smart enough.
A television set can make this unseen signals visible (can someone see where we humans come in, in matters of faith? Yes/No?). When we see the images on the television set is not when they become real, they were already there, and if we switch off the television set, that still wont stop it from being there. The television set doesn't generate images, all it does is to receive signal, and convert it into sights and sound that we can see and hear. These signals remains unseen untill we tune them in through the television set.
If you have ever experienced a situation in which you were watching the television, when the picture suddenly went blank. In such a case like this, did you call the broadcast station to complain? Am sure what you did first was to check if it was an error in your connections (like the plug-ins, electrical connection, whether a tube has gone out or some circuit has melted, you probably also checked the receiver to see if nothing is wrong with it.. You trust that the station broadcast 24/7 , thus the problem surely cant be from them, you surely dont question that until you'v eliminated all the possible problems with your set.
Likewise, God is real and does exist. He just can't be seen. He is broadcasting all His powers and blessings 24/7 . It's never God's transmitter that is broken. It's always our receiver that is the problem. If we ask God for something and we don't see it manifest instantly, most people will question why God hasn't answered that prayer yet. They assume that because they haven't seen or heard anything, nothing has happened. That's all wrong. Dont you think we need to have more faith in God than we have in a television station?.
We need to understand that having faith does not really mean that the physical truth will disappear, but surely the spiritual truth would dominate over the physical, and the problem would surely be solved. True faith doesnt deny physical truth, it just refuses to let the physical dominate over the spiritual, all it does is subdue the physical to the reality of the spiritual.
A good illustration of faith is found in 2kings 6. Here Elisha was revealing the Syrian's battle plan to the king of Isreal, so the Isrealites would ambush the Syrian's ambush. This continued, and the King of Syria asked his servants to reveal the traitor, When one of the king of Syria's servants said that Elisha, the prophet of God, was revealing the words that the king of Syria said in his bed chamber to the king of Israel, the king of Syria sent his armies to capture Elisha (2king 6:15).
When Elisha's servant saw the troop, he panicked (he knew why they were there, thus they were in big trouble). But to Gehazi's surprise (Gehazi- Elisha servant), Elisha said ''Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them." (2kings 6:16). Am sure that with this reply, Gehazi would look round in search for they that be with them (and he would surely be disappointed to find nothing (this is in the physical world). There were truely more with him than was with the Syrian army. It's just that Elisha's forces were in the unseen reality.
The key to understanding this is to recognize that there is another realm of reality beyond this physical world. (Those who are limited to only their five senses will always struggle with this). Then Elisha prayed that Gehazi's eyes be opened ( And when the eyes (spiritual) of Gehazi were opened, he saw the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire round about them. (He (Gehazi) was able to see with his heart into the spiritual world).
Those who see faith as an attempt to make something real which isn't real will always struggle with those who see faith as simply making what is spiritually true a physical truth. When Gehazi's eyes were opened, the Syrian army did not disappear, the were still there, but then the spiritual subdued the physical, and Elisha was able to conquer the Syrians (Not by fighting them physically, but he used the spiritual to influence the physical. He raised his hands and smote the Syrians with blindness... (You can read the full story at 2kings 6 ( the whole chapter).).
Here, Elisha was not just speaking some wishful statement, hoping that it would become a reality. He knew what was real in the spiritual world, and he controlled his emotions and actions accordingly. There is no indication that Elisha saw the horses and chariots of fire around him. He didn't need to. He believed it. Those who operate in true faith don't need to see with their physical eyes. Their faith is evidence enough, this is walking by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7).
Another good illustration of faith (in the bible) is that of Abraham, ( this ought to be the first illustration, as Abraham is known as 'the father of faith' ). It all started for Abraham when God called him when he was still in his father's house in Teran. He yielded to the call, went to Cannan, though he knew not where God was taking him at the initial stage.
When God first promised Abraham that He would give him a son in his old age, the Bible simply says ''he believed the Lord... (faith)'' (Genesis 15:6). Here we can see that Abraham was accepted by God not because of anything else, but because of his complete faith in God . It was simply human faith responding to God's faithfulness (just like a television set responding to the the television signal from the television broadcasting staion). Because Abraham trusted in God's faithfullness, he believed the impossible would happen (i.e God would be true to His word, give him a son, through which God's promise can only be fulfiled).
The son came, and was named Isaac. Then when Isaac was still a young boy, too young to marry and have any children of his own, the command came to Abraham to sacrifice him (Genesis 22:2). Here, there are many challenges for Abraham.
First, did he love God enough to be willing to give his son for him? Second, Abraham knew God was absolutely holy and trustworthy, so in this knowledge, he had to resolve how God could command him to do something that was apparently morally questionable. And lastly, he had to ask how God could fulfil His promise to give him a son and through him, descendants so many that they could not be numbered (Genesis 16:10) if his son was to be sacrificed before he could even bear a child of his own. Surely, the only way God's promise would be fulfilled in the life of Isaac, is if he was raised from the dead (and Abraham believed God to do and make the impossible happen).
The sun generates light, loads of it. It needs no other object in the sky to assist it to do so. At full moon, our satellite reflects the sun's light beautifully, but only marginally. Take away the sun and the moon cannot shine, but remove the moon and the sun will blaze with light undaunted. The moon simply reflects the sun's light as Abraham's faith was a reflection of God's faithfulness.
When Isaac said to Abraham ''Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?'' (Genesis 22:7), Abraham replied '' God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son'' (Genesis 22:8), the direct Hebrew translation of which means ''God will provide the lamb from His own very being'' i.e. ''my son, you are to be the sacrifice, but take heart, you are only a reflection of the lamb which God will provide from himself as the true sacrifice''.
This faitholic statement of Abraham was confirmed by Jesus in John 8:56; '' Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day, he saw it and was glad''. Later on, the ram came as a substitute for Isaac, just as Jesus came as a substitute for us in enduring the wrath of God against us for all our sins. All this came from nothing more than the nature of Abraham's faith - a response to God's own faithfulness. Seeing his own faith only as a reflection of this, as the moon can only reflects the sun's light, he foresaw the whole Christain Gospel. Praise the Lord!.
These are few of many people in the bible that had faith in God, and it surely does worked for them. Lets take a look at some principles at which we can generate faith and make faith effective.
1. Ever heard that fear is not the opposite of faith? Yea, its just an opposition to faith. Doubt is the opposite of faith. Those that had faith never doubted in their hearts, thats the reason for their success (either in the short or long run). Sometimes we have fear with faith, thus things didnt work out as planned/expected, then you need boldness with faith (Romans 5:1-5).
Ever wanted to get rid of the fear/doubt that is ever mixed with your faith? All you need is the Holy Spirit; the one who is to fill our heart with the Love of God, and there is no fear in love. In the atmosphere of hope, there is love, which in turn creates faith with boldness (and this is only done by filling ones heart with the love of God given by the Holy Ghost).
Even if your faith is little, all you need is the love of God to fill your heart (thus for faith to work, you need the love of God to become perfected in your heart). When our heart is fiiled with the love of God, our heart condemns us not, then we have confidence (as there would be no fear and the deceit of the devil overcomed). Faith is the believe that God can do it, while Confidence is the assurance that God is with us and for us.
Thus; Faith + Confidence = Desired result.
2. Every human being has the potential of having faith, and an effective one at that. Want to build up the potential of faith in you? Lets take a look at faithosynthesis i.e the generation of faith.
¤Whenever you fear/doubt, you break the hedge, Ecclesiastes 10:8b says; ''whoso breaketh an hedge, the serpent shall bite'' (the serpent here is fear/doubt ). Thus, you have to confess the word with your mouth and believe with your heart (Romans 10: 9-10 ). If the symptoms persist, then that is the point to stand on your faith, and you have to know that strongholds are just imaginations ( i.e image formation).
¤ Hope: which means ''a strong and confident expectation '', and it brings comfort to our heart. Psalm 119 : 49-50 says; ''Remember thy word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction : for thy word has quickened me.''
¤ Believe in hope: God can provide another source of supply for thee (or another way out of something for thee). This can come to pass by believe, take the word of hope and believe totally till there is no doubt in you. In believing, you medidate more and more in the word of God, and build on the word to increase your believe and reduce your doubt to zero, (romans 4: 13-18 , mark 11: 23-24 ).
¤ Believe and thus speak on it. Confess the word with confidence (Holy spirit, the facilitator of faith can help with this, 2cor 4:13). When faith mix with the word of God, your need will surely be met, hebrews 4:2.
¤ Dont give up on anything, just have faith.
Lastly, you might not see what God is saying, just have believe. Believing takes energy, it needs looking beyond what one can see, feel, etc. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of God. What makes Gods power to meet your problem is through faith (Luke 1:34,45). God tries our faith, thus we need to have faith in Him, no matter how long, dont let anything shake ur faith.
Performance= hearing + believing. (hebrews 11: 6-11 ).
What ways has worked for you in the past, has having faith ever worked for you? Feel free to share your story with us. Thanks.
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