Shareware Overload Trio 2/Shareware Overload Trio Volume 2 (Chestnut CD-ROM).ISO/dir32/alphon_5.zip/8302/8302_A.EXE/FAITH.006

Text File | 1992-10-03 | 13KB | 248 lines

                     FAITH PRINCIPLES N0.6.

                        THE HAND OF FAITH

There comes a point in the realm of faith where the prayer and
vision must be translated into activity.  Moses reached this place
at the shore of the Red Sea when confronted with obstacles in front
and problem behind.  He cried to God for a solution, but God put
the onus for the solution back on to Moses by saying, "What is that
in your hand?" - Ex. 14:16.  God had previously committed to Moses
a miracle ability with his rod (Ex. 4:2), and now expected him to
use it instead of trying to abdicate from his responsibilities.
God was really saying, "Moses, the ball is in your court", or "It
is your move".

The scriptures are full of evidence that God expects us to make a
faith-move instead of apathetically expecting God to do it all for
us without our involvement.  In other words, we have to make things
happen!

Note: Ex. 7:19, 8:5, 6, 16-17, 9: 22-23, 10:12-13, 22, John 8:18,
14:26.

While we do not foolishly or presumptuously do anything we choose
and call it a step of faith, we must cooperate with God by acting
on His promises. we must have a "rhema" and we need a valid and
clear vision, but these elements will be unproductive unless we are
prepared to get personally involved.  Within the revelation we have
received God expects us to take the initiative.  Often He is
hindered from working on our behalf because we have not, or will
not do what we can do first.  When we do what we can, then God will
do what He can.

Joshua is another example of having to take an action to complement
his prayer and by that action bring release to Israel (Joshua
7:10-15).

1. THE    MEANS FOR OUR SOLUTIONS ARE OFTEN AT OUR DISPOSAL

     A.   FAITH IS EXPRESSED AS AN ACTION

          Heb- 11 lists the faith experience of the old Testament
          believers who acted on their faith.  Abel offered, Noah
          built, Abraham went out, Isaac and Jacob blessed their
          descendants, Moses made a choice, etc.

          This principle is clearly expressed in the story of 2
          Kings 7. The four lepers said, "Why sit we here till we
          die".  They determined to get up and do the little that
          they could and as they did God acted on their behalf.
          The sound God caused the Syrians to hear was an
          amplification of the steps of these pathetic men.  It
          would not have happened had they not moved out.

          This faith step often involves:

          a)   Doing what you've never done before.  By faith Noah
               built an Ark (Gen.6).    It had never been done
               before by anyone so there was no-one to copy and no
               precedents to follow.  Faith is often pioneering a
               new path, setting the pace or blazing a trail for
               others to follow.

          b)   Doing what you can't do.  Jesus commanded the man
               with the withered hand to stretch it out (Mark
               3:5).  This was beyond the ability of the man but
               he had to try and in trying to found that the
               miracle power of Jesus had released him.  He would
               never have had that miracle if he had not tried to
               do what he could not do.  This is one of the most
               common challenges God puts before us in living by
               faith.  His plans are impossible and can only be
               achieved by His power, but this power is often
               released by attempting to do the thing which is
               beyond us.


     B. USING WHAT YOU HAVE

          a)   Eben God challenged Moses to do something, about
               his situation, the solution was in his hands. often
               we are waiting for God to manufacture our solution
               in some mystical way, but he frequently works
               through the thing at hand.

          b)   Elisha was able to miraculously break the yoke of
               poverty over the widow (2 Kings 4), but he used
               what she had.  "What have you in the house?" She
               had a pot of oil and from this small resource God
               brought deliverance. (Her next step was to take a
               faith action and go and borrow vessels, not a few.)

          c)   Jesus used the small resources that were available
               to feed the thousands (Mark 6).  Note that He told
               the disciples to check out what was available for
               Him to work with.  Verse 38 - "What have you - go
               and see!"

          d)   Two important aspects of faith arise from these
               illustrations:

               i)   Begin where you are.  People often postpone
                    believing God hoping that things will improve
                    first.  The time when we need to believe is
                    when things are at their worst or most
                    impossible.  Use what you have now and take a
                    faith step where you are in order to give God
                    an opportunity to meet our needs or bring His
                    plans to pass.

               ii)  Despise not the day of small things - Zech.
                    4:10.  In many cases people are robbed of a
                    miracle because they feel that the little they
                    could do will not have any effect on the
                    situation.  If we could do it all we would not
                    need God's intervention, but God often will
                    not work for us until we first contribute the
                    little we can.  It becomes the deposit from
                    which God will bring a total solution.

     C.   SOWING AND REAPING

          It is one of the laws of life that for every action there
          is a corresponding reaction.  This is really the law of
          sowing and reaping or Seed Faith.

          Though we cannot provide all the resources needed for a
          certain solution, yet the little we can do will set the
          wheels of change in motion.  Sometimes the thing we can
          do or sow is not directly or apparently related to the
          need and may in fact temporarily and apparently make the
          need greater.

          a)   The widow of Zarephath was commanded by Elijah to
               give him the small resource of food she had left.
               This made her situation worse, but it was the seed
               sown from which God provided her needs for over 3
               years. 1 Kings 17:8-24.

          b)   Elijah poured barrels of water upon his altar (1
               Kings 18:33).  This was the most precious commodity
               in the land at that time due to the drought.
               However it was seed sown for a harvest of rain
               which soon followed.

          c)   The ministry of paying tithes and giving offerings
               is an act of seed faith.  Mal. 3:8-11.  To the
               natural mind it makes no sense to give at least one
               tenth of our income to the Lord as this makes our
               economic situation worse.  However, it is an act of
               faith which releases the blessings of God and
               enables Him to "rebuke the devourer" for our sake.

2.   FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD

     A.    ACTIVE OR PASSIVE FAITH

          It is very common for people to reduce their faith level
          to passive belief instead of active commitment.  For
          example - belief in the Millennium makes no real demand
          upon us and has little effect on the way we live.  While
          this is more of a doctrinal type of belief, yet we can
          approach our daily living with the same uncommitted, or
          passive belief.  True faith demands action.
          a)   Some years ago the great French stuntman, Blondin,
               stretched a tight rope across Niagara Falls.  He
               walked on the rope, lay down on it, danced on it,
               and then wheeled a barrow across.  He pushed the
               barrow across a second time with a heavy sack of
               potatoes in it.  Finally he asked the crowd if they
               believed that he could wheel a man across the rope
               in the barrow instead of a sack of potatoes.  The
               crowd enthusiastically shouted that they believed
               he could, but when he asked for a -believer" to
               step into the barrow, no-one would respond.  Their
               belief in his abilities was passive and lacked
               commitment.
          b)   i)   Abraham believed God with INTERNALLY EXPRESSED
                    FAITH and as a result of believing God's
                    promise of a miracle son and a multitude of
                    descendants, he was justified by his faith.
                    Gen. 15:6 & Rom. 4:3-6.

               ii)  However the scripture makes it plain that this
                    was not the full process of his believing.  He
                    had to ACT on that faith to make it fully
                    effective.  The Bible says he was justified
                    when he added works or actions to his faith
                    and offered Isaac up in obedience to God's
                    command - Gen. 22 compare James 2;20-24.  His
                    first expression of internal faith was
                    validated and perfected by his EXTERNALLY
                    EXPRESSED FAITH.

          c)   Rahab believed the spies when she received them,
               but she became "committed" to Israel when she put
               her life in jeopardy by hiding them.  The Bible
               declares that this was an action of faith.  Heb.
               11:31 and James 2:25.

          d)   Peter received a "rhema" from Jesus to walk on
               water.  Despite this specific word to him, that
               miracle did not occur without his involvement.  He
               made the decision to get out of the boat and step
               out on the sea.  His action was a total commitment
               to this promise of the Lord which authenticated his
               internal belief in the possibility of doing what
               Jesus was doing. (Matt. 14:28-29).

          e)   All true faith will be tested.  It is not intended
               that faith should be some magical formula, an "open
               sesame" to the promises of God.  True faith will
               affect the way we live and bring about change in
               our character as we learn to trust God when our
               faith is under fire.  The Bible tells us that there
               is both the "fight of faith" (1 Tim. 6:12) and the
               "trial of our faith" (I Peter 1:7).

               It is not enough for us to say that we have faith.
               God will test it so that its expression will grow
               and we can see its phenomenal strength and so gain
               more confidence in our ability to live by faith.

          f)   Belief that remains in the theoretical or passive
               realm and is never proved or demonstrated by action
               is not really faith, but is a creed.

               True faith will demand and force action.  Martin
               Luther's new found justification by faith based on
               Romans 1:17 forced a total change in his way of
               living and caused his break with the Roman Catholic
               system.

               John Wesley's belief that the gospel was for the
               common man and should not be confined to the church
               building took him into outdoor evangelism and
               eventually caused his expulsion from the Church of
               England.
          g)   Faith in any given situation is always expressed
               internally or vocally before the works, but only
               action can prove that it is faith.  These works of
               faith have an effect upon our relationship with God
               by increasing the release of our righteousness.
               When we give to the work of God we receive from God
               both the multiplication of our seed sown and in-
               crease in the fruits of our righteousness (2 Cor.
               9:10).