How Goes Your Faith

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). Some years ago GM came out with a slogan concerning one of their vehicle lines. It stated "Buick, something to believe in." I had a Buick and let me tell you no amount of faith could have kept that thing running. Of course the slogan did not speak of Biblical faith. It was referring to Buick faith, which amounted to nothing more than hoping your Buick would last a little longer than the competitors brand. Actually our faith is no better than the object of our faith. The New Testament word for faith points to a personal commitment. The English word trust could be a better translation of the Greek word. Trust speaks of investment or commitment of oneself. The reality (objectively) of things hoped for lies in confident trust in God. This is quite different than the statement made by the little boy "Faith is believing things we know aren't true." Faith is our way of knowing that certain sure things that have not yet happened, will happen. How do we know these things are certain? Because God said so in His Word. Just as certain as Jesus came once, He will come again. Faith is living life on the assumption that what God said will happen. The faith life does not wait for human evidence or proof, but accepts (trusts) the Word of God as totally sufficient evidence. This kind of faith wins us the approval of God. In God's economy He adjusts the worldly statement "Seeing is believing" to "Believing is confident knowing, even when you cannot see, because the One who promised is faithful (reliable). We have a living faith that overcomes the difficulties of life, a faith that trusts in that which is hoped for (what God has promised in the Holy Scriptures). Able of old differed from his brother Cain in that he placed his complete trust in God and his unlimited mercy. He offered his (the correct) sacrifice in the spirit of faith. God rejected Cain's sacrifice because it was not brought from a trusting heart (thus the wrong sacrifice). That's why "Without faith it is impossible to please Him." Abraham was a man of faith. He obeyed God and left the land of Ur of the Chaldees and became a migrant, traveling in foreign lands. While he believed God had given him a land of promise he did not run ahead of God's timing and when he experienced hardship he never tried to go back to Ur. He never stopped his journey with God. He and his wife Sarah believed they would receive a promised son. In their old age, when they were both "Dead", in a reproductive sense, God gave them a son. Consider reading (Hebrews 11) the faith chapter. You will always find someone in that great chapter you can identify with. It could be Gideon who needed a sign that the Lord was truly with him. It might be the ones titled "Others" who were persecuted and mistreated. It could be Rahab and Samson, in spite of their missteps they both are listed in God's great hall of faith. Why are they commended? Because they committed themselves to God, they believed Him, they took Him at this Word and acted accordingly. Are you trusting the Lord today? If not, why not? Try spending some time with Christ in His Word "Faith comes by hearing and that by the Word of God." Dr. Ken Copley is available for counseling, conferences, and local church meetings.

God's Cure For Fear

The Scriptures tell us that "Fear has torment." How easy it is to get our eyes off the Lord and on to our circumstances. When Peter was walking on the water he was doing just fine until he took his eyes off Jesus and looked at the storm. When we focus on our circumstances, we begin to sink, just like Peter did. The truth is God is sovereign over every detail of our life. Nothing escapes God, there is nothing that surprises God. And believe it or not we can't teach Him anything, for He has nothing to learn, he knows everything. I am amazed how segments of the theological world will try to get rid of God's sovereignty. There is a new view call "Open Theism or open Theology" being taught (in some circles), that God knows little more of the future than we do. So He just hangs around with us and grieves with us when things go bad. The truth is God sees the future as clearly as He sees the past. He controls the future, He is Lord, the one in charge. He is still the Potter, and we remain the clay. I Sam. 2:3 states God is the God of knowledge. He knows everything. We read that "God searches the heart and understands all it's intents and thoughts" (cf. 2 Ch. 16:9; Heb. 4:12). Acts 2:23 tell us "Jesus was delivered to the Jews to be crucified by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God." In Matt. 24:36 we learn "No one but God knows the day and hour of judgment." Being the creator God, God knows when he made you and when you will die, and every detail between those times. "Before you were born I knit you together in your mothers womb." This is how we can be assured that God is who he says He is. He is the Alpha, the Omega the beginning and the end. I put my trust in Christ because I am sure of my salvation, because I have put my trust in a God who is Omniscient and Omnipotent. Because God is all knowing and all powerful we can agree with Paul who said "For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of a sound mind" (II Timothy 1:7). What about fear, we learn from the Lord that fear is the opposite of faith. When the disciples were in the boat in the middle of a huge storm they were fearful. The problem was not the boat in the storm, but the storm in the boat. The water had nearly filled the boat and these seasoned fishermen believed they were going to drown. They overlooked one factor, they had God in the boat. What was he doing, sleeping. They woke Him up and rebuked Him for not caring. He simply stood up and said "Peace be still." and the storm stopped. He looked at His disciples and asked this piercing question, "Why do you fear, why do you have no faith?" When God is in the boat there is no reason to fear. He has power over the storm, God can stop the storms in our life any time He chooses. He can say "Peace be still." and the storm will stop. How often do we rebuke the Lord when we feel He is not helping us? The song writer of old said "Oh what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer." Note the Lord did not stop the storm until the Disciples spoke to Him. Speaking to God is called prayer. Have you been talking with the Lord about your current storm? What was He doing with His disciples, the same thing He does with us, teaching them to trust Him in the storms of life. Each of them would preach the gospel to a hostile world. All would be put to death (with the exception of John) because they would name the name of Christ. I believe there is a "spirit of fear", but it is not the Holy Spirit. As believers we have the Spirit of power, and of love and of a sound mind. The cure for fear is faith, who or what are you trusting in today?