What is faith? It is something extremely important to having a relationship with God. Thankfully, scripture gives us a clear definition of what faith is in Hebrews 11:1. “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” In other words, faith is trusting in something that you cannot explicitly prove. Many people have faith all wrong. So many “believe” in Jesus. And by “believe” I mean that many people will intellectually agree with the facts in the bible. This does not lead to salvation. It says so in James 2:19. Even the demons believe in God and acknowledge the facts.
Where salvation truly comes from is faith. Beyond belief, faith is also about trust. You have probably heard the chair analogy before. Belief is agreeing that the chair is a chair, and is designed to support the weight of a person. Faith is actually sitting in the chair. Faith requires action.
James 2:26 says that faith without works is dead. I’m sure that you have heard this verse taken out of context. James is not telling us that you must do good works to be saved; rather, he is claiming that if somebody has faith, real faith, then you will be able to see the evidence in their deeds. Matthew 7:17-18 says that “a good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” The “faith” that says but does not do is simply unbelief. True faith will produce good fruit.
Faith also goes beyond salvation. Jesus says in Matthew 21:21 that if you have faith you can do anything. This is not some sort of positive thinking psychology because biblical faith implies surrendering to the will of God. So if you surrender completely to what God has in store for you, He will do great things through you.
These past few moths, God has really been challenging me to have more faith that He will provide. If God tells me to do something, I can have faith that He will provide the means for me to do it. Take Moses for example. God told Moses to deliver the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt. There were many miracles that God told Moses to perform, such as parting the Red Sea. The thing is, none of the things that Moses did, did he actually have the power to do. Moses has to have faith that because God told him to part the Red Sea, the Red Sea would be parted. It wasn’t Moses doing those things of his own power; it was God doing those things through Moses to demonstrate His power.
In the same way, God works through me. It may not be parting the Red Sea or delivering an entire people group from slavery, but it is whatever His plan is for me. Right now, God’s plan for me is to go on the World Race. Even though I found out about the Race in November, and knew that God was telling me to do it, I didn’t sign up until January. People would tell me to look more into it before I sign up, make sure it’s something that I actually want to do, make sure that the work I will be doing will be good, and much more. All of those concerns are valid under the assumption that this was my plan. But that’s the thing: it was never my plan. It was God’s plan. Did Moses want to do what God told him to? No. In fact, he gave God many excuses for why he shouldn’t have to do it. But that was God’s plan for Moses, and because of Moses’ faith, it was done. Thankfully, I actually do want to do the World Race, but it very well could have been the opposite. I’m sure that God will call me to do many things while on the Race that I do not want to do, but I will pray for faith that God will do great things through me.
As for right now, in the time leading up to the Race, fundraising is a huge act of faith. People will tell me all the time that $19,200 is a lot of money, and they are right. I am not able to raise that much money. It’s a good thing God is on my side. I know that He will provide the funds for me to do what He has called me to do. Meanwhile, I am abiding in Him, so that I can bear the fruit of the Spirit and be a light to those around me.
Please pray that I would be able to have more faith, because I know that I can’t do it on my own. Thank you for taking the time to read. Have a blessed day!
