IF YOU HAVE FAITH, USE IT

Some people claim they can't have faith because they are practical; they need to know something is true before they can believe it. They need scientific proof, they say.

But every person, regardless of their beliefs, applies faith every day. You apply faith when the pharmacist fills your prescription. You assume those little pills the pharmacist gave you are actually the ones your doctor prescribed. You assume they are not placebos, or even worse, another kind of medication that could be harmful to you. You applied faith.

When you go to a restaurant, order and then eat what they bring to you, that is faith. You are not sure whether they adhered to all of the sanitary guidelines they are supposed to follow. You don't know whether the waiter is a little ticked off at you and might have thrown a few little surprises into your meal. You don't know. So you apply faith.

When you have a surgery done, you are putting complete faith in the nurses, anesthesiologists and surgeons. Or how about when you board a plane and taxi down the runway in that 747? We put faith in those pilots in the cockpit. We hope they will get us from Point A to Point B. Every time you cross a bridge you express faith in the engineer that designed it, trusting that the bridge will not collapse as you drive over it. Your faith is so strong that you don't even think about it.

All of us apply faith each and every day. So if we are willing to put our faith in a pharmacist, a waiter, a nurse, a physician, a pilot, or an engineer to name a few, why is it so hard to put faith in God Almighty?

Faith could be defined as the means by which the infirmity of man takes hold of the infinity of God – of his unlimited resources. Some would assert that faith is a force we must harness and that we must speak things into reality. But that is not what the Bible teaches. Faith is how we connect to God, but we don't want to put faith in faith; we want to put faith in God. As A. W. Tozer pointed out, "Faith in faith is faith astray."

The Bible defines faith this way: "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1 NIV). The very existence of our faith, despite our circumstances, is a proof of God, and that is a powerful witness to a lost world that doesn't have faith. We know from the stories of the early church how many courageous men and women, and sometimes even children, were martyred for their faith. And even as they were being executed, these Christians called upon God, asking him to forgive the people that were brutally murdering them. And, there are many accounts of the Christians' executioners coming to faith as a result of seeing the faith of these believers as they went into God's presence.

We find another evidence of faith in Paul and Silas, who, when they were thrown into prison, sang praises to God at midnight. As a result, their jailer came to faith in Christ. That was not mind over matter. That was faith over circumstances. Paul and Silas didn't have the guaranteed assurance they would ever get out of that prison, but they were able to see things in perspective and have faith, even in the bleakest of circumstances. So when Christians say they have faith, it means they are hoping; they are trusting in God.

In one sense, everyone has a little faith. The Bible even says that God gives us each a measure of faith (see Romans 12:3). But faith develops by listening to, studying and immersing ourselves in the Bible. Romans 10:17 says, "So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ" (NLT). If we read the Bible, our faith will grow. And it also puts everything else into perspective, because when we read Scripture, we see God for who he is. Thus, we see life, with all of its challenges, for what they are. We see everything the way we ought to see it. The apostle Paul said of the study of Scripture that it "is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right" (2 Timothy 3:16 NLT).

Having said that, faith also is developed by us. Using our faith ultimately strengthens our faith. Some of us treat faith like it a fragile little egg. But that is not what faith is. Faith is tough. Faith is resilient. Faith gets stronger through use. Faith is like a muscle. You build it by using it. The same is true of faith.

It would be like owning a four-wheel drive vehicle with all of the lights, the big winch on the front, and the big, gnarly tires, yet you never go four-wheeling. Instead, you are always taking it to the car wash. You have a vehicle that is made for rough terrain, but you never use it.

Faith can make all the difference between something happening and not happening. God is God. He is sovereign. He can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants with whomever he wants. He doesn't need our opinion. He doesn't need us to vote on it. He just does it. However, he has chosen to primarily accomplish his purposes through human instruments. Now if I were God, I would not have made that choice. I would just do it myself. Why mess around with humanity? But God has primarily chosen to do his work through people.

When God wanted to part the Red Sea, for example, he didn't need Moses; God was doing the work. But God told Moses to stretch out his hand over the sea, and then the waters parted. God didn't need Elijah to pray for fire to come down from heaven. God didn't need Noah to build an ark. He could have created His own ocean vessel for the animals and Noah and his family. But God worked through human instruments to accomplish his purposes.

A lot of people talk about faith. They sing about faith. But they never actually use their faith. Faith is the consent of the will to the assent of the understanding. Faith always has in it the idea of action. It is movement toward its object. Faith is a restless, living thing. It cannot be inoperative. Faith moves. Faith acts. Faith does.

By Greg Laurie

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