The Value of Faith (Part 1)

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Trying to believe in something you think is not true is very hard.  Faith is a disposition, an attitude that allows somebody or something to prove the truth about something you find hard to believe.  In the minds of many who are genuine true Christians, there is a lot of confusion about the nature of faith that is why we can exercise faith without being a strong believer, but all strong believers can’t exercise faith.  Does that confuse you?  You see faith is a disposition and an attitude.  This is not demonstrated by what you are doing on behalf of you, but what you allow God to do with your faith.

What the object of your faith is doing is bringing into our circumstances the activity of God to do what we have come to realize that we can’t do with Him.  God is doing things that need to be done to keep things going no matter the obstacle or attack.  Faith allows someone or something to prove to you in things you find hard to believe.  So you exercise the aid of God at a level you find it hard to comprehend. 

Only faith can turn an unbeliever into a believer.  You can be a believer your whole Christian life, and never understand how to truly live by faith.  Faith when allowed will prove to us the things about the ministry of Jesus that we find hard to believe - the truth that God is looking for in your spirit and mine.  Faith allows the Holy Spirit to move marvelously in our lives.  Our experiences stand there as a monument to the need for us to live in the realm of God’s supernatural ability.

No one ever demonstrated faith in such a marvelous fashion as Jesus in His earthly ministry.  Why?  He is the truth.  Accordingly in Matthew 7:28 it states “And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”  Whenever Jesus spoke, people sat on the edge of their pews.  They wondered what amazing thing He might say next.  This was because of the character of Jesus who:

  • Said what He did, 
  • Believed what He said, and 
  • Did exactly what He believed.

He taught not like the professional preachers, but as one having authority.  When Jesus got up to preach they all had their eyes fixated on Him.  They looked at Him wondering what He would say next.  He was establishing the doctrine, the true doctrine by His acts, and His words.  The scribes asked, who taught Him these things?  Where did this man learn these mighty words, and deeds? They wanted to give some kind of human reason for the display of this kind of power, and confidence.  They could not find one because there wasn’t one.  They were astounded because they knew of Him since birth and wanted to know what type of man and where He came from?  They were astonished not because He was God, but because He was a man.  A man, not like you and I are; man not as they were, but man as God created man to be.  The kind of man would adopt a disposition toward God, and let God be God in the Man.

We were created with a disposition toward God.  However, people in the Church are so totally accustom  to being presented with the truth as God has made it available to all those who would come to Him in faith and trust.  Those who hear the Lord Jesus heard so little about the nature of man, and how God created Him and how He was to perform.  They heard how man had gone wrong; how God had taken the steps through Jesus to correct those wrongs to restore back to where He had that intelligent fellowship that man had before the fall.  The Lord Jesus demonstrated the relationship that gave Him the power and authority to represent God as man, not God as God.  This relationship is representative of how we should be with God. 

When Jesus came into this world, He didn't to behave as God, but He came into the is world to behave as man.  Never ever less that God, He never ever walked away from being the Godhead, the creator deity.  Never did He give up that oneness.

I thank you for your continued viewing and reading.  If this Blog and its contents has been a blessing to you, then I ask, with God's leading, that you consider supporting Artesian Well Church.
  
See you soon,
Pastor  James P. Norman Jr.

 Artesian Well Church
6031 Linden Avenue
Long Beach, Ca

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