It's Just The Normal Noises In Here

You know, there are lots of ideas about faith. Magical, mystical, rationalization, trust, blind. Each of these words has been associated with faith by someone at sometime or another.

If you look up faith in a concordance.... you could devote a considerable amount of time reading and researching scripture about faith. I've picked just a few here that I think describe how we get faith.

I always like to quote Hebrews 11:1 as it reads in the revised standard "faith is the confident assurance of things unseen". I think the NIV says "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

Romans 10:17 KJV says "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word (RHEMA) of God. In verse 20 of the same chapter Paul quotes Isaiah "I was found by those who did not seek me, I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me."

I think faith is a gift from God. I think it comes from God. As Ephesians says "for by grace are you saved through faith, it is the gift of God" I think this verse means our salvation and our faith are gifts from God.

Jesus says, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44). So then my Christian walk began with faith, and I received that faith from God through His Holy Spirit communicating with me. I don't think faith in God occures naturally in fallen man by his own rationalization, or thinking.

Hebrews 12:2 says "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the AUTHOR and perfecter of our faith"

Romans 12:3 says "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith GOD has given you"

If we think about faith starting with us, I believe we're starting in the wrong place. Faith in God is something that we can't do for ourselves. We can't make the faith that will rescue us from the fix we're in. Only God can create it in us. Luther was furious at medieval theologians such as Duns Scotus who could speak so grandly of an 'acquired faith' that we can get for (or make within) ourselves. He went back to the Bible to show that the only faith that counts is that which is 'poured in' to us by the Spirit. Faith does not spring forth from our inmost self. It comes from outside of us and then lodges itself inside of us. It's not our senses which give us faith, but the Spirit through the Word of God, who then lights up and directs our senses and our reasoning. We can't have a right faith by anything we do, but only what is given to us by the Holy Spirit.

1 Timothy 1:14 "The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus".

Anybody remember Bill Gothard? I remember going to his conferences when I was in Highschool in the 70's (ouch) He says "Grace is interrelated with faith.
It is not possible to define grace without at the same time referring to faith because the two are so intricately entwined, as stated in Ephesians 2:8–9. “For by grace are ye saved through faith.” Both grace and faith are gifts of God.

I think it's always good for me to think about what I believe. And why I believe it. And what I've found over time, is that 99% of the time, what I was taught as a young person in the "old days" is based on scripture. If I hear something that seems to maybe contradict what I was "always taught".... most of the time I can go to the bible and find that the people who taught me at CRBC "knew their stuff". The Phil Bailys of the world. The Donna Shoffners of the world. Ruby Reynolds, Laddie Adams', Les and Larue Hunter, Harvey Sparks, Norman Behymer, Fred Wilhoit, Wendle Estep, Pat Kerce etc etc. You know I need to send everyone of these people who are still alive a thank you card for teaching Sunday School classes, or youth bible studies.

It's like that song "thank you for giving to the Lord, I am a life that was changed".

I have been so fortunate to grow up at CRBC.