The greatest faith (part three)
In my previous blog I spoke about how faith is essentially a quality of the heart and that it is fed and grows only by our hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Jesus spoke of" the greatest faith in the gospels" and to understand this kind of faith is to have a clear goal as to how to maximize pleasing God since the scripture informs us very clearly that "without faith it is impossible to please God"
It therefore follows that the opposite must also be true that with ever increasing faith we more and more please God.
What kind of faith did Jesus refer to as the greatest faith?
Matthews gospel chapter eight provides us with the answer to this.
It is the story of the Centurion whose servant is gravely sick and tormented and he approaches Jesus to heal his servant.
"Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum,a centurion came to him,pleading with him,saying
"Lord my servant is lying at home paralysed,dreadfully tormented".
And Jesus said to him,"I will come and heal him"
The centurion answered and said,"Lord I am not worthy that you should come under my roof.
But only speak a word,and my servant will be healed.
"For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me.
And I say to this one,"Go," and he goes; and to another
"Come,"and he comes; and to my servant,"Do this,"and he does it."
When Jesus heard it,he marvelled,and said to those who followed,
"Assuredly,I say to you,I have not found such great faith,not even in Israel!"
The passage is concluded by Jesus saying to the centurion
"Go your way; and as you have believed,so let it be done for you."
And his servant was healed that same hour.
Jesus was willing to go and lay hands upon the servant and to heal him but the centurion surprises Jesus by declaring that he is perfectly willing to simply take Jesus at his word,for He understands the authority that Jesus is under and therefore the authority of his spoken word.
(Jesus said that he did not do anything or say anything that he did not see or did not hear His Father doing or saying,making himself subordinate to his Fathers authority at all times)
Jesus commends the Centurion for taking him at his word alone before he saw any evidence to support his confidence in that which Jesus had just said.
This is faith in its simplest and most pure essence.
It is having faith in Gods word that is in what he has said without needing to see in the process of our believing that our circumstances have immediately changed.
It is holding onto Gods Word tenaciously and believing it with all of our hearts even in the face of every contrary circumstance because we know that through faith and patience we inherit the promises.
God does not promise us immediate deliverance every time we pray but he does require that we believe what he has said with the same measure of confidence that a young child would trust implicitly the word of their parents whom they trust and love.
Why do we wobble so at the promises of God?
Most often it is because we are impatient and think that because our circumstances do not appear to change as quickly as we wish them to therefore our prayers have failed or our faith was insufficient.
What a lie that the enemy sows into our minds in this.
Our faith is often at its strongest and its purest when we are facing the reality of circumstances that scream at us to the contrary and yet we will not let go of our assertion and trust that what Gods Word says is the way that it is going to ultimately be in this particular circumstance of our lives.
Notice that Jesus said to the centurion that "As you have believed,so be it done for you."
And his servant was healed that self same hour.
The power of God moved to change that circumstance and so it will to, in our lives as we truly believe that what Gods word says has the final authority over this circumstance of our lives, and what God has said he has power also to perform.
Contrast this response of the centurion which Jesus commends with that of another person in the gospels;one who was not willing to just take Jesus at his word at first but whom Jesus was able to bring around to this same kind of faith which the centurion showed.
(This should be an encouragement that we to can walk in this centurions example no matter how much we may have wobbled in the past)
The incident is found in Johns gospel chapter 4 in the healing of a nobleman's son
"There was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.
When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee,he went to him and implored him to come down and heal his son,for he was at the point of death.
Then Jesus said to him,
"Unless you people see signs and wonders,you will by no means believe."
The nobleman said to him,"Sir,come down before my child dies!"
Jesus said to him,"Go your way;your son lives."
So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him,and went his way.
And as he was going down,his servants met him and told him,saying,
"Your son lives"
Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better.
And they said to him,"Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."
So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him,
"Your son lives."
And he himself believed,and his whole household.
In this second instance the nobleman who approached Jesus requested that he come down to his house in the expectation that he would lay hands upon him there or command the sickness to depart him and heal him.
The thought that he could simply take Jesus at his word and know that it would be just as effective and just as powerful as if Jesus was there in person standing over his son did not occur to him.
Notice Jesus initial response
"Unless you see signs and wonders,you will by no means believe."
Jesus was characteristically going to the heart issue in the man,and was identifying where his faith was.
In this instance it is evident that his faith was in what he could see,"If you come down"
In other words he wanted to have Jesus physically present with him and pray for his child and in the process see a miracle transpire.
Jesus is lovingly but firmly redirecting him towards the truth that faith in his spoken word is in itself enough to see the power of God move to change the circumstance that represent our need.
Both this passage and the passage in Matthew are specifically challenging us to have faith in God, and specifically faith in his word alone.
It is encouraging that in this instance the nobleman was quick to grasp the lesson that Jesus was teaching him for we are told,
"Jesus said to him,"Go your way; your son lives!"
"So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him,and he went his way."
He went his way,that is he did not require to see first and then to believe.
Rather he believed and that on no other evidence than what Jesus had said to him;and before he had reached his home he was met with the news of his sons miraculous recovery.
The challenge of these Scriptures is very clear;we too must deepen and strengthen our absolute confidence in Gods word.
The bible is not just a book of ethics or a historical record,it is God breathed and full of His life.
It is life giving and strength giving, able to heal and to transform.
It is able to straighten out things that are crooked and to demolish all human pride.
It is the way that God imparts more of his own life to us it is the means by which we were saved and the instrument of our sanctification.
However all of the above will be to little effect in our lives unless we exercise real heart faith in the Word of God continually.
In 1 Thessalonians Paul commends the church because "When you received the word of God which you heard from us,you welcomed it not as the word of men but as it is in truth,the word of God which also effectively works in you who believe."
The word of God only effectively works in our lives as we actively believe what we have heard.
It was John Wesley who once said that the greatest counterfeit to true heart faith that the devil has successfully substituted in the church is mere mental assent.
Sadly this is true.
Many Christians are not seeing circumstances change in their lives because they mentally assent to a biblical promise but do not really at heart believe that what God has said will come to pass in their lives.
The author to the book of Hebrews underlines the same truth when he sites the example of the old testament saints who failed because of their unbelief.
"For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them;but the word which they heard did not profit them not being mixed with faith in those who heard it"Heb 4 vs2
The word will not profit us also unless it is mixed with faith in us who hear it.
And so it is our solemn and yet joyful responsibility to ensure that our hearts are full of Gods words and that we too are combining it with faith.
How do we ensure this?
By putting it in our eyes and in our ears and in our mouths and then and only then it will get down into our hearts.
"The word is very near you in your mouth and in your heart"
Many people like the nobleman's son want to see signs and wonders before they will believe.
They want Jesus to come down that is to see him change their circumstance before they believe that it is his will to really do so.
Jesus however requires something more of his followers.
He requires that we "only believe"based on no other evidence then what he has said.
The bible is full of wonderful and life changing promises which God has given us to show us His intention to do us good, and to bless us.
What he requires is our obedience and faith.
Not faith only without obedience or obedience without faith but both working in tandem together to enable us to inherit his promises.
God does not gives us his promises to tantalize us, but to assure us of his goodness love and faithfulness to do for us what he has said, if we will believe.
All of Gods promises Paul tells us are yes in Him and in Him are amen.
They are not perhaps possibly and maybe.
We must root out our unbelief which hides under the guise of intellectualism and be like little children again in our readiness to believe.
Through the exceedingly great and precious promises of Gods word we are made partakers of the divine nature Peter tells us, that is we we become participants of more of his life.
Things can change and things will change if we,like the nobleman will believe the word that Jesus has spoken to us, and go our way.

In my previous blog I began to discuss the importance of hope in the life of a christian,and how it is found only in the word of God.
I would like to begin this second part by reiterating this once again.
For many Christians the Word of God is not their only and ultimate source of hope but rather their hope is far too often bound to their circumstances instead.
This is evident because when their circumstances give them cause for hope they are full of hope but when their circumstances appear hopeless they easily forsake hope.
If the focus of our attention is upon our circumstances then our hope will indeed be very movable.
Circumstances change and we often find ourselves perplexed by them and unable to change them.
This is one of the reasons that so many in our society believe that if they can win the lottery then their lives would change for the better.
They feel boxed in and powerless to change their circumstances and think that the sudden acquisition of wealth will change that,whereas in reality it will not.

Many people have an illusion of wealth as decreasing their problems whereas the truth is that it will increase their level of cares and concerns.
Wealth can never create hope because only Gods Word can do that.
In fact some of the wealthiest people in history have been the most miserable and hopeless.
When we know that God is good and that his promises have been given to us to believe; and when we walk in the light of those promises and believe that God will be faithful to His promises no matter what the changing circumstances of our lives may be, then we will have begun to tap into an enduring hope that cannot be shaken.
As this year progresses I believe that we need to be not only a people of hope but also a people of faith, for faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.
As we develop a firm foundation of hope in our lives we lay the ground for faith to grow up and be strong.
Again there seem to be so many misconceptions about what faith is.
The most important thing that we need to know however is that whenever the new testament speaks of faith or of our believing it makes reference to this being of the heart.
If hope is that which affects our thought processes, how we think about our future, faith is the God given capacity to believe which comes from the heart.
God has dealt to every man the measure of faith the bible says, and that faith is the gift of God.
However many people struggle greatly in this area because they are trying to believe things with the mind rather then with the heart.
That is also why faith is the substance of things hoped for.
We hope first; that is we train our minds to focus on the promises of God and not to be daunted by the evidence of our circumstances which is most often to the contrary.
In doing so this makes a way for faith to come and it is as we believe with our heart that we lay hold of the needed answer from God.
Jesus said in mark 11 22 24" Whoever says to this mountain, "Be removed and be cast into the sea," and does not doubt in his heart but believes that those things which he says will come to pass he shall have whatever he says.
Therefore I say to you whatever things you desire when you pray believe that you receive them and you shall have them."
Notice that we are to believe in our heart.
What does this mean?
Believing in the heart is that quality of absolute trust and assurance that what God has said is true for God cannot lie and the confidence that His word will come to pass.
Really it is in essence a confidence that rests and cannot be convinced otherwise.
And this faith emerges and grows as an unassailable assurance as we persistently and consciously feed upon Gods Word and believe it.
Many people feel daunted when it comes to the area of faith because they often misunderstand precisely how it comes.
"So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. " Romans 10, 17
How does faith come?
It comes as we hear the word of God.
I feel that this is important to state because often a person may say that they believe this but in fact be looking somewhere else for faith to come.
Someone may say for instance "Well I am going to pray about this particular need I have and ask God to give me more faith."
I certainly believe in the validity of prayer however there is simply no single example anywhere in the new testament where we are told that we are to pray for more faith.
Rather prayer is the place where we exercise our faith.
Similarly someone may believe that their faith will grow through the tests and trails that they endure.
Once again that is not what the bible teaches.
Certainly our faith is tested by persevering through suffering and it is refined and proven genuine, but faith does not come by trails but by our hearing the word of God.
Therefore as we feed diligently upon the word of god in our hearts and minds our faith will grow and it will be further tested and strengthened and purified by those things that we suffer.
However if we are not feeding our faith by hearing the word of God then we simply will not be able to respond to the trails we go through with an attitude of faith,and will succumb to despondency and discouragement.
When one brings up the subject of faith it usually elicits two basic responses.
One response is to feel condemned because a person may feel themselves to be a failure in this area and lacking in faith.
The second is the person who may say "I do have faith and yet they know that their faith needs to grow.
That would be the position of every christian but I mean to say that the response of some Christians to this subject is a more open acknowledgement of their need to grow in faith (which is what every one of us should have) but often they feel lacking in confidence regarding the faith that God has already given to them.
Jesus was asked once by his disciples to increase their faith and his response was to say "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed you would say to this mulberry tree be uprooted from here to there and it would obey you."
In other words use what faith you have, learn to exercise it and it will produce results.
As I quoted at the beginning of this blog the scripture states that "God has dealt to every man the measure of faith" and now he requires us to use the measure of faith that he has already given to us in order to get more.
The difficulty that many Christians have is that they are lacking the confidence to release the faith that is already inside of them,rather than not having any faith to begin.
Use what you have and feed it to make it grow.
The reason I believe that a person often will fail to exercise the faith that God has given to them is because they need to base their faith upon the right foundation.
If we are basing our faith upon the desire for a circumstance to change then our faith will not be sustained but if we base it wholly and solely upon the word of God then it has a foundation that endures despite the contrary circumstances.
I believe that we all need to lift the bar in these days to the place where we believe that Gods Word has final authority over every circumstance of our lives,and we believe that what God has said in his holy precious written Word will come to pass.
I call this the greatest faith.
In the next blog I will conclude this subject of hope and faith by talking about "the greatest faith"

Faith and hope a powerful force in the heart of a christian. Part 1.

As we enter into 2011 I believe that a message that is very necessary for us to repeatedly hear is one of hope. So much of that which we hear in the news media is weighted towards a negativity.
Whether it is news of the economy or of terrorist threats or of the flu or of rising joblessness or of anti social behaviour so the list could go on and on.
But the prevailing culture of the society in which we live is one of scepticism and the more that we listen to the news the more that it is calculated to inspire bad news.
When a message of hope does arise people are eager to latch on to it almost as if it gives to them a brief respite from the mainstay of bad news.
Take for example the recent story of the former radio station presenter who was "discovered" on the streets in Ohio,"the man with the golden voice"
Twenty four hours after his images were posted on utube he was not only off the streets but was fielding multiple offers from radio stations around the US keen to offer him some work.
His story which was one of hitting the bottom after succumbing to alcohol and drug abuse (he had been clean for two years but had still been unable to get himself off the streets)became a story of one mans path to redemption, a classic tale of being offered a second chance.
What struck a chord with thousands around the world was that his redemption offered hope to others, as one commentator said "his story inspires hope".
As a footnote to this story when the man himself was interviewed and asked to assess his feelings about the situation he said "The Lord is Good",and proceeded to quote from memory proverbs chapter three about trusting in the Lord with all of your heart and leaning not upon your own understanding.
Or think of the miraculous discovery and rescue of the Chilean miners who were snatched from the jaws of death.
The scenes of them emerging from the bowls of the earth many of them falling to their knees and openly giving thanks to God inspired hope.
The world is crying out for hope.
As Christians we have a message of hope that is unchanging and the bible says that we are to abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit(Romans 15 13)
It is so important that we have a mindset of hope and actually cultivate hope in the midst of a society that is so often geared to attempt to take this away.
So where is hope found? It is wonderful when we hear hope inspiring stories such as those that I have mentioned,however that is only a fleeting hope,and it quickly passes away.
By contrast we have an enduring hope that does not pass away and the source of that hope is found in the Word of God.
As we meditate upon the Word of God and most especially upon the promises of God we are feeding our hearts and our intellects upon that which creates and sustains an unwavering hope within us.
Hebrews chapter 11 and verse one says that"Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen"
So it is evident that in order for us to be strong in faith we must first be strong in hope.
Hope must precede the development of our faith.
What we need to understand therefore is what true biblical hope is like,as opposed to the worlds view of hope.
One of the clearest definitions of hope is found in a statement made by Paul the apostle in Philippians chapter 1 verse 20 which says "according to my earnest expectation and hope.
Paul is here describing hope in line with his earnest expectation,an expectation for the desired end for which he and the Philippians church were praying.
Hope is not a wistful sentiment or a vague wish that something may happen in the future that you desire to happen.
The worlds often repeated sentiment of "I hope so" has no substance to it whatsoever and is in stark contrast to the way that the bible describes true spiritual hope.
True biblical hope is therefore a eager earnest expectation for something desirable and good to come to pass.
It is a desire for future good to happen, a change of circumstances in a positive way,a promise being fulfilled.
And that is why our hope is so linked to the promises of Gods word,because it is precisely as we feed upon those promises and hold them in our minds eye, in contrast to the bad news or undesirable end that so often presents itself to us, that our hope is kindled and restored.
We could say that it is the pratice of biblical meditation upon hope.
Consider how important the cultivation of hope is to our lives.
Proverbs chapter 13 and verse 12 says that "Hope deferred makes the heart sick.
But when the desire comes it is a tree of life"
There are many people who are sick at heart because they have nurtured negative thought patterns and almost never have a positive thought.
Dr Caroline Leaf is a leader in the field of the study of the human brain and a Spirit filled christian.
She has written a book entitled "Who turned off my brain?"
In the book she gives medical evidence of how doctors have now been able to see the effect that thoughts have upon the physical body.
In the instance of people who have developed thought patterns of anxiety and fear and negativity those thoughts actually begin to break down the bodies own immune system to disease.
In contrast to those individuals who have learned(and the key word here is learned)to develop thoughts of hope and faith it actually has a chemical effect that enhances the capacity of their bodies to fend off sickness and disease
So even on the level of our own general health and sense of well being it is important for us to be a people full of hope.
But there is an additional reason why we should be a people of hope given to us in 1 Corinthians chapter 13.
In that passage which deals with the supremacy of Gods love in the heart of the christian it concludes with saying now these three remain faith hope and love.
Paul has just spoken in this passage about how in heaven that which is partial or imperfect will disappear and that which is complete and perfect will remain.
"Where there are prophecies they will fail,where there are tongues they will cease where there is knowledge it will vanish away.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
But when that which is perfect has come than that which is in part will be done away."
When we leave this life and are ushered into eternity we will not enter into heaven either prophesying or speaking in tongues or striving to gain knowledge.
Those things are given to us for our earthly pilgrimage.
We will know completely even as we are completely known.
However Paul says that faith hope and love will remain.
In other words we will carry those three virtues and graces with us from this life into eternity.
We begin cultivating those qualities now but we will carry them into eternity for they are eternal realities that we will exercise throughout eternity.
Should we not given some greater time and thought to the cultivation of these three graces within our lives therefore?
Several years ago I decided that since Paul specifies these three qualities as remaining I would focus my efforts upon the cultivation of these three.
Think in our world today how much time and effort and industry and labour and money and resource and pursuit and passion is expended upon the obtaining of goals that do nothing to strengthen these three virtues in a person life.
What a tragic delusion.
Peter calls our christian hope "a living hope" and says that we were born again into this living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
We have become children of God for a purpose;to manifest this living hope not a dead hope,but one that is based upon the fact that Jesus is raised from the dead.
Because he has been raised from the dead no more to see corruption he has triumphed over sin and death and evil,and by his resurrection life he has given to us a new life.
He has given to us a promise of an eternal inheritance and the assurance that in this life we need not be overwhelmed by life's problems, but know that his life that overcame when he walked this earth is now living in us as his body and triumphing through us over all of his enemies.
"If God be for us who can be against us Paul proclaims and we may say the same.
As innumerable as our challenges that we may face we can rest in the certainty that "the Lord is in our side"and" he that is in us is greater than he that is in the world."
And he has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises by which we become partakers of his divine nature.
As we feed constantly upon the promises of God we can rejoice that our faith hope and love are being nurtured and fed,and that by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead these promises of God are assured and they are ours and in Him they are yes and they are amen.