“…He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6
Dear Ones:
Faith is not just an intellectual knowledge and understanding of the truth. Why is this so? Because truth is not only the absolute, and unchanging, laws of existence of the universe, but the whole of all that has been created both seen and unseen. Truth is the assessed reality of God concerning the whole of creation, and redemption. Truth is also Someone! The Lord Jesus Christ is the embodiment, and perfect expression of the truth. Not only in Christ’s humanity did he manifest, declare, and explain God, He was the very aroma, light, and radiance of the Father. He would declare this in speaking to His disciples: “…he that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father.” (Jn. 14:9) Therefore, on the subject of faith, we are confronted with objective essence of truth, in the declaration by words of the laws of existence. We are also confronted with the highest and most glorious expression of truth in a person, the Lord Jesus. True faith cannot deal with only one of these aspects of truth. The objective truth is given to lead us to the Person who IS truth, there to choose to believe in Him. Faith is believing, not only that He IS, and exists. Faith believes that He will reward, and reveal Himself to the heart of the seeking soul. The soul that sincerely comes to grips with Christ, is the one who can know sins forgiven, and a new life by the Spirit.
Abraham is in some respects can be considered the father of faith, for he is given as an example in Scripture as such. In speaking of seeking the Lord, Isaiah commands the individual to, “Look unto Abraham you father, and unto Sarah, that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.” (Is.51:2) How did Abraham become a “father” to us, a father who exemplified what a true believer should be? We find that Abraham came to the place in his mind and heart where he would choose to believe the objective truth, and the Person who declared it. There was no dissonance between the two. What then is the essence of faith of Abraham? It was a choice that he made, one to believe God on the basis of truth. God gave to Abraham, when he was one hundred years old, a promise that involved an impossibility to man, that of a son, when Sarah was ninety. Scripture tells us that Abraham, “…against hope, believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations.” (Romans 4:17) Abraham made a decisive choice. He took a stand to believe God MORE than his circumstances, limitations, and littleness. This faith was not a “weak” faith. On the contrary, we are told that he, “…staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.” (v.20) What does this mean? It means that he understood, first of all, the objective truth of what God declared. Secondly, he deliberately and decisively put his trust in God for the realization of the promise. He chose to give glory to God since the eternal God had declared it. He chose also to be fully persuaded that, “…what He had promised, He was able to perform.” (4:21) Paul, in the New Testament, would declare the same basic truth, taking his stand to believe in God concerning it. He wrote: “…Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.” (1 Thess. 5:24) He would also write to the Philippian believers: “…being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (1:6)
How is one strengthened to believe, to chose, to take one’s stand? It is by the knowledge of the truth, and earnest prayer. Paul would pray for the Ephesian believers, “…that He (God) would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.” (3:16)
Dear Father, Give us to know the truth, and praying to receive the strength to truly believe. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad