Mark 11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
Faith beyond saving faith is of the utomost importance for the believer.
The believer cannot please God without faith Hebrews 11:6,
We must believe that He is and is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
Without faith we cannot be saved. Without faith we cannot pray acceptably, nor live victoriously.
Next, we are commanded to have faith. “Have faith in God.”
It is a plain command.
Therefore, it follows that unbelief, or lack of faith, is a sin. which earns the rebuke of the Lord, as happened again and again in the gospels:
Matthew 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Matthew 8:26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
Matthew 16:8 Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?
Matthew 8:26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
Mark 4:40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
Luke 8:25 And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.
Romans 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
I used to think that the sin that doth so easily beset us is what the Catholic Church calls “besetting sin” habits and bondages of sin.
Till I looked at the context, The next verse as well as entire previous chapter is about faith.
So the sin that doth so easily beset us, is unbelief!
There is a sadness in the words of Jesus n Luke 18:8.
Luke 18:8 … Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
How important that we uncover every tendency to unbelief in ourselves, and to confess it penitently, and seek to please God by exercising faith.
All the more when we realize that with faith, nothing is imposible for us!
Matthew 17:20 … verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Mark 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
What is faith?
The definition is in Hebrews 11:1.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
By faith, we see that which is yet invisible, we lay hold of that which is yet intangible.
Faith has to be faith in God, not faith in prayer, nor in our own understanding of wha we need.
Faith in the Word of God, what God has promised in the Bible, or what He has specifically promised to us by His Spirit.
Faith is not self-decepion (as is the case wit h Christian Scientist followers of Mary Bake Eddy, who taught that there is no sickness, no sin, but only error in mortal mind, wrong beliefs such that when the wrong belief is dispelled, the sickness evaporates.
Faith presupposes a promise of God and that God keeps His Word.
But how can we have the faith of God?
First, learn the promises of God. Believe them with childlike simplicity and sincerity.Learn the nature, the mercy of God (like the Syro-Phoenician woman)
Second, learn to yield, to fully surrender to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Third, act on the promise and the leading.
The word of God will prove itself as you act it out, and your faith will grow in strength like Mueller’s faith did.
Finally ask for faith (confessing your unbelief). Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief. Mark 9:22-24
Also see Matthew 7:11. How much more will your Heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him. Faith is a gift of God.
The disciples prayed Lord, increase our faith. Luke 17:5.
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