Faith toward God

Faith shows the reality of what we hope for. It is the evidence of things we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1 NLT). According to the AMES International School of Ministry notes, there are many different types of faith, my answers to the study questions of which are the basis of this material.

NATURAL FAITH

I am sitting in a wheelchair right now. When I get up in the morning (or in the afternoon if I was up really late and have no reason to get up early), I have faith that when I sit down, this chair is going to support my weight. This is not blind faith. It is based on past experience and evidence that the chair has been built well. I have been using this chair for a long time, and it has never failed me. I trust that the knowledge of those who made the chair is good enough to produce a product to fulfill my maneuverability needs. I also trust their self-interest motivation. Things would not go well if the company had a habit of putting out defective wheelchairs that could not be used.

SAVING FAITH

If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved (Romans 10:9-10 NLT). Every genuine convert to Christ has done this at some point in their lives. I prayed to received Christ on December 20, 2000, and I have been openly declaring it via spoken and written word ever since. This faith causes a person to be saved from sin and its penalty, making them a new creature in Christ and giving them eternal life.

SANCTIFYING FAITH

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20 NLT). Sanctifying faith is needed every day in the life of the believer. When we exercise saving faith, we are given eternal life immediately, made right with God just as if we had never sinned. But sanctifying faith is different. We do not live the rest of our lives in moral perfection automatically. It requires daily trust and the purposeful choice to reject the desires of the old sinful nature. I have not always done this. In fact, there have been times where I wandered off the path to such a degree that it caused me to examine myself to see if my faith was genuine (2 Corinthians 13:5 NLT). I thank God that salvation is based on grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), not my performance.

DEFENSIVE FAITH

Hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil (Ephesians 6:16 NLT). The Christian life is one of constant spiritual warfare. It can be easy to forget that we are in spiritual warfare sometimes because, to the natural eye, everything can seem peaceful at different times. We can get so caught up in the day-to-day busyness of life that we can be lulled into a false sense of security. But in the invisible, spiritual realm all around us, a battle is continuously being waged for territory, influence, and ultimately the souls of every human being. The devil and his demonic armies do everything they can to try to dissuade us from accepting Christ as our Savior. They will tempt us with worldly pleasures so that a life lived for Jesus as part of God's Kingdom seems inadequate. Others are threatened with persecution and fear if they give their lives to Jesus. The devil's fiery arrows sometimes come in the form of intellectual doubts about whether or not Christianity's claims are objectively true. And then once a person is a believer, the kingdom of darkness continues to attack us with temptations, sicknesses, worries, distractions, and anything that will keep us from Jesus' Great Commission to evangelize and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20). But intentional faith acts as a shield to protect us from those fiery arrows.

It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and rewards those who sincerely seek him (Hebrews 11:6). Faith toward God is necessary because, without that, we cannot be pleasing to him no matter what else we may do. You may be kind to people, charitable, respectful, hard-working, accomplished, or any number of positive things. But if you do not have faith in God through Christ, all of this is for nothing. As the Rick James song, Nicest Man in Hell, says:

"'I'm a good man. I have a good job. I go to church once a week.

I donate clothes to the needy. I spread kindness when I speak.

I got two kids and a wife, and I support them every day.

I don't cheat, and I don't lie. So why must I be saved?'"

"'I go to the homeless shelter. I give money to the poor. At Christmas, I go care for the ones in the old folks' home. I'm at church on Easter Sunday each and every year.

I'm a pillar in my town. So why must I fear?'"

"Jesus said it's not by works that a man can be saved, but it's only by his grace that you will ever know the way.

He's standing at the door, and he's waiting to take away your sin.

But if you don't open up, he won't come in.

Just think about the rich man who tried to buy his way through life.

He tried to write a check out to Jesus and thought that'd make everything alright.

But Jesus wouldn't take it because there's one thing you can't buy.

He said if you really want to live, you've got to die."

"You can be a good man, but that doesn't mean you're saved.

You can live a good life, but you still don't know the way.

You can be a nice guy who treats everybody well.

But if you don't know Jesus, you could be the nicest man in Hell."

And that's why faith toward God is necessary and why John 3:16 is the most well-known verse in the entire Bible. "For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life" (NLT). Without faith in Jesus, you will never enter God's Kingdom or have eternal life. You will have eternal existence, but not one I would want.

So how can we increase our faith in God? The Bible tells us how. "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17 MEV). You don't have to try to conjure up more faith through your own concentration, self-effort, or willpower. In fact, I can guarantee that will not work. You grow your faith by watering your mustard-seed faith with God's word. There are many ways to do this. The primary method is through reading and studying the Bible. Solid Christian teaching is another means by which our faith can grow. But it all has to be based on the Bible itself because that is the spiritual greenhouse where faith grows. Positive feelings and motivational speeches won't get it done. You need the Bible.

I have been talking about Abraham and his example of faith a lot on the Wisdom On Wheels podcast when going through the Genesis Precept Ministries study. Abraham is the best example of faith that we have. One of the primary texts I have been using to point this out in the last couple of episodes is Romans 4:13-25. "Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith. If God’s promise is only for those who obey the law, faith is unnecessary, and the promise is pointless. For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!) So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses if we have faith like Abraham’s. Abraham is the father of all who believe. That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and creates new things out of nothing. Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!” And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb. Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this, he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God can do whatever he promises. And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God."

Faith toward God is different from hope, works, and mind over matter. The AMES study I mentioned at the beginning of this defines "hope" as a desire or attitude of expectancy concerning things in the future. They define "faith" as a  belief in something you cannot see but have the assurance you already possess. "But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation" (1 Thessalonians 5:8 NLT). As was stated earlier, faith and works are not the same things. Good works cannot increase faith because only the Bible can do that (Romans 10:17). Faith is what you trust in. Works are what you do as a result of what you really believe. And "mind over matter" has nothing to do with any of these things because that involves the false belief that the mind and willpower alone can overcome anything in the natural world. Some false religions teach this, but it is not biblical because it leaves faith toward God out of the equation. Faith toward God is complete and total trust in and reliance on him as your source.