And Jesus answered saying to them,
"Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be
taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes
that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say
to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received
them, and they will be granted you.” Mark 11:22-24
The way we came to know God is
through the exercise of faith. The way
we develop our spiritual strength and knowledge of God is the same. The
way we began is the way we continue. For
some, after receiving Christ by grace through faith, they begin the futile
practice of trying to please God and grow through religion. God is not pleased with religion in place of
faith. As a matter of fact the Bible
says in Hebrews 11:6 "Without faith it is
impossible to please God." You
can do the right thing and still not be pleasing God because you’re not doing
it in faith. You are in control and not God.
The Test of our Faith
Paul tells the Corinthians they
should not be afraid to test their salvation faith:
Test
yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not
recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you
fail the test?
2 Corinthians 13:5
2 Corinthians 13:5
However, when we test ourselves, we
tend to compare ourselves to others: What good does it do to test against a
false standard – the Standard of Religion?
A danger is that I can compare myself against that standard and come out
feeling good about myself in comparison to others. It is the test of the Pharisee, “Thank you God that I am not like that other
man.”
The real test
of faith comes separate from religious duty, service or actions. A faith test is when our concept of God and
the reality of our lives conflict and we can’t understand why something is
happening.
If we had
really had our way, our faith would never be tested…but God would never have
the chance to prove that faith worked. Our
declarations of faith would ring hollow. We would simply be echoing empty religious
clichés learned in church and Sunday school. No skeptic is ever convinced or won over by
that kind of faith.
In Luke 17:5 the
apostles said to Jesus, "Lord
increase our faith." How
do we do that? Here’s the secret: God builds our faith by testing it.
· Faith is like
a muscle that develops when exercised. And
faith develops as it is tested. You don’t develop your faith just setting on
your blessed assurance in church.
Job says the same thing speaking from
experience in Job 7:17-18 "What is man that You make
so much of him and that You give him so much attention and that You examine him
every morning and test him every moment."
So, here is
an eye-opener! God tests us every moment
of our lives! The way we live our lives
is under His watchful eye. Why? Job says it is because we are so important to
Him
The
testing of your faith is more about who God is than who we are.
God’s desire is that we know Him and
experience His goodness in our lives. The positive end of a test of faith may
not be a change in circumstance, but a greater knowledge of God and His love
and power in our lives.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 1 Peter 1:3
