FAITH (1)

"Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea. and shall not doubt in his heart. but shall believe that those thing which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things ye desire, when ye pray, believe that receive them and ye shall have them” Mark 11: 21-23

To understand what faith is, let us look critically at the verses above..

Firstly, Where does faith originates from?

...have faith in God…

Faith is of God and from God and so the only place it  can find its true meaning is in God.

“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the things whereunto I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)

This tell us faith is of God.

“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” (Rom 12:3)

This tells us faith is from God.

We must know this first,; faith finds its expression only in God. Christians are only being deceived when they try to express faith in many other things outside God. People have expressed faith in prayer and fasting, and some in men of God. These are but links to God and not the Object in which our faith can be expressed. With no intention to undermine the important role prayers and men of God play in the expression of faith, they should never take the place of God. It will amount to foolishness when we believe and feel relieved in the fact that we have pray or that the man of God had prayed rather than believing in the God in whom lies the prerogative to answer prayers. There is a very distinct but thin line between having faith in prayers or man of God and having faith in God. If you feel these two are the same or you cannot distinguish between these two, you may have fallen under the deceptions of your heart. The command is “...Have faith in God…”

Let us look at Galatians 5:10 and 2 Corinthians 10:4 to shed more light for us.

“I have confidence in you through the Lord,...”   Paul never fails to route his confidence, faith, trust, in anyone through God. This is a sure way of experiencing peace with men.and in all our relationships. Placing faith in men of God or even in a fellow christian not routed through God will only lead to hurts that brings about distrust for God and the things of God.

Again, “(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds)...”  Prayer as a weapon is not mighty in itself but its mightiness is through God.

Have you ever felt elated or more fulfilled in a time of prayer in which you prayed for longer hours and more fervently than when you made casual and short prayers. Do you feel unhappy that the G.O or a senior pastor prayed for Sis. Ngozi when she sought for prayer in  her situation but was asked to meet Bro. Seyi for prayer in an even more challenging situation that confronted you.

Is your faith not in that powerful prayer or that anointed man of God rather than in the Powerful God who answers prayers.

You must ask the Lord to help you draw the line here.