Saturday, September 5, 2015

Have Faith in God

All scripture references, unless otherwise noted, are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
I truly love the chorus we used to sing in church called, "Have Faith in God." It goes something like this:
     Have faith in God,
     Have faith in God,
     Have faith in God for deliverance,
     Have faith in God.
In the third line of the chorus one could add, Have faith in God for salvation, or for your healing, etc. I wish I could sing the chorus so the reader would know how the melody goes. The Bible says in Hebrews 11:6, "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." We must have faith in God.

The Lord Jesus said in Luke 17:5-6, "And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you." (See also Matthew 17:19-21)  The Bible says in Mark 11:21-24, "...Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away. And Jesus answering saith unto them, 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 things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." (See also Matthew 21:18-22) The key seems to be in Jesus' words, "...and shall not doubt in his heart..."

How many times have we prayed, only to see nothing happen. I am reminded of the story of the woman who lived in a deep valley which did not get much sunshine. She apparently heard of Jesus' words so she prayed one day that the mountain blocking the sun would be removed. The next day she got up and went outside only to see that the mountain was still there. She exclaimed in disgust, "just as I thought." Maybe we need to start our prayer life having faith in God that He will do what we ask, in faith believing. The Lord Jesus did say in John 15:7  "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."

As I recall reading a while back of a well known minister in the United Pentecostal Church, when he was a young man, was called upon to go to a saints home to pray for a sick sister. When he got there he was advised that the sister had passed away. He was dumbfounded as he felt sure that she should have been healed.  He asked permission to go into the deceased sister's room to pray. He prayed for her and nothing happened. Finally he, in exasperation, commanded the dead woman in Jesus name to come back to life. According to the account she did. I am reminded of another old chorus we used to sing, 
     "Faith can move mountains, 
     Mountains of fear and of doubt. 
     Faith can move mountains,
     So why don't you try your faith out." 
Maybe the first mountain we need to pray to be removed is the fear and doubt that God will do what He said He would do in answer to our prayers.

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