Freedom in Christ Course; day 18 Nugget
Faith In What?
The key issue is not so much whether or not you have faith. We have already seen that everybody has faith in something or someone.
Whether or not your faith is effective depends on who or what you put it in.
When the Israelites were up against the Philistine army being taunted by Goliath, they cowered in fear because they believed their success in battle depended on their strength and the ability of one of their men to defeat the giant. But then David came onto the scene and saw things as they really were – in comparison to God, Goliath was nothing. He said, “How dare you challenge the armies of the living God?”, and killed Goliath. David really believed in God, and acted on it (most likely in the face of emotions telling him otherwise) – and his faith was effective.
450 prophets of Baal seemingly had great faith in Baal, as they spent all day long dancing and cutting themselves and crying out to their “god”. But their faith object – Baal – didn’t come through for them. Nothing happened, because Baal wasn’t real. However, Elijah then stepped up and simply called on the One True God – and immediately the fire came down. Elijah’s faith was effective because His God was real and powerful.
The psychic who thinks he can drive a car blindfolded, or the atheist who thinks that when he dies his existence just ends, or the person who thinks they are going to be reincarnated, may have great faith – they might really really believe those things – but their faith objects will let them down. But our faith object, Jesus Christ, is "the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8), and He is the King of the Universe. Our faith is effective not because of how large it is, but because it is in Him. It’s God’s power that moves the mountain, not ours.
Is there a mountain in your life that needs moving? Ask God to do it.
Faith In What?
The key issue is not so much whether or not you have faith. We have already seen that everybody has faith in something or someone.
Whether or not your faith is effective depends on who or what you put it in.
When the Israelites were up against the Philistine army being taunted by Goliath, they cowered in fear because they believed their success in battle depended on their strength and the ability of one of their men to defeat the giant. But then David came onto the scene and saw things as they really were – in comparison to God, Goliath was nothing. He said, “How dare you challenge the armies of the living God?”, and killed Goliath. David really believed in God, and acted on it (most likely in the face of emotions telling him otherwise) – and his faith was effective.
450 prophets of Baal seemingly had great faith in Baal, as they spent all day long dancing and cutting themselves and crying out to their “god”. But their faith object – Baal – didn’t come through for them. Nothing happened, because Baal wasn’t real. However, Elijah then stepped up and simply called on the One True God – and immediately the fire came down. Elijah’s faith was effective because His God was real and powerful.
The psychic who thinks he can drive a car blindfolded, or the atheist who thinks that when he dies his existence just ends, or the person who thinks they are going to be reincarnated, may have great faith – they might really really believe those things – but their faith objects will let them down. But our faith object, Jesus Christ, is "the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8), and He is the King of the Universe. Our faith is effective not because of how large it is, but because it is in Him. It’s God’s power that moves the mountain, not ours.
Is there a mountain in your life that needs moving? Ask God to do it.