As I see it, from reading the Word of God, and by my own personal journey of faith, “faith comes by hearing the Word of God.” Faith that is applied to anything else than what God tells me, will not have the outcome that rewards me at the end of my life.
People say all the time, “I have faith in myself.” “I have faith in you.” “I have faith in what I’m doing.” “I have faith that it will get better.” Etc. But that is not real faith at all; that’s wishful thinking that rests on personal desire.
We have a ‘conscience’ from God that is to govern our behavior for doing that which is right, and turning away from doing that which is wrong, according to God’s definition of right and wrong. Our conscience can become seared or hardened (the Word of God says) and not be of any good use to us when we continually go against our good conscience and no longer care about what God says.
No wonder people who don’t want to change – hate to hear what the Bible says. They don’t want to HEAR from God. “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to ‘cleanse us from a guilty conscience’ and having our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:22)
Doing that which is right, instead of wrong, is a ‘moral’ sense of duty we have as human beings. Anyone can be a moral person, knowing right from wrong, having common sense, because we ALL come from God. But not everyone has ‘faith’ in God. Faith involves hearing from God and waiting on God.
Abraham heard directly what God’s will for him was, and how it would happen, but Abraham needed to wait on God to do what God said HE would do. God audibly told Abraham that he and Sarai would have a son together in their old age. It seemed such an impractical ‘word’ to them that Sarai laughed, she mocked what God told Abraham.
They waited to be pregnant and when they got tired of waiting on God to give them a son, Abraham accepted Sarai’s offer of her maidservant Hagar through which to have a son. But Ishmael was not the son of God’s Word (promise), and so to this day Israel remains at war with the “slave-woman’s son,” thousands of generations later.
When WE attempt to make it happen in our own strength, it will NEVER have a good outcome. It will never earn the right of FAITH’S REWARD. When Abraham and Sarai became pregnant with their second son Isaac (his name meaning “laughter”), they repented and continued on their journey of faith in the rest of what God had said to them about Abraham’s generations and the Promised Land.
Noah, another man of faith, heard from God directly as well in a day of great depravity in the world. God was going to destroy the world (people on the earth) because they all had refused to repent and humble themselves before their Maker.
God called Noah the only blameless man left. (Genesis 7:1) What made Noah righteous in God’s sight? Noah never allowed his conscience to be seared or hardened by the world around him. Noah was not a sinless man (no one is) but Noah remained a humble God-fearing man as the world around him grew more and more depraved.
When God spoke to Noah about building the Ark, Noah questioned God about it, and God answered him. Noah followed through with the work ‘of faith’ in what God had given him to do in ‘his day.’ As believers in God, living in a particular time in the history of man, God has His plan and purpose for each of us who will apply the faith He has given us to do the work of the LORD, with the LORD. What God gives each of us to do – can not be done on our own. We need His presence and power to do what seems impossible or impractical.
Our mustard-seed faith is first applied to the work of Jesus Christ on the cross that provided salvation to all that believe. The Word of God says that we become a “new creation” then, the old has passed away and new has come; like changing our clothes from soiled ones to brand new ones.
As we read God’s Word, the Bible, our minds are transformed, heart humbled, conscience cleansed. “In view of God’s mercy (the Cross), offer your body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2
Being “transformed” prepares us for what God has in mind for us to do with Him; that “perfect and pleasing will” of God. It’s not about what we want to do for God, but rather what God wants to do with us.
Faith is the only thing that pleases God, so the Bible tells us. God will reward genuine faith. “My life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” Acts 20:24
Not all Christians have heard directly and even audibly from God for how HE WANTS to use us and apply our faith because not all believers are ready for Him. We learn alot from reading and meditating on the letters the LORD wrote to HIS seven churches. Five out of seven He rebukes for what they need to repent of that go against His perfect will. Two of the seven He does not rebuke, but encourages on and tells them how He will reward their faith and persecution. (Revelation 2 and 3)
Prayer is a matter of our faith too. Most the time we pray according to what WE want to have happen, or not happen. We naturally want what WE think is best for ourselves or for our loved ones. But our understanding is limited and immature. This is where we learn about the grace of God, when WE don’t get what we ask for in prayer. Sometimes God allows us to suffer some (or even a lot) so we mature in our faith. Faith is what God is after. In fact, He states in the Word, “When the Son of Man comes will He find any faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8
None of us is perfect and we all have a sin nature that we wrestle with daily. So ‘faith’ is not turning from sin, doing that which is right and not what is wrong anymore, nor being just or getting justice, that’s obedience. Faith is about walking and working with the LORD. Earthly righteousness and justice is horizontal, man to man. Faith is vertical, God to man.
People don’t have to be born-again to be ‘just and right’ in how they treat others or govern. People come from God the Creator of all life, we’re made in His image. So, we are all born with a good conscience as a guard for our decisions and behavior that always affect others, not just ourselves.
Obeying ‘the law’ is not about faith, but rather about living rightly with our fellow man. Jesus told His 12 disciples that they did not choose Him, but He choose them to walk and work with Him. When Jesus came to each one, with a form of “follow Me,” they acted in faith on the ‘living’ Word of God. (John 1:1)
Not all 12 acted in faith though. Jesus knew the heart of Judas, and is why He chose Judas who would betray Him when the appointed time came; the time appointed by God His Father; the time for Jesus to be arrested and taken to the cross to die in our place.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
As we act on what God says in a timely way (waiting on God’s timing and further instruction), we will get opposition from Satan and his cohorts. The devil uses people to do his evil works just as God uses people to do His good will. Who will be fully satisfied and pleased at the end? With opposition our flesh will want to give up and shrink back with cowardice. We will be tempted to make excuses like: “Maybe I didn’t hear God right.” “If this was God’s will then why so uncomfortable?” “Why would God allow bad things to happen?” So I tell people, “When you read a novel, do you stop in the middle for whatever reason and never finish reading the book? Or do you finish the book to see how it ends, how all that confused you or displeased you – now makes sense?” Our lives are the same way. We start out with the LORD, and when it gets difficult or self-sacrificing we are tempted to turn back and not go any further with Him. But if we will ‘keep the faith,’ in the end we will understand and receive the reward of our faith.