I recently had a
chat with a good friend and I opened up that there is a need to understand the
difference between the faith of Jesus and our faith.
There are many
Christians who always want to start off asking themselves “Do I have enough
faith?”. They want to be sure that they are they in a good position before they
have good results in their prayers. The
problem is that if we start assess our faith level we have already put faith as
a hindrance between us and Jesus’ finished work. This is where many people have
missed it in the Word of faith movement. Some try to see if they can raise the bar
in their “faithometer” by making serial confessions.
No doubt we need
to understand faith in its purest form because it is essential in our prayer life.
Without it is impossible to lay hold of our possessions in Christ. I want to
define faith in a simple way for all to understand.
Faith is simply yielding to and resting in Jesus’
ability. Faith is a response and not a reaction or initiative. Grace is the initiative and faith is the response.
Faith has nothing
to do with our achievement, qualification or our worthiness. Faith rests in
Jesus and His ability. That’s why we see scores of Muslims, Buddhists,
and Hindus who know very little about the Bible receive astounding miracles in
crusade grounds. Though they have never heard of the Book of Genesis, the
Pauline epistles to the Romans or Galatians, they grasp the simple truth of
God’s love revealed in Jesus for them. Once a person connects with Jesus,
everything is possible. That is where faith is born. That’s why the
stories of the Canaanite woman and the Roman centurion are so important as they
were the only ones that Jesus ascribed “great faith” to.
Sometimes
preachers who want to minister healing to people in a crusade or church
services tell them that before they can get it that they must first be right
with God before He can answer them. There are loads of examples with Jesus just
asking them "Do u want to be healed?"
When you ask
yourself “Do I have the right kind of faith to be healed?” “What if I am
lacking in faith?” You are focusing on yourself and your faith, instead of
Christ and His finished work.
What you should
be asking is “Did Jesus take away this sickness? If He did, then He must have done
a perfect work.” In other words, fix your eyes on Jesus and His perfect work.
Let Him be the author and the finisher (perfecter) of your faith.
The distinction between your faith and His
faith.
“Knowing that a
man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ,
even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith
of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified.” (Galatians 2:16)
Paul makes a
distinction between the faith of Jesus Christ and faith in Jesus Christ. In
Greek, which is the language that the New Testament was written in, there is no
phrase for “of”, but there is a phrase for “in”. When you look at this text in
Greek, there is a distinct Greek word “eis”, meaning “in or into”. It is the
same phrase that Jesus used when He told the woman with the issue of blood to
“go into peace” (Mark 5:34). Because the text shows where to place the English
word “in”, the translators had to assume that in the other places it should be
another word.
The translators
have taken the authority away from this verse they changed the words to suit
our modern vernacular. Paul states that we are justified by the faith “of”
Jesus Christ and then furthers it by stating that we have placed our faith “in”
Jesus Christ.
Jesus demonstrated faith if the highest form when he sacrificed
His life on the cross and taking His own blood to the Father in heaven. He
believed that His sacrifice would be sufficient and He also believed that His
Father would be so pleased with this sacrifice that He would raise His Son from
the dead, which He did. Christ’s faithfulness is what causes all of us to be
justified.
That certainly
cannot stand alone, for we need to meet His faith with our faith in His
finished work. Paul makes it clear in this verse that our believing in Jesus
Christ is what makes us justified “by the faith of Christ”. This is the place
where salvation happens.
Paul expounds it
this way in Romans, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). It is our faith that brought the
justification but it was Jesus’ faithfulness to the cross and its atoning work
that brings us peace with God. In other words, without the faithfulness of
Jesus, our faith means nothing. Our faith finds its life in His faith.
The scriptures
says 3 times that the just shall live by faith. Paul says that the life which
we now live in the flesh we “live by the faith of the Son of God” (Galatians
2:20). I live this life, not due to my own faithfulness but due to His
faithfulness. It is His faith that never waivers, while mine may shift from
time to time. Let nothing come between you and Jesus, not even your earnest
attempt to have faith. Be at rest in Jesus!
The more you
focus on your faith, the more faith slips away. Jesus did not answer his
disciples' request to increase their faith in the way they expected. If you
focus on the finished work of Christ and see God’s grace toward you, God sees
that as faith!
Faith is all
about Jesus
Before Jesus’
death and resurrection, while they were still in the Old Covenant, Jesus
frequently told people, “Your faith has made you whole.” But we don’t find
these words spoken once we entered into the New Covenant after Jesus’ death and
resurrection. Never again are believers told, “Why don’t you have
faith?” The truth is that you cannot be a born-again believer and be
without faith. Once you are a believer the author and finisher of faith
lives inside of you.
These words “your
faith has made you whole” were never spoken by the apostles Paul, John or
Peter, once Jesus had finished the work of His death and resurrection.
Rather we that Simon Peter looked at Aeneas who was lame, and said, “Jesus
heals you.” Philip went to Samaria and “preached Jesus Christ to
them.” Paul said, “I preach only ‘Jesus Christ and Him crucified.’”
The whole message and operation of miracles was centered on Jesus. It was
not on their consecration, holiness or chastity. It was about Jesus. This is how
the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus. When we put the focus on Jesus, what He
has done and His ability, the Holy Spirit works with us.
Because of this
we don’t see people exalt Peter or Paul’s ministry over another Apostle like we
see in our days where people run to a man because of the fame to his name. We
are not to exalt a ministry; we only need to lift up Jesus. I’ve heard too
many statements like, “I have a ministry for financial breakthrough, I have a
ministry to give babies; I have a ministry for the blind; I have a ministry for
deaf ears; I have a ministry for stomach healings.” The grace revolution
has turned it around. It’s about time we say, “I’ve got Jesus and He is
all-sufficient.” This way we don’t have to seek healing or any specially
anointed person, but our pursuit is after the Healer.
He is the one
whose faith cannot fail. He is the one who is ever faithful to covenant. True faith
is not just making confessions. Faith is not rules concerning what we must do
to receive from God. It is absurd for a child to follow steps to receive
his daily welfare from his father. When
we see Jesus as big as He really is then we relax in Him. When Jesus
appears great to your inward eyes you automatically start speaking positively,
confessing God’s Word. This is where faith is born. It is rooted in a
revelation of his undying and unfailing love for us and not in our love for
him.
Labels: Faith
