# 6 – Faith: Our Inner Witness

2) Help others do the works of faith

Faith is not an assumption—“A statement accepted as true without proof”*. How long have Christians’ erroneously accepted this as faith’s definition?!

Interestingly, scholars of the NKJV Study Bible agree, the verse in Hebrews 11:1 is not a definition of faith either! Rather, it describes what faith does.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1 NKJV).

They explain that “substance” means “reality”; and “evidence” means “proof” or “conviction”. Thus, faith is the reality of things hoped for, the proof of things faith provides to convict us that what is unseen is real!

Faith is reality, proof and conviction. Without these, it’s assumption.

For instance, at the altar call we made our confession of faith. Faith provided the inner witness, which is proof and conviction that something real occurred, and we were saved: “He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself;” (1 John 5:10 NKJV).

As we grow in the gospel of Christ, however, confession of faith—by itself—will not be enough. God makes known his righteousness as we grow from faith to faith (Rom. 1:17). One such faith keeps company with works!

…faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead (James 2:17).

Faith is action manifested within the parameters of works. We don’t do faith; we do works. As we do works, our inner witness will continue to convict us that faith is present. Otherwise, the faith we have is dead.

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*The American Heritage Dictionary, Based on the New Second College Edition; Scriptures from King James Version of the bible, unless otherwise indicated with NKJV (New King James Version) taken from NKJV Study Bible, 2^nd Edition, 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc.

#5 - By Faith in Christ Jesus

2) Help others do the works of faith

Being saved by grace—through faith—is a gift from God; we could not do anything of our own efforts to earn God’s gift (Eph. 2: 8, 9). Afterwards, however, what we do with that gift is our responsibility, which is to grow in grace (2 Peter 3:18). Grace is not a stagnant position. Grace is a growth process!

Like an embryo that is predestined to grow into a baby, so the newborn Christian is predestined to grow into the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13). To accomplish this goal, the church is supposed to bring us to unity:

1)      of the faith, and

2)      of the knowledge of the Son of God (Eph. 4:13).

We, the body of Christ, are to provide the necessary tools to bring us into this predestination (Rom. 8:29, 30). These tools are the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (Eph. 4:11, 12). They are to grow us up until we arrive “unto a perfect man…”

Perfect, tĕlĕiŏs, is to be complete (in various applications of labor, growth, mental and moral character, etc.). The dictionary defines complete as “having all necessary parts, elements, or steps”; “brought to an end: concluded”; “finished”; and is “marked by the highest quality”.

Our Christian journey begins and ends by faith in Christ Jesus. So let us encourage these ministries who grow us up. If we don’t, then perhaps we not only failed “of the grace of God” (Heb. 12:15), but also of faith—to the household of faith (Gal. 6:10)!

 

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All Scriptures come from The King James Version of the bible; definition from Strong’s Concordance: “perfect” #5046 (Eph. 4:13); and Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.

#4 – Faith is a Personal Feeling

1) Exploring different variations of faith

Many of us can agree that faith is personal. We base faith upon what we believe. Once our confession of faith leaves our heads and our mouths, belief drops into our emotions and become part of our feelings (Rom 10:8 NIV).

Our feelings consist of who we are—and since we are unique individuals—these feelings can sometime cause friction, arguments, or misunderstandings we never intended. Even worse, when we put our faith in areas where others find hard to follow, our faith is tested because now we stand alone in what we believe.

Jesus, too, stood alone in his day. The religious hierarchy was his most active accusers because their past faith did not recognize their present reality. Before them stood the person they were waiting for—and yet Jesus stood alone. Even on the cross, in his most desperate hour, he cried: "My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me?"

Today, many of us feel forsaken or alone in areas where the faith of others cannot follow. For Christians, these feelings are even more acutely felt, leaving us to feel vulnerable—abandoned to the forces that momentarily prevail.

Yes, faith is personal, so who can agree with it? Our dependence is upon the Lord, who said, "Come. Follow me". When we do, then we are truly never alone—even in the places where no one else will go. He is with us. We know this to be true. Just as surely as our faith feels it to be true. Every single day.

Faith #3 - The Household of Faith

1) Exploring different variations of faith

We have doubters within the household of faith! Remember Thomas? He had eaten, slept, and journeyed alongside others as they followed after Jesus. Yet, later, Thomas had no faith in their eyewitness testimony:

We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe (John 20:25).

There’s an understood “you” at the end of that verse. When he “dissed” them, he was calling them liars, wasn’t he!

What was Thomas’ difficulty? Simple. He just hadn’t experienced seeing the Lord for himself. That’s the arrogance, or ignorance, of holding on to one expectation of faith—our own—while excluding the faith of others. At the point, where recognition and acceptance for the faith of others ceases to be defined by love (1 Cor. 13:4-13), then we also cease to do “good” to the household of faith (Gal. 6:10).

However, Jesus gave us a remedy. Single out those who have no previous eye-witness experiences of their own, yet recognize and accept others’ faith anyway; then, acknowledge how blessed they are, just as Jesus did:  “…blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29).

Faith does not have to occur exclusively within the boundaries of our own experiences. Faith can also occur within the boundaries of others’. This is why we are called the household of faith!

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 Scriptures from the King James Version.

Faith #2 - Different Genders, Different Styles of Faith

1) Exploring different variations of faith

Most men are cerebral. They are the sum of their thoughts. Faith for men starts in their brain. At some point, their confession of faith eventually drops into their heart, where faith becomes reality. Until the Spirit apprehends their heart, displays of emotion make men feel uncomfortable, even threatened, by their emotional female counterparts.

Most women are emotional. We are the sum of our feelings. So, faith is a feeling for us. My brother asked me once, “How did you know there was a (spiritual) barrier there?” I replied, “I felt it”. Every moment, of every day, feelings are who we are—and sometimes get us into trouble if we do not apply the fruit of self-control. Until our men can accept our feelings on the same level as they accept their thoughts, we’ll have to look to another Man for emotional support, Jesus. He felt sorrow. He wept. He agonized in the Garden. He felt abandoned by the One upon whom he had come to trust. So, who better to understand and empathize with us than the person we call Lord and Savior?

God does not make mistakes. We are created to be both rational and emotional human beings. Truly we are meant to embrace both areas of our human nature? That is, until we accept, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ” (Gal. 3:28 NIV). To be “one” takes another leap of faith for both genders.

Faith #1 - Faith at Different Levels

1) Exploring different variations of faith

The Skeptics

What is faith? Skeptics believe they know. They experienced religious faith and then discovered it doesn’t work for them. Religious faith left them feeling unhappy, used, and certain never to be made a fool of again. Fully persuaded that religious faith is only for weaklings and idiots, we will not find religious faith operating in their world. Skeptics will swear that religious faith has nothing to do with their decision-making or risk-taking. They believe that their actions determined the results. And there’s nothing wrong with what they believe because that is their faith.

Spirit-filled Christians

For Spirit-filled Christians, faith is an experience that has proven itself. When they heard the message of salvation in Jesus Christ, the word of faith brought them a born-again experience. When they were baptized with fire, they experienced the reality of the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts. One such gift is called the gift of faith. The gift of faith brings the certainty of fullness where there is lack, the certainty of overcoming where there are obstacles, the certainty that God will perform what he has promised, etc. All spiritual gifts remain with the receiver for life because God’s gifts and callings are irrevocable.

Fruit-bearing Christians

There is a point, however, when another experience begins to beckon the Spirit-filled Christian, called bringing forth fruit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22, 23 NIV). It is at this crossroads where Spirit-filled Christians are reluctant to let go of the “moving of the Holy Spirit” in order to bring forth the “fruit of the Spirit”. They perceive the “moving” with its power as more desirable than the “fruiting” with its godly characteristics—which they mistakenly equate with weakness. Yet, the fruiting is more important to Jesus, especially in the “last days” when lots of power will be displayed, and the fruiting, especially love, has all but disappeared (Matt. 24:11, 12, 24). He will look for fruit in the power-wielding Christian, and finding none, he will reject them (Matt. 7:16-20, 22, 23).

Full-bloomed, the fruit of the Spirit marks us differently from the world. Our character has been fashioned after the character of Jesus, the Son of God. As such—whether in season or out of season, whether in need or in plenty—the full-fruited Christian will not fail to represent the One in whose image we are made.

The nine fruit of the Spirit is the end-product—and our testimony—of the condition of the tree upon which fruit is found. Fruit guides our behavior. The fruit of faith, like all fruits, grow through trials and testing, stays the course, overcomes adversities, and prevails. Thus, while people everywhere are shaken by wars or rumors of wars, pestilence, famines, or earthquakes, etc., why not align with a full-fruited Christian, whose spiritual fruit consists of the assurance of peace, and the fruit of faith?  

Scripture quotations from the King James Version (KJV) of the bible unless otherwise noted.

Faith #0 - Exploring Faith

We admit. It’s not easy to have faith for life and incorruption. So in this next part of our blog we will explore faith, either through the Scriptures, or by sharing our discoveries about faith. Since there are many types of faith, we will try to bring clarity to a few of them.

One of those types of faith is connected with salvation. We understand that we can do nothing of works to make salvation happen for us. Salvation was Jesus’ work. Ours is to receive his work by “the word faith” (Romans 10:8-10).

On the other hand, James writes that there is a faith that is never alone. This faith keeps company with works. Otherwise, he says, our faith is dead (James 2:17). This type of faith is connected to the growth, or outworking, of our salvation. The apostles wrote that there are things we have to discard, put off, put on, grow up into, conform to, transform into, etc.—and they all take works of faith to accomplish.

Thus, our aim on this part of our blog is to 1) explore different variations of faith, 2) help others do the works of faith and 3) show how to recognize God’s answer when it arrives. Yes, it still takes faith to recognize God’s answer in whatever form he packages it.

Together, let’s find faith’s reality and faith’s proof—of the things we hope for yet do not see (Heb. 12:1).

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Scripture quotations from the New King James Version (NKJV) of the bible unless otherwise noted.