Week 36: Faith - It cannot move mountain, but He can.

With the advanced of today’s technology; writing and sending letter seems to be an out of date for most of us. Maybe I’m a little bit old fashion man, I still enjoy sending letters to my friends. One universal rule about sending letter in every mailing company around the world is that: Only letter with stamp on it will be delivered. No matter how nicely that letter is packed, without stamp the postman won’t send it. Faith is like a letter with stamp on it. Without faith, our religious is worthless, no matter how nicely ‘packed’ it is.

The Bible said, ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God’ (Ephesians 2:8) Faith is a gift of God. When I read this, I asked, ‘Wait for a minute, if faith is a gift, then why just God doesn’t give it to me so that I could just pray and everything will be done as what I say? Isn’t it simple?’ As I asked this questions I breathe… in and out - Inhale and exhale. Then a thought comes to mind. Air that we breathe is a gift from God. It was everywhere, anyway. But actually, we can choose not to breathe. Stop breathing and dead. Air is a gift from God and so does faith. It’s a matter of either we want to received it or not. Yes, faith is a gift from God but it is our job to ‘breathe’ and received faith from Him.

Faith is more than just believing, it is trusting your very life to what you believe. Before entering the hall for final year examination paper, I asked my classmate because she looked nervous, ‘Are you okay?’ She said, ‘Oh no, I didn’t study well last night. Now I just go for this exam by faith.’ This is not faith. Faith is a confident resting or leaning upon someone or something, not for thing that is not sure. Faith involves believing that something or someone is true.

For Christian, to have faith is to receive the gift of God and to believe in Jesus Christ and His word of promise. His promise is this, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.’ (Acts 16:31) Faith in God means that you are willing to trust Him to carry you across the ‘tightrope’ of life. Ronald A. Beers writes, ‘You are even willing to endure ridicule and persecution for your faith because you are so sure that God is who He says He is and will keep His promises of salvation and eternal life in Heaven.’

In his book Introduction to Christian Doctrine 2^nd Edition, Millard J. Erickson writes, ‘The type of faith that is necessary for salvation involves both believing that and believing in, or assenting to facts and trusting in a person.’ A genuine faith requires us to believe in a person- God. I love reading on self-help books and audio program. But if you want to do so, you need to anchor your faith in the Word of God first because often too many speakers and writers misquoted verses from the Scripture especially on Matthew 17:20 that says ‘If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Be moved from this place to that; and it will be moved; and nothing will be impossible to you.’

They claimed that if only you have faith in yourself, you can move the ‘mountain’ of your life. Late Dr. Adrian Rogers in his weekly podcast said that faith in faith is positive thinking but faith in God is a faith that can ‘move a mountain’. I’m a big believer in positive thinking, but I’m sure enough to put my trust and my faith in God alone. I hope that after you read this note; you may ask yourself these questions;

Is my faith is real?

Did I put my faith in a right place?

Can I trust my God and willing to let Him carry me across the ‘tightrope’ of my life?

Remember, THINK BIG for God is big, don’t be scare to START SMALL in your faith and GO DEEP in it. God alone can move the ‘mountain’ in your life.

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Extended notes, added one day later:

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrew 11:1)

"Without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and he rewards those who seek him." (Hebrew 11:6)

"Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading... the root of faith is the knowledge of a person... the final stage in the life of faith is attainment of character." (J. Osward Sanders)

"Faith is not to have what we want but faith is to received what God gives." (Adrian Rogers)