FAITH IN GOD

And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have FAITH in GOD – Mark 11:22

Faith goes beyond believing. The believing that matters is the believing in the GOD of the Bible! There is no substitute for FAITH in GOD. Without the knowledge of the Lord God, nothing ever makes sense. Without a living relationship with Him, life is empty and hollow; “but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits” (Dan.11:32b). Faith isn’t just believing on the WORD of GOD, but believing in the GOD of the WORD.

The ancients, even the most brilliant thinkers and philosophers, in all of their wisdom, produced the wildest superstition and speculations! Mystery clothed nature; and mysticism clad humanity. Devoid of divine revelation, the hearts of our ancestors were shrouded in uncertainty, not sure of anything; not even of the times and seasons. They worshiped the sun that it might rise and shine. They appeased the rain not to cease. Streams and rivers had to be persuaded to flow and not dry up. The ‘gods’ were as numerous as their worshippers; until the Almighty God began to raise up and inspire His prophets with the fiery manifestation of His reality, His Will and His Word. The relational concept of God as the FATHER of all was strange to the heathen in ages past. Through His chosen nation – Israel – God’s prophets began to teach His people how not to fear the signs of the heavens like the heathens around them, but to reverence and worship Him the God of heaven and earth!

Faith doesn’t just “believe” with nothing specific in mind. It believes UNTO something and FOR something. The Word of God provides direction and purpose to our Faith. Many sincere seekers are trapped in a religious treadmill, believing for the sake of believing. The Bible is the Book of Faith: one which gives faith a positive goal. Therefore, we do not serve just any ‘god’ but the God of all creation, as He reveals Himself in the Bible.

The apostle Paul was aboard a sinking ship, but he declared “Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I BELIEVE GOD, that it shall be even as it was told me” (Acts 27:35). In other words, “I have FAITH in GOD; so I can defy the wind and cheerfully face the storm, knowing that “we MUST be cast upon a certain island” (vs.26). With faith in God, we can cast ourselves upon the ocean of the unknown, ‘knowing’ that our ship cannot sink and we cannot drown! When we hold on to real faith – unfeigned faith, faith that is not counterfeit or fake, faith in God – there can be no shipwreck of destiny (1Tim.1:19).