Oct 5, 2012
How Would You Answer These 7 Questions About Faith?
A powerful discussion
Friday mornings I meet with men who are committed to strengthening each other’s faith in Christ.
Last week we asked —
What is faith?
We had a powerful discussion and all of us were strengthened.
This made me think
What other questions would be helpful to think through — so we can better understand and live by faith?
Here are seven questions — with my answers —
1. What is faith?
Faith means trusting all that God promises to be to me in Christ Jesus.
- It’s trusting — not just agreeing to facts (James 2:19).
- It’s trusting what Christ has done for me on the Cross (Gal 2:20).
- But it’s more — it’s trusting all that God promises to be to me in Christ Jesus (Rom 4:20-21).
2. What has God promised?
I use five categories —
- to satisfy me fully and forever in Himself (John 6:35).
- to forgive me through faith in Christ so I can experience His heart-satisfying presence (1Pet 3:18)
- to enable me to obey Him so I receive even more heart-satisfaction in Him (Ezekiel 36:27)
- to ordain every event in my life to bring me even more heart-satisfaction in Him (2Cor 4:17)
- to provide everything else I need in such a way that I have the greatest heart-satisfaction in Him (Phil 4:19)
Notice that every promise focuses on God as our all-satisfying Treasure.
3. How does faith in Christ transform me?
A principle of human behavior is that whatever I trust to satisfy me I desire the most — and whatever I desire the most I obey.
So — when I trust Christ as my all-satisfying Treasure — I will be transformed, because I will passionately desire and obey Him.
4. How can I tell when my faith is weak?
My faith is weak when —
- I desire something else more than Christ (John 5:44).
- I do not obey Christ (Heb 11:8).
- I do not feel peace and joy in Christ (Rom 15:13).
- I doubt that God will keep His promises (Rom 4:21).
5. How can I strengthen my faith?
God will strengthen my faith as I earnestly pray for His help (Mark 9:24), and meditate on the truth of God’s Word (Rom 10:17).
6. How does faith in Christ produce peace and joy?
When I fight with prayer and God’s Word to trust Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit will make the truth of Jesus so real to me that I am completely satisfied (John 6:35; John 7:37-38; 1Pet 1:8).
And when I trust all the rest of God’s promises — every fear and doubt will be overcome (Isa 26:3).
7. How does faith in Christ produce obedience?
When I trust Jesus Christ as my all-satisfying Treasure (John 6:35), and when I trust that through obedience I will experience even more of His all-satisfying presence (John 14:21), I will obey.
How would YOU answer these questions?
I’d love to hear — especially if your answers would be different. Leave a reply below. Thanks.
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Steve,
If I could add one more question it would be: What does faith do for me?
It justifies me before God, justification replaces what we do, with what Jesus did for us, and continues to do through us.
Good thoughts, Paul — and what a glorious truth!
I’d also like to add one question, if you don’t mind… How has faith in Christ transformed me?
My faith has caused me to desire more knowledge in the ways of the Lord. More specifically, how to allow the Father to manifest the blessings of Abraham in my life so that I can be a blessing to others, because I know He wants to. My debt has been canceled, all that is required of me is to believe that the Lord Almighty has deposited His promises into my spiritual bank account, so to speak. I receive them in Jesus.
However, the enemy does try to interfere but I’ve learned to listen, recognize and rely on the voice of my helper (Holy Spirit), more so that my 5 natural senses, which have deceived me in the passed. Sin consciousness blocks the blessing.
By confessing that I am the righteous of God through Christ Jesus to the point of believing, the enemy has a very difficult time trying to convince me otherwise when he whispers in my ear, reminding me of past failures and of times when I missed the mark.
It’s quite humorous when the enemy flees as I remind him of his future and that my past is not relevant to my future.