Bible study week: When we talk about faith

I would like to greet each one of you who is blessed to read this article. I pray that the last week has been good to you all and that you have been growing spiritually during this last few weeks. Allow me to look back at the discussion from last week where the subject was on the Holy Spirit. Well, from what I can gather from studying the scriptures, the Holy Spirit is our Helper and allows us to grow into fellowship with God. The Holy Spirit as we have established dwells in the body of the newborn believer so that he may do that which His Holy Father has sent him to do. This week, however, the topic is on faith and inspite of what has been said about this topic, it is fair to say that without it, it us impossible to please God (Hebrews11:6).

The book written to the Hebrews, chapter 11 starting from verse 1, gives us an idea of what faith is. "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen". Let us bear in mind that this book was written to the Hebrews who had lost faith in God's Promise even at a time when God delivered them from many situations. It is strange, to say the least, that most of us, come to believe in God like the Hebrew people at that point in time, yet we stand in doubt of what God promised coming to pass. Often times, we attempt to run ahead of God and make our own contingency plans as it were, yet we forget that if we spend time with God and really have a relationship with Him as pointed out in Hebrews chapter 11, where the testimonies of the faithful are found.

We find ourselves sometimes, running into the danger of competing with God for glory that belongs completely to Himself. In my personal journey with the Lord, I have discovered that there are things that are beyond me in my human capacity and it is only God who can do what is within His will to acieve a positve result. We can do all that we can as His children but it is our Heavenly Father who is able to deliver on the Promise He has made to us. We are limited in our very nature as humans in terms of knowing what God's divine knowledge is, as mentioned in Ephesisns 1 verse 17 to 19. But that does not eliminate the fact that there is certain things that we are meant to do as His children and should not shift that responsibility to others if we truly claim to know Him.

An anology that I can give is that of an athlete competing in a high jump event. In his own xapacity, he is limited to jump to a given height say 3 meters yet if he uses a pole, he can be catapulted to heights of about 18 meters. The moral of the story is that God can enable us to go over hurdles we would normally find impossible by our own strength to overcome.

Our Lord Jesus said that to him who believes, everything is possible. In John 11 verses 25 to 26, Jesus further points out that he is the resurrection and that even if you die in this form he will bring you back to life only if you believe in him.

The book of James, chapter 2 verse 18 talks about faith with works. In verse 20 it goes on to say a strong statement that faith in the absence of works is as good as dead. Verse 26 finishes off by stating that if spirit is absent from the body then we can expect faith to be equally as dead without works. Abraham was the example used and it is said that when God tested his faith in the sacrifice of his son, Isaac, he was willing to obey God, trusting that nothing is impossible for God in bringing his son back to life, even if he was to die.

The book of James chapter 1, also rightfully says that, it is in the testing of your faith that you must persevere so that in the end you are complete and lacking nothing.

Our faith has to be refined as pure gold and often times we must face that heat to reach a point of maturity in our faith. You might fail to see the promise of God in the absence of faith and so it is important to

set your faith in motion, as though it has already come to pass, so that it may be as God has said it would be.

Let me conclude by saying that we ought not to fall into the trap of thinking that we can choose where and when to have faith and expect to receive His promise. Therefore, I am just here to encourage you to have faith in Jesus, so that you can please God. Until next time, let's walk by faith not by sight.