WHY YOU SHOULD NOT LOSE YOUR FAITH

                                   
                                          FAITH

According to Wikipedia, faith is defined as confidence or trust in a being, object, living organism, deity, view, or in the doctrines or teachings of a religion, as well as confidence based on some degree of warrant. Faith can also refer to a belief that is not based on proof. Faith in terms of religion is the total acceptance of the divine authority of the Manifestations of God. In the religion's view, faith and knowledge are both required for spiritual growth; Faith involves more than outward obedience to this authority, but also must be based on a deep personal understanding of religious teachings .

According to the Scriptures, the definition of faith is “… confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). Perhaps, no other component of the Christian life is more important than faith. We cannot purchase it, sell it or give it to our friends. The Bible has much more to say about faith and how important it is. In fact, it is so important that, without faith, we have no place with God, and it is impossible to please Him. The Scriptures affirms it in Hebrews 11:6, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek him". Without demonstrating faith and trust in God, we have no place with Him.

We believe in God’s existence by faith. Most people have a vague, disjointed notion of who God is but lack the veneration necessary for His exalted position in their lives. These people lack faith needed to have an eternal relationship with the God who loves them. Our faith can falter at times, but because it is the gift of God, given to His children to remain strong in faith and overcome trials. He provides times of trials in order to sharpen strengthen and prove that our faith is strong. This is why James, the Apostle tells us to consider it “pure joy” when we fall into trials, because the testing of our faith produces perseverance and matures us, providing the evidence that our faith is real.

To every Christian who desires to fellowship and build a relationship with God, and those who want something from Him must have faith. Faith is not something we conjure up, nor is it something we are born with, nor is faith a result of diligence in study or pursuit of the spiritual. Ephesians 2:8-9 says “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast." Faith is simply given to us by God, through the Holy Spirit. “To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:8–9). With His grace and mercy, according to His holy plan and purpose, and because of that, He gets all the glory and through a conscious decision and a “leap of faith”, let’s put our hopes and trust in God instead of in worldly things. But those who sincerely take that leap develop a sense of peace, security and joy that confirms the correctness of the decision. The person who is afraid to get in the water will never learn to swim. Similarly, the person who is afraid to believe without knowing all the answers will never find faith. Everyone has questions and doubts about their faith from time to time. It is in working through those questions and doubts that our faith can become stronger and more mature and continue to grow throughout life. As mere humans, there are many things about God that we will never understand. It is through faith that we can trust that God is the One who has all the answers and knows what is best. As it says in the Book of Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  

By Faith there is a lot to gain. Faith in Jesus Christ is a shield that protects us from the things of the world and the temptations of the devil. Ephesians 6:16 says, "In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." And 1 John 5:4 says, "For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith." God can do all things for us if we exercise faith in the Savior. By faith we can do anything, we can even achieve the unthinkable. The Bible made me understand in Matthew 17:20, "He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”" But are a lot of things hindering us as Christians, DOUBT is a major and common hindrance.

• DOUBT: Doubting is the number one reason to ungranted requests. Doubt not for it is said in James 1:6-8 "But when you ask, you must believe and not DOUBT, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do."

• WHAT YOU HEAR: What we hear or pay attention to is one of the factors that also determine how weak or strong our faith will be. The Bible says in Romans 8:17 "…faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." If you hear negative report your faith will be at risk. You can’t develop a very strong faith by constantly hearing negative things. If you have noticed, anytime you hear something that’s really bad, you tend to come under fear. As faith is produced by hearing the Word of God, faith can be destroyed by hearing the words of the devil (negative reports). Every bad report originates from the devil and they damage our faith. Your faith can’t thrive in an atmosphere of negative reports.

• WHAT YOU SEE: What you see will ultimately get to your heart and anything that gets into your heart will affect your faith. Faith is a heart thing and anything that affects your heart will affect your faith. Your faith is in your heart not your head. If you are in an environment that exposes you to things that are not in line with the Word of God, you are in a potentially dangerous environment. A good example is “The Israelites”. Look at The Israelites whom God has demonstrated great signs in Egypt for their release. When they got to the Red Sea and saw Pharaoh and his army coming, they lost their faith. Exodus 14:10, "As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians over taking them…" What you see, sends a message to your brain, it processes what has been seen and causes the nerves to react. The Israelites saw Pharaoh and his army and they panicked. While panicking “WHAT IFs” are the questions that come up in our minds leading to worry and out faith because weak.

• YOUR THOUGHTS: What is going on in your mind will eventually affect the state of your heart. You need to monitor your thought so it doesn’t stray into what will hinder your faith. Your thought is affected by what we see or hear. The devil will try to put negative and wrong thoughts in your heart to weaken your faith. Always be at alert to recognize this kind of thoughts. If you permit fear- laden thoughts in your mind your faith could be in jeopardy. Satan will try to assault your mind with wrong crippling thoughts. Whenever such thoughts come to your mind, deal with them with the truth of God’s Word. Psalms 118: 17 says "The word of God is the antidote to wrong thoughts. Apply the word of God to your mind continually." This should be a constant reminder when we are faced with negatives thoughts and the Word of God should be sought to kill such thoughts.

• WHAT YOU SAY: Your thoughts affect what you say and what you say has a way of affecting your faith. If you go around talking about how difficult and impossible things are you will hardly have faith working in your heart. You are putting negative report in your heart. Negative reports whether you hear them or say them will weaken your faith. Think back at the times that you have told many people that you were sick. If you are able to remember clearly you will know that at those times you could hardly exercise faith for healing. The reason is simple. As you talked about the sickness in negative way your faith was weakened. The devil will encourage you to go around telling the difficulty of your situation because he knows that the more you talk about those situations and circumstances, the weaker your faith will become. Your faith is at the mercy of what you say. Any time you say something contrary to the truth and the promises of the Word of God your faith becomes less potent and weakened. When your words show your unbelief, fear, doubt and worry, you can’t expect to have a strong faith. Unbelief stops your faith from coming alive, fear kills your faith, doubt dilutes it and worry distracts your faith.

 I have to mention that before you can receive the gift of faith, you have to be BORN-AGAIN because how will you have faith in someone when you can't accept His salvation and submit yourself to Him totally. And when you receive this gift (i.e. the gift of salvation), the Word of God is what will make your faith grow stronger. Nothing is impossible for God to do but faith is the catalyst to answered prayers. Sometimes our miracles are right in front of us but because of the conclusion and doubts in our hearts, we are scared to exercise faith. Faith will propel your prayers to the heart of God and make Him answer your prayers quickly and at the most appropriate time. God will never let you down or bring shame to Himself because a man who has faith in God will boast about Him because he believe in Him who is the all in all and one in all, the one who says yes and no man on earth or in heaven or hell can say no, The author and finisher of our faith. But when you don't have faith in Him, how will you help others imbibe the act of Faith?

Seek God diligently, obey His commands, praise and worship Him, learn to tell Him “Thank You”, extend love to your surroundings and maintain a regular communication with God and when things are working out, people will ask you, how did you do it?. I also what you to know that, a child of God is not a normal person because everything beyond human understanding is abnormal so try not to follow the world because you are in a new realm now.

May God be praised.

Written by: Kehinde Ayodele