Understanding Faith

By Michael Divine

The subject of faith is one that although is mostly spoken about, is also very much misunderstood. In this book, more light will be shed on this all-important subject while an in-depth look at the many aspects of the subject is considered. This book is a must-read for all. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael Divine
• Release date: Aug 25, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393053101

Michael Divine

The author is a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Senior Minister of Excellent Glory Chapel with a mandate to raise unto God a people of praise. His passion is to see the people of God walk in the light of the knowledge of His word and practice same.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

THE INDISPENSABILITY OF FAITH

FAITH IS INDISPENSABLE for two very important reasons:

1. Without faith, it is impossible to please God-Hebrews 11:6

It is ideally every husband’s desire to please his wife. And in order for that to successfully happen, the husband must first discover what things his dear wife likes and finds pleasurable. And the easiest way to find out what one’s wife likes is to ask her. If the man fails to figure out what pleases his wife, he may go out of his way to buy expensive gifts for her and still end up not pleasing her. The man therefore cannot please his wife on his own terms. His ability to please his wife lies in his doing so her way and not his way.

It happens to be the same with God. We can only be able to please Him on His terms. And the only way to please Him is by faith. When Adam, the federal head of the human race sinned, all of us sinned and so offended God. We chose to believe in what the devil told us in Eden, instead of having faith in what God had said. According to the word of God, eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil meant death, but instead of believing God’s word, we rather believed Satan’s when he told us that eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was indeed going to make us like God. Satan succeeded in convincing us that we were not going to die. And because we believed what Satan said, we made God a liar. Man’s lack of faith toward God in Eden displeased Him. And in order to please Him, God demands that we place our faith in Him again.

God has made it so, that faith is the only divinely approved means by which anyone can please Him. And that is why faith is indispensable when it comes to our relationship with God. Anything done outside of faith toward God is sin- For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. -Romans 14:23(ESV).

According to the verse above, sin can be defined as anything which displeases God. Faith toward God is therefore the only remedy to the sin problem of the human race.

When Cain and Abel sacrificed unto God, the difference between their sacrifices was the element of faith: "By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain" -Hebrews 11:4(ESV). It is obvious from the text that Cain offered his sacrifice without faith.  God was not pleased with Cain’s offering because he failed to offer it in faith. Cain made his offering as though there was no God, and so his sacrifice displeased God and so was not accepted- for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. -Hebrews 11:6(ESV).

Faith toward God can therefore not be taken lightly at all. That is why faith is considered as an elementary principle in the doctrine of Christ.

Faith is indispensable because it is the only divinely appointed and approved mode by which we come into a peaceful relationship with God. When man sinned, he strained his relationship with God- he actually died. Man got separated from God because of his sin. And so to get restored, man has to have faith in God again. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. -Romans 5:1(MKJV).

Faith toward God brings us into justification. To be justified means to be declared righteous as if you never sinned. Without faith, justification cannot be possible, and without justification, peace with God cannot be attained. And without peace with God, man would still abide in death and fall short of the glory of God which he once had when he was in Eden. Our walk with God therefore begins with faith and that is why it is absolutely indispensable for the child of God and for anyone who wants to walk with God.

2. The Just shall live by faith-Romans 1:17

Faith is not just the means to justification or salvation; it is also the way by which those who are justified ought to live their lives. Most of us unconsciously get back to living by our senses and not by faith right after getting saved. By our actions, we show to others that the only reference we have of ever having faith was when we first believed. But we need to understand that if it took faith to reconnect us to God it would also take faith to keep us connected to Him.

It is therefore not advisable to abandon faith after we have become justified or saved, but that’s exactly what most of us do. It is however necessary for us to understand that justification by faith, though an event, is also a process. Paul proved to the saints in Corinth that it was possible to believe in vain:Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. -1 Corinthians 15:1-2(ESV).

Faith is therefore not just indispensable with regards to becoming justified; it is also needed to remain justified or saved. Otherwise when faith stops at justification, our believing may end up being in vain.

THE TRUTH IS, THERE is no life outside of God, who is the source of life. And if faith brings us back into that life which we once shared with Him, then nothing but faith would keep us in that life.

When a baby stops breathing because it took in its first breath after birth, that baby would eventually die even though it has come into contact with abundance of air. If it was the sole intention of God to just get us to believe so we get justified or saved, then it should also have been His intention to kill us right after we believed so we don't lose our salvation. But God wants us to live by faith and not just be justified by it. He wants us to experience the kind of life which He had purposed for us before the fall. He wants us to be sick-free, to be prosperous, to be blessed in all things, to be well. God actually wants us to be like Him! And that is only possible when we live by faith. Otherwise, whatever lives we lead will always fail to measure up to the standard He has set for His children.

If we fail to consciously live by faith, we would end up not having any meaningful experiences in God. Our Christian experience would be devoid of testimonies and become boring- dead. And indeed, there are many of us whose Christian lives are boring because we are not living by faith. We can't point at any one thing in our whole Christian experience which we can attribute to being the result of our demonstration of faith in God and His word.

Our survival as Christians must of necessity be by faith because, God's way of making people right begins and ends with faith.-Romans 1:17(ERV). We are not supposed to live by feelings, circumstances or sight because we were not saved by any of those. Ours is a call to a Life and that Life must be lived -experienced. And the only way to experience this Life God has called us into is by faith.  In conclusion, I need to state emphatically that it is actually a command to live by faith in this Life, not a suggestion. For the just SHALL live by faith. Faith is what animates our Christian experience.

CHAPTER TWO

THE SIMPLICITY OF FAITH

ONLY BELIEVE

THROUGHOUT THE EARTHLY ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, His greatest challenge was to get those who followed Him to believe in Him. And the Gospel according to John was written with that singular intention, that men may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God...-John 20:31(ESV).

Man’s challenge has and always will be a challenge of faith. That’s why the Lord was quick to commend any demonstration of faith in Him and did not fail in condemning unbelief.

Jesus was once asked the following question by a group of people, What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?- John 6:28.

It is very likely that those who asked the Lord that question were expecting Him to deliver a