I have been writing about the inseparable link between Christ-following and faith. According to Hebrews 11:1, 6; without faith, defined as being sure of what we hoped for, and certain of what we cannot see, it is impossible to please God. Therefore, understanding biblical faith is a pretty important topic for a follow of Christ.
Previously I wrote; “Biblical faith is messy because it stretches us out of our comfort zone, which is why we resist it so often. The average church-attender has grieved (Eph 4:30) and quenched (1 Thess 5:19) the Holy Spirit so often that they cannot remember the last time they experienced the flow of the Holy Spirit in and through them.”
“Our lack of faith frustrates Jesus (Matt 17:17-20) Great faith isn’t so much about being great in quantity, as it is about quality. Biblical faith begins and ends with God. Biblical faith is always in agreement with God. No word from God is without power. The average Christian has traded a messy, uncomfortable, stretching faith, for a tame, comfortable, set of facts.”
Perseverance is a key component to the spiritual development process; “Perseverance must finish its work so we become mature, complete, and lack nothing” (James 1:2-4). A call to perseverance is really a call to faith. The process of perseverance requires that we “hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful ((Heb 10:19-25).
There are three basic stages of faith; first, is the “See It” stage. At the “See It” stage, we see the opportunity of faith. Then there is the “Say It” stage. At the “Say It” stage, we begin to verbalize our faith that the opportunity we are seeing might become reality. The finally, there is the “Seize It” stage. In the “Seize It” stage, we choose the actions, attitude, and mindset required to make the opportunity truly become reality.
Before we can seize the result of faith we must be able to walk the journey of faith by recognizing and speaking about the opportunity before us. Most people, probably everyone even, can see the opportunity before them if they would just choose to walk in faith. Many of us will even so as far as allowing ourselves to talk about what we believe God is going to do. But the journey of faith tends to breakdown in the “seize it” stage due our lack of follow-through.
God is prepared to do much more than you currently experience if you will just choose to consistently walk out your journey of faith with Him. There is no way around it; all three stages (see it, say it, seize it) are requirements to experience the flow of the Holy Spirit’s power in and through you. If you will choose to follow-through, even when it is tough, God will do more than you can ever imagine!
Since we “cannot please God without faith (Heb 11:1), it becomes a very critical step in our spiritual development process. Faith is the fuel that powers the immeasurably more of God (Eph 3:20). As you can hopefully see, it is imperative that we get the faith issue right. Others are watching, but more importantly, God is watching.