Hi friends and family of Journey with Mo! I am super excited to write you something special on our topic: faith! So...I know you (probably) all know Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen", and some of you have a practical understanding of what it means. But have you ever thought about the fact that faith was defined in the 58th book of the bible (Hebrews) although it has been in existence since the 1st??
Right. Dwell on that for a bit as I introduce you to the topic of faith!
The simplest definition of faith as given by the dictionary is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. This means every single human on planet earth that is able to trust something or someone has a measure of faith. I mean if you can have confidence in your doctor's prescription or in your lawyer to defend you well at court, then you have faith!
Every human has been assigned a measure of faith.
"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you." ~Romans 13:3
Paul the apostle in His letter to Rome charges everyone to act in accordance to the measure of faith God has given each of them. Biblical examples that portray the indwelling existence of faith in man are:
The story of Mary, the mother of Jesus at Cana in Galilee. She exercised her faith even before there was a reason to believe. Before now, Jesus had not performed any signs or wonders or miracles. However, at the wedding in Cana Mary informed Jesus when the wine was finished like she knew He could do something about it. And Jesus as the simple man He is, told Mary His time has not yet come but Mary's faith was complete! She didn't have to beg Jesus, she didn't try to persuade Him, she wasn't struggling to believe He could perform a miracle, SHE KNEW and responded in faith! (Ref. Luke 2: 1-11)
Nathanael whom Phillip called to come see Christ. This guy literally only heard Jesus say “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” (John 1:48) and He immediately confessed Him to be the son of God and the King of Israel!
The early chapters of John really calls us out on what ground we believe. Faith does not require evidence. It is a choice. Both Nathanael and Mary believed before the ultimate proof of our faith - the death and resurrection of Christ. Another basic way to think about it is if we are saved by grace through our own faith, where could we have gotten that faith from? It means we had it all along even as sinners. I am convinced by the scriptures above that each man has been given a measure of faith.
God is a faith-ful God who made us in His image
Faith does not begin with Christianity or other religious beliefs but every single person created in the likeness of a faithful God has been assigned a measure of faith.
On April 14th 2021, a realization dawned on me - any "emotion" (e.g. love, trust. faith, hope) God has given you is first to sponsor your relationship with Him before others. Let me make myself clear. Remember in Isaiah 1:18 when the Lord said "come now, let us reason together"? Well...
Could we possibly "come" if He didn't give us a heart to draw near to Him? No.
And how can we "reason" if God was the only one with a brain amidst us?
So, we can say the Lord has given us a heart to come unto Him and a mind to reason with Him. In the same way we are given a measure of faith to walk with Him. Now if faith was originally purposed by God to sponsor our relationship with Him before others, then many of us must be making wrong use of our faith. In fact, 100% of the world's population were not fulfilling this purpose until 2,000 years ago. 2,000 years ago, Jesus (the only son of God) came to this earth to die for our sins altogether and establish a new life that is accessed by faith. His death and resurrection gave us an opportunity to live right, using our faith, hope and love for its original purpose.
Very practically, I'm saying: every time you choose to put your faith in anything other than God including your achievements, your qualifications, other humans, gods, idols, chariots and horses (Psalm 20:7); then you are outside God's purpose for His faith assigned to you. And Just like Jesus was the way out 2,000 years ago, He still is even now.
"looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." ~Hebrews 12:2
All you need do is trust Jesus to right all your wrongs and teach you to walk in His ways. He makes the crooked paths of your life straight. And this new straight path is the path of faith authored by Jesus. And as you continue with us on the topic FAITH, together we'll learn to walk in the right path, making right use of the faith authored by Jesus.
Finally: On the basis of God's word, whoever has not accepted Christ has not begun the right living and/or right use of their faith. (Acts 26:18 MSG - "I’m sending you off to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family, inviting them into the company of those who begin real living by believing in me.")
If you have not accepted Christ:
Come now and begin real living by faith in Christ Jesus ❤
Yours truly,
Moyo🤍
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