Do we really have faith? What is faith? If i asked every professing Christian if they have faith, what will be their answer. They of course will all pretty much say, "yes." They will say they have faith.
Have you seen the Red Sea part? Have you received food from heaven? Have you drank water gushing out from a rock? Have you had a pillar of cloud to guide you during the day? Have you had a pillar of fire to guide you during the night?
Hebrews 3:7-11 That is why the Holy Spirit says,
“Today when you hear his voice,
8 don’t harden your hearts
as Israel did when they rebelled,
when they tested me in the wilderness.
9 There your ancestors tested and tried my patience,
even though they saw my miracles for forty years.
10 So I was angry with them, and I said,
‘Their hearts always turn away from me.
They refuse to do what I tell them.’
11 So in my anger I took an oath:
‘They will never enter my place of rest.
Scripture says that God was angry with our ancestors. In fact, He as angry with them for 40 years. But even though His own people tested and tried God's patience, He out of His Grace had continued to feed them, protect them, guide them, and they encountered His supernatural powers. They had all witnessed His judgments on Egypt. They had all witnessed His miracles first hand and by sight. But at the end, most of them did not enter His rest. God in His wrath against His own people took an oath that they would not enter His rest.
Why? Why did most of God's people who had been delivered from Egypt (a type of salvation) failed to enter the promise land but instead received His judgment and their corpses were scattered in the wilderness. Remember, these were God's own people.
Hebrews 3:12 Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters.[f] Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. 13 You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. 14 For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. 15 Remember what it says:
“Today when you hear his voice,
don’t harden your hearts
as Israel did when they rebelled
Paul is warning us that our own hearts can become evil, unbelieving, and can turn away from God. He said we must warn each other every day so that our hearts may not hardened and we must stay faithful to the end trusting God.
It does not matter whether you can speak in tongue. It does not matter you can prophecy. It does not matter you can hear God. It does not matter that you are on the worship team. It does not matter whether you had visited heaven or show hell. You can still rebel against God. Verse 16 asked who had rebelled against God. They were those who even heard His Voice.
Hebrews 3:16-19 And who was it who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Wasn’t it the people Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it the people who sinned, whose corpses lay in the wilderness? 18 And to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him? 19 So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.
So in verse 19, scripture says because of their UNBELIEF they were not able to enter HIS REST. How can a people who witnessed the Red Sea part, receive food from heaven, drank from a gushing rock, guided by pillar of fire and cloud for 40 years be in UNBELIEF!!!
Hebrews 4:2 AMP For indeed we have had the glad tidings [Gospel of God] proclaimed to us just as truly as they [the Israelites of old did when the good news of deliverance from bondage came to them]; but the message they heard did not benefit them, BECAUSE IT WAS NOT MIXED WITH FAITH (with [c]the leaning of the entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness) by those who heard it; [d]neither were they united in faith with the ones [Joshua and Caleb] who heard (did believe).
Paul said, they did not have FAITH. Have you personally seen the Red Sea part? Have you received food from heaven? Have you received water from a rock? Have you been guided by pillars of fire and cloud? If you have not witnessed or experienced such supernatural events, then how do you know if YOU HAVE FAITH WHEN IT WAS SAID THEY DID NOT!!!
Mark 9:17-24 One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. 18 And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.[d] So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”19 Jesus said to them,[e] “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”20 So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth.21 “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father.He replied, “Since he was a little boy. 22 The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.”23“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”24 The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
Jesus said "You faithless people!" And in verse 23, HE said "Anything is possible if a person believes." Yet, in verse 24, the father of the boy cries out "I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!"
How can one say they believe but still not believe? Christians today say they all believe. They will all say they have faith. Yet, Jesus said, "YOU FAITHLESS PEOPLE!" In fact, HE asked will HE find faith when HE RETURNS?
Luke 18:8 (NLT) I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man[a] returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”
So the question remains for many of us if not all of us. Many of us have not experienced anything close to the OT saints who were delivered from Egypt and yet they did not have faith. Do you have faith? You must examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine.
How can one say "I do believe but help me overcome with my unbelief?" The word faith in the English dictionary is a noun. In Hebrew, it is more a verb. You must be faithing. But faithing is not a English term or word. In the Hebrew language, when people talked about faith, it was not about acknowledging something. It was about obedience.
Therefore, the father of the son in Mark chapter 9 was really saying, "Yes, I believe in God but help me stay in obedience to you."
So the OT saints in the wilderness had angered God because they were rebels who did NOT OBEY God even though they had witnessed HIS Judgments and Power. They even had heard His Voice. Today is no different. Many do experience His supernatural gifts. Many hear His Voice. Many can prophecy. Many can see dreams and visions. But whether they are obeying HIM is another matter. Your spiritual gifts and ability to hear HIM is given to you by GRACE. It is not a end result of your obedience.
Therefore, examine yourselves and ask God to search your hearts. How can we say we can die for HIM when we cannot even fast three days for HIM? Is your faith genuine?
1 Corinthians 11:31 (AMP) For if we searchingly examined ourselves [detecting our shortcomings
and recognizing our own condition], we should not be judged and penalty
decreed [by the divine judgment].
Fire of God Ministries International Church
Pastor Steve Yong Kim
Fire of God Ministries for the feeding and tending of God's flock to equip for the perfection of the saints that they should do the work of ministering toward building up Christ's Body (Church) and to promote obedience to the faith and make disciples for His name’s sake among all the nations until the return of the Lord - Branch of the Lord's Church USA
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