Focus: The Christian Faith

Text: Heb.12:2

"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of OUR FAITH…"

Our faith is "the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Gal.2:20). Our faith is the "faith of God" (Mk.11:22). The Greek says, "Have the faith OF God," not, "Have faith IN God." Our faith is connected to God, and Jesus Christ is the finisher of our faith. He is the commencement and consummation of our faith.

Let us look at the significance of faith in the life of the believer.

FAITH:

*Forms the foundation of the believer's whole life and frames his spiritual appetite.

The believer's faith is his foundation. He believes in the existence of God and diligently seeks Him. He comes to, relates and fellowships with God by faith. He is justified, called, sanctified, and glorified by faith.

*Activates the consciousness of God within the believer, and makes him adhere to God's absolute truths.

Faith makes the believer see the invisible, hear the inaudible, touch the intangible, and achieve the incredible. Moses, for seeing the invisible, endured everything that Pharaoh could throw at him. God is where faith is. Faith inspires the God-consciousness and attracts the empowering presence of the Spirit. The believer heeds God's voice and adheres to his doctrines. The believer believes God's word and acts on it.

*Informs the believer's belief/value system and radically influences his behavior.

The believer's faith teaches him the lessons and values of God. His beliefs and behaviors are shaped by God's truth, not human tradition or culture. The believer's faith is rooted and grounded in the word of God. His faith is built on the Scripture of truth.

Faith presupposes the fact that God has made Himself known both in nature and in the Scriptures, and the believer embraces wholeheartedly and lives by the revelation of the truth.

*Transforms the believer's whole life and transports him to God's eternity.

Faith transforms the believer's whole life and perspective, and transports him from man's world into God's world. The believer's faith takes him on a journey beyond time to eternity. It's a journey in which he is not mindful of ever going back, but instead he is always forward-looking and constantly advancing towards eternity.

The believer prays, hears, sees, speaks, walks or lives, waits, loves, and works by faith. All he says and does is propelled by faith.

*Heralds the believer's eternal hope and heavenly home.

Every moment of the believer's life his faith is making an announcement. It is the announcement from God's word. It's an announcement concerning the believer's glorious future with his God, and his promised inheritance. It's an announcement of the Spirit of God in the believer's heart. It's an announcement of hope. It's a refreshing and reassuring message. Faith declares God's word to the Christian about his blissful future. Peter talks about the believer "receiving the END of your faith, even the salvation of your souls," and he exhorts him to "hope to the END" (1Pet.1:9,13). Faith sings and makes melodies in the heart of the Christian. 

The believer, for this blessed hope, purifies himself as he earnestly awaits its inevitable realization.

David sings, "I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever." Heaven is the home of the believer. He is day by day moving closer home and traveling to paradise.

Child of God, your faith in Christ is precious. It is something to be cherished and treasured. It changes your whole life forever because it is God-connected and God-glorifying, Christ-exalting, and Spirit-uplifting.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter