The Bible tells us this: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). My brother, my sister, your response to Jesus’ call for salvation was done by faith, which came to you as a the gift of God. No school taught you faith. Just think about this: there are families where the parents are serving the Lord, yet one or more children don’t have faith in God! Faith in God has nothing to do with what we do or what we have. God offers us basic faith to start off our walk with Jesus. But it is up to us individually to nurture it and to make it grow. Apostle Paul reminds us why this faith is precious: it was given to us because of the justice and fairness of Jesus (2 Peter 1:1). My friend, having faith in Christ is not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him” (Philippians 1:29).
Now, today’s verse tells us this: “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer”… Many believers say they have faith in God, but get frustrated not to receive whatever they ask! Today, let’s focus on the aspect of faith alone, not on the motives of our requests.
The fact is, the seed of faith is already installed in us and we know how to use it: when we take public transportation, we trust that we will reach our destination safely… in fact we don’t even question the mindset of the driver (we all recently heard about this pilot who planned to crash an airplane, and he did, killing many people who ‘believed’ they would travel safely). When we buy milk in the supermarket, we give it straight to our children without questioning its origin or if it is not poisoned… Life is a constant series of acts of faith that we perform, which means that every human being, believer or not, has some faith. I mean, they have faith in something! And this is where the problem is: this faith is mostly based on things of this world, things they see, things they know, things they feel… obviously, this is completely different from the faith God expects of us (Hebrews 11:1). Yet, nothing we do or have in this world (being a member of a church, being baptised, giving to charity or to a church, being good, keeping the Ten Commandments, etc.) is sufficient for salvation. The only thing that plays a role in salvation is to exercise faith in what Jesus Christ did for you.
My friend, let’s put it this way: when a person stops breathing, there is nothing he can do for himself. If he ever breathes again, it will be because someone else starts him breathing. It is the same with our faith: a person who is spiritually dead cannot even make a decision of faith unless God first breathes into him the breath of spiritual life. And this is true for us who are already in Christ: our faith must be sustained, exercised and nourished by God’s principles or it will eventually faint, be tainted with doubts or die again. Faith is the provision of grace of God’s breath that can revive the dead areas of our lives. Sadly enough, many believers’ faith die because they are trying to breathe life to their dead spirit through their own understanding of the Word, while the Lord is simply asking us to submit to His Word and believe in Him! Stay blessed in Jesus’ name.