Have you ever lacked faith to hear from God? Sometimes we feel as if the things we do for
God should build our faith. If you have
obeyed God’s voice, and yet find yourself lacking in faith, then this lesson is
for you.
Faith is the spiritual embodiment of God’s nature and how it
expresses itself here on the earth. All
of God’s works and every word that is from Him fills up our faith. The link to
that faith is love of God, and love of our fellow man.
Faith does not depend on our obedience to God. Yes, the more we do what God asks us to do,
the more He will entrust to us. However,
those works of obedience aren’t a requirement to have faith in God. If they were, then we would only have faith
to hear God when we were laboring for Him. If our great works inspired faith in
others to believe in God, then the Egyptians, who followed the Israelites onto
the dry land in the Red Sea would have lived.
But faith does not grow by imitating what men of faith do, nor by doing
works of obedience. In the quiet times
and times of rest, even when we have not obeyed, God still speaks. If our hands are empty, still we can have
faith in God.
Sometimes we measure our faith by what we do for the Lord. Many
men think that great works beget great faith, and yet faith is evidence of the
unseen (Heb 11:1). In the proud and ambitious, works whet the appetite for
greater works. These men are discontent in stillness. They cannot comprehend God’s still quiet
voice when He asks them to come aside, and just listen. Always planning, they become busy doing, and
each work becomes a stepping stone to believe for the next and greater work.
Surely God appoints great works to men, and yet, all men are
known by the personal fruit they bear (Mt 7:15-17). If they are led by love, they will do their
neighbor no harm (Rom 13:10). If they
are led by their aspirations, they will accomplish their goals by using the
people around them and neglect to minister to them.
Those who love will find it easy to hear God, for love of
God builds faith, and love of our fellow man expresses it in works (Gal 5:6).
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