“For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?” Romans 3:3
Here is another question, Shall their unbelief make you not believe? Let it not be so. Be strong in your faith saints of God.
“When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” Luke 7:9
Come on saints of God, let’s rise up in this hour and have such faith in God that it would cause Jesus to marvel.
“And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. 5When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.” Mark 2:4-5
One of the ear marks of faith is that it drives you on. If these men doubted they would not have gone through all the effort they did to get to Jesus. God allows obstacles in our life to test our faith, to see if we will continue to pursue Him or if we will find it to be too much trouble to uncover the roof to get to Jesus.
“And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation:” Genesis 46:3
God clearly told Jacob (Israel) to go down to Egypt. Four hundred and some years later God rebuked Israel for wanting to go back to Egypt. Where God led you years ago may not be where He wants you to be today. Where God may lead you today may not be the place he wants you to be at tomorrow.
“And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.” Genesis 41:1
When you bake something in an oven and remove it too soon, it will not be done. If you leave it in too long, it will burn. It was the Lord who determined that two full years were to pass for Joseph before He would bring him out of prison. God didn’t want to bring Joseph out of prison before he was fully done. God has precise and perfect timing over all of our lives.
“Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.†Matthew 18:10
It is one thing for those of this world to despise those young babes in Christ. It is a whole other thing when Christians despise those babes in Christ. Sure, they may not have read the Bible through even once, they may not even have a scripture memorized. But they do have one thing, and that is simple faith. Ah, for simple faith. Hasn’t many of our troubles come because our faith got to complicated? Haven’t we at times got so theological and sophisticated that we forgot to just believe in the Lord all along the way?
“Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2:4
The word “faith,” is found only two times in the Old Testament. However, the principle of faith is lived out by many of the Old Testament saints. Abraham, for example is called the father of faith. What a contrast we have from the New Testament saints of today who hear all the time about faith. We even have one faction of Christianity called, “word of faith.” In the Old Testament days, the people didn’t hear about faith as much, but they lived it. We have the privilege of reading about the obedience of those Old Testament saints who lived a life of faith. Let it be so for our present day, let faith be seen more than or as at least as much as it is preached. So let’s take “word of faith,” and change it to a life of faith.
“Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back.” James 5:19
Those who preach “Once Saved, Always Saved,” insist that you cannot lose your salvation. If you know me, you know I hate the OSAS doctrine, yet I will agree that you can’t lose your salvation. Your salvation just doesn’t turn up missing one day in the middle of your life while you are loving Jesus. What can and does happen to Christians is that they wander from the truth. That is when a Christian needs to be turned back to the truth. The truth is how a person is made free. Rejecting the truth brings a believer back under bondage. Verse twenty goes on to say “Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.”
“When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.” John 6:5-6
You can be certain that there are times, though you may not hear Him audibly, that God is asking you a question. Of course He don’t ask because He doesn’t know the answer, He asks to see if you trust Him with the answer.