The Gift of Faith
My wife, Martie, and I were discussing the movie, End of the Spear, the other day. What we found remarkable was the reflection of an unprecedented kind of faith. What I mean is the attitude of those men and women that their future was wholly in God’s hands. They understood their calling and purpose. They were prepared to live it out, no matter where that led them, even to the “end of a spear”. That is both awesome and provoking. It is like the bomber pilot flying over the target area. The flak is heavy. He is faced with a decision. Does he dodge the flak or focus on the target. The pilot understands that the whole purpose of the flak is to keep him from accomplishing his mission. So he ignores the danger and presses on with his mission.
So it is with our walk. As we walk this path that the Lord has laid before us, there is so much flak. So many things that get in our way. Things whose sole purpose is to keep us from accomplishing our mission. Like the pilot, keeping our focus requires training and discipline. We don’t stay focused on target by accident. It is a deliberate – intentional process.
So it was with those missionaries as they pursued the mission God had given them, to minister to the Waodani people. Even to the point of death. They seemed to have a level of faith that I don’t see exercised in the local church. That caused me to do some reflection and searching for the answer.
This is quote from a BLOG posted by Contender Ministries “…. faith is mentioned as one of the spiritual gifts, or charismata. Nowhere else in the New Testament do we see charisma faith. Therefore, while the Greek does not illuminate the nature of the difference, it does indicate a difference, based on its charismatic status.”
“to another faith by the same Spirit” – 1 Corinthians 12:9
“I believe it is this uncommon faith that is the charisma. It involves a total surrender of one’s own will and selfish desires. It places all faith on God, rather than on men. It is resolved, unwavering, unquestioning. It is this faith that opens us to miraculous works and healing.” End Quote
The Christ Centered Mall web site describes it this way … “The gift of faith is the supernatural ability to believe God without doubt, combat unbelief, and visualize what God wants to accomplish. It is not only an inner conviction impelled by an urgent and higher calling, but also a supernatural ability to meet adverse circumstances with trust in God's words and messages.
The Bible speaks of several different types of faith which increase from faith to faith (Romans 1:17):
Saving faith - faith which gets you into Heaven(Ephesians 2:8-9)
Fruit of faith - faith which gets Heaven into you(Galatians 5:22-23) .
Gift of faith - stems from saving faith and the fruit of faith; It is the ability to believe for the miraculous (1 Corinthians 12:9).
This gift not only operates in healings and in miracles, but in the realm of the impossible as well. Saving faith produces the active faith of the fruit of the Spirit which, in turn, produces the gift of faith. When the gift of faith is empowered, the results are miraculous!”
All of this is to say that the gift of faith is something extra-ordinary that God grants to those whom He has called to extra-ordinary service. A number of people have commented that we are living by faith and watching us walk by faith has been an encouragement to their own walk. Those comments gave me pause to consider what God had done in us. We don’t see ourselves as being different from the way we were before Katrina, yet we are. Like our salvation, our walk of faith is a gift … not of works lest “we” should boast! God has done something in us to equip us for something He wants us to do for Him. Now how cool is that. But like the pilot, we must be trained and disciplined to accomplish our mission in spite of the flak that even now is all around us. And when we are asked -- like the son asked the father before he left to contact the Waodani and lay his life down as a martyr– “Will you shoot back if you are attacked?” Our answer, like his, will be “No, you see we are ready for heaven and they are not.” Like John Wayne would say “Not brag just fact”
So it is with our walk. As we walk this path that the Lord has laid before us, there is so much flak. So many things that get in our way. Things whose sole purpose is to keep us from accomplishing our mission. Like the pilot, keeping our focus requires training and discipline. We don’t stay focused on target by accident. It is a deliberate – intentional process.
So it was with those missionaries as they pursued the mission God had given them, to minister to the Waodani people. Even to the point of death. They seemed to have a level of faith that I don’t see exercised in the local church. That caused me to do some reflection and searching for the answer.
This is quote from a BLOG posted by Contender Ministries “…. faith is mentioned as one of the spiritual gifts, or charismata. Nowhere else in the New Testament do we see charisma faith. Therefore, while the Greek does not illuminate the nature of the difference, it does indicate a difference, based on its charismatic status.”
“to another faith by the same Spirit” – 1 Corinthians 12:9
“I believe it is this uncommon faith that is the charisma. It involves a total surrender of one’s own will and selfish desires. It places all faith on God, rather than on men. It is resolved, unwavering, unquestioning. It is this faith that opens us to miraculous works and healing.” End Quote
The Christ Centered Mall web site describes it this way … “The gift of faith is the supernatural ability to believe God without doubt, combat unbelief, and visualize what God wants to accomplish. It is not only an inner conviction impelled by an urgent and higher calling, but also a supernatural ability to meet adverse circumstances with trust in God's words and messages.
The Bible speaks of several different types of faith which increase from faith to faith (Romans 1:17):
Saving faith - faith which gets you into Heaven(Ephesians 2:8-9)
Fruit of faith - faith which gets Heaven into you(Galatians 5:22-23) .
Gift of faith - stems from saving faith and the fruit of faith; It is the ability to believe for the miraculous (1 Corinthians 12:9).
This gift not only operates in healings and in miracles, but in the realm of the impossible as well. Saving faith produces the active faith of the fruit of the Spirit which, in turn, produces the gift of faith. When the gift of faith is empowered, the results are miraculous!”
All of this is to say that the gift of faith is something extra-ordinary that God grants to those whom He has called to extra-ordinary service. A number of people have commented that we are living by faith and watching us walk by faith has been an encouragement to their own walk. Those comments gave me pause to consider what God had done in us. We don’t see ourselves as being different from the way we were before Katrina, yet we are. Like our salvation, our walk of faith is a gift … not of works lest “we” should boast! God has done something in us to equip us for something He wants us to do for Him. Now how cool is that. But like the pilot, we must be trained and disciplined to accomplish our mission in spite of the flak that even now is all around us. And when we are asked -- like the son asked the father before he left to contact the Waodani and lay his life down as a martyr– “Will you shoot back if you are attacked?” Our answer, like his, will be “No, you see we are ready for heaven and they are not.” Like John Wayne would say “Not brag just fact”
posted by Charley Elgin @ 6:41 AM
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