requirement of Faith
I have been reading through Matthew lately and it amazes me how much Jesus brings up this thing of faith. In Hebrews 11:6 it says " and without Faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him."
For us to draw near to God we must have faith in Jesus' work on the cross and that His blood shed, has appeased God's wrath. We must believe He died, that He was the Son of God, that His blood covers our sins, that God accepts Jesus' blood as payment when we approach God's throne and that He rose from the dead and overcame the grave. In Hebrews 10:38 it says " but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve our souls."
I believe that it is essential that when we approach God, He finds faith in us. That we believe that He is One who is true to His Word, that He will do what He said He would, that His word is infallible, that when He says Jesus' blood is enough to cover over a multitude of sins, it indeed is enough and that His perfect love casts out all fear.
In Matthew 21:21 it says " and Jesus answered them 'Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'be taken up and throw into the sea' it will happen. And if you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."
Matthew 17:16-21 "and I brought him to your disciples and they would not heal him." and Jesus answered, "O Faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long and I to bear with you? bring him here to me." and Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said "why would we not cast it out?" he said to them, "because of your little faith. for truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'move from here to there' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."
I would like to say(I may be wrong) that sometimes our lack of faith is not in God's ability but in God's will. I think that the more time we spend with God, the more we come to know His will and His ways. Often we try and pray for a situation in a moment of stress and we seek God in the moment but we haven't consistently spent time with our Father and have forgotten His heart and His ways and so when we ask Him in prayer for something, we come from a place of little faith because we doubt the power of the blood and His desire and will to answer us.
Again in Matthew 13:58 it speaks of Jesus visiting His hometown and " he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief."
Matthew 15:28 " then Jesus answered her, "O Woman, great is you faith! Be it done for you as you desire." and her daughter was healed instantly."
It's a work-in-progress....
For us to draw near to God we must have faith in Jesus' work on the cross and that His blood shed, has appeased God's wrath. We must believe He died, that He was the Son of God, that His blood covers our sins, that God accepts Jesus' blood as payment when we approach God's throne and that He rose from the dead and overcame the grave. In Hebrews 10:38 it says " but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve our souls."
I believe that it is essential that when we approach God, He finds faith in us. That we believe that He is One who is true to His Word, that He will do what He said He would, that His word is infallible, that when He says Jesus' blood is enough to cover over a multitude of sins, it indeed is enough and that His perfect love casts out all fear.
In Matthew 21:21 it says " and Jesus answered them 'Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'be taken up and throw into the sea' it will happen. And if you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."
Matthew 17:16-21 "and I brought him to your disciples and they would not heal him." and Jesus answered, "O Faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long and I to bear with you? bring him here to me." and Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said "why would we not cast it out?" he said to them, "because of your little faith. for truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'move from here to there' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."
I would like to say(I may be wrong) that sometimes our lack of faith is not in God's ability but in God's will. I think that the more time we spend with God, the more we come to know His will and His ways. Often we try and pray for a situation in a moment of stress and we seek God in the moment but we haven't consistently spent time with our Father and have forgotten His heart and His ways and so when we ask Him in prayer for something, we come from a place of little faith because we doubt the power of the blood and His desire and will to answer us.
Again in Matthew 13:58 it speaks of Jesus visiting His hometown and " he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief."
Matthew 15:28 " then Jesus answered her, "O Woman, great is you faith! Be it done for you as you desire." and her daughter was healed instantly."
It's a work-in-progress....
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