I’m A Believer
Genesis 15:6 ?Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.?
What an interesting aside in the story of Abram. Was this abnormal? For someone to believe the LORD? I have to say that it made me stop and think about how disappointed I am ? and even how amazed ? sometimes when I think about how little belief there is among Christians today. Jesus saw it too, in his time ? that ?unbelieving generation?. Nowadays we struggle to believe in God at all, let alone anything He says. It is sad to see Christians living a defeated lifestyle simply because they don?t take God at His word.
Now, C. Peter Wagner?s list of spiritual gifts includes ?Faith?. Some could argue that faith is something all Christians need to have, so to limit it (so to speak) to those with that ?gifting? is handicapping the rest of the Church. But Wagner modifies the definition a bit to identify the gifting as an extreme faith ? faith beyond what a ?normal? Christian might have. But in a world where Christians have so little faith to begin with, what defines ?extreme?? Does it fluctuate with the norm (like a variable credit card rate)? I think it ought not. And to be honest, I don?t even know that I agree with faith (even extreme) as a gifting.
Some may associate great faith with experience, for example: answers to prayer (consistently). They then feel that because they have had few ?real? experiences like that, they are excused from having faith (that Thomas ?prove-it-to-me? attitude). This is not so. Faith is like a muscle: you can?t build it unless you exercise it. If you are praying, ?Lord, give me more faith,? He will respond by giving you opportunities to exercise it. You may not notice them at first (they will usually be little ones ? baby steps), but once you decide to trust Him, to believe, to have faith in a situation, He will answer you with awesome deeds of righteousness. It?s that mysterious step between head belief and heart belief. You may know that you can trust God (in your head), but until you really do and see that He is oh so trustworthy it may never take root in your heart. That?s how faith builds: a little at a time.
But here?s something else. Think about the Israelites. Their faith was shaky at best. God did great wonders in their sight (hello! Red Sea!), yet they forgot time and again. Whenever a leader (such as Moses) would address the nation, he always started with a historical run-down of all the things God had done for them ? to remind them of His love and faithfulness. It says in Psalm 103:7 that, ?He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people Israel.? This is where we find the profound difference between Moses and the rest of the Israelites! While the people only saw what God did, Moses saw why He did it. Moses knew God?s heart. He had faith because He knew God ? His character, not just His history. You want a formula for a successful, victorious Christian life? There it is! Know God. Get to know God; learn all you can about Him. Don?t spend your life waiting for Him to prove Himself to you. ?He already has.