Lessons of Faith: Beyond a tool for provisions and miracles
There is a lesson of faith for everyone, whether called of God like father Abraham and given the promise, whether anointed with authority and power like our Lord Jesus Christ or whether outside of all these like the Syrophoenician woman, there is a lesson of faith and attributes of faith we must know and imbibe for it to be effectual. Like love is not complete if not with all the attributes listed in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, so also faith is not complete without these lessons because the end of faith is the salvation of our soul out of a sacred relationship with God. Faith is not about moving a mountain. It is about who we are and our relationship with God.
Lessons of Faith in the life of Abraham:
Synopsis :
In Genesis chapter 12 verse 1, God called Abram his father’s house, his comfort zone, unto a land that he will be shown. He was made a promise to be a great nation yet for years, he had no child. Next, the child came, and in Genesis chapter 22 verse 1, he was asked to go sacrifice the son, whom he loves. He conferred not with his wife, Sarah, but took his son, Isaac, and went to the mountain he was asked to go to.
Lessons from father Abraham :
Obedience was key in the lesson of faith from father Abraham. His soul, his person, was not captured by his comfort zone. There was no built-up city but wilderness where he was led unto, yet there was no murmur, he showed endurance, and patience to have Him, who has called him out to work out His plan for him.
He did not confer with his wife to consider the message he received to sacrifice his son. Rather, he esteemed the Word of God above earthly counsel.
He endured three days of journey to the mountain he was asked to go to for the sacrifice of his son. He did not stagger or get wearied. When asked by his son Isaac, where is the provision for the sacrifice, Abraham trusted in the ability of God to provide. He told the servants that he and the child would return. He demonstrated trust in the power of God to raise from the dead, even if his obedience resulted in the death of his son.
He tied his son, Isaac, laid everything that he loved in Isaac, on the altar, and was ready to put a knife to his throat. Having laid his hand on the plough, he went all the way, he never turned back even though he had a time and reason to turn back, he trusted in the LORD even when things do not add up. Father Abraham demonstrated that his love comes secondary to obedience to God’s instruction. He did not dangle the promise of being a father of many nations as a reason to disobey God’s call.
The LORD God also demonstrated His help to father Abraham. The LORD God knows that the enemy, the devil, will always attack whatever one loves the most. Hence, He helped father Abraham to place his love rightly on Him and not on his son. Faith works by love, that is, love for God and not love for things. This is a great lesson here, God is the Helper of our faith and our faith works best when our love is set on God and not on earthly things which the enemy can attack to steal, to kill or to destroy. Proverbs 23 verse 26: “My son give Me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways”. This is very instructive in our lessons of faith.
Lessons of Faith in the life of our Lord Jesus:
Synopsis :
The greatest lesson of faith that we can ever learn is in our Lord Jesus, who the scripture says we should look unto, for He is the Author and the perfecter of our faith. The main thrust of His message was to draw men into the relationship He has with the Heavenly Father. Long before He was born, He was announced. In Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6, we read: “Unto us a Child is born, unto a Son is given, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace”. When He was born, wise men who were led from the east by a star came and paid Him homage. A choral of Angels came and announced the good news of His birth to shepherds.
He knew who He is. He had a form of God but did not see it as something to grapple with, but humbled Himself. Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things He endured as a Man. He fasted, He prayed and surrendered Himself to God that was able to save His soul. He knew that He had the power to lay His life down or to take up, yet He chose to lay it down to fulfil the will of God the Father. The will of God was esteemed above everything for Him. He went to John to be baptised, when like John said, He should be the one to baptise John. He yielded to the leading of the Spirit. He knew He is a Master, yet He washed the feet of His disciples. He trusted in God that His body would not be suffered to see decay.
Lessons from our Lord Jesus:
He knew that He had a form of God, yet He surrendered Himself to God and honoured Him as God and Father. The will of God was supreme for Him, and He was obedient unto death. He was not presumptuous, He was meek and lowly in heart. He deferred to the leading of the Holy Spirit. He depended on God and trusted Him entirely. His life of prayer and fasting demonstrated that He trusted not in Himself but in God. He did not come as One to be served though He is Master over all, and the miracles He performed testify of Him, yet He lived among His disciples as One who served. He never compromised His stewardship on the altar of fame and power. The greatest lesson that He bequeathed to us is humility.
Lessons of Faith in the life of the Syrophoenician woman:
Synopsis :
In Mark 7 verse 25, she was a stranger, yet she recognised the divinity of Jesus Christ. She was desperate for her daughter’s situation and came and worshipped and beg that her daughter be healed. She endured the cold attitude of the disciples of the Lord Jesus, who asked the Lord to send her away. She was told she’s not part of the children whose bread she is asking to partake of. She was persistent and trusted that the mercy of God extends even in crumbs to all who are outside of the commonwealth.
Lessons from the Syrophoenician woman:
She recognised the divinity of Jesus Christ. The focus of her faith was on the Lord Jesus, and she directed her request to Him. She did not begrudge the children, but was willing to partake of the fallouts from their table. She was not presumptuous or haughty. She did not fall into offence but was focused on the Lord Jesus. She was persistent. She worshipped the Lord Jesus because she understood the divinity of the object of her faith.
Lessons for modern-day believers:
In all these shades of lessons of faith from different bible personalities, we can conclude that faith is about relationships, not about moving mountains. Faith is not transactional but transformative. The centurion in Luke chapter 7 verse 8 understood the relationship of one having authority and those under him. He understood that faith is about relationship and thus asked the Lord Jesus that it was sufficient for Him to just say the word, and it will be done. He recognised the authority, the divinity of our Lord Jesus, and surrendered to it. Faith is about relationship between God and man, between God who has sovereign rule over all and His subjects, between the LORD God who can do all things and have all things and those who are in need of Him. He that comes to God must believe that He is God and a Rewarder of those who seek Him diligently (Hebrews 11:6). If we have no relationship with Him, how can we walk with Him. Modern-day Christianity has made a shipwreck of their faith because, for most, it is transactional, tied to prosperity, obtaining material provisions, and performing miracles rather than to relationship with the author of their faith and the transformation that comes by it.
All the lessons of faith drawn from our Lord Jesus, father Abraham, and the Syrophoenician woman amongst other bible personalities have one central theme, relationship with God. The lessons of obedience, worship, humility, trust, stewardship, meekness, prayer, esteeming the will of God above everything, and many more speak of relationship with God. It is our lack of faith and our lack of relationship with God the Father that makes believers to merchandise with the world. It is in our relationship with God that we have a knowing of all that is ours. Light comes by the knowledge of God. This is a true saying concerning believers, all that is God’s is ours through Christ. If all things is ours, how come we are negligent of relationship with Him, who is the source of everything. Our Lord Jesus did not struggle to get the gold coin from the mouth of a fish, with which He paid tax. He did not struggle to raise Lazarus from the dead, neither was He tempted to turn stone into bread even though He had the power to do such when the devil tried to tempt Him. His focus was on God the Father and living by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Our Lord Jesus made us know that knowing God and Jesus Christ is life eternal. When faith is exercised outside of this relationship that comes with knowing God and the Lord Jesus, then what man is practising is nothing short of sorcery.
Faith works by love (Galatians 5: 6).What love? The love of God. This is the first and greatest of all commandments: you shall love the LORD with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mathew 22: 37). It is time to get back the faith of our fathers, the faith of the Apostles, and the faith of the first church that was built on a relationship with God. They were not seeking a reward, but their lives were after Him, who called them. They never merchandise with the world for the world was not worthy of them. Faith is about relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and this assures the salvation of our soul.
Cultivating relationship with God.
How then are we, upon whom the end of the world has come, able to cultivate and sustain a relationship with God. Let us hear the words of our Lord Jesus, who is the author of our faith: “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” In all our endeavour, we are to live by the word as we study the word of God and are able to rightly divide the word. At home, in offices, in schools, and in all fields of our endeavours, the word of God must be lived. God must be acknowledged and honoured. In the same passage of the gospel of Luke chapter 4 where the devil tempted our Lord Jesus after His forty days fast, we hear Him also say, thou shall not tempt the LORD thy God, that is, we must give Him preeminence and not be presumptuous to do evil. Also, we heard Him say: “Only God shall thou worship.” This is the platform for our relationship with God.
Revelation 14: 6 also bear witness to this as we read: “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”
Here is the relationship we have been called to. To fear God by departing from evil works through obedience to God’s word. By giving glory to God through a life of thanksgiving, acknowledging God’s goodness, and His pre-eminence through prayer. And also by demonstrating our devotion and love to God in worship. Our Lord Jesus, who is the author of our faith, did not come, died, and rose from the dead only for a transactional faith. He came to abolish our sin and to restore us back to God so that we, being found in Him, will live after the faith of God. Thus, with this kind of faith, though all things become possible to us, yet it is not the ultimate. The ultimate is that we, through faith, become conformed to the image of our Lord Jesus and make everything subject to the dominion and Lordship of our Lord Jesus.
