Faith is The One Thing You Need
For I say, through the grace given to me to everyone among you, to not to think of themselves more highly than they ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to everyone the measure of faith.
Romans 12:3
But without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him, must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6
Why You Need Faith
You are not alone if you say that you struggle with your faith. Anyone who has never struggled with their faith has never really grown in their faith. You see, faith is not a result of human effort although it does involve human commitment and dedication. Faith is the divine working of the Holy Spirit’s power in the life of the believer. While faith is exercised by everyday people, it does not originate from the human heart. So, when someone’s faith is put to the test, we cannot expect to find strength for the struggle through mere willpower. We cannot expect to get beyond the trial by simply wishing it away. We will not be able to face a life challenge if we depend on human effort alone. That is why you need faith.
Do not get me wrong, human achievement is something noble and not to be discarded. What we are talking about is real faith challenges and encounters that require divine strength. To graduate from high school or college is a wonderful human achievement and something to be celebrated. To recover from a spiritual battle is not a human achievement, that takes divine intervention. To create new inventions or technology or some new treatment is a human achievement worthy of celebration and celebrate we should. But when we attempt to develop spiritually and devote our life to a cause higher than human activity, that calls for divine intervention. As a matter of fact, truly living for God was never about human achievement but always about divine intervention. We applaud the faith that Enoch possessed, but Enoch faith was defined by his walk with God.
Why you need faith is not only rooted in its origin from God but has all to do with the Goal of Faith. There is one reason why God did not limit your faith and my faith to human achievement: God did not want you to fail in finding Him. God gave you faith so that you might find Him, know Him, and love Him through every situation and every circumstance of life. God wanted you to find Him when things were going well so that you would give glory to Him. God wanted you to find Him when life brought you through deep valleys and difficult mountains. God wanted you to find Him through the ups and downs of human challenges and conflict, so God gave you faith. God did not want you to fail in knowing His plan. That’s why God gave you faith.
Romans 12:3 warns us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to everyone the measure of faith. God gave you that faith so that you would accomplish His Will and His Purpose for your life. Your life is not for you to use at your own disposal. Your faith was not given as a mere tool in your arsenal to deal with problems. Your faith was given in order that you would find God. God did not want you experimenting with finding Him so He gave you His faith. Abraham believed God because God gave him faith. Hannah was able to dedicate Samuel to the Lord because God gave her faith. The woman who touched the hem of Jesus robe was given faith to make her way through the crowd to find Jesus. God gave you faith.
The Goal of Faith is to Please God
While some would think that faith has multiple goals, faith only has one goal and one purpose. To ease your mind, it is true that faith has many rewards, but the only goal of faith is to please God. But without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him, must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. Hebrews 11:6. Not only have I struggled in my faith as a result of human effort, I have struggled with the purpose of my faith. I assumed that faith rewards was the purpose of faith. Please read the verse again and find out clearly what it says. But without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him, must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. Once I have been given the wonderful gift of faith, I must use my faith to please God. The verse is clear. Pleasing God ought to be my number one priority. The rewards come from God and they are the result of my faith that was exercised in pleasing God.
The most profound example of this was Solomon’s prayer for wisdom and direction to lead the nation of Israel. God said to Solomon, because you have not prayed for long life or riches … but has asked for understanding and judgment … I have given both riches and honor. 1 Kings 4:11,13. Solomon’s prayer was an expression of his faith in pleasing God and God in-turn, rewarded Solomon for exercising his faith to pray for wisdom.
Here is the heart of the message. Many of us as believers are guilty of using our faith as a means to obtain things. Granted, many of those things we actually needed but that does not justify the misuse of faith. We might need finances to pay our bills but that does not justify committing robbery. We must never allow our circumstances to become the object of our faith.
First, the Goal of our Faith is to please God in times of distress. Our Loving Heavenly Father has not only given us faith, but has also carefully placed many challenges in life to test our faith. God tested Abraham’s faith. God tested Joseph’s faith to see how he would handle the enslavement, the imprisonment, and the false accusations. God tested Job’s faith by allowing for things he loved and cherished to be taken away. The same God who gives us faith also tests our faith in order for us to grow in our dependence upon Him. The tests was never designed for you to come up with the answer.
The Gospel of Matthew tells of the Disciples being in a time of storm and Jesus came to them walking on the water. Matt. 14:28. Peter asked Jesus if he could come out on the water with Him. But stepping out of the boat and walking to Jesus was an act of faith and not an act of achievement. Peter began to sink and called out to Jesus to save him. What happened? Jesus said to Peter, you have little faith, why did you doubt? Think about this: if you only have faith when things are going well, is that really a faith test? You need to be able to please God when the storm is howling and the waves are dashing.
Then there is the second goal of Faith. This Faith is to please God in our decisions. You will have a lot of decisions to make in life and your spiritual success depends on your faith. Sadly, I have made some terrible decisions because I allowed finances, popularity, or even worldly pleasure to weigh in on the matter. God gave you faith to depend on when you make decisions. Listen to what the Bible says. But without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him, must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. When it comes to decisions, I must earnestly seek God.
Let me show you how this looks. The clearest example of earnestly seeking God was given by Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus prayed, “not My Will, but Your Will be done.” Of course, Jesus was talking to His Father about His agony and suffering. We must do the same as we seek to please God in our decisions. Choosing the path of least resistance or least painful is not always the right decision. We must seek to please God by saying, “not my will, but God’s Will.”
Third, the Goal of our Faith is to please God in our devotion. But without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him, must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. This has to deal with the reason and purpose of why I approach God. What many of us fail to realize is that God already knows our motives before we come to Him. In other words, you cannot “jive” or “bamboozle” God. Here’s another point: God already knows what you need before you even ask Him. Here is another point: God is going to provide blessing any way because He knows the things you need. So your motive must be clear that you desire to please God. You must be devoted to Him even if He does not give you what you ask. You must trust God even when His answer is “NO.”
Job declared in the midst of his pain and suffering. “Although He slays me, I will yet trust Him.” Job was saying, God I am devoted to you. The Psalmist David put it this way, “The Lord is the Light of my life, of whom shall I be afraid.” David was saying, “God, I am devoted to you.” When you diligently seek God, you will start seeing God in every life situation and not just the good ones. You will seek God through the good and the bad because you will be devoted to Him. If you love God, then I don’t need to remind you that He already loves you. You going to be devoted to something in this life. Let it be God.