Faith That is Fed Up
(Series: Going to the Extreme)
22. And Jesus answering, said to them, “Have faith in God.”
23. For verily I say unto you, that whoever shall say unto this mountain, “be removed and be cast into the sea;” and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he says shall come to pass; he shall have whatever he says.
24. Therefore, I say to you, “Whatever things you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.”
Mark 11:22-24
How Do You Measure Your Faith?
People measure their faith in a number of ways. Some use the level of comfort to measure their faith. In other words, they view faith as the mechanism that reduces the stress in their life. Some measure their faith based on material possessions; the conclusion is that the more ones possesses would indicate the level of faith. Great possessions, in this case, would seem to indicate great faith. Still others would measure their faith based on their achievements on the personal level or on the public level. If a person graduates from college or gets a certificate for training or acquires a skill, then the assumption is that the accomplishment is the result of faith. While there is nothing inherently wrong with these applications of faith, they do not represent the faith that Jesus taught His Disciples.
This type of faith has some flaws. The first flaw is that it is the faith of man and depends on positive energy from man. This kind of faith is depended on all conditions working out to achieve a positive outcome. This is flawed faith because there is no guarantee that situations or circumstances will work out. For instance, one person may work hard at earning a degree or certificate and reach their goal while another person works equally hard and still fails to reach the goal or worse gets involved in an accident that results in permanent disability.
The second flaw is with this faith is its objective. What do you want your faith to do? What would it profit us, if we had faith that accomplished great things but did not help us get closer to God? In the words of Jesus, “what would it profit a person if they gained the whole world and lost their soul?” Mark 8:36. In other words, it does not make sense for faith to find only the temporal and temporary things. If faith is confined to earthly things, then it is weak and perishing. If faith can only concern itself with needs of the physical and not the deep needs of the soul, it is not the faith that saves the soul.
Jesus taught His Disciples, “Have faith in God.” This is the kind of faith that will move mountains and cast them into the sea with the result of bringing us into the Father’s Kingdom. That is faith that goes to the extreme. It cannot be stopped. This faith cannot be destroyed. This faith will endure forever because it is the Faith of God given to the people of God. The object of faith is to respond to the Word of God. The expression of faith is to believe God. Faith is not a positive energy generated by the hearts of man it is the Power from God given as a gift to man. This faith transforms the heart, renews the mind, saves the soul, and restores the life of all who trust in the Lord. This faith is eternal, enduring, and always seeking the Will of God.
The third flaw with the object-based faith of man is that it operates either “on” or “off.” Need something: faith on. Need nothing: faith off. In trouble: faith on. Past the trouble: faith off. To achieve a goal: faith on. Goal achieved: faith off. In the valley of life: faith on. On the mountaintop: faith off. This on and off can be very confusing because we don’t know where we are in life sometimes neither do we know what to believe and when to believe. That is not how the Faith of God works. The Faith of God is always “on” because it is eternal. Now abides Faith … The same as Love is always “on” and Hope is always “on,” Faith is always “on.” It is eternal and will never fade or change with time.
Faith is constantly moving us closer to God. Faith is continuously helping us as we believe the promises of God. Faith is not only “on,” it cannot be turned off. It can be ignored that will result in “un-faithfulness.” That is where we Disciples need training to believe in God and always be faithful. We cannot turn faith off, but we can walk away from faith opportunities that results in unfaithfulness. When we have the faith that abides, that faith feeds us because it is fed up.
Describe the Faith that is Fed Up!
How do we get this kind of faith? Jesus tells us plainly. “Have faith in God.” Jesus went on to share the ability of this faith. For verily I say unto you, that whoever shall say unto this mountain, “be removed and be cast into the sea;” and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he says shall come to pass; he shall have whatever he says. Faith that is fed up does not give up. That faith does not allow the doubt to creep in and cause us to doubt God’s promises. That would be unfaithful.
David, the shepherd, was about to turn into David, the warrior. How did he transition. David came to the battlefield to carry out an assignment for his earthly father and found out that his Heavenly Father wanted him to slay a giant. David’s faith told him that he could take down the giant. What happened? His brother rebuked him. The people rebuffed him and even King Saul doubted him. No one really believed in David that day because they thought that David would die by the hands of Goliath. Please notice how David talked about God and talking about God got him fed up with faith. David said, “who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the Living God?” 1 Samuel 17:26. David said to Saul, “The Lord delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear; He will deliver me out of the hand of the Philistine.” 1 Sam. 17:37. He was getting fed up on his faith. When faith is in the on position it demands action. Then on the battlefield, David got fed up and said to the giant, “you come against me with sword and spear, and shield, but I come against you in the Name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, Whom you have defied.” 1 Sam. 17:45. By speaking to those mountains, the landscape changed and David was able to walk on in victory. That is what it means when your faith is fed up.
Surely, someone will say, but that was David. He was special because he was God’s anointed one. While David was an ordinary man, just like you and I, he still struggled with times of doubt and “un-faithfulness.” That did not stop his faith in God.
Rather than continue with David as our sole example, let us look at someone else who was not anointed by God. As a matter of fact, let’s observe the faith of a man that wasn’t even a member of the family of God. A Roman military officer, a centurion, made a request that Jesus would heal his servant who was suffering from a deadly disease. Jesus responded by saying, “I will come and heal him.” Matthew 8:7. The man said, “Lord I am not worthy that you should come under my roof … speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed … for I am a man under authority having soldiers under me: and I say to this man ‘Go’ and he goes; and to another ‘come’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘do this,’ and he does it. Jesus marveled at the man’s response and said, “I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel.” Matthew 8:8-10. The man was using the Faith of God and recognized the power of Jesus word by comparing it with the power of his own word as a Roman officer. The man used his faith in God and his servant was healed. That man was fed up by his faith because his faith was fed up by God.
Please note that the Centurion had only heard about Jesus Christ. But when he was in the presence of Jesus, he got hold of faith or better yet, faith got a hold of him. It is only when we recognize who Jesus really is that we can feed on that faith that Jesus gives. It is only when we stop to think about God’s mighty power that we recognize that things can change. We can only be fed up when our faith is fed up.
Being fed up does not mean we can’t take it anymore. Being fed up on faith means we have a sufficiency that does not come from the world but from God. Being fed up does not means frustration but fullness of Grace. Being fed up does not send us away in anger, but it fills us with joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. Being fed up on our faith means we have something that the world cannot take away from us.
Jesus concluded His teaching session by helping His Disciples understand that the key to being fed up on faith is prayer. Therefore, I say to you, “Whatever things you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.” First, pray about the things that are on your heart. Don’t worry about them – pray about them. Second, believe that you receive them. Why is it so easy to believe that bad things will come our way and so hard to believe that good things will come our way. The answer to that is we believe Satan’s lie rather than God’s truth. Get fed up on God’s truth and it will cause the lie to evaporate. Lastly, receive what God gives you and be thankful. It is not just enough to know that you are going to Heaven. Know that God is taking good care of you while you make that journey. That’s just how good God is. Are you fed up on your faith?