Faith is A Rest!

My pastor preached a wonderful sermon on Sunday which would bless you. In the area of faith teaching, we are exhorted to have faith. Hebrews 11:1 says faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. I guess many of us cannot say that we are people of great faith but thank God that our faith is growing! Yet for some others, faith could become a stumbling block when we turn it into a works.

For example, some people turn confessing the Word of God into a works (law) when they tell themselves they got to confess it at least 10 times a day. Or you heard well-intentioned believers tell you: You got to have faith to receive your miracle.  There is nothing wrong with faith but when the focus is on self, then what happens when our faith runs out? We can get so discouraged thinking 'My faith level must be so low...no wonder I cannot receive my miracle.'

In Mark 9:23, Jesus said to the father who had a demon-possessed son 'If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.' I must have read this verse a hundred times when God gave it to me last year. I kept thinking that if only I can believe, then I can receive my miracle. All things are possible to me if only I can believe. So when I still didn't see my manifestation, I got discouraged wondering what's wrong with me; why I cannot receive when others could.

But when my pastor preached this verse, he said that Jesus was actually referring to Himself. He was not putting the burden of belief on the father because shortly after, He cast the demon out of his son. Who is the 'him' who believes? It is actually Jesus because Jesus always believes, hence all things are possible to Him. Now this is really such a great encouragement to me. For it is not about me but all about Jesus. Even when my faith runs out, His faith doesn't.

When we are conscious of Jesus, faith comes naturally. Hence all we have to do is to latch on to Jesus' faith. Galatians 2:20 says '...I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.' Faith is a rest. When you are in faith, you are really resting. You can tell God 'Lord, I know I have little faith but I am not focusing on my own faith. I have faith in Jesus' faith. That's all I need.'

So what is our part? Our part is to just say it like God said it. In Mark 11:23, Jesus said 'whoever says to this mountain: Be removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.' We are made in the image of God and God calls those things that are not as though they existed (Romans 4:17). Yet because man is fallen from God's image, we often need to see what already happened before we say it.

When Jesus cursed the fig tree, He knew it was dead from its roots even though the leaves still looked green. But the disciples did not know this...they only reported that the fig tree had died when they saw it wither the next day. Hence when we pray and declare that the mountain (be it sickness, poverty) be uprooted in the Name of Jesus and be planted in the sea, believe that the root has been cursed. The manifestation will come to pass even if it seems in the natural that nothing has changed. Have faith in Jesus' faith. And rest in His faith.