Tag: Faith

Faith Experiences

“That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:”—1 Peter 1:7.

One of the great tragedies of the Christian life is that if we fail to enter into a relationship with God that is born of the Holy Spirit, we are left with a religion, not a relationship. Many live with an intellectual belief in God, but without a relationship that is based on two-way communication. This is one of the great tragedies of modern Christianity. It’s like having a brand-new car but never having the gas to run it. It can’t move you anywhere. It only looks pretty, but one cannot enjoy the ride.

Peter tells us that until our faith is proved genuine, we will never be able to give praise, glory, and honor to Jesus, because until such testing He will not be revealed in our lives. Peter describes this in the verse before: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials”—1 Peter 1:6. Trials, when responded to correctly, will bring us to a level of trust and experience with God that we would never know otherwise. These
“faith experiences” with God allow us to know firsthand the faithfulness of God, the love of God, and the personal nature of God. If you cannot recount several instances when God has met you personally, then chances are your faith has not been born of the Holy Spirit into a living relationship with God. It is easy to fall prey to a relationship to God that never experiences His real presence; rather, it is based on knowledge only. This is a tragic place to be.

If this is where you have been in your Christian experience, ask God today to make Himself real to you. Ask Him to show you His personal nature and love. He desires to do this. Those whom He has called know His voice. He will show Himself to those who are His. “. . .He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and show Myself
to him”–John 14:21b.

The Way of Abraham

“. . .He went out not knowing whither he went.”—Hebrews 11:8

In the Old Testament, a personal relationship with God showed itself in separation, and this is symbolized in the life of Abraham by his separation from his country and from his kin.  Today the separation is more of a mental and moral separation from the way that those who are dearest to us look at things, that is, if they do not have a personal relationship with God.  Jesus Christ emphasized this [see Luke 14:26].

Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading.  It is a life of FAITH, not of intellect and reason, but a life of knowing Who makes us “go.”  The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success.

The final stage in the life of faith is attainment of character.  There are many passing transfigurations of character; when we pray we feel the blessing of God enwrapping us and for the time being we are changed, then we get back to the ordinary days and ways and the glory vanishes.  The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings, but a life of walking and not fainting.  It is not a question of sanctification; but of something infinitely further on than sanctification, of faith that has been tried and proved and has stood the test.  Abraham is not a type of sanctification, but a type of the life of faith, a tried faith built on a real God.