THE GIFTED - PART FOUR
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F A I T H
F A I T H
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
As we jump into this discussion about faith, remember that our goal in approaching spiritual gifts is to discover, develop, and deploy.
Faith is a gift of the Spirit. It’s given by the Spirit for the common good and empowered by the same Spirit. Faith is a gift for which some assembly is required.
Lexham Theological Wordbook πίστις
πίστις (pistis). n. fem. faithfulness, assurance; faith, confidence; what is believed, teaching. May refer to the basis for belief, the act of believing, or the content of what is believed.
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Just because you’ve been given the gift of faith doesn’t mean you’re using it properly.
3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
God has given each of us the gift of faith. Our responsibility is to nurture, grow, and develop it. Accomplishing anything God has called you to do in your life will require faith. Accomplishing anything GREAT God has called you to do in your life will require GREAT faith. We need to build our faith in order to have the sort of mountain-moving faith that it’s going to take to see God do everything He desires IN us and THROUGH us.
Before we dive into how to use your faith, let’s address some faith stoppers.
22 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
This is a familiar Scripture for us, but let’s not ignore the last verse. In order for our faith to work, we have to walk in forgiveness. Not the feeling of forgiveness, but the act of forgiveness. Faith is tied to forgiveness. In order for your faith to work, you have to forgive; in order to forgive, you have to use your faith. That’s why it’s important that we establish that everyone has a measure of faith. You have the faith necessary to forgive. Even when you don’t feel it, you can live in forgiveness with everyone. It’s an act of your faith that will create room for your faith to grow and do what it was designed to do.
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
Faith works through love. Isn’t it interesting that the gift of the Spirit works through the fruit of the Spirit? There is no room for faith to work apart from the love of God in you and through you.
You can’t expect faith to work outside of love and forgiveness. They are both paramount to your faith doing what it was designed to do, which is please God and move mountains!
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
There are THREE parts to faith.
What you believe. What you say. What you do.
What you believe about God is crucial to how you will deploy your faith. There are three levels of belief in terms of using your faith.
Believing that God CAN do it...
Believing that God WILL do it...
Believing that God CAN and WILL do it for YOU.
What’s your choke point among those three? We have to, by the Word, bring ourselves to a place of ultimate trust that He can and will do what He says and that He will do it for you, the individual.
What you SAY in using your faith is everything. In Mark 11, Jesus mentions speaking three times and believing one time. Your mouth has to reflect what your heart believes in every situation.
34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
The mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Once you get the belief down in your heart, your words should reflect it.
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
What comes out of your mouth when you don’t know what to say? Let it be by the Spirit and not by your own imagination.
What do you do?
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
Ask God for the plan and then walk it out.
26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
Do something about your faith. Without works, it isn’t faith. It might look like it, but there’s no life in it.
Believe it. Say it. Do it. This is the cycle of our faith that bears fruit through the gift of the Spirit.