October 26: Faith – What is it and How does it Work?
Of all of the subjects discussed in Christendom there are perhaps 3 that stand out as being misunderstood the most. They are Righteousness, Humility and Faith. Over the next few weeks we will take each of these and develop a better understanding of what the Word of God actually has to say about them.
I say this because, for some reason, religion, well really I should say, Religiosity; something that’s been taken out of context, or popularised because it sounds holy and is based on “Our tradition.” (the way it’s usually presented is surrounded with statements like: “Well, that’s the way my Grandpa always did it!” Or, “That’s the way we’ve always understood it!” Or, even better: “That’s what my pastor, church, religion teaches!” Then they all end up saying: “So, that must be it!”)
Religiosity tells people, in churches: “God put that sickness on you to teach you something!” The person may even say it about themselves when they’re around the rest of their ‘churchy’ friends on Sunday. But, come Monday morning they’re down at the doctor’s office wanting them to give them something to get rid of whatever it is.
Obviously, by the time Monday comes around they’re no longer interested in what God’s trying to teach them. Or, they’ve decided that they might skip that lesson; whatever God wanted to teach them couldn’t be that important after all.
Now, before you go running off and saying that I believe Christians shouldn’t be going off to see Doctors, or use medicine. Or, before you go off saying that I’m teaching people that God uses sickness and disease to teach people you’d better hold your horses. Because I’m not saying either one of those things.
I do not believe that God is the author of sickness and disease. I do not believe that God puts sickness ON people to teach them ANYTHING. HOWEVER, I do believe that God can and will use the circumstances a person is in to teach them and strengthen them for the next time a struggle comes there way. I believe that God get’s the glory when people get healing from any and all sickness and disease.
I also believe that God gave human beings a brain and a desire for knowledge. As a result medicine has made incredible advances in the treatment and management of diseases and conditions that once would have denoted a death sentence for a person receiving a diagnosis of dysentery. However, even today doctors will admit that they cannot heal anyone; all they can do is provide medication and advice that creates an environment for the body to heal itself.
That, in a slightly round-a-bout fashion, brings us to our topic dealing with one of those three subjects; namely Faith.
The word has been misused through modern application to denote what kind of belief system you follow; Catholic, Protestant, Moslem, or Jew. But, that use is a long way from the real meaning of the word and it has watered down the effectiveness of what is an essential part of the life of every person on the planet.
Every person, who lives on planet earth uses faith every day of their lives. Even the most ardent of those who refer to themselves as atheists use the force of faith just to face each and every situation that touches their life each day.
Faith is not a static unchangeable thing. Faith is dynamic, flexible, able to be developed and also something that can grow. Much like the muscles of the human body, Faith is comparable to being a muscle of the human 
spirit; the real you. If it is not used it atrophies. If fed, challenged and nurtured it will grow and increase in strength.
Since it is impossible to please God without Faith (Heb 11:6) understanding its acquisition and development, along with its application are vital to the health and development of the believer.
To download this week’s important Spirit-Filled message click on the following link and save the linked file to a directory of your choice on your computer. Otherwise your browser will open up with a player to simply listen online.