Christian Living

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Six part series on focusing on the fruit of the spirit!
By Sandra Cowan

‘Walking, talking, living fruit! – Faith!
Impacting our environment through supernatural character!

In the series titled ‘Walking, Talking, Living Fruit’ Sandra Cowan observes and writes wholeheartedly about the 9 components of the fruit of the spirit - love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, patience, faith and temperance, by which Christ demonstrated that we shall be marked and recognised as the people of God, and Jesus Christ himself will be represented and be a living witness through his people to the whole world.

Introduction

In the epic science fiction movie Star Wars, the aphorism of good fortune spoken between the heroines is the effectual and unforgettable line, ‘may the force be with you’. The saying has becomes synonymous with the blockbuster and its popularity has meant that ordinary people often use the saying jokingly towards one another, especially if one is about to undertake a particularly arduous task. In a similar fashion the phrase ‘keep the faith’ (based upon 2 Timothy 4:7) is often used as part of a farewell amongst Christians, as well as generally in conversation. In fact, the saying is so popular among some circles that it can be frequently heard amongst both Christians and non Christians alike. It has sort of become a ‘non descript’ expression for anyone really who believes strongly in the principle of having faith.

Distinctively, the word faith and Christianity are synonymous all over the word. The two it would appear go hand in hand. They are the proverbial double act. And somewhat sadly, the concept of faith is also sometimes construed in ways that are, shall we say, less than favourable amongst non believers. There is almost a mocking and sniggering and derision of the word faith and its connection to the Christian community among the more cynically minded. Faith, it seems, has been a much misunderstood principle of the Christian faith. When we hear the word of God we are called to do one thing with it and that is; to act on it in faith. Make no mistake, it is not easy, neither is it a text book belief system. Faith in the biblical sense requires us to do something. Faith is a word of obedience and a word full of action.

As we concern ourselves in this series on how to walk and talk in the fruit of the spirit, we begin to recognise that faith is an element that is measurable by the end result of a manifestation of ‘things’ believed for in the believer’s life. And it is those ‘things’ that will speak for us. It is a living faith that others around us will see that will be a witness to a world where, at best, cynicism and at worst, superstition are regrettably for some, far more believable and reasonable than having faith, and acting upon that faith through God.


What exactly is faith?

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen”
Hebrews 11:1

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, The word faith means to have reliance, trust and belief in a religious system. In our case that religious system is in our personal relationship with Jesus Christ, however deeply profound or loosely active it may be. Our so called ‘religious system’ is to know God personally and intimately. If we are born again and have accepted Jesus as our saviour, then we are in relationship with him. In Greek, faith is called Pistis which means to have belief and confidence in certain divine truths. So with this understanding as our foundation, as we look at the words of Hebrews 11:1 we can begin to flesh out what it means to truly have faith.

Faith here is called a substance which we can interpret as being the tangible essence of something. This very real essence is of things hoped for, and those things we can assume are spiritual, physical and dimensional. The verse further goes on to say that faith is the evidence of things not seen. If you hope for something that has yet to happen or take place, faith takes you to the next level which is the expectation of that thing which you are hoping for. This is the fundamental essence of faith.

In his book ‘Victory over Darkness’ Dr Neil T Anderson states that;

“Your Christian walk is the direct result of what you believe. If your faith is off, your walk will be off…Walking by faith simply means that you function in daily life on the basis of what you believe.”

For sure, believing for anything without seeing it is a difficult task even for the most ardent believer, but none the less this is what faith, real faith is. The book of Genesis tells us that it was by faith that Abraham departed from the land of Haran with his family into the Land of Canaan, which was barren and bleak and dismal. There was famine there Yet Abraham continued to believe in the Lord, by faith, for the promised blessing. Abraham’s steadfast faith eventually led him to move him and his family into the hostile land of Egypt. Now to the natural mind his actions would have appeared absolutely ludicrous, but Abraham chose to be led by God. Without knowing what the outcome would be because he believed in God, he hoped for better things, he followed the Lord and he walked by faith. (Genesis 12:1-10). When God spoke Abraham listened and obeyed God and moved accordingly. This is the taking action part of faith that was mentioned earlier. We gather then that, faith is not only hearing but is also about doing.

James 3:22 says of Abraham that;
“… how faith wrought (together) with his works and by his works was made perfect...Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: He was called the friend of God”

How awesome! Abraham of the old testament, whom we recognise as the father of faith, who was not without faults, for if you study Abrahams life he was human just like the rest of us and he made the odd gaffe, was called a friend of God. Today each of us must ask ourselves, as we walk along the Christian path do we have real faith? Are we walking in faith? And is our faith increasing? Are we a friend of God?

Faith will make you a friend of God

The Hebrew for friend is ‘Ahav’ which literally means to love, desire, covet be passionate over. In the Hebrew – Greek key study bible Zodhiates sates that ‘Ahav’ is used to describe the unspeakable love and tender mercies of God in the covenant relationship with his people, and God certainly loved his people1.
This is where faith becomes astronomically exciting, for what God is telling us is that the benefit of having faith in him is to have unprecedented favour with a loving father who holds all Power and all Glory in his hands. He is telling us that faith is friendship with God which denotes the unconditional love of God.

Can you see what is happening here? Our faith must completely and wholly be in God, through God and of God. Not in the stars or any other so called ‘faith’ belief system, But entirely of him. Only then can we become perfected and walk in victory. Wow, what a challenge and what a privilege to be able to cultivate fruit of the spirit. It’s like spiritual gold that no amount of money can buy, that no favour given by any man on the face of the earth can give, and no amount of self belief can bring forth. Faith it seems is a treasure to be desired above all treasures.

Faith that stand the test of time

From time to time and sometime what may seem like an eternity, our faith is tried and tested by attacks from the adversary that come in various forms. This is what James 1:3 calls the “trying of your faith”. God called Gideon in chapter 6 of the book of judges to deliver his people from out of the hands of the wicked midianites, Gideon trembled with fear like a leaf, he was so frightened, the clanging in his winepress boots could probably be heard for miles. In fact God had seen Gideon’s determination to save his people as he pressed the wheat to hide it from the enemy. Although Gideon thought of himself as the lowliest of the low, God saw him otherwise and called Gideon a mighty man of valour. God it seems enjoys using the hopeless among us to establish his faithfulness. And so we see Gideon, an ordinary man, begin to move in supernatural faith. He was obedient to God and had to be if he was achieve the mammoth task of overturning the Midiantes. Certainly, it could not be done by his own strength and neither by comparison of his army size. This battle was to be taken by strategy and by faith in the Lord.

The chronicle of Gideons battle concludes in Chapter 7. The bible tells us that with just 300 faithful men, who went forth as a unified brigade, with the knowledge of prophetic dreams concerning the battle, and divine instruction and strategy, both in the physical and the spiritual, Gideon and his men to overcame the Midianites, including the two chief commanding officers, Oreb and Zeeb and victoriously won the battle! Indeed, Gideon was a mighty man of faith. Accordingly, his name is recorded in the ‘who’s who, hall of faith’ list found in chapter 11 of the Book of Hebrews. In terms of collateral assurance it would be suffice to say that this ‘rich list’ supersedes every list of monetary value the world over. Faith like the Gideon’s and father Abraham is worth far, far more than Gold. We too must walk by faith and not by sight, for it is by this fruit, that we will, unequivocally win men into the Kingdom of God.

Faith & Prayer

“The most valuable person in your life is the one who feeds your faith”
- Dr Mike Murdoch, USA

We are everyday people with every problems and not every thing that comes our way is going to be mammoth in magnitude, but it suffice to say that as Christians we are not only natural man but we are also spiritual man. We are called not to address our problem as the world does but to seek spiritual solutions. In the book “From fear to faith” Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones states that,

“If you take your problem to God leave it with him. You have no right to brood over it any longer”

He goes on to say that we should resolutely refuse to think about it or speak about it but rather entrust it to God and wait at the watchtower just as Habakkuk in the Bible did. A little harsh you say. Well not really if you consider that, if you do continue to mull over the problem and talk about it to the first person that gets your attention, and who is useful only to add numbers to your pity party, then what you are really saying is that you don’t trust God to fix the problem and so you begin to fuel the problem not with faith but with fear, despite the fact that that was not the intention. It is a spiritual law that cannot be broken. Dr Lloyd Jones is stipulating that the believer’s right is through his faith. When we take it to God in prayer and leave it at the alter, as God responds, he commands, and the spiritual law’s of faith kick and the problem is addressed.

Does that mean we only pray once about a situation, and never to address it over? Again, we are spiritual beings and the bible teaches us to pray without ceasing, so accordingly, as the spirit leads. Some Christians have lived with complaints and problems for many years without being relieved of their burden, but that does not mean God has forsaken them or indeed that they should be carrying the burden themselves, (cast your burden onto Jesus, he cares for you - there is the element of longsuffering and patience that we shall be looking at in the concluding essays,) but rather each Christian is called to work out there own salvation. As we walk in the spirit, and operate under the unction of the Holy Ghost, and seek Gods wisdom and understanding, we will know what to pray and when to pray it. We need only to pray the solution and in faith wait upon the Lord.
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The Just shall live by faith

There is much that can be said of faith. Faith is the foundation of Christianity. We are saved unto Jesus by faith. We cannot see God, but that does not mean he does not exist. We believe in God by faith. And what’s more the bible tells us that faith is not of ourselves but rather it is a gift of God, which is all the more reason why we should feed and cultivate it. Faith is so powerful that in Matt 17:20 says;

“if you should have faith as the grain of a mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall be removed and nothing shall be impossible to you”

Did you just read correctly? Yes you did, that’s right nothing, and absolutely nothing shall be impossible to you. How can this be? Well over and again Jesus taught that with God all things are possible.(Mark 10:27) Whatever we face today that we need faith for, we must recognise that God has given us the faith to walk through it. When we walk in confidence, consciously, even before the answer to our need has manifested, we are essentially demolishing that demon that wants to rear its ugly head and accuse you of being a non -believing believer! Heaven forbid, where is the victory in that. No, action must be taken immediately. There is no mystique behind having faith the formula is simple; read Gods word, receive the answer (the promise) and by faith, pray on it, praise God in it, and leave it right there in Gods hands. Jesus has already answered every faith filled prayer on the cross. It is finished and it is completed.

There is a catchy little song that the acoustic singer Bobby Mcfearon sang that became a international hit in the 1980’s he whistled and sung the lyrics ‘Don’t worry, be happy’.. As funny as this may sound this is precisely what we as Christian’s should do. Our faith is real, and it’s real to those who believe. The opposite of faith is ignorance which makes us unbelievers and none of us for sure, who are called the children of God want to be called unbelievers. The advice is straight forward, let our fruit speak for us, don’t worry have faith and be happy. In times of severe difficulty or despair when we simply cannot feel happy, still we must hold onto out faith. We are justified by faith and our faith will not make us ashamed. If we must fight in this life then let us fight according to the principles of the bible, which is to fight the good fight of faith. This is what pleases God, and this is what causes God to call you friend and beloved and favoured one of God. So in closing, the encouragement then is to live by faith, we must walk good, talk good, and believe in God, who is the exact author and finisher of our faith.


Bibliography
Anderson, Neil T Dr, Victory over Darkness Monarch Books, ISBN 1 85424 572 4 Paperback

Lloyd-Jones, Martyn Dr, From fear to faith Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones Intervarsity Press ISBN 085111 690 6 Paperback

Reference
1. Zodhiates, Spiros, The Greek- Hebrew Key Study Bible –AMG Publishers, ISBN 089957 653 2
2. All Bible Quotes -The Holy Bible King James Version

Recommended reading: The entire chapter of Hebrews 11 New Testament

Copyright 2006. S. Cowan Not to the reproduced without the authors consent

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