This Mystery Called Faith
"Now faith is the certainty of things expected,
a conviction of things not seen."
God's Word is Spirit-breathed. Therefore it must be Spirit-revealed, Spirit-taught, Spirit-explained. Man's human mind, the Mind of the Flesh (our brain), isn't capable of understanding the things of God. God is Spirit, man's mind is flesh, the two are of completely different worlds. If we are to understand the revelations of God, His teachings, His leadings, we can not do so using human understanding and human reasoning.
God through the ages has revealed singular Truths to many saints. These saints have often taken this singular Truth from Him and added human logic to it. As such, they have distorted His Word of Truth and instead created doctrines that deviate from the Truth and, instead, are often a reflection of human personality traits. If we are to understand God, we must take the individual Truths He teaches and not add to them. Many who shepherd the flock have little or no understanding of Jesus. They lead the flock, not the way Jesus did, but, instead, they shepherd the flock the way they would do things if they were God by using their Mind of the Flesh as the controlling entity.
To understand Faith, we must first understand where it is to be focussed, where it originates. Holy Writ gives us an example when it says of Abraham; "And he believed in the LORD; and He counted it to him for righteousness." In contrast, Adam and Eve didn't believe God, but instead believed the Serpent when he tempted them by saying, "Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." For those of us who walk in the Faith of Jesus Christ, faith always begins with believing God when He softly whispers to us, to our eternal spirit. For the Holy Spirit only interacts personally with our eternal spirit which resides within our heart. He never interacts personally with our human Mind of the Flesh. Abraham believed God, and God counted Abraham's belief in Him as righteousness. And so He does with us, also. When He whispers to us and we believe Him, this is righteousness. When we don't believe Him, or when we shut Him out completely so we can't hear Him, this is accounted to us as iniquity, as sin. This is the sin the Apostle John warned that leads to death.
Overcoming faith is described by Jesus in His interaction with Peter when they were in Caesarea Philippi. Jesus was questioning His disciples as to who they say the Son of Man is. Peter responded by saying that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Jesus then stated that flesh and blood, that is, the Mind of the Flesh, did not reveal this to him, but the Father, Himself, had revealed it to Peter. Jesus goes on to say that, in the future, the Father will reveal to Peter what He is doing in Heaven, and Peter will follow the Father's leadership and do the same on earth.¹
It is vitally important that we who walk by Faith in Jesus Christ understand this concept. Jesus, Himself, stated on more than one occasion; "The Son can do nothing on His own, but only what He sees the Father do. For whatsoever the Father does, that the Son does likewise." Jesus introduced this concept to Peter and the disciples at Caesarea Philippi, stating to Peter that the Father would also reveal to Him, just as He had been doing with Jesus, what He (the Father) was doing in Heaven. And now Peter, just like Jesus, would walk in step with the Father as the Father revealed His activities to him, doing the same on earth as the Father was actively doing in Heaven.
And so, dear children of Jesus, walk in faith with the Father as He opens your eyes to His doings. Don't be surprised when He leads you one step at a time. He does so lest we fall into the trap of trying to force an outcome created in our own Mind of the Flesh. The Father's endgame is rarely the same as our desired outcome. So we must learn to take this life of Faith one step at a time as the Father uses us to bring His will into fruition.
Blessings,
Glen
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- Matthew 16:19 uses an ancient Greek verb form; the passive tense of the future perfect. Meaning, in the future what the Father [implied] is doing will be revealed to Peter by the Holy Spirit [implied] and he (Peter) will act in harmony with this new understanding, thus making it happen here on earth. Translators have traditionally translated this incorrectly to indicate that Peter would do the binding with heaven following his leadership. It, however, indicates that the binding will first occur in heaven, this will be revealed to Peter, and Peter will then act in harmony with it.