Sunday Spice #15: Faith in God 101

Have faith in God. Those are the words of Jesus in Mark 11. It sounds simplistic but such words might just be some of the most life-changing advice on the planet. However, most people will say they have faith in God but until a dive is made into Scripture the faith they talk about might be better described as only a religious mental agreement. Riding the coattails of our godly parents or relatives will not be good enough either. We have to possess our own sense of true faith in God. In today’s Sunday Spice, we will take a quick journey into the realm of faith in God and what that might mean. 

Faith in God is not to be treated like a philosophical option. There are some very straightforward demands in Scripture that make faith in God a vital quality to possess.  Consider the statement in Hebrews 11 where it is said that without faith it is impossible to please God. And the next part helps us to understand the definition of what true Bible faith is about. It says that we must believe that God is (that He exists), and by implication that He is ever-present. And then it says we must believe that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. In the original language it is not just the idea of seeking Him, but seeking Him out.

If you have misplaced something, like your car keys, you seek to relocate them. What you will do is seek them until you find them and when you find them you stop seeking. Makes sense. Sometimes that is how we address the idea of seeking God. We seek Him and find him through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, but then we stop seeking. Why? Because we have found Him. But true faith does not seek and find and then stop seeking. True faith seeks God out. God is not an object to locate; He is an eternal entity to discover perpetually. And such discovery is absolutely unending. The Bible says that He is past finding out. That is not a statement to discourage you from finding Him. It is just an acknowledgment that in your discovery of God, you can know that you will never get to the end of Him. I believe this is why heaven will be so glorious because we will never get to the end of God.

Another characteristic of faith is that we are to believe that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him out. I cannot explain how all of life happens but in those moments when you are calling on His name for help and mercy, faith in God asks you and me to take on an attitude of anticipation; an anticipation of reward.

Jesus is on board with this idea and made it known when a father brought his mute and deaf son to Him for healing. Jesus said, “‘If you can believe, all things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” In that context of putting his faith in God, acknowledging that he did believe and that he wanted help to believe even better, Jesus rewarded the man by returning his son healed and whole.

The original words with which I started this podcast are Have faith in God. Let me finish what I started from Mark 11. Have faith in God. 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. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 

As audacious as Bible-based faith may sound (like it must have sounded to the father with the mute son) I want my attitude to be like that father. The first words out of his mouth were “I believe.” I want to be found guilty of leaning into this verse and seeking to understand it and obey it to the best of my ability. My response is to first say “I believe,” and if I am having trouble navigating the incredible promise, or the reward of turning the impossible into the possible that it talks about, or by what even feels audacious and daring to me, then my next prayer is “Lord, help my unbelief.”

But whatever you do, always start with “I believe.” That is faith in God 101.

I’m Tammy Reneé, and this is Sunday Spice. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed are the people who take refuge in Him!