Faith 101: One Step Beyond BeliefEverywhere you see faith expressed in the Bible you see action. In fact, faithis an action. It's acting on what you believe. Many people confuse belief orbelieving with faith. Believing is a starting point, but if you stop there,you'll wind up with nothing.I often use the example of a starving man being placed where food is and beingasked if he believes that if he eats the food he will live. The man replies: "Doyou think I am some kind of fool? Do you think I'm stupid or dumb? Certainly Ibelieve that if I eat this food it will keep me from starving to death."But he never lifts a hand to eat and dies on the spot. What the man believed wastrue. If he had eaten, it would have kept him from starving. But he died fromstarvation. Why? Because he never acted on what he believed. Believing is right,but it will never change the circumstances. Faith will change the circumstances.Now let's consider the centurion solider who Jesus, the author and finisher ofour faith, actually encountered.Matthew 8:5-10: Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him,pleading with Him, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed,dreadfully tormented." And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him." Thecenturion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come undermy roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. "For I also am aman under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, 'Go,' andhe goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' andhe does it." When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed,"Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even inIsrael!"Notice how faith was activated-by doing something, not only by believingsomething. If you have authority you have to exercise it. You cannot sit in anoffice with authority and just think. You have to actually do something, saysomething, write something, or send something before any orders will befollowed. That is action.The centurion recognized that Jesus was a man of authority. Jesus said, "I willcome and heal him." The centurion said in essence, "Lord, I am not worthy thatYou should come under my roof, but speak a word and that will be the same as youcoming."In faith, action must be involved. Jesus said, "I have not found such greatfaith, not even in Israel!" That great faith was demonstrated by what thecenturion said about his authority to command someone to go and come and do. Ifthe centurion had just believed that Jesus could do something and yet never cameto Jesus and appealed to Him, his servant would not have been healed. Thehealing resulted from the centurion's faith action.This is where people are missing it concerning faith. All over the world theyare missing it, and what is so tragic is that some people act as if they knowand won't receive any instruction. I can see in their eyes that they don't know.I see it because they do not have the results in their lives.Faith will produce results over time. Anything of value takes time, and so it iswith the principles of faith. It produces results over time. It is not aninstant panacea. It is not a ripcord that you pull to bail you out of a problem.It is not an Aladdin's lamp that you can stroke and say, "Genie, Genie, come outand give me a new yacht."You have to stay with faith. You have to make a commitment to the point that youburn all the bridges down behind you, and many people do not do that. They aretrying faith. They want to see if it's going to work. Right there is doubt, andit has already crippled them. You have to be completely sold out. You have to beabsolutely convinced that acting on the Word will produce results given time andcommitment.
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