Today, we shall continue with our discussions on the different kinds of faith. We have looked at little faith and weak faith. In this service we shall be looking at some other kinds of faith.
3. Great Faith! Great faith is a faith that will not give up in spite of opposition. It is faith that responds with knowledge.
Some truths are easy to believe while others are difficult. If you believe something that is difficult to believe, then you have “great faith.” If you do not believe something that is relatively easy to believe, then you have little faith.
Since faith is the conviction or persuasion that something is true, it implies that people who have little faith have not been convinced or persuaded of even the basic truths, whereas people who have great faith have been persuaded or convinced of some of the hard and difficult truths which few people come to believe.
Great faith and little faith have nothing to do with the size, amount or degree of faith. Rather, the terms “great faith” and “little faith” describe the difficulty of the truths that are believed.
Some examples about little faith and great faith abound in the Scriptures. There are numerous truths from Scripture that are easy to believe.
People with little faith have problem with believing some of the simple, elementary and introductory truths of Scripture such as “God is love” or “Jesus gives eternal life to anyone who believes in Him.” As simple as these truths are, many people do not believe them.
However, there are other truths in Scripture that are really hard to believe. For instance, it is difficult to believe that God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19).
Frankly speaking, if I worry about tomorrow, it means that I don’t believe that God will supply all my needs, and often, I find myself trying to supply for my own needs myself. So, this means that I don’t yet believe this promise in Philippians 4:19.
Great faith is based on the amount and quality of information that you have received, accepted and endorsed.
A good example is the woman of Canaan, a Syrophoenician by birth whose daughter was sick unto death. When Jesus told the woman that she could not get what she requested for, she never gave up. Rather she responded with knowledge. She spoke back the words of faith (Matt 15:22-28). When Jesus heard her informed answer, He said to her, “…woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.”
The more accurate the information you have is, the better your faith will be. When you don’t have enough information from the Word of God concerning a particular issue, your faith will be little. The cure to this kind of faith is simply to learn what God has said in His Word concerning that issue. Keep listening to tapes; keep studying the Word of God in that area until your thinking, ideas and perspective change!
Another example of Great Faith is found in Matthew 8:5-13. Here, Jesus was impressed by the great faith of a Gentile.
He said, “I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.”
The Centurion believed in his own lack of merit. Though he was courteous, humble, and a good man, though he loved the Jewish people and built a Synagogue for them, he knew that he did not deserve anything from God.
Despite his high standing and all the good he had done, he knew he was unworthy to meet with Jesus (Matt. 8:8).
But most people think they do deserve favours from God. They think God owes them something.
It is much harder to believe that all we have and all we appear to have accomplished in life is only by the grace of God. But the Centurion believed this, and told Jesus that he was not worthy to have Jesus visit his house. The Centurion believed some truth that only few others believed.
He believed that Jesus could heal some with His words and from a great distance. He said to Jesus, “Only speak the Word, and my servant will be healed” (Matt. 8:8).
This truly is great faith, and only few believe such an idea. As a result, Jesus marvelled at the Centurion’s great faith, and healed his servant from a distance, simply by the power of His Word. Great faith simply believes the truths that are ordinarily difficult to believe.
4. Saving faith. This is imparted to us through the Word of God. You get the faith for salvation in any area of your life by hearing the Word of God (Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 10:17; Tit. 2:11-14).
We know that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. But how are we to get the faith to get saved? Romans 10:8-14 tells us how.
Men are saved by hearing God’s Word because the Scriptures say, “…faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17). You can never believe and have faith in God without hearing His Word.
In Acts 10 and 11 we read about Cornelius, who although devout, had not yet been saved. He was not saved because he has not heard the Word of God [the Good News] yet. Cornelius was not saved until he heard Peter preach the Word. An angel from the Lord appeared to Cornelius (Acts 10:3) and told him where to go to get someone who could preach the Gospel to him (Acts 10:13). And if he believes that Gospel, he will be saved.
Acts 11:14 reports that the angel said that Peter would preach the Gospel to Cornelius: “Who shall tell thee WORDS, whereby thou and all thine house shall be saved.”
This verse therefore tells us that men are saved by hearing words - the Words of God. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17). Therefore, you can never believe in God without hearing words about God.
5. The fruit of faith. In Greek it is called “the fruit of faithfulness.” It is for the development of the Christian character. Faithfulness is the fruit that grows in the life of a Christian to establish him in spiritual character (Gal. 5:22-23).
6. The Gift of faith. This gift is a supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit to receive a miracle. By this gift one does not work a miracle, but passively receives a miracle. One can supernaturally, and against all odds, believe God for a miracle. By this gift one is given a supernatural ability to receive a miracle from God. By this gift God honours your word [your pronouncements] as He honours His own Words (1 Cor. 12:7-10).
In Jeremiah 1:12 God said, "You have seen well, for I am watching over My Word to perform it." God watches to see that His Word is fulfilled.
In Isaiah 55:11 the Scriptures say, “So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
The gift of faith is not imparted to all but as the Holy Spirit wills (1 Cor. 12:28). If you therefore, want to experience God’s uncommon favour in every aspect of your life, then you must choose to obey God.
I therefore, challenge you to stop considering the magnitude of your problem, but consider the magnitude of your God. Stop considering your condition, but consider what God has promised you in His Word concerning that situation, and then rest in His power and faithfulness. Rise and be healed!
Next Sunday, we will be looking at the remaining types of faith: Thomas’ kind of faith, and Abraham’s kind of faith.
Watch out for the next edition of Good news from the Pulpit!
- Your friend: I. I. MADUBUNYI (Senior Pastor) @ the HQs May 15h, 2022
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