5. Pillars of Rest – Faith

We all exercise faith every day in some form. Faith that your car will take you from point A to point B, everything we do is by faith. We practice faith without effort or having to think about it, like breathing.

But what happens when we must exercise this faith on something specific we would like to see take place in our lives. Why does it seem to be so hard, when other times it’s so natural and easy?

What if we had to view faith the same way we view our breath we just do it without thinking? Do I get this right in my life all the time certainly not but I’m hoping by giving you a different perspective on faith, you will be able to walk in the breath of faith?

Faith is a gift

For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith [disclosed in a way that awakens more faith]. As it is written and forever remains written, “The just and upright shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17 AMP

I love how the scripture mentions that it springs from faith and leading to faith awakening more faith. We have been made righteous through Christ Jesus, because of this you now have the gift of faith springing from Christ’s faith and leading to faith toward God. If faith is a gift from God that means that your faith is perfect.

There is nothing wrong with your faith, it’s life-giving faith living inside of you. This is how the Passion Translation says it.

This gospel unveils a continual revelation of God’s righteousness—a perfect righteousness given to us when we believe. And it moves us from receiving life through faith, to the power of living by faith. This is what the Scripture means when it says: “We are right with God through life-giving faith! Romans 1:17 TPT

And without faith living within us it would be impossible to please God. For we come to God in faith knowing that he is real and that he rewards the faith of those who passionately seek him. Hebrews 11:6 TPT

Faith is from the inside out, it’s about learning to abide in faith.

Faith is substance.

Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses]. Hebrews 11:1

According to King James Version, faith is the substance of things hoped for.

Here are some definitions according to the dictionary:

Title deed – a legal deed or document constituting evidence of a right, especially to ownership of property.

Substance – the real physical matter of which a person or thing consists of, and which has a tangible, solid presence.

Type in synonym for substance and reality pops up –  the world or the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them.

I LOVE IT! We seem to need more than one English word to describe the word faith. All of them leading to the same thing. It’s your reality, already existing in your hand.

Probably one of my absolute favorite verses in scripture is Hebrews 1:3

“who being [the] effulgence of his glory and [the] expression of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, having made [by himself] the purification of sins, set himself down on the right hand of the greatness on high,”

Jesus being the very expression of His substance. Effulgence means pure light there is nothing brighter than effulgent light.

Let’s pull this together. We see that faith is substance and Jesus is substance therefore faith = a person. Christ is the substance of our faith. He is our gift of faith.

Measure of Faith

A while ago I was asked, how do I grow my faith, if scripture says I only have a measure? My first response will be what do we measure this amount to?

Do we measure it according to our fleshly understanding or do we measure it according to Christ inside of us? He is the full measure of our existence.

“For by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, [things] visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [that is, by His activity] and for Him.”
“And He Himself existed and is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. [His is the controlling, cohesive force of the universe.]” Colossians 1:16-17 AMP

“All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being.”
John 1:3 AMP

The second way I would say growing your faith is through intimacy with Faith! Intimacy with Jesus. Faith is a person!

You’ve probably heard me say this before, if you have then this will be a good reminder. When I started my journey of meditation and contemplation, I didn’t really know what I was doing at the time. I would sit for about an hour a just repeating over and over “I am in Christ and Christ is in me”. After a couple of days, I started asking myself: “What does that even look like?” I would sit and emphasize certain words during the meditation and try to understand it fully. I AM in Christ, I am IN Christ, and I am in CHRIST and so forth, each time I would have a different perspective of where I am where He is. How big is Christ in me and how big am I in Him?

Here’s the reason why. If you were raised in Sunday school you were probably taught that Jesus lives inside your heart. What this teaching has done, is cause us to view Christ in our little heart making this Almighty God the size of your fist. This is part of a Greek mindset we form pictures according to what we hear, where the Hebrew way of thinking is according to the function. That’s why they would use words like Aleph – Tav the beginning and the end, His function is the God from the beginning and the end.

Can you recognize that if ALL things are in and through Him, then your faith is connected to His faith.

“All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being.” John 1:3 AMP

Learn to step into the fullness of Him, resting in the knowledge that you have all you need in the one who creates it, even your faith. Take a moment to meditate on how big is Christ’s faith and how big is your faith, how big is His faith inside of you.

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