2015.10.04_Faith and Experience

Living faith

The faith of the Christian Church is that of experience. The life of the Christian Church is that of experience. Do you have the experience of a Christian?

God, in whom we believe, is the God of the living. While mentioning Abraham, Isaac and Jacob of long ago, Jesus said, “God is the God of the living, for all live to Him” (Lk 20:37-38). Though Abraham, Isaac and Jacob died a long time ago, God regards them as living.

Yes. The promise God made with Abraham was finally fulfilled more than a thousand years later. And those results are being witnessed among us even to this day. God deems those who possess the imperishable faith as the living ones, calls Himself as their God and reveals Himself to them.

God first accomplished salvation for those who have the living faith, enables them to recover everything they had once lost, and ultimately lets them share in the joy of His glory which only He is entitled to. The aforementioned are promises of God which He determined to fulfill without a doubt. The word of God always comes to pass upon the living. This is fundamental to all who have the Christian faith.

God never gives up on the faith of the living. He reveals Himself to them in order that they will not lose their faith. Hence we must have a clear understanding of the living faith. There is a great difference between faith that is living and dead; the same goes for understanding God notionally and actually experiencing Him. This is well-illustrated in the Book of Job.

Living faith demonstrated through Job’s transformation

Job was indeed a man of ordeals. Though he was devout and upright, he had to endure an intolerable ordeal. Though he persevered, his suffering only worsened with time. He carefully pondered about where he went wrong. But no matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t come to a conclusion. People around him started to treat him as a sinner for his ordeals. He was aggrieved. At last, he began to resent God.

People deterred Job who argued and complained to God. However Job did not back down from his unyielding attitude and instead confronted them, telling them to point out his wrong. In the end, God Himself appeared and spoke to Job, and only then did Job realize that he was in error. “‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ It is I. Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:3-6). Prior to that, Job used to judge God based only on the knowledge he had heard. But after his encounter with God, he really came to know and experience God.

Though Job had been living a life of faith, his faith life took an entirely different bearing after he met God. Formerly, he was a fatalist who had his life submitted to fate, and thus he had never asked God for anything nor sought for God’s help at all. When the Devil brought his accusation against Job, even God was not in the position to back Job’s faith. Since Job didn’t know God, God also couldn’t be confident with Job. But through his substantive encounter with God, Job discovered that his own righteousness was enmity against God. He clearly realized that true righteousness is God Himself. That was when Job’s faith was properly founded. When he came to the realization that man’s idea of righteousness actually was a dishonor to God, God considered Job’s faith as righteous and living. From then, Job broke free from his curse and recovered what he had previously lost in greater abundance.

The experiences of those with the living faith

The true faith of a Christian must be living. Living faith is accompanied by experiences, and such experiences bring about a certain change in a person. But faith in absence of such experiences and transformations cannot guarantee that one will be resurrected. If anyone is a Christian, he should be confident of the living existence of God from the first day they come to have faith. From that first day, they must experience God and undergo such transformation.

First of all, when someone with the living faith becomes sick or is met with troubles much worse than that, he can receive the help of God. That does not mean this is only possible for those who’ve been a Christian for a long time. Rather, this is an experience anyone should have from the very beginning of their faith life. Is it your first time at church today? The Lord will reveal Himself to you! God seeks people with such faith.

When we receive God’s help, we mustn’t ever doubt if it is really God’s doing. Instead we must immediately confess that it is indeed the help of God and thank Him, and thus take ownership of it. There’s no need to have doubts like, ‘Are these things really possibly in an age so advanced with science and technology?’ Though God’s wisdom is foolishness in man’s eyes, God destroys the wisdom of the wise in such a way (1 Co 1:18-19).

Second, a person with the living faith will change in character, and in result, a change will follow in his way of life also. The Lord is very keen on distinguishing between the character that take after Him and that which takes after the world. We must have the character which pleases the Lord. He should be glad, knowing that we have nailed our old nature to the cross. Of the conditions in becoming His disciples, the Lord sets great importance on the transformation of one’s character. If we stubbornly stick to our old nature, it will be hard for the Lord to abide in us. If anyone has the living faith, he must change in his character so that it is pleasurable for the Lord to abide in Him.

When our nature is transformed in a way pleasing to the Lord, our flesh can be used as His precious instruments. For us, our bodies are holy instruments and an asset which we can use in our preparation for the Kingdom of Heaven. For us to become children of God and enter the Heaven was originally something out of the question. Though our flesh is perishing day after day, it is in our flesh that we can meet God and be used by Him. Rather than wasting away our perishable flesh in vain, we must use it for the Lord’s church.

It is easy for people to be tempted to think, Oh it shouldn’t hurt. I’m only one person out of many. However as more and more people harbor such ideas, the whole church will encounter difficulties. The Lord doesn’t want us to only think about our own selves. If the Lord only considered Himself, we would not have received the grace we have so received today. We must take after the Lord’s nature. When others meet us and observe our speech and action, they should feel as if they are meeting the Lord. Every saint should be a reflection of the Lord before all other members of the church.

Third, a person with living faith receives spiritual gifts. Jesus promised that we will be able to experience Him, and receiving spiritual gifts is the fulfillment of that promise. Jesus said, “You will know that I am in you and you in Me” (Jn 14:20). We came to experience the fulfillment of His words through the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. The resulting effect of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, that is, spiritual gifts include words of wisdom, words of knowledge, the gift of healing, power, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits (1 Co 12:7-11). People have the tendency to believe that these gifts are so great that they are unobtainable by most. However it is God’s will to endow all people with His gifts.

God gives these various gifts to each one in order for the members to work together and serve the church (Rm 12:6-8). Hence, whenever you have the urge to do something for the church, do not ignore it. For some, they regard the gift of healing as a valuable gift and long to receive it. However they are indifferent when it comes to their duties in the church. Yet we must not ignore the Lord’s will, but treasure the gifts He has already given us.

Through His gifts, God wants us to be made firm in Christ, that we may be blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Co 1:7-8). Therefore, according to the gift we have received, each of us ought to minister to each other as good stewards (1 Pe 4:10). It should be remembered that it is not for our own sakes that God has given us of His gifts. If we received a gift, it means we have been given a glorious opportunity from the Lord to serve in His works. Moreover, it means that we have received God’s testimony of the fact that God abides inside us.

Let us repent to have the living faith!

It is not enough to merely think to oneself, I will love the church from now on! In doing so, one may actually end up deceiving the Lord by trapping Him inside his own ideas again. God wants to meet those who repent. He seeks repentant souls and sows faith inside them. That faith is exactly what we need to obtain.

We have already crucified our flesh with its passions and its desires (Gal 5:21-24). Hence, we can now freely experience God. If you are not experiencing prosperity, you need to repent immediately. Those who don’t repent are not easily healed of their sickness, and cannot deliver their prayers to God. You must bring the scalding tears shed when you first met Jesus, for then you will be able to receive God’s help. It is important that you reflect on yourself, whether it is you hindering the help of God without even realizing; whether your relationship with Him has already grown cold and you are unaware.

Our flesh is dramatically wearing away day after day. Still, we have the change to repent and turn. If you desire to have the living faith, you must repent this moment. Though our flesh is perishing, if God sows the living faith in us, we will live and the Lord’s promises will all be fulfilled in us.