"Oh, I Tried That Faith Stuff and it Didn't Work!"

I have noticed that too many Christians have things wrong about a successful life of faith. I can't tell you how many times I've heard complaints about living by faith being too hard or "i tried it and it didnt' work" ... and the list goes on! They believe that in order for them to succeed at living by FAITH they have to rely on THEIR ability & THEIR faith, and that is why they fail.  A life of faith is not a result of your perfection and abilities. Living by Faith is not living by muttering. People have misconstrewed living by faith to mean constantly muttering their faith confessions and if I cross this T and dot this I, then maybe, just maybe I will get the breakthrough I am believing God for. These people have spent too much time turning faith into a mathematical theorem of confusion rather than an actual answer producing equation. How does this happen? It is because they don't carefully consider what they hear (Mark 4:24).
Some people hear a portion of the message and take that small portion as being the whole package and act on it as such. When this partial package doesn't work it is all someone else's fault for promoting "doctrine" that doesnt work. (Matt. 13:19-22) They usually give up on that "faith stuff" because they never really understood it in the first place. They went through the motions of living by faith, but didn't actually believe it deep in their heart. (Matt. 8:13) It would be like someone going through the motions of being saved, but not actually believing in Jesus and then finding themselves in hell and saying, "that Christian-living stuff didn't work." Faith is more than muttering a list of confessions. Making a confession list with scriptures is a good thing to do as an aid in times where your faith is weak, but it should NEVER replace living by faith. Faith is so much more than mutterings and systematic confessions, Faith is taking God at His word and being confident that if you believe and speak faith God will meet your needs superabundantly above even your highest prayers and dreams! (Phil 4:19, Eph. 3:20-21)

A successful life of FAITH is TRUSTING in GOD's ability and being CONFIDENT of what HE promised in HIS Word. True success in living by FAITH is being FAITHFUL to the Word of God and RESTING in the TRUTH that GOD has already won the VICTORY! (2 Cor. 2:14, 1 Cor. 5:57, Rom. 8:37, 1 John 4:4, 5:4) So many Christians give up living by faith because they allow unbelief to sneak in, they were not FULLY persuaded. In Romans 4:17-22 Paul tells us that, "As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. He was appointed our father in the sight of God in Whom he believed, Who gives life to the dead and speaks of the nonexistent things that He has foretold and promised as if they already existed. For Abraham, human reason for hope being gone, hoped in faith that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been promised, So numberless shall your descendants be. He did not weaken in faith when he considered the utter impotence of his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about\a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's deadened womb. No unbelief or distrust made him waver (doubtingly question) concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and was empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God, Fully satisfied and assured that God was able and mighty to keep His word and to do what He had promised. That is why his faith was credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God)." See Abraham had all great reasoning for faith to not work, God told him that he was going to have decendants as numerous as the stars and yet he has reached nearly 100 years of age and his wife is way past the natural age for bearing children, he could have given up and said that faith didnt work, but the bible tells us that he STAGGERED NOT at the promises of God, but that he was FULLY persuaded that God was able to do that which He promised. If we are ever going to live successful lives of walking by faith we have to be fully persuaded that God is well able to accomplish that which He promised in His Word. When we release our faith and put our trust in God's promises then God is able to act because he has heard our faith. God hears our faith, that is what causes Him to act! Faith, not a list of confessions that you mutter out of religious tradition, moves God!!!! (Gal. 3:2, 2 Cor. 5:7)

Successful Christian living isn't just floating through life thankful for God's grace that just causes you to have everything you've ever wanted without lifting a finger (that's know as a self-centered 'gospel'). Successful Christian living is living by faith, growing in faith, increasing and stretching your faith, and calling those things which be not as though they were!!! (Rom. 4:17) True success as a Christian is allowing God to increase your faith so that He can use you mightily to reach the lost! He wants to get you to a place where you can speak to cancer or tumors and watch them fall off of bodies or speak to demonic spirits that have oppresed people and watch people be freed! God isn't out there trying to make life hard on us, He is out there trying to get us to a place where we can be of greater service to Him, where we can help grow the kingdom and reach the hurting, dying people of the world. He wants to use us mightily if we will let Him, but we must first learn to live by faith. Living by faith isn't hard, it just takes dedication and knowledge of the Word. It takes time to grow in faith, it comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God! (Rom. 10:17, 2 Cor. 5:7, Mark 11:20-26, John 14:13)

So dont ever say, "Oh, I tried that faith stuff and it didn't work!" No, no, no ... Faith tried you and YOU weren't ready! God tells us to live by faith, He goes so far as to say in Hebrews 11 that without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God. I don't know about you, but I sure want to please God. Everywhere you look in the New Testament it focuses on the importance of FAITH in living a victorious life, God breaths faith. Faith is how God opperates and it is how we should opperate! So step out today, put past failures behind you, and dive into the Word of God. Study faith, for yourself, in His Word! View it free of any biased views you may have of faith due to past shortcomings in living by faith! View living by faith with new eyes as you study what God has to say about it in His Word.

God is waiting to bless your socks off, so start giving Him permission to do! Live by FAITH, not by sight!


Blessings,

JRT