Christmas Faith

The Christmas season is for people of faith.  Without faith, Christmas sinks to the level of a pagan holiday.  Let us then renew our grip on faith so that this season can truly come alive.

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6.

There has to be a beginning point.  In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.  The beginning of your walk with God calls for faith.

But, before faith comes alive in you, you must believe there is a God. How do you draw that conclusion?  You look at the universe and you see order.  You look at nature and you see design.  You know that all things stay still unless they are put into motion.  But, all things start from a standing position, so something had to act upon something to create the universe.  Order cannot come from disorder. Order is the evidence of a mind.  Therefore, there must be a creator, and the creator must be all-powerful.

The truth of God is inescapable. As Scripture says, only the fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”  Since there is a God, and since He created beings that think, reason, and make choices, then he must have a purpose for people.  Faith builds on that purpose.

True Bible faith is triumphant obedience to God’s Word in the face of circumstances and consequences. Let that sentence soak into your mind and heart. Fabulous faith!

This faith operates on a simple equation:  

• God speaks, we listen.
• We trust His Written Word and act on it no matter what the circumstances are or what the consequences may be.
• The circumstances may be impossible, frightening and unknown; but we obey God’s Word anyway and believe that he will do what is right and what is best.

Faith is that itchy, antsy, rambunctious force that starts in the inner sanctum of your brain, somewhere between the hippocampus and the posterior commissure.  It commands attention, demands release and remands doubt to the sidelines.  Slowly, it rises out of the darkness of your spirit.  The ascent first promises to be easy.  The initial thrust propels it out of the gravitational pull of fear and the status quo—-it is on its way.  I can fly!  I can fly! 

Suddenly, flying faith smashes up against the ceiling of the real world.  Counteracting forces come out of nowhere and beat it back.  This is where your faith energy has a head-on collision with your belief system.  This is where you cry, “Lord, I believe.  Help thou mine unbelief.” This is where the enemies of your faith begin to talk back to you.  “You can’t do this.  This is way too hard for you.  Go back where you came from.  Who do you think you are, anyway? You’re foolish—-no, no—you’re stupid! The facts are against you. Circumstances are against you.  Family and friends are against you.  History is against you. Logic is against you.”

But, God-given faith pauses, regroups and begins anew.  “I will not be stopped,” it breathes. “The power within me is greater than the obstacles that assault me.”  Fabulous Faith!

Faith is the courage to put your beliefs into action.  Faith fills in the blanks in the exam of life.  Faith is the missing link between God and man.  Faith performs like night vision goggles, like cloud-penetrating radar, like extra-sensory perception.  Faith believes what it cannot understand, ventures where it cannot see, and convicts what it cannot prove.

Faith is a song without music, a painting without picture, a poem without words.

Faith flies, but it runs when it cannot fly.  Faith walks when it cannot run.  Faith crawls when it cannot walk.  Faith stands when it cannot crawl. 

Faith is building on what you know is here so you can reach what you know is there.  When fear knocks at the door and faith answers, no one will be there.  “Faith draws the poison from every grief, takes the sting from every loss, and quenches the fire of every pain; and only faith can do it.”  (J.G. Holland.)  Faith is not some “feeling” that we manufacture.  It is our total response to what God has revealed in His Word.  Fabulous faith!

Three words in Hebrews 11:1–3 summarize what true Bible faith is: substance, evidence, and witness.  “Substance” means literally “to stand under, to support.”   Faith is to a believer is what a foundation is to a house: it gives his sound assurance that he will stand.  So you might say, “Faith is the confidence of things hoped for.”   Faith is God’s way of giving you confidence and assurance that what is promised will be experienced.

Evidence simply means “conviction.”   This is the inward conviction from God that what He has promised, He will perform.   The presence of God-given faith in one’s heart is conviction enough that He will keep His Word.

Witness is to obtain a good report.   Hebrews 12:1 calls the list of heroes of faith in the eleventh chapter “so great a cloud of witnesses.” They are witnesses to us because God witnessed to them. In each example cited, God gave witness to that person’s faith. This witness was His divine approval on their lives and ministries.

So, faith is substance, evidence and witness.  It is a very practical thing, in spite of what unbelievers say. Faith makes us understand what God does.  Faith makes us to see what others cannot see.  Faith does not panic, even when it appears that all is lost. As a result, faith makes us to do what others cannot do! Fabulous faith!

Only faith has a future.  Faith is the accelerator, doubt is the brake pedal. Faith is confidence that everything will work out, doubt is the sickening feeling in the pit of your stomach that everything will fall apart.  Faith is not guesswork.  It is assurance based on God’s character.

            This blessed Christmas season, your faith lets you say with confidence, “For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” 2 Timothy 1:12.

            Because of our faith, we can say “Have a Merry Christmas!”