Faith It ‘Til You Make It.
What is faith? Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For many of us, having faith is difficult. As Christians we know that the bible clearly states that our salvation and grace is not dependent on our good works, self-criticism, shame, achievements, self-aggrandizing, or even the approval of others. Our salvation and grace is given to us freely, and is accessed through faith alone. But aye, there’s the rub: we have a perfect Father who loves us perfectly, but our mind, emotions, will and spirit all at one point or another gets influenced by life circumstance’s. Some of these life circumstance’s can result in our doubt of God’s love for us. That’s what lack of faith comes down to after all- doubting God.
We all experience deficits within some or all areas of our basic needs for love, worth, security, and significance. When we do feel deficits, we often have the instinct to meet those needs on our own-- through our own will, efforts and understanding. This self-help instinct causes tension between having faith in our salvation (which has already been given to us by what Christ did on the cross), and us trying to control our own narratives. In other words, when we try and take matters which we feel are at a deficit in certain areas of our life into our own hands, as opposed to relying wholly on our Father in heaven to meet our needs perfectly- we experience trouble.
Why does faith matter? Lets think of it this way: when you have exhausted all your efforts for a particular outcome of a thing, through your own understanding, by the will of your own spirit which is rooted in your self-perception, when you are led by your emotions which are informed by some past victory or failure or anticipation of the future, and when you muster all the drive you can because of what you think the end goal will mean for you—and you still don’t accomplish that thing—what then? You have relied on you, where you’ve come from, and where you want to go, in order to witness an outcome which you think you deserve. Do you see the common issues which are presenting themselves here? ‘You’ are blocking your faith by depending on ‘you’.
When all fails and you do not achieve, accomplish or win that thing, who is to blame? Conversely, if you do by your own efforts accomplish or win that thing, does that increase your value? If you lost it or couldn’t maintain it, would your value then be lost?
“Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold…but with the precious blood of Christ.” – (1 Peter 1:18,19)
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”- (Isaiah 55:8-9)
Faith matters because it provides us the space to relax into God’s arms, and to rest in our heavenly Father’s promise to “prosper us and not harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future.”- (Jeremiah 29:11)
Since God cannot lie, it must be true that we can trust that He has already met all our needs and will continue to—so long as we have faith that He has, can, and will since He is already in our future. As children of the Almighty, faith matters because it is an intimate space with Him. Faith is where we are pruned, and become matured Christians who rely fully on the word of God, which we know as truth, to provide us with the spiritual food which extends to our physical lives.
The issue many Christians and non-Christians alike have with faith, lies in the section of its definition which states: ‘the evidence of things not seen.’ How can we have faith for something we have not yet seen, but trust that God has already prepared it and done it? We have faith for things not yet seen through the understanding that the preparation of us by Him is what will have us ready for what He has already worked out in our future. More importantly, faith grows by us taking into account what our Father has already done for us.
Think back on the areas of your life which seemed like miracles that you survived, worked through, experienced “chance” encounters in, or had doors and opportunities open up for you. If those circumstances didn’t come from you faith-ing through it, how much more will be provided for you when you begin with faith? To be clear, we do not have faith in God because of what we hope we might get out of it. This would be an example of taking advantage of His mercy and goodness. We have faith because it increases our understanding of His character when He responds to our pressing into Him by Him pressing closer to us. Here are 7 steps to approaching faith.
So, what are the true effects of faith? A closer relationship to Jesus who is God which is the most potent relationship we can have, and, experiencing eternal life with Him. By knowing that we are already given His promises, we become open to having even more faith in Him! This pleases God greatly because, it is His only will for us-- to rely solely on Him-- knowing that by us doing that, we are confirming our belief that He is indeed Almighty and deserving of all our praise. When our mind, will, emotions and spirit are all in agreement that God is who He says He is, and will do what He promises to do and that it is already done—we have reached spiritual maturity. We get to increase and grow in that maturity, and enjoy the fruits not of our own labor or efforts, but of God’s majesty and love for us.
In my practice of Christian Counseling & Cognitive Behavioral Therapy which encompasses Faith Therapy, I am able to help facilitate clients in identifying the areas of their lives which require more acts of faith (because faith without works is dead), and to strategically target those areas so that faith becomes the natural response to life’s more complex situations- as opposed to faith becoming a last resort or just another ‘effort’. With this Faith Assessment, you can scan where you may be in your faith walk currently, and determine if becoming more steadfast in your faith is what’s called for, in any given situation.
Faith is like a seed. In fact, in Jesus’ ministry He taught these words: “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” – (Matthew 17:20-21)
The work of acting on faith is by first planting the seed of faith within your heart, nurturing it, caring for it, being gentle and consistent, then allowing for it to grow. Truly, when we trust in the Lord with all our heart- all the areas within our most basic needs for love, worth, significance and security will not only be met, but it will be filled with the Holy Spirit—affirming God’s perfect design for His will in these areas of our lives, which further highlights His perfect, boundless, gracious, and good love for us.
God wants what is good for us. The question isn’t whether that is true which has us exhausting ourselves—the question is if we are aligned with feeling worthy of the good God wants for us. Well my friend, you are worthy. Its not because of anything you have or haven’t done—it is because of Jesus who has called you His that you are worthy; you are worthy because that is what God calls you by grace alone. Amen.
“He has saved us and called us to a holy life— not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace.”- (2 Timothy 1:10)
Thalia Longchamp is a Christian Counselor and CBT Practitoner in New York, NY specializing in grounding any overwhelming emotional, psychological, and spiritual experiences for her clients. Her office is located in Manhattan.
