The lowliness of faith

Our last lesson taught us about being full of faith and the Holy Spirit. Todays teaching is about the "lowliness of faith!" What does God require for us as believers to truly live a life of faith AS GOD UNDERSTANDS that to be. Our scripture verse we have been studying is 1st Corinthians chapter 1:25-29.

1Co 1:25- 29, " Because what seems foolish in God is wiser than men; and what seems feeble in God is stronger than men. For you see God's design for you, my brothers, that he has not taken a great number of the wise after the flesh, not the strong, not the noble: But God made selection of the foolish things of this world so that he might put the wise to shame; and the feeble things that he might put to shame the strong; And the low things of the world, and the things without honor, did God make selection of, yes, even the things which are not, so that he might make as nothing the things which are: So that no flesh might have glory before God."

Every person has within them the ability to believe God. When a man is born-again His spirit is now open to recognize and use this measure of faith God has given him because His spirit has been born-again by the Holy Spirit. When this happens “the God-Kind” of faith is awakened in our spirit to see things spiritually. Our spirits which were dead to sin and could not discern anything of the Spirit of God is now awakened to receive all that the Holy Spirit came to give as our Teacher according to John chapters 14 and 16.

We have learned that faith is a substance according to Hebrews 11:1. It is the substance of things hoped for. It is a substance and it is an evidence (proof) of the things that are NOT SEEN! The God Kind of faith is a real substance, greater than a pound a butter in your hand. No one would dispute that you have something in your hand if you were holding a pound of butter in it, and you said this is pound of butter. Anyone who would dispute thatfact would be foolish and worse absurd, because you have a pound of butter in your hand.

When it come to the “God-Kind” of faith, God says that faith is a real substance. Where is this substance if it is real. Faith is a substance of “things” hoped for! Now if you are hoping for a new car, a new house, a wife or anything you can see with your natural eye, then hope would be a “desire” to have it. The faith teaching of the 1980’s and 90” paid a lot of attention on the faith of this kind to obtain these things in life.

Many believers who were in need to prosper saw this part of the Gospel as very appealing. Many today call it the “prosperity” gospel based in “faith.” This has produced a generation of believers who see God as someone who wants to meet their needs. He does want to provide our daily bread!

Yet with that being said, I need to distinguish this “fresh” teaching of faith you are reading from that which was taught in the past. Many needed to learn that God was really our “provider.” That if you would believe Him, he could provide things you never thought you could have. This was an important teaching for many caught in the grips of poverty. This teaching caused them to “hope” for a better day.

Many caught in the grips of discrimination, hopelessness, began to get a fresh revelation of what God could do for them and help them if they had faith. I am grateful to the Lord for bringing forth this truth to lift many out of the bondage of poverty and despair. For many their hope to get out of poverty was a “SUBSTANCE.” This substance was believing God could bring them out of poverty and enslaved to welfare. This substance believed God could prosper them even as their soul prospered.

As wonderful as this was to so many people, like so many times in the past, we take a truth of the nature of God and we elevate that truth to be God himself. By doing this, we began to "only" see God for what He could give, or what his hand can provide. Up to this present moment of this writing, many have stopped searching to seek His face and focus on seeking His hand. Today “faith or the faith of God” is related to “getting” our needs met by God.

True faith does not rest in the ability to possess things, but the ability to be emptied of our own life for the life of Christ and His faith possessing you! Jesus taught us one of the major keys to walking a life of faith as He calleds us to empty ourselves of all our concerns, plans and desires to do one thing, Mat 11:28 Jesus says, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Yes, beloved it is the lowly in heart that understand what the true "faith of God" really is meant to be in a soul. The lowly don't seek their own aim, ambitions, plans, or desires, they seek to do one thing, "the will of Him who sent me." Jesus told us in John chapter 17, "just as the Heavenly Father sent me into the world, so do I send you." He also taught us that a disciple must be like His master. If Jesus wore a yoke that was easy and light it was because He was "lowly" and meek, aren't we supposed to be like Him and wear the same yoke? It is this very issue James warns us of in His epistle. He shows us the danger in turning away from being meek and lowly to what a haughty prideful and selfsih spirt produces in a believer's heart.

Jas 4:1-4, "What is the cause of wars and fighting among you? is it not in your desires which are at war in your bodies? You are burning with desire, and have not your desire, so you put men to death; you are full of envy, and you are not able to get your desire, so you are fighting and making war; you have not your desire, because you do not make request for it. You make your request but you do not get it, because your request has been wrongly made, desiring the thing only so that you may make use of it for your pleasure. O you who are false to God, do you not see that the friends of this world are not God's friends? Every man desiring to be a friend of this world makes himself a hater of God."

Unfortunately, many in the Body of Christ have thought faith was a means to their own ends, and their own plans and desires. They do not understand what God truly says a walk of faith really is. Our scripture verse lays down some important fundamentals about what this life of faith requires. 1 Cor 25-29. “AND GOD HAS CHOSEN THE LOW THINGS OF THE WORLD, AND THE THINGS WITHOUT HONOR. Beloved, the message of the “faith of God” was never to be about obtaining things or stuff from God alone, but obtaining the very life, nature, promises and character that God desires us to have.

A measures of faith has been given to us by God to be able to walk out our entire life by faith and not by sight here on earth and forever. Faith is an ability from God to see beyond the natural life (sight) and its possessions, to see and obtain the spiritual life and all its possessions (true eyesight). The bible calls theses possessions, “treasure that moths and rust can not ruin.“ Faith is a life in the Holy Spirit where God makes the “substance and evidence” of the Kingdom of God a living reality in our lives on earth as it is in heaven.

God has chosen the “low” things of the world. The lowly things that the world has determined to be of little worth. It is in “being” lowly that we find the source of a real life of faith. So important is lowliness that Jesus calls us to come to him.

To be lowly is to truly understand our place in Christ of why we were made. Jesus summed it up best in the Garden of Gethsemane when he cried out, “Father, not my will, but your will be done.” The giving up of our life, our rights and plans is what produces a life that is lowly. This heart attitude is critical for a true life of the faith of the Son of God. Paul wrote it, “ and the life I now life, I live by FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD! This is what a true meek and lowly heart will do in relationship to God in Christ.

James warned us of the opposite type of heart in his epistle. He warns us of how “the pride of life” can tarnish this real God-Kind of faith in our lives. He warns us that people will begin to fight, and war with one another because of the lust “for things” that is the true desires of their heart. The teaching of faith in the 1980’s was not wrong. However; without the right ingredients of God’s work in our heart, that very good word from God would be used to fulfill our lusts ( the plans we have and desires of what we want) instead of the will of God.

He warned that our “most inner hearts” desires are not to be used on selfish ambition, desires or selfishness, but our hearts must beat only for the purposes of God. We must live only for HIM! Faith is not a “substance” to be used to fulfill our wants and desires, but it is the “substance” of things hoped for.

The bible says that Jesus Christ is that hope. He is the Hope of Glory itself! When He alone is your hope and your first and only desire, then you realize that your life is not your own but purchased with a price. You understand that “you have been crucified with Christ, but nevertheless you live.” You give up living for your own desires, but for the Lord’s desires alone.This beloved is what it means to be lowly and the place the "faith of God" becomes active and alive in your soul.

The word low means this: ranked near the bottom of some scale or measurement. Indicating the bottom or furthest possible point down, lacking in strength, energy of vigor, feeble or weak.” God has chosen that which is ranked near the bottom on the scale on human ranking, that which seems the furthest away of ability and power. He has chosen that which is lacking in strength, energy, vigor and is feeble and weak to make RICH IN FAITH!

When you have allowed the Holy Spirit to refine you like Gold and Silver, you loose the value of your life as you have known it to be. You begin to see your value in Christ alone. You understand that you were made for His pleasure and purposes. When you surrender and give up the “right to your life” you become a fool to the world.

Remember James warning,” to be friend of this world, you take your stand as an enemy of God.” Jesus taught us that “if you keep your life (as you want it to be) you lose your spiritual life, and if you give up your life (as you want it to be, for His life in you), you gain your spiritual life.

God resist the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. Faith is a substance of things hoped for. Only those who are lowly understand what they should truly hope for. Only the lowly made by God’s hand can understand and live in the substance of what faith truly is. The lowly in Christ have the “evidence” of the THINGS THAT ARE NOT SEEN!

When the bible speaks of Abraham, the father of faith, it says he was looking for something. This “something” was the result of true faith. His something was looking for a “heavenly city!" Not an earthly city or kingdom, but a city whose architect and builder was God. So Abraham lived as a stranger and wonderer in this land, because his destination was a heavenly city. A city that could not be SEEN with a natural eye, but more real than any city he had ever been in.

So real was this city, His whole live was consumed in the UNSEEN. This unseen faith of God was an evidence in the depth of His being that He was able to “WALK BY FAITH” every moment of His life. His life was consumed in BECOMING all God had promised him! He gave his life to “walk by faith and not by sight.”

Beloved this is what it means to be lowly. It has nothing to do with possessions, for Abraham was wealthy. He didn’t’ seek the Lord for “stuff”, but for every word God spoke to Him. He wanted to please God by his obedience in obeying every command God gave him. This is what a life in the “God-Kind of faith” really looks like. It is the life of the “lowly.”

People thought Abraham was crazy, he left everything behind in the Ur of the Chaldees and went to a country he had never seen. He brought his own son to be killed as offering to God on the mountain. This man of faith learned what it meant to walk by faith and not by sight. He allowed to bring him to the place where all his human reason for hope was gone, but against hope He believed in hope that he would become the father of many nations, even as God said. He is our example for us to follow because He is the Father of the faithful and through His seed, Jesus Christ, all nations will be blessed.

Let us walk on after him, yet even one greater than Abraham came. Jesus Christ who came as the son of man. This Son of God, and Son of man demonstrated to us the perfect obedience of a life that walked by faith and not by sight. He has given us that same life through the power of the Holy Spirit in us to “walk by faith and not by sight.“

Will you allow the Spirit of God to make you meek and lowly in heart? If you will, you will find the true “faith of God and you will be able to be as the scripture says, “ the just shall live by faith.”