April 23, 2022 WWJWMTD by Steve, the son of John

Faith is…

Much has been written about faith—what it is and how to have more of it in one’s life. However, with all that has been said and written about faith, people still struggle with the question, ‘How do I succeed in getting faith to work for me?’

Faith is definitely not believing more or trusting more. This line of thinking has been used in abundance, in ignorance, and in the judgment of others. Faith is not believing better or deeper or more sincere. Rather it is simply responding to God’s will. Whenever you respond to what God wants, is asking of you, or in answering His voice, God calls you a person of faith.

Faith works and is embedded in these three terms: responding, relying upon, and repenting. The best example of what Jesus calls faith is found in Luke 17:5 and the following verses. “He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that, you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So, you also, when you have done everything, you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ ” NIV

Here are the principles in this teaching: one, you either have faith or you do not, (it only takes a mustard seed of faith to do anything); two, you have to be caring for others—if you do not care about others and willing to be a servant you will not be called; three you take on the responsibility to always in every situation to serve God (whatever God wants that is what you do): four, you consider yourself an unworthy servant and what you did in Christ is and was never for your glory or honor.

So, you want to have more faith (or see your faith work in every situation) one must respond to what God wants/His will, totally rely upon God in everything (you are the servant and God is the master), and last, of all, you are a nobody—you do not get any honor, recognition, or reward. Faith is all about God and what God wants to do—you need only to respond to God through obedience, humility, and praise to Him alone. This is our faith, and this is how it works.

So, let’s stop worrying if we have enough faith but rather respond to what God wants and do it in humility. It only takes an ounce of faith to produce a ton of results. (There are many more stories of faith in both the Old and New Testaments, but they all teach the same truth.)

WWJWMTD

What would Jesus want me to do?

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

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