Belief, Faith And Trust- What’s The Difference? Post 245
Belief, faith and trust are all different part of our relationship with the Lord. Belief is simply acknowledging that the Lord Jesus Christ lived, walked the earth and died for our sins. But, in order to live the powerful and abundant life Jesus offers us, we must place our trust in His Word which shows our faith.
Belief is the easy part, even the demons belive that Jesus is the Christ and they certainly won’t receive the good life the Lord offers us.
” I[Jesus] have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.”(John 12:46)
When we put our faith in the Lord and trust the Bible, we are trusting our heavenly Father as a child trusts what their parent tells them.
“Thank you Father for hiding the truth from those who think themselves wise and clever and reveiling to the childlike- it pleased you to do it this way.”(Matt 11:25)
Once we all set aside our intellect and admit that God’s way is much higher than our thinking, we can actually let go and believe the unbelievable things we read in the Bible. Once we get to this point, the Bible becomes exciting to read as we see God’s power and amazing help for His people in the stories over and over again.
The Faith and Trust of Noah
In the story of Noah, God wanted to destroy humanity due to their lack of faith in His guidance and their disobedience. God did observed one man named Noah who was righteous in His sight and therefore God set up a plan to destroy the disobedient but save Noah and His family.
“So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.” (Gen 5:6: 13-14)
No rain had fallen in the world at this time, so building a boat seemed ludicrous. Noah obeyed because he understood that God is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent Noah trusted God. When we too will receive supernatural help as we are obedient to the teachings in the Bible.
“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.”(Heb 11:7)
The Belief and Trust of Abraham
Abraham trusted God at His word. Abraham was tested with the horrific instructions to take his son up on the mountain to be sacrificed. Abraham knew that God created Isaac in a supernatural way and thus this very painful request was followed by Abraham, trusting God would provide in some way for Isaac to live. And thus Abrahams trust in God was so strong that he spoke to his son Isaac that God would indeed provide.
Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.”(Gen 22:7-8)
Both of the story of Noah and of Abraham depict the truth that God can be trusted no matter how unusual or painful the request might seem at the time. If we want God’s ultimate good to be carried out in our lives, we need to set aside our rational thinking and begin to trust our heavenly Father who does not wrong and only leads us to the very best life has to offer.
Faith is demonstrated by action and after we act God sees us as in rightstanding with Him due to our obedience.
“Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”(Romans 4:3)
Christians all have a measure of faith given to us by God. And when we believe in Jesus whom we have never seen, we become saved for eternity. Beyond that it is up to us how much we read and know about our Lord and thus how much we trust Him to guide our life.
One thing is for sure, God is no respector of persons and if He allowed Satan to test Job, we know that our faith will be tested as well. This sifting is painful. But if we stay in faith, trusting that our Lord will come thorugh and help us, we will come through our firey afflictions with much stronger faith. Satan is actually a tool in the hands of God to strengthen our faith and thus bring us to even greater blessings.
“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”(1 Peter 4:12-13)
a paraphrase from the Message “bible” says it like this:
“Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner.”
We cannot experience God’s power or know God fully unless we believe Him even though our lives are being sifted by the enemy to prove our faith. In the end we will be praising and thanking God for the experience because we will understand why He let us endure the trials.
God is good all of the time!
Food For Thought,
Lisa
