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HAVE YOU FAITH?

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 17, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 46.

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HAVE YOU FAITH?

By L. A. Hoopes

“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.” “God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”
Two things are prominently set forth in these texts, namely, our obligation to exercise faith, and the fact that God has placed within the reach of every one the possibility of faith; for none can say it is impossible to have faith. The only reason why he does not recognize the presence of the gift is that he does not exercise it.
Faith is not sight; it is belief based on authority, when as yet nothing is seen. “Faith is the evidence of things not seen.” It is the groundwork of hope. It takes hold of the promises of God, and makes them real. It unlocks the mystery of godliness, and brings the blessed realization of oneness with the Father. It surmounts difficulties, and shouts the victory even when no victory is in sight. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”
Our faith should grow. We should pray, as did one of old, “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.” We should learn lessons of faith and trust in every opening providence around us. In the earthly ministry of Jesus, every opportunity was improved to strengthen the faith of every trembling soul. Every act of mercy, every miracle of healing, was calculated to help the people to believe. “That ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, . . .” saith He to the sick of the palsy, “Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.” And he arose, and departed to his house. But when the multitudes saw it, they marveled [feared], and glorified God, which had given such power unto men. “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name.”
As we study the miracles of Christ, especially those of healing, we see the people were healed according to their faith. The only thing the sick could do was to place their wills on the side of Christ in the exercise of faith. Faith is the gift of God, and is ours to exercise. If we do not exercise faith, we fail to reap the benefit to be derived from it.
In the last text cited, the prime object in believing is said to be that we might have life through His name. Life through His name comprehends every act of our lives. Paul writes: “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”
It requires faith to “deny” one’s self “daily” (Luke 9:23), and see, instead of his own righteousness (filthy rags), the perfect robe of righteousness woven for him by the Son of God. It requires faith for one to look into that photograph of his natural heart given in Jer. 17:9, and then see, instead of the deceit and desperate wickedness, a pure, spotless, and sinless Jesus enthroned, the hope of glory.
Life is active. A life of faith is a life of activity. “Faith works by love, and purifies the heart.” We can not keep still if we exercise faith. The experiences of ancient Israel furnish forcible illustrations of this. When they came to the Red Sea, they were to “go forward.” When they came to the Jordan, they were to go forward. When they came to the walled city of Jericho, they were to march around it, according to the command of the Lord. There was work in it all, but it was the work of faith.
Reader, have you faith? Have you in your experience come up to what seemed insurmountable barriers in your pathway, such as a Red Sea or an overflowing Jordan? Have you come in contact with a Jericho, with its impregnable walls?Have you marched around it for seven days, never uttering a word, and on the seventh day encompassed it seven times, and then shouted the victory when as yet there was no sign of the walls falling? Like Gideon’s band of three hundred, have you held the lighted lamp in one hand, and the trumpet in the other, and shouted the victory, even tho Midian’s host were many times larger?
The case of Elisha and his servant at Dothan, surrounded by the Syrians, is worthy of consideration in connection with this subject of faith. The servant was in anxiety because of imminent danger; but the man of God felt different. His words of consolation were: “Fear not; for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw; and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”
Just so our faith should take hold of the promises of God. He has never left His children to themselves. His Word is, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Not only should our faith take hold of God when we come up to a Red Sea or a turbulent Jordan or a Jericho, but in the many every-day incidents that so easily ruffle us. That hasty word spoken in the home was the result of not exercising faith in a Jesus who was present to keep you from it, had you only let Him.
The exercise of faith will lead the parent to do as did Job, when his three “sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; . . . and it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt-offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.”
Job virtually took the place of his children, and claimed the promise in their behalf. “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us; and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and He shall give him life for them that sin not unto death.” Faith says, Without Him I can do nothing, but with Christ I can do all things. L. A. HOOPES.