The Ultimate Faith
God has to have faith. In order for His words to produce what He says, He must have faith. In Genesis 1, when He said, “Light be,” He had to believe that light would burst forth at the sound of those words. Jesus, who is God, had to walk by faith to do everything He did for God while He was on the earth.
Everyday, He walked in faith. He healed the multitudes. He fed crowds of people. He raised the dead. He used supernatural wisdom to combat the hypocrisy of the religious leaders. Everything He did required faith in His Father. Jesus continually operated in faith.
It has been said that faith is the currency of God’s kingdom. In the natural, a person can buy things using money. In the same way, we can receive what we need and want by using faith. Faith is how transactions are made in the kingdom of God.
The ultimate transaction, the exchange of our sin for Jesus’ righteousness, required ultimate faith. God the Father had to have faith that Jesus would execute His part of the plan that had been laid out before the foundation of the world- the laying down of His life for ours. Jesus had to have faith that if he laid His life down, God the Father would not leave Him in hell. They both had to have faith in the power of the Holy Spirit to raise Jesus back to life.
And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ ” Having said this, He breathed His last. Luke 23:46 (NKJV)
Consider the faith it took to do what He did, following through with His part of the plan. Ponder His last words on the cross. In essence, He was saying, “I did My part, and now I am trusting You, Father, to do Your part and not leave Me in hell.” And, His faith was justified. God did as He planned and the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit busted through the gates of hell, and Jesus was resurrected. It really was- and is- ultimate faith in operation.
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. Romans 12:3 (New International Version, NIV) emphasis mine
We can tap into the ultimate faith of God. This verse tells us that we, as believers, have been given faith by God. That is why Jesus said we could do the works that He did- and even greater works. God placed a certain amount of faith in each of us when we were born-again. We can use that faith and grow it and make it stronger. We get faith by reading and hearing the Word. We exercise it and strengthen it by use.
“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:22-24 (New International Version, NIV)
Read the Word, believe it, speak it, and grow your faith more and more.