VIKTOR SAARI MINISTRIES

 Faith is often is misunderstood and misrepresented. Most believe that “dead” faith is “alive” faith, when of course the two are very opposite and have very different outcomes. I recently heard a sermon preached on what the pastor described as “faith”. He explained that faith was the thought God had before He created the world. Now the pastor is right; this is faith, but it is dead faith. Nothing would have resulted from this kind of “faith”. No, you and I would not be here, we would still simply be “God’s thought”.

So what is “alive” faith? Well, the Bible tells us in tells us in James 2:17-18 in the amplified what faith without works is:

¹⁷So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative, dead).

¹⁸But someone will say [to you then], You [say you] have faith, and I have [good] works. Now you show me your [alleged] faith apart from any [good] works [if you can], and I by [good] works [of obedience] will show you my faith.

A natural example of faith is very simply this. You go to work everyday because you have “faith” that your boss will pay you. This is alive faith, because you put your faith that you would get paid into action. I understand that this is just a natural example, but understand all the rules that we see here on earth that produce results, come from a root that is planted in the spiritual realm.

We clearly see then that faith, without works is dead. We all know and see in this world that something that is dead cannot bring any results. So why do we as Christians believe our “dead” faith will bring “alive” faith results? Because that’s what we have been taught.

So, we now understand that for our faith to be “alive” we must have works. But, what is faith anyway? Hebrews 11.1 describes faith as this:

 ¹Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now realise that all your faith will be is the substance of things hoped for, nothing more than that. If you do not put works to your faith; it will never become your reality.

Now the Greek word for faith, which is what the New Testament is written, is Pistis. The definition of Pistis is persuasion, conviction and credence, calling itself the truth or truthfulness of God. Webster’s calls faith something that does not need proof or evidence, complete trust and reliance and above all, loyalty.

So how do we put this kind of faith to work, so that it is no longer dead? First we need to get the stumbling blocks out of the way. What causes faith to stumble? Unforgiveness; it is the ultimate faith killer. We clearly see this is in Mark 11:25-26, just after Jesus finished talking about what faith could do:

²⁵And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him and ^[g]let it drop (leave it, let it go), in order that your Father Who is in heaven may also forgive you your [own] failings and shortcomings and let them drop.

^26[h]But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your failings and shortcomings.

So we now understand what stops faith from working, but now how do we turn the key to start it working? By love you say? Yes, but it is much deeper than you think. Let’s go to that famous scripture now and reveal the true meaning of what kind of love is involved in causing faith to work.

Galatians 5:6

⁶For [if we are] in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love.

The word love here in the Greek is agape, which is the God kind of love and is described as a love feast of charity. This is an amazing kind of love. But, I now have a question for you. Would not God want you to love Him with as much as you possibly could? Yes, of course He does. Well, let’s go check out what our capacity for love is in Mark 12:28-30:

²⁸And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?

²⁹And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

³⁰And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

Now the Greek word love here is not agape. It is apapao, which is from the word phileo, which means to be fond of or a friend of an individual or object. Obviously this is not agape kind of love, the kind of love that makes faith work. But if this is our full capacity of love, how will we ever get our faith to work? It would seem as though it is impossible, because now we don’t even have the key to get faith to work.

But surely somebody must hold this “key” of love. Yes, someone does, let’s turn to Galatians 5.22-23 to find out who:

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, ²³Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

The word love here is agape, the God-kind of love. The kind of love that makes faith work and we clearly realise this startling fact; our faith has been given to us. This is why in I Corinthians 12.9 it tells us that faith is a “gift” of the spirit!

How do we accept this gift? By obedience to the Holy Spirit, because understand something very clearly, if you are not obeying that still small voice; you are not accepting the truth of the Holy Spirit. You are substituting His truth, for your distorted “opinion”. Because realise it is only to the degree that you obey the Holy Spirit’s voice, that He can produce fruit in your life. Where you are and what you possess that truly brings fulfillment in your life, represents the degree you have been led by the Spirit.

But now I present another very startling fact: if you are not being led by the Holy Spirit, you are in sin. Let’s go confirm this is the Bible.

Romans 14:23:

 ²³And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

We understand now that faith is a gift from the Spirit and if you are not being led by Him you do not possess this gift of faith. Simply, you must be led by the Holy Spirit, or you do not have faith. We then understand that God put His faith to work by speaking and is how we came into being. He believed, therefore He spoke ( II Corinthians 4.13).