Faith Hope and Charity

          I have a few ideas rattling around in my brain right now. Normally, when I get a new idea, insight, or revelation, I like to sit on it for a while to let it all condense into a more intelligible whole, and in case there’s something more to it that I might have missed the first time it occurred to me. Recently however, I have been receiving insight after idea, one right after another, and I have to start writing them down and sharing them before my brain starts to get them jumbled up.

          This one will be about the following passage in the Bible.

          And now abides faith, hope, and charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, preferably that you may prophesy. (1 Cor. 13:13 – 14:1)

          Prophesying is not all about predicting the future, although that could come to be a part of it. It’s really about professing the gospel of Christ, sharing God’s truth with others. And the way into that place of prophesying is through faith, hope, and charity. First let’s look at faith.

          Now faith is the confidence in things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen… without faith it is impossible to please God: for he that comes to God must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him out. (Heb. 11:1, 6)

          The main things I want to bring out of that passage are confidence and conviction. Without these things you cannot (and will not) diligently seek God. Believe God exists; that’s the confidence. And be convicted in the knowledge that you won’t get those ‘rewards’ if you don’t earnestly seek God.

          Now let’s take a look at one of my favorite scriptures for describing how to seek out God.

          Blessed is the man who considers the counsel of the godly, and stands for righteousness’ sake, and never shows disrespect or dishonor. And his delight is in the law of Jehovah; and in His law he meditates by day and by night. And he shall be like a tree planted beside rivers of water, bringing forth his fruit in his season, his leaf shall not wither, and everything he does shall prosper. (Psalm 1:1-3)

          This scripture describes a God-fearing man who is diligently seeking God. And it describes his state of being comparing it to a very well situated, fruit-bearing tree. And, for those of you who don’t know, these are the fruits of the Spiritual man.

          The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control. (Gal. 5:22-23)

          So that, simply put, is what faith is and what it produces. But where does it start?

          Faith comes by hearing, and hearing the declaration of Christ (prophesying). (Rom. 10:17)

          Hearing the word of God, the truth, is what produces faith in a person. Because, as we all know, in the fruit of a tree are the seeds needed to grow more trees like it. And right here is where I’d like to insert a bit about the Word of God and how to handle it.

          The word of God is alive and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the parting of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a judge of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Heb. 4:12)

          That describes how powerful the Word of God is. And take a look at this next scripture.

          Therefore seeing we have this ministry, according to the mercy we have been shown, we are not weary. But we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. (2 Cor. 4:1-2)

          I would like to highlight the part there that says, ‘nor adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves.’ One can use the word of God for evil ends, and without sharing the actual truth about God with others – this often happens, truth be told. Obviously, we should not be doing this.

          Thou shalt not answer against thy neighbor with false testimony. (Ex. 20:16)

          Thou shalt love your neighbor as yourself. (Matt. 22:39)

          The word of God is not just sharper than any other sword, it is a sword.

          And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is a declaration of God. (Eph. 6:17)

          And remember that the word of God is compared to other two-edged swords. Interesting fact: a two-edged sword has two edges, and each edge has its own name; as you’re holding the sword, the edge facing your opponent is called the true edge, and the edge facing back at you is the false edge. Be careful not to cut yourself with the word of God!

          Now, I think we should move on to hope, and how it works.

          Everyone who has this hopeful expectation in God purifies himself, even as God is pure. (1 John 3:3)

          Hope isn’t like some pie-in-the-sky daydream; it’s a real thing that spurs us on to action. And this hope we can have in God causes us to become pure.

          Whereby shall a young man cleanse his way? By keeping Your word. With all my heart, I have sought after you: O do not let me wander from Your commandments. In my heart I have stored up Your promise, that I may not sin against You. (Psalm 119:9-11)

          Again we see mention of seeking after God, with our whole heart. And in our hearts we should hold onto the promises of God. These will keep our hearts and minds pure and free from sin. The following is one of the most dramatic and just plain amazing promises God has given us.

          Have faith in God. For I tell you truly, that whoever says to this mountain, ‘ Be picked up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, whatever he’s spoken, it shall be done. Therefore I say unto you, all things you ask for in prayer, if you believe that you have received it, it shall be yours. (Mark 11:22-24)

          We believe from the heart, because that is where we should be storing God’s promises. The best way to illustrate this is actually to go to the negative side of things, because everybody is familiar with living with the selfish carnal nature.

          It starts with fear, rather than faith, produced in us by the falsehoods we have been taught throughout our lives, promises of evil things rather than good things. Next we start to imagine in our hearts what our lives would be like when we’re subjected to the fulfillment of these promises; this is most commonly known as worrying. We picture all these bad things happening in our lives, and to varying degrees, we actually believe them, even if they haven’t really happened yet. We know this when our blood pressure increases, our pulse is racing, we start to sweat, and our guts start to tie themselves in knots. Our physical bodies actually feel anxious about something that hasn’t even happened, and may never happen. Why? Because our hearts are telling them that it’s real. Afraid of losing or missing out on so much we end up behaving quite selfishly. This fear-worry-selfishness pattern is the exact opposite of faith-hope-charity.

          I’ve often heard charity referred to as selflessness and perfect love which is clearly true. Charity allows us to clearly prophesy (speak the truth) into other people’s lives and plant those seeds of faith rather than fear. This is, in point of fact, how perfect love casts out fear as it says in the following scripture.

          And we know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; and he that lives in love lives in God, and God lives in him. In this is love perfected in us that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as God is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear brings punishment. He that lives in fear is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:16-18)

          We know (faith) and believe (hope) the love God has for us. That’s what allows us to grow fully into charity and produce all that wonderful Spiritual fruit that everyone can enjoy. One last scripture to demonstrate the faith-knowledge, the hope, and the complete lack of fear one can have in the love of God.

          Should this actually happen, our God is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, you should know, we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image you have set up. (Daniel 3:17-18)

          This is a powerful statement of faith, given by these three Hebrew men (not children) before the narcissistic king Nebuchadnezzar threw them into the fiery furnace. They know GOD CAN DO IT, they also believe HE WILL DO IT, but no matter what happens THEY WILL NOT BE AFRAID. Many people will tell you about what God CAN do, not ever really graduating up to the hopeful He-WILL-do-it level of faith which creates true, pure charity. And that is because they still hold fear and doubt in their hearts.

          Let me reassure you, all those miracles you read about in the Bible, God can do them for you, in fact, He wants to. He wants to heal your diseases, help you out with your finances, and give you a chance to buy that newest latest cool thing before they’ve all sold out. He wants to bless you, in ways you cannot even imagine. But you cannot be afraid and have doubt in your heart. Ask, seek, knock, and then do it all over again; seek God with your whole heart and you will find Him.

          You may worry about your sins and your faults and your weaknesses. Don’t. They are nothing before the power of God. As a matter of fact, the more messed up you are, the more glory God will receive when He finally moves in your life. So forget about those things that are wrong in your life; all your baggage will sort itself out if you seek out the things God has promised you for the new life you can have in Him.

          That’s all… for now. I hope it was edifying. God bless you!