23 Mar Faith
I have noticed lately that in some circles of the church, having the God-kind of faith is an option. What I mean by that is not just believing that there is a God. That’s a form of Deism, “the big man in the sky theory.” A God who is there watching us, but doing nothing to help our problem. William DeArteaga, in his powerful book “Quenching the Spirit” uses the following words to describe this kind of Christian: The first is “Christian materialism.” They say if you can’t touch it, see it, or understand it through natural science, then it is not God. The second word is “cessationism.” That means they believe that all the miracles ceased at the death of the last original apostle.
The third word is “consensus orthodoxy” which in layman’s language means “Everybody that I know believes it this way. This is the way we have always believed it; therefore it must be right.” DeArteaga goes on to explain that those who believe in a living God, Who is interested in our daily life, can change our circumstances through faith and prayer. He calls that “Christian Idealism.” And I quote: “Christian Idealism has a viewpoint which understands that thoughts and words influence the natural world to some degree. And at the same time, it is understood that the universe and the material orders are God-created and stable.” “With Christian Idealism,”
DeArteaga continues, “the believer is freed to exercise his faith in imitation of the Bible patterns of faith and prayer without regard to the restrictions of cessationism.” This is what you and I call the God-kind of faith. We can say to that mountain, “Be thou removed.”
We believe that our words and our thoughts have great impact on the outcome of our daily life. We lay hands on the sick for the purpose of making a difference in the outcome of their sick bodies. We also believe that our “faith actions” change the outcome of our life. For example, the law of tithing, sowing and reaping, loving one another, and forgiveness; all of these powerful God-originated laws, dynamically effect the outcome of all we say or do.
Oddly enough, the exclusion of the operation of these laws through ignorance, or rebellion will bring the opposite of blessing to us. Is it any wonder that multitudes of people are in confusion about the goodness and mercy of our loving God? The God-kind of faith is that which is active, alive, and fresh every day. That’s the faith you greet the Holy Spirit with in the morning. It is the kind of faith that works on the job. It’s also the faith used at night when you tuck the little one in and lay hands on his fevered brow. It’s the faith you live with, and the faith you die with—and every wonderful and exhilarating day in between. May your faith (God’s faith in you) never fail you!
~ Apostle George Watkins
Keeper of the Vision
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