Friday Finale - Are You Confusing Faith with Belief? - Episode 2

Speaker 0 (0:00): Friday Finale Episode two. Originally written August 1931. Are you confusing faith with belief? Have you ever encountered someone who made a comment similar to, Their faith was just shattered. Or maybe they said it to themselves, After that situation, my faith has just been shattered.

Speaker 0 (0:27): The problem with these comments is that they are confusing faith with belief. As we learned on the Wednesday Word Study this week, faith, there was a difference between the two. Faith is a divine gift from God. It is a divine certainty that something will or will not happen. It is a knowing that cannot be described or touched but resides deep in our soul, our innermost being, a divine gift from God that cannot be shattered, damaged, or destroyed.

Speaker 0 (1:05): Belief is a confidence that something is a certain way, will or will not happen. It resides in the mind of an individual. It is usually based on previous experience or training. I used to ponder this scripture a lot. Proverbs thirteen twelve.

Speaker 0 (1:28): Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire is fulfilled, it is a tree of life. Having lived a life of faith, and faith teaching for almost forty years, this used to stump me. How can hope be deferred if our hope is in Christ and our faith is in Him? Well, while studying this week, I have come to realize something very important that I believe will help all of us, me included. There isn't a one of us out there who have hoped, prayed, and believed for something that didn't happen.

Speaker 0 (2:11): I would say that most of the time, we were quick to just say that it must not have been God's will for us. But we know, even when we are saying it, that it just doesn't ring true in our hearts. But, it's the only explanation that we have. We many times are referring to this very scripture below when we come to that conclusion. One John five fourteen-fifteen in the Amplified Bible.

Speaker 0 (2:42): And this is the confidence, the assurance, the privilege of boldness which we have in Him. We are sure that if we ask anything, make any request according to His will in agreement with His own plan, He listens to and hears us. And if, since we positively know that he listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know with settled and absolute knowledge that we have granted us as our present possessions the requests made of him. But we, as his children, seek to be in his will. I know there are times when a certain job or move is not of him.

Speaker 0 (3:32): And when we don't get the job or we make the move, then it doesn't feel right or work out. We know that it was not his will. But there are so many things in our lives that we can have certainty are his will. And when we hope towards them, and then they don't happen, we are shaken. We know that on the trip to Calvary, Jesus took 39 stripes for our healing.

Speaker 0 (4:00): He bought and paid for it there so we could never have to be sick again. Yet, here we are struggling with this very thing. He also became poor and weak so we did not have to be poor and weak. He became sin and took the penalty once and for all for our sin so we would never have to suffer the punishment of sin. There are certainties in the Bible that we know are God's will.

Speaker 0 (4:31): And yet, when we pray, hope and believe, they do not come to pass. We believe that because we did not receive our healing, that God did not mean for us to be healed. Or maybe that our healing was not bought and paid for by Christ. And that healing is not for everyone, but for God to choose on a case by case basis. But we must know that is not true.

Speaker 0 (5:02): God is no respecter of persons. He loves us equally and would never withhold one universal gift from one of his children while giving it to another. We have often chalked it up to not enough faith. We've come up with a multitude of reasons and excuses because we refuse to believe that the Scriptures we read and studied about faith are wrong. So, where is the disconnect?

Speaker 0 (5:34): I have come to believe that the disconnect is in our concept of faith. I have come to believe that what we many times refer to as faith is really just a belief that something will happen. Remember as we talked about on Wednesday, faith is a divine gift from God. It is not something we can generate or create on our own. It resides in our innermost being and is just something we know without any definitions or explanations.

Speaker 0 (6:09): We just know. I think what we do so often is that we build a form of hope for something we want or need to happen. But instead of pouring faith into that form, we pour our own belief into that form. Hebrews eleven:one from the King James Bible. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Speaker 0 (6:40): We must pour the supernatural gift of faith into our hope to manifest or materialize what we hope for. If we pour our own mental belief into our hope, mistaking it for faith, our hope will be deferred. Our heart will be made sick. So, what must we do then? We must spend time with the Holy Spirit requesting and receiving His gifts from Him.

Speaker 0 (7:15): We must read the Word and allow the Spirit to teach us and to bring revelation knowledge to us. We must listen to faith based teaching by credible pastors and teachers. We must share testimonies of faith with our friends, family and coworkers. This is how we grow that seed of divine faith given to us. And even past experiences can produce faith when you tell them to yourself and to others again and again.

Speaker 0 (7:54): When you recite to yourself all that God has done and you hear it again, it builds your faith. Faith comes from the Holy Spirit by hearing. Our faith will arise in our spirit man in the pit of our soul and that faith will not be denied. Romans ten seventeen So then, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Once again, we need to rethink what we know about this Word, this concept.

Speaker 0 (8:35): Are you filling your form of hope today with true Holy Spirit faith? Or are you filling it with your own mental belief? God has given His only Son not only for our spiritual salvation, but for all the gifts a child of God is entitled to. He has even provided the gift of faith to pour into our hope to materialize those gifts here on this earth. But you must be the one to engage in a relationship with Holy Spirit to receive those gifts.

Speaker 0 (9:15): Luke eleven thirteen from the Amplified Bible. If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good gifts gifts that are to their advantage to your children how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and continue to ask Him? Invite the Holy Spirit into your life today to teach you, comfort you, and grant you His gifts. This study is a culmination of this week's Monday meditation and the Wednesday Word Study. By drilling down on specific scriptures, then specific words, we can begin to gain a better understanding of the Word of God and therefore apply it to our lives more accurately.

Speaker 0 (10:14): The Friday finale episodes take both the Monday meditation and Wednesday word study and pull them together for an overall teaching to equip and train us for a more godly and beneficial life. Thank you for listening. Be sure and check out my other podcasts and episodes at nancyjacksonpodcast.com. Follow along with your favorite podcast player.

Ryan Reynolds (10:46): Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same premium wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do at mintmobile.com/switch.

Unknown Speaker (11:06): Upfront payment of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. Fee full terms at mintmobile.com.

Unknown Speaker (11:17): Marketing is hard. But I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now, and it's great.

Unknown Speaker (11:25): You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad.

Unknown Speaker (11:35): Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from LibsynAds. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements or run a pre produced ad like this one across thousands of shows to reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with LibsynAds. Go to libsynads.com that's libsynads.com today.