Introduction
Welcome to My Thoughts and the last of eight segments of Faith for the Believer series. In previous segments, I have talked about the measure of faith, uncommon faith, the aggressive nature of faith, seven steps to grow your faith, tips to keep and share your faith, staying in the lane of faith, and some companions of faith. In this segment, I will talk about Living a Life of Resilient Faith.
Let us start by looking at the meaning of the word resilient. It is related to either a person or animal that is able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions. When I started to learn about faith and how to use and build it, I started with the fundamentals and how to use them the same way I learned how to bowl.
Becoming Resilient
Many of you know, if you have accessed our website, I am an accomplished bowler, who competed at the highest levels of competition. The only way I became successful was through my coach and mentor. He educated and built my skills using the fundamentals before teaching me more advanced skills.
Starting with the fundamentals and advancing more to higher skills, I became more resilient in league play, match play, and tournaments. In much the same way, God has called us to live a life of resilient faith. We need to first understand the fundamentals of faith from His Word and then learn how to put them into practice in our everyday lives.
To get started, let us study the following principles for living a life of resilient faith.
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Faith is a force, and the Law of Faith Governs this Force
“To demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.” – Romans 3:26-27 (NKJV)
There are laws of physics that have developed over the years, and the reason they’re called laws is because they’re dependable every time without fail. Before we knew we could trust pioneers and inventors; they tested their theories over and over. Once they experienced breakthrough after breakthrough, they discovered became a law. A mathematical equation that could be trusted and adopted.
The law of faith is much the same. It governs the force of faith. It is the foundation of our living a life of resilient faith. God wants us to believe this law exists. He wants us to understand it works by love (Galatians 5:6) and that we are to apply it in our lives.
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We are to Live by Faith
“Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draws back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.” – Hebrews 10:38-39 (NKJV)
When we first got hold of the understanding we are to live by faith, we searched throughout the Bible for evidence of faith. We found from Genesis to Revelation, accounts where God released faith and it manifested or brought it to pass. We found where people in the Bible did the same. These were ordinary people who lived lives of resilient faith.
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Faith is the Substance and Evidence of Things Hoped and not Seen
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” – Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV)
I discussed this passage in previous segments during the series, so just a little recap. The first three words, “Now, faith is,” are for every area of our lives. Faith is now, hope is for our future, and they work together. Hope is the blueprint of faith. You need hope to have faith. Allow faith and hope to work together in your life bringing into this earthly existence what’s waiting for us in the heavenly realm.
Faith is not mental; it’s a force God has given us to use. When God created the heavens and the earth, He didn’t create them out of nothing. He created them out of something we can’t see, which is the force of faith. What’s more, we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-28); therefore, we can create with the force of faith, too.
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Without Faith, Can We Still Please God?
“But without faith, it is impossible to please him: for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” – Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)
When we live by faith, we please God, though oftentimes we’re tempted to try pleasing God by our work, but works alone don’t please God (James 2:26). The faith the writer’s talking about is the God-kind of faith. Refer back to Hebrews 11:1. To live in resilient faith, diligently seek Jesus!
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Faith Comes by Hearing
“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn of you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” – Galatians 3:1-2 NKJV
Another verse to get my point across is Romans 10:17, “Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of God.” To walk in resilient faith, we have to read, study it, and listen to the Word consistently. We need it coming into us through our eyes and our ears, continually.
We live in a day and age of Christian podcasts, websites, social media sites, and limitless access to online Bible translations. Take advantage of the time in which God has placed you. Position yourself to hear the Word of God, so you can get it into your heart and say it with your mouth.
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The Word of Faith is in Your Mouth
“God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.” – Romans 4:17 NKJV. The King James Version put it another way, “Calling things that be not as though they were.”
We release faith by speaking it, by calling things that be not as though they were; but to do so, we have to first have an intimate relationship with the Word. When you know how to live by faith, you come to a place where you have an intimate relationship with the truth of the Word, and you believe it.
James 3:17 tells us, “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.” It’s not hypocrisy to have an intimate knowledge of the Word and then to speak it before there’s a manifestation of it. That’s walking in resilient faith, something God has called each one of us to do.
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Use Your Faith Like a Mechanic Uses a Tool
“So Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.’” – Matthew 17:20, NKJV
When I first began learning about faith, I heard a preacher say God gave him a revelation that he still uses to this day, “Use your faith on purpose like a mechanic uses a tool.” A mechanic needs a specific tool to complete the task. We need to use our faith in the same way. Most of us guys, when we were little boys, love to take something apart, and attempt to put it back together again.
This is how we need to approach learning about faith. Go to the Word, take it apart, piece by piece, verse by verse. Underline and memorize it. Meditated on it. Released it by speaking it. He declared it on behalf of your family, children, and physical health, literally in every situation and circumstance of your life.
Conclusion
As we apply these principles of living a life of resilient faith into our lives, our circumstances will begin to change, and line up with the Word of God. Faith is a tool. It’s a force we can use. It’s a power we can release. It’s a life we can walk in. We can live a life of resilient faith, Amen!
I am Dale Van De Bogart and I fully agree on God’s Word!
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