Faith characterizes any religion. In true Christianity, according to the gospel, faith has top priority. But there is much more to it than just a confession of faith in a “presumed” higher authority.
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Just “believe”?
Faith is once again very popular in the various churches today. Actually, it goes without saying, as one might think. Anyone who is in a community, whether Catholic or Protestant, “believes”. Faith has now become so central and heightened that a crucial question appears to be completely overlooked. “Belief in what?”
The fact that faith cannot be the same can be seen in the difference between the Gospel and the Roman Catholic catechism. The believer in Islam also has completely different ideas than the believer in the gospel (Info). Nevertheless, the aspirations for the installation of “one faith” are unmistakable. A unified belief that every denomination and every religion can relate to and even identify with. This belief is based on nature, climate and the preservation of creation. Something that affects everyone equally, regardless of their religion.
The “redeeming universal love”
An added binding agent for uniting the human family in the common “fight against the climate apocalypse” is “love”. Only emphasized again in his last “Angelus” and also pushed forward by the former Protestant churches in Germany to such an extent that at this point one can already speak of an infantilization of people. The core message: “God loves you all to really cuddle, punishes you with thrown cotton balls, and leads everyone straight into the Pippi-Taka-Tuka wonderland.”
However, love that is misinterpreted and conveyed has a completely different character than adoration and emotional surges (Info). “Justice of God? Judgment? Oh what!” (Info).
More than just believing
But even those who believe in Jesus Christ from the heart and believe that they fully believe the written word of God, the Gospel, could be lulled into a false sense of security. Because faith, as described in the Gospel, clearly goes beyond the “simple” faith in Jesus Christ or in someone God. James summarized it in one verse,James 2:19:
“Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.“
Demons do believe in God and they also believe in His only begotten Son of God. You have to know straight away. But does this belief save them? Therefore, there must be more to it than just “belief” in the existence of (a?) God.
Jesus Christ clarified faith
The Judeans of Jesus Christ’s day, led by the Pharisees and Sadducees, also all had one faith. But was this faith according to the gospel? Jesus Christ was confronted by a centurion, a pagan Roman. He asked Jesus Christ to heal his seriously ill servant. Jesus Christ did not reject the Roman centurion, but rather listened to what the centurion had to say. Jesus’ answer was very revealing,Matthew 8:10:
“When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.“
Accordingly, the Roman, a non-Judean, demonstrated greater faith than any descendant of Israel could ever demonstrate. But everyone believed that they had the correct and firm faith.
The faith often described in the Gospel is not just faith in Jesus Christ, but faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, people should believe as Jesus Christ did. When Jesus Christ healed a person, He regularly said, “Your faith has saved you.”
“It’s not a trick, he’s the Son of God,” the objection could be. That’s true, but Jesus Christ was fully human, with all (potential) weaknesses and strengths. Jesus’ fundamental strength was His faith.
Jesus Christ exemplified faith
Jesus Christ could certainly have chosen a different path into this world. Just as the apple fell from the tree onto Isaac Newton’s head, Jesus Christ could have fallen to the ground. As a foundling, as was the case with Moses. But consciously, Jesus Christ should be one hundred percent human, conceived in a human and born of a human. Satan would have had every reason to bring charges if Jesus Christ had displayed His divinity to save people.
Because the laws of God apply to man, he has broken them and Jesus Christ, as a simple man, proved that the laws can definitely be adhered to. You can’t repeat it often enough. Jesus Christ’s fundamental strength here in this world was His unshakable faith. People should also have this belief.
Jesus Christ was “such a man” that he went aside every morning to talk to His Father (all of us) in prayer.
Believe in God’s promises
Another essential aspect of faith is the firm belief in the fulfillment of God’s promises. Many people have the feeling that prayers are only up to the ceiling and requests are not heard by God, let alone fulfilled. One reason for this may well be that people literally do not believe in God’s promises.
God’s laws and also His words and promises can be compared with the laws of nature. They endure, are unchangeable, know no exceptions and are irrefutable. Every person standing on a table firmly believes that a step over the edge will certainly lead to the ground. It doesn’t even occur to him that it could go up, sideways or just straight ahead. The natural law of gravity allows nothing else. This belief in gravity has already transformed into knowledge based on numerous experiences. It is certain!
Paul emphasizes that the written word is not the word inspired by man, but by God,1. Thessalonians 2:13:
“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.“
This also refers to a statement in the Gospel of Mark that summarizes faith in God’s promises in one verse, Mark 11:24:
“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.“
Faith also means trust
God’s promise is to grant every pleasing request of the believer. This is exactly how faith is measured. Anyone who asks God for something does not do so in “supplication” in the hope that “at some point” this request will “perhaps” be fulfilled, but in firm faith (in the conviction) that God has already fulfilled this request before the Amen was spoken is.
Anyone who does not have this belief declares, even if unconsciously, that God is a “saying-monger” who makes these promises in a completely non-binding manner. This person does not have real trust in God.
But as sure as the released stone falls downwards, God’s compliance with His promises and promises is just as certain. Every believer can take Him at his word in the truest sense. Paul wrote about Abraham in Romans 4:20:
“He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;“
Not believing in God’s promises and their fulfillment is a lack of trust and expressed disbelief. Something that God cannot be pleased with and therefore many prayers of request end up on the ceiling.
The Holy Spirit prayed for daily
This faith, a faith of blind trust in the security of all of God’s promises, is what will one day be required of the faithful person. Humans cannot do this on their own. For this he urgently needs the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit is also a firm promise from God, which comes according to man’s request.
And again, every day. Jesus Christ, the 100% human in this world, modeled this “daily refreshment” with the Holy Spirit every day. At the beginning of every day, the surrender of one’s own will and the (certainly fulfilled) request for fulfillment with the Spirit of God.
All in all, this results in a completely different picture of faith than today’s widespread belief in “some” higher power, which should also be designed to be as close to nature as possible and universally compatible with all foundations of faith.
This alone shows that there can be no compromises (syncretism) when it comes to true faith in the Gospel. And that starts with the very first sentence of the Bible:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 1:1
A recommendation for this: “Steps to personal Revival” (Helmut Haubeil)
Bible verses from King James Version
