God kind of Faith 1
By Ivan Ho 1 Feb 2019
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
1. Faith is not self confidence
When we talk about the God kind of faith, we are not talking about having self confidence. Unfortunately, people who are full of self confidence don’t usually have the kind of faith spoken of in the Bible. People who are full of self confidence are usually reliant on their own capabilities and powers. They put their confidence on circumstances they can see, things they can touch in the here and now, things that are within their control. Lot of people with self confidence on the outside are actually lacking in faith on the inside. Their confidence comes from external things such as their financial powers, human connections, positions they hold rather than on God.
2. Faith is not religious beliefs
When we are talking about having the God kind of faith, we are not talking about having religious beliefs either. Many people who have religious beliefs, including Christian belief or “Christan faith”, may not actually live in faith. They may be living in hope, but they are not living in faith as God intends. Having hope is far better than having no hope at all, but hope alone would not take us to our destiny. Only having the God kind of faith will lead us to our God given destiny.
3. Faith is not fate
Such is the difference between people who live in “fate” and those who live in “faith”.
Those who believe in fate believe in fatalistic encounters and happenings that are predetermined by heaven above. They would passively accept “whatever will be will be”. They don’t really have faith as they believe that whatever happens to them are all set up from above of which they have little control. If things happen, it’s God’s will. If not, they will accept it as God’s will also. They just accept everything as their fate.
As I have mentioned before, not everyone we meet, not everything that happen around us, are necessarily God sent or arranged by God. More often than not, some people are sent by satan, some circumstances are set up by the devil with the intention to lead you away from God and His plans and purposes for your life. Sadly, there are people who have been entrapped by the devil, thinking it was God. In reality, they have lost faith in God and in the original words that God said to them. When circumstances seem to contradict the promises God speaks to us , our faith will be tested.
4. Faith is not experience
A person’s confidence often comes from his experiences. When he has never been to certain places, never has the experience of doing certain things, to him there are many unknown factors. But when we continually go to the same place, or continuously do the same things on a regular basis, our confidence in these matters will increase. To certain extent, life experiences will help us build our trust and confidence. We do need experiences to help increase our confidence, but moreso we need faith to carry us through circumstances we have never experienced before.
When we talk about biblical faith, ie the God kind of faith that we are discussing here, we are not talking about faith that comes from our experiences. We do not need faith to believe that the sun will rise tomorrow for we see the sun rise from the east everyday. In the same way, when someone drives on the same route everyday, he would rely on his experiences rather than faith to take him to his destination. However, when God tells me to go somewhere I have never been before, I need faith in His words to move towards God’s destiny.
Some experiences in life come from God which would help us build our faith in Him. Having said that, one must not put his faith in experiences instead of faith in God. There is no need for us to continually pursue new experiences. All we need is to pursue Christ.
5. Faith is not superstition
It beggars belief that so many people, including some Christians, would engage themselves in superstitions. For example, some would put up crucifix everywhere to ward off evil spirits. Others would “apply the blood” over their cars to protect them from accidents. Still others would lie on the graves of past famous Christian leaders in order to obtain their anointings, a practice they call “grave sucking”, and the list of such unbiblical practices goes on.
For people who have no faith in Christ, they often put their faith in superstitious practices which they hope would supernaturally lead them to a better future, even though these practices are forbidden by God. For example, those who belief in fate would consult mediums and gurus to try to alter their bad fate. If they believe their fate are written in their names, for example, they would change their names to try to change their fate. But if they believe their fate is written in their facial appearances, their fate is seemingly sealed. Others would believe that their fate is written in the stars so they would consult things like horoscopes to try to find out about their futures.
We need to be careful that our faith is in Christ alone instead of in superstitious practices passed down by our parents or religious traditions.
6. Faith is not assumption
More often than not, people walk in assumptions rather than walk in faith. They assume that, because of circumstancial happenings around them, that God is leading them to do certain things when God was never involved. To put simply, if God never spoke to you about certain things or going anywhere and you move ahead “by faith”, you are walking in assumption.
Assumptions are very dangerous because people actually believe God is leading them towards certain direction which God has never purposed for them. There were people who sold everything to move somewhere only to find out years later that they were walking by assumptions. As Christians, we need to make sure that we walk by faith and not by our own assumptions which I’m sure everyone, myself included, has unfortunately done before.
7. Definition of faith
The God kind of faith is defined in the book of Hebrews as follows:
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith is not just about having hope but rather having hope that has”substance”, not just about having hope for things in the unforeseeable future, but faith based on internal “evidence” of things not seen with the physical eyes. In other words, without substance, without evidence, we don’t yet have faith.
God is not looking for people who have religious beliefs but instead people who have faith in Him alone as His disciples and partners in destiny. The reason is simply this: you can befriend people who may be religious but unless they have faith in you, they will not walk with you. Without faith it is impossible to 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.
To be continued … God kind of faith 2
屬神的信心 1
作者: Ivan Ho 2019年2月1日
信就是所望之事的實底，是未見之事的確據。
1. 信心不是自信
聖經講的信心，不是自信 (Self confidence)。大部份充滿自信的人，都没有聖經所定義的[信心]。他們的自信，是依靠自己的能力所控制的範圍內。他們的自信是建立於自己能見得到，觸摸得到的事情上。很多表面充滿自信的人，內裏卻缺乏信心。他們的自信心是來自自我擁有的能力，財力，權位，人物關係上，而不是源自單靠神的信心。
2. 信心不是信仰
聖經講的信心，也不是宗教信仰 (religious beliefs) 。很多有宗教信仰的人，包括基督信仰，並不一定是活在聖經所定義的[信心]當中。他們只是活在[希望]的層面而已。有希望的人總比没有希望的好，有信心的人都充滿希望，但單靠希望不能帶我們到神所定下之目的地那裏，只有信心才能帶領我們去到最終的目的地。
3. 信心不是緣份
這就是相信 [緣份]和相信基督[命定]的分别。
相信[緣份]的，都是相信機遇的人。相信機遇是[上天决定]的, 他們只是被動式的接受ㄧ切。他們没有真正的信心，因為不能知道上天有甚麽緣份的安排，今天遇到的所謂緣份，明天可能失去了，便是[緣盡]。無論結果是好是壞，對他們來説都是緣份的安排，他們於是[ㄧ切隨緣]。
正如我以前説過，不一定所有遇見的人，身邊發生的ㄧ切事情，都是神的安排。有可能ㄧ些人或發生的事，是撒旦背後所安排的，目的是要帶人遠離神及祂為我們計畫的目的地。有些人跌入魔鬼的圈套，還以為是神的安排，其實他們已對神先去了信心，離棄了神最初對他們所説的話。當事情與神應許的説話似乎有冲突的時候，正是考驗我們信心的時候。
4. 信心不是經歴
人的信心，ㄧ般是建立於經歷上。當我們未去過的地方，未做過的事情，經常會有ㄧ種未知的因素。但當我們經常去同ㄧ地方，經當做同ㄧ樣事情，自信心便不斷增加。人希望多接觸事物，增强信心，這本來是好事。我們須要經驗，幫助我們的自信心。但我們更需要信心去面對我們從未經歷過的事情。
聖經上講的，這裡談論的是[屬神的信心], 不是經歷帶來的信心。我們每天看見太陽從東邊出來，不需要信心去相信明天太陽會出來。正如我們經常在同ㄧ路線架駛，便不再依靠信心，而是依靠經驗。但當神叫我去我從未去過的地方，我便須要相信神的説話，邁向神要我去的目的地。
有些經歷是從神而來的，會增强我們對神的信心。但我們不應把信心放在我們的經歴上，要把信心放在神上。更不須要不斷去追求新的經歷，只須要追求主耶穌基督。
5. 信心不是迷信
或許難以置信，很多人包括ㄧ些基督徒，都有某方面的迷信。例如，有些相信把上字架放在某些地方，邪靈便會被幹走。也有些人相信出外前祈禱用耶穌寳血來確保祐路上平安。更奇怪的是，有些信神的人會去某些已歸天國的出名基督徒的墳墓去吸取他們的恩膏。這些迷信的行為多的是。
致於ㄧ些未信主的人，他們的信心會放在ㄧ些神禁止的迷信行為上，希望神靈保祐他們有美好的將來，甚致用靈謀或師伕指點迷津或收變命運。若他們相信命運是寫在名字上，便會改命去轉運。若他們相信他們的命運是定於星際天象，便會睇星座問前程。若他們相信命運是寫在自己面相的話，怎様去改變命運? 只好認命了。
作為基督徒，我們必須把信心單靠主耶穌基督，而不是盲目跟隨父母或宗教傳統流下來的迷信行為。
6. 信心不是假設
有時候，有些人是藉著假設行事，不是藉著信心行事，往往因為周圍所發生的事情，影響他們以為是神的旨示去做某些事情，其實神ㄧ直以來未有參與在這些事情當中。簡單來説，若神未有向你説要做什麽事或去某些地方，你卻以為是神的意思，便是你藉著假設行事。
其實用假設行事可以相當危險的, 因為人是真心相信神帶領他們去某個方向，卻不是神的旨意。有些人更變賣ㄧ切去某個地方，多年後才發現ㄧ直是自己的意思，不是神的旨意。相信每個基督徒，包括我自己在內，也曾用假設行事的經驗。我們必須經常尋求神，行在祂的美好旨意當中。
7. 信心的定義
神對[信心]的定義，在希伯來書有以下的說明:
信就是所望之事的實底，是未見之事的確據。
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
信心不單是建立於希望，而是建基於有[實底]的希望。信心不單是對將來未見到的事情的仰望，而是建基於對將來未見到的事情在內心已存在的[確據]。換句話説，没有實底，没有確據，就没有聖經所説的信心 。
神尋找的合作伙伴，祂所簡選的門徒，不是有宗教信仰的人, 而是對神單ㄧ信心的人。原因很簡單: 你可以和有宗教信仰的人做朋友，但若他們對你没有信心，他們不會與你同行。没有信心的人，是不能得到神的喜悦的。
人非有信，就不能得神的喜悅；因為到神面前來的人必須信有神，且信他賞賜那尋求他的人
待續 …. 屬神的信心 2
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