By Xianshang
As there are more and more people believing in Christianity, we are not unfamiliar with belief in God. Though many people believe in God, most of them don’t understand what true faith in God is. Perhaps many believers don’t agree with this word and they say: “Aren’t you thinking less of us? Since we have believed in God for many years, is it possible that we don’t understand what faith in God is?” Some say, “Believing in God is admitting that there is a God, and I believe that God created the heavens and earth and all things, and that God truly exists. Isn’t this believing in God?” Some say, “I often read the Bible, pray, attend gatherings, and spread the gospel. Doesn’t it count as true faith in God?” Some say, “I can recite the famous chapters and sayings from the Bible. So who dares to say I am not a true believer in God?” Some say, “I am able to sacrifice for the Lord, and I’ve been working, preaching and spreading the gospel for many years, and I always look over and support brothers and sisters. Don’t I truly believe in God?” People use many sayings like these to prove that they are true believers in God. However, have we ever thought about whether these views are right?
Let’s see what the Lord Jesus said about it: “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:22-23). From these scriptures, we can see that those who spread the gospel, cast out demons and performed many miracles in the name of the Lord Jesus also had meetings, preached sermons and spread the gospel, expending and suffering a lot, but the Lord Jesus said He didn’t know them and called them evil-doers. In our conceptions we believe that they were true believers in God who were surely praised by the Lord. But in fact, the Lord not only didn’t praise their faith, but even condemned and eliminated them. Then can we still think that those who believe there is a God, know the Bible well, and work and sacrifice for the Lord have true faith in God? Actually, true faith in God is not as simple as we think, and there is truth in here to seek. Then what does true faith in God mean? Let’s have a fellowship over this issue.
How should we practice our faith in order to be a true believer in God? At the mention of this topic, we first read this passage: “Though many people believe in God, few understand what faith in God means, and what they must do to be after God’s heart. This is because, though people are familiar with the word ‘God’ and phrases such as ‘the work of God,’ they do not know God, much less do they know His work. No wonder, then, that all those who do not know God are possessed of a muddled belief. People do not take belief in God seriously because believing in God is too unfamiliar, too strange for them. In this way, they fall short of the demands of God. In other words, if people do not know God, do not know His work, then they are not fit for God’s use, much less can they fulfill the desire of God. ‘Belief in God’ means believing that there is a God; this is the simplest concept of faith in God. What’s more, believing that there is a God is not the same as truly believing in God; rather, it is a kind of simple faith with strong religious overtones. True faith in God means experiencing the words and work of God based on a belief that God holds sovereignty over all things. So you shall be freed of your corrupt disposition, shall fulfill the desire of God, and shall come to know God. Only through such a journey can you be said to believe in God.” These words have revealed the truth and mysteries regarding faith in God. We see that merely acknowledging that there is a God or absolutely believing that God exists is not true belief in God but just religious conviction. If we believe in God but don’t know the meaning of true faith in God or the work of God, and nor do we know God, then our belief is just muddled faith and can never be praised by God. In truth, faith in God means experiencing the words and work of God based on a belief that God holds sovereignty over all things and then coming to know God. So if we only acknowledge that there is a God without experiencing God’s work or knowing God, we will still resist God and betray God, and our faith like this is meaningless. The following passage clearly tells us the true meaning of faith in God: “True faith in God means experiencing the words and work of God based on a belief that God holds sovereignty over all things. So you shall be freed of your corrupt disposition, shall fulfill the desire of God, and shall come to know God. Only through such a journey can you be said to believe in God.” From these words, we can see that faith in God is faith in God’s words, and is practicing God’s words and experiencing His work. Only in this way can we come to know the truth, achieve true knowledge of God, and count as true believers in God. For example, when Job faced trails, he accepted them from God and believed whatever came upon him, be it good or bad, was out of God’s permission. Moreover, he believed in the sovereignty of God, and believed that his being robbed of his property also contained God’s predestination for the robbers couldn’t take anything away from him without God’s permission. So, he was able to obey and offer a prayer of praise, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21). After having stood firm in his testimony, he obtained God’s double blessing, and Jehovah God spoke to him in the wind. From the example of Job, we can see that Job was a man who truly believed in God. For when encountering issues, he didn’t look at them from the perspective of man or blame and misunderstand God, nor did he rely on his temper and his own way to take his property back; rather, he accepted them from God and obeyed God’s sovereignty and arrangements. Finally, he stood firm in his testimony. Only through such a journey can one be said as a true believer in God. If we don’t step onto the true path of believing in God, but instead live by Satan’s philosophy of life, treat all people, matters and things according to our notions and imaginations, and neither seek God’s will nor pursue the knowledge of God and the transformation of our disposition, then no matter how many years we believe it will all be to no avail. Just like when the Lord Jesus came to work, many people returned to the Lord Jesus because of His words and the signs and wonders He manifested; while the scribes and Pharisees neither knew the words of truth, nor the work of the Holy Spirit, but viewed things from the perspective of man, regarding the Lord Jesus as a son of a carpenter and saying He drove out demons by the prince of demons. They even denied that the miracles the Lord Jesus performed, such as making the blind see and raising the dead came from God. Even more, because they feared losing their positions and jobs as well as losing the followers, they wantonly framed and condemned the Lord Jesus. In view of this fact, no matter how they expended, ran to and fro, or spread the gospel for the Lord, the Lord would never praise them but would just call them evil-doers.
Therefore, we must understand what true faith in God is before we can succeed in believing in God. If we carelessly believe in God and just go through the motions, clinging to the old perspectives and observing some religious rules, even though outwardly we have meetings, pray to God, read God’s words, and spread the gospel, inwardly we will never know what faith in God is or the results we need to achieve in believing God. Moreover, we will become arrogant and pompous for the equipment of words and theory and the appearance of sacrifice. If we neither pursue the truth of belief in God nor see things and comport ourselves according to the truth, we will unknowingly follow the steps of the Pharisees. Therefore, if we wish to achieve good results and succeed in our belief in God, we must step onto the true way of believing in God.
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