A
Series that considers the Gifts given by the Holy Spirit to Believers
1.
Introduction
This
page is one of a number that seeks to provide basic study material for
the Christian who wishes to see what the Bible says about the gifts
of the Spirit.
On
this page we first distinguish the GIFT of faith from other forms of
grace and then observe it in action in the Old Testament, in Jesus'
ministry and in the Acts of the Apostles.
Gift
of Faith Definition : a supernatural level of faith
(believing God) for a specific time to believe for the impossible
2.
Different sorts of faith:
- Saving
initial (justifying) faith - trust in Jesus for forgiveness of sins
and eternal life from God. (e.g. Rom 5:1)
- The
Faith - the sum of Christian teaching, a body of truth (e.g. Jude
3, Acts 6:7)
- Simple
daily faith - simply responding to the word of God by the Spirit in
daily living (see Heb 11:6)
- Miraculous
faith - the gift of believing in the face of the impossible
3.
The Gift of Faith
Examples
of miraculous faith in the O.T.:
- Abram
believing for a child Gen 15:5,6 & Heb 11:11
- Elijah
and no rain 1 Kings 17:1 & Jas 5:15-18
- Daniel
prays & in lion's den Dan 6:10-23
What
we can learn from these:
- Faith
in each case is followed by a miracle.
- Faith
was expressed in the face of the impossible.
- Although
we are not told of any special impartation from God it is obvious
that in each case their faith was way beyond the ordinary.
Faith
in Jesus' Ministry:
- Every
act of Jesus was by faith - Jn 5:19
- For
every miracle to be performed there has to be a special impartation
of faith, e.g. raising Lazarus - in Jn 11:4 we have “knowledge” of
what is to happen, but the speaking it out is special faith - assurance
of what has not yet happened (Heb 11:1). The speaking was followed
by activity which brought the miracle.
- The
gift of faith always seems to go with the bringing of a miracle.
Examples
of supernatural faith in Acts:
- Peter
speaking on day of Pentecost - he speaks with a supernatural level
of faith that understands the past, and applies it to the present,
with a belief of what will come. Result - 3000 saved! (Acts 2)
- Peter
at Gate Beautiful - faith rises within him and the man is miraculously
healed (Acts 3)
- Peter
raising Dorcas from dead - proceeds with supernatural faith. (Acts
9)
- In
each case of a miracle, the person performing it is enabled to act
boldly in ways that would make most of us quiver. There seems to have
been an impartation for that moment to allow them to proceed and go
on to perform a miracle.
Comments:
- For
the servant of God, seeking to serve the Lord wholeheartedly, there
seem to come moments when they receive from God a special ability
to believe for the naturally impossible.
- The
“impossible” here may be provision of:
- life,
when raising the dead.
- rapid
restoration, for miraculous healing.
- physical
goods, money etc.
- change
of circumstances, e.g. removal of obstacles.