The Strain of Faith

1 Tim 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.  NIV

As the thought for this blog came to me it almost seemed like heresy to write about faith as I am planning to. Then after further thought and examination of the scriptures it became clear there is no problem with alleging that there is strain or effort involved in the exercise and application of faith in our Christian lives.

Strangely perhaps, my mind went back to my youth when I was taken to county fairs in Ohio. One of my favorite events was the “horse pulling” contests. If you have never experienced one of these events you can go to horsepull.com to see how this works. Obviously we cannot talk to the horses to find how they feel about pulling sleds with thousands of pounds of weight. You can see the “strain” on the horses by the position of their heads and the look in their eyes as they put all their own weight and body strength into the pull with their hoofs digging deep.

It seems to me, in a Christian’s life there is a similar principle. Many refer to faith as a sort of illusive ethereal wispy entity that cannot be seen, measured or be readily identified. I believe that view is far from the truth and reality. Let’s simply take a glance at several Bible passages.

Saving Faith – Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: KJV Rom 5:1Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: KJV

Mountain Moving Faith – Matt 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. KJV

Healing Faith – Mark 10:52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way. KJVJames 5:15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. KJV

Prayer Answering Faith – Matt 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing (faith), ye shall receive. KJV

Measurable Faith – Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. KJV

Observable Faith – James 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. KJV

God Pleasing Faith – Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. KJV

Things That Can Be Done (By Faith)

Acts 26:18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. KJV

Rom 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. KJV

Rom 11:20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high minded, but fear: KJV

2 Cor 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) KJV

Gal 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. KJV

Eph 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, KJV

Heb 11:4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. KJV

Heb 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. KJV

Heb 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: KJV

Heb 11:11 Through (by) faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. KJV

Heb 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, KJV

Heb 11:20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. KJV

Heb 11:27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. KJV

Heb 11:30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. KJV

After reading the above 15 scripture references Faith is sounding and looking pretty solid and real to me. I don’t know about you. I could identify with several of those references. The Holy Spirit did not cause those verifiable facts to be handed down in Bible Canon by accident. They were written to encourage us and to increase our Faith. Our family has “sojourned” in Asia for nearly 40 years by Faith, not for wealth, fame or comfort. We have offered up our children to live away from US family and friends for many years. None of this and others could have been done with Faith. Sharon and I are not Abraham and Sara’s age yet, but God has given us strength to “conceive” spiritual seed at an age when many of our contemporaries have retired from full time ministry. We have seen huge impenetrable walls of opposition come down in Japan and Asia by Faith.

What about the Strain of Faith?

God is our Source of Faith. Rom 12:3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. NIV

Most agree that faith does not originate within us. It comes from God. It is primarily, I believe a gift. We are responsible for what we do with gifts. By way of example, Japan has two main gift giving seasons. One is in July and the other is in December. We have been in Japanese homes and noticed large stocks of items that were received as gifts during those two times of the year. The gifts were just stored away and never opened or used. What a terrible waste!

Many believers also have unopened and unused gifts in the closets of their lives. God has entrusted incredible talents that seem to lay buried deep in the hearts of Christians. Some perhaps have even forgotten or are truly unaware of what awaits within them. (Matt 25:14-30)

Some years ago I was teaching in a summer church youth camp in Ohio. God prompted me to share the phrase, “Use it or lose it” with the young people present at that time. I spoke with a degree of personal experience looking back on certain gifts God placed in my life at an early age. I rejected some of those and now regret and mourn the fact that they seem no longer to be within my reach. I used to write poetry and music. Now there is no inspiration in that area at all. So I began to encourage young people to develop those things placed within them by the Holy Spirit. There has been some redemption in recent months as I have begun to encourage others my age or even older to start writing, blogging or to write or record their memoirs of ministry and life experience for the next generation. I have seen some encouraging moves in this area.

Faith is like a Muscle

I have heard this principle taught often. Muscles left without exercise or movement, soon begin to deteriorate or atrophy (shrink). I experienced this in 1990 with blood clots in my leg after a volley ball accident. It was shocking to see my leg get measurably smaller. So it is with the faith that God has given to believers. We must actually apply or use our faith. I am concerned to observe some who seem to exist in a life of ease and unconcern about the dying world in which we all live. An old hymn goes, Souls are dying, men are crying. Won’t you lead them to the Cross? Go and find them, help to win them. Win the lost at any cost.

Matt 24:37 "The world will be at ease --banquets and parties and weddings-just as it was in Noah's time before the sudden coming of the flood; 39 people wouldn't believe what was going to happen until the flood actually arrived and took them all away. So shall my coming be.40 "Two men will be working together in the fields, and one will be taken, the other left. 41 Two women will be going about their household tasks; one will be taken, the other left. 42 "So be prepared, for you don't know what day your Lord is coming. TLB

That passage scares me! It causes me personal concern. It helps motivate me in ministry. I am not judging others, but there are many who show no visible concern about the lost world while naming the Name of Christ. Most of them would not bother to read such a long and boring blog like this one anyhow. If you have been napping spiritually, which we all have done many times in the past, I pray the Holy Spirit will urge you to a new level of awareness. I pray He will give you a great burden for the lost. I pray your spiritual load with get heavier. That way it will become necessary to begin to exercise the Faith and Gifts that are lying dormant within you. Look around and you may find other drowsy Christians nearby. Don’t criticize them or attack them. Quietly, firmly yet gently begin to wake them up before it is too late.

Pray for an accurate vision of the lost world we live in. Begin to seek God about your part in this Last Days harvest field. Begin to pray for those beyond your own family and nation. Pray about how you can Pray, Send or Give to send the Gospel to those you cannot reach directly.

On a daily basis ask God to help you know how to exercise the wonderful and powerful Gift of Faith that lies within you. Don’t grieve over the past. Don’t cry over the spilt milk of your life. Just begin to put your hand to the plow and help out in any way possible in God’s Harvest Field. Luke 10:2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. KJV Luke 17:5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. KJV

Please consider joining with us as JPN Partners in sharing the Gospel in Japan and Asia. Please remember if you do not pull your weight (do your part) the strain will be greater on others working in the field. This is not theory. It is reality. I know because I felt that strain today and that is why God instructed me to write for help.

May God bless you as you exercise your faith!

Dan Corbett

“Reaching One Among Millions”