There are many times we are told when we will lose our salvation when we have unbelief. May I encourage you from the story of Moses. If we read the account in Exodus, we see Moses fleeing the wrath of Pharaoh after he killed an Egyptian. Exodus tells that he left in fear. In fear. Yet in Hebrews 11 we are told this:
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
Have you ever wondered why this is so?
So, did Moses leave in fear or faith? The question we should be asking ourselves is whose faith is Hebrews 11 is talking about? Moses’ or someone else? The answer lies in chapter 12.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
Dear friends, are you not encouraged? God chooses to see our fears through the filter of the faith of Christ. He sees the faith of his Son as the justification of our fears. Constantly we are taught if we don’t have enough faith, God cannot bless, God cannot heal, God cannot save.
Moses proved that Jesus’ faith overcame his fear. When God looked at his unbelief through the cross, God saw the faith of His Son, and credited Moses with faith. Today, when you look at your situation, do you see fear when you have a terrible diagnosis? Do you see fear when someone tells you, you will never have children or that your child will die in your womb? That your house will be repossessed? That your business in going down the drain?
It’s ok. In your fears, God looks at Jesus and see faith instead of fear. You see, God wants to bless, He is literally dying to bless you. In fact He died to bless you. He will do anything to bless you. If faith is missing, let me speak of my Father’s heart, just let Him, even when you think you don’t believe in Him anymore, or that you just can’t because you are paralyzed by fear.
In Moses’ fear, Jesus provided faith. In the absence of faith, His Son provided the faith. In your absence of faith, God will look for an excuse to bless, to heal, to save and to deliver you. Look into His heart and not your mind. God loves you, He will look for an excuse to bless you.
Look at the man who was lowered down from the room who had no faith. Jesus used the excuse of the faith of his friends. When Lazarus died, He prayed aloud and said His Father hears him all the time, and people’s hopes were raised. He conjured faith. When Malchus’ ear was cut, Jesus healed him without him asking and without even requesting for faith. Where was faith in that situation?
John 18:11
“Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?””
It was the faith that Jesus had. In His Father. His faith.
So dear friends, if you can’t muster the faith to believe in the miracle, believe God loves you, believe Jesus’ love for you. Believe that His Faith is enough. The law says you must love with all your heart. Grace tells you all you need is to believe in your heart. Notice the word “all” is not in Romans 10:9-10. It just says believe. Unlike the law, you do not need faith in “all” your heart. God will provide the “all”. The only person who believes with “all” his heart is Jesus. It is His faith that wins God’s favour. It is His faith that pleases God (Heb 11:6).
Hebrews 11:6
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Your saviour is here. He is the author and perfecter of your faith. Look to him!
Source :
Celebrating Jesus and the wonderful Grace of God
http://hischarisisenough.wordpress.com/2013/08/17/how-can-i-have-faith-when-all-i-have-is-fear-2/
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Dear Christianity Malaysia
This article teaches un-Biblical doctrine.
Where in the Bible does it say that we will lose our salvation if we have unbelief? We cannot be saved unless we believe in Christ, isn't it? Therefore, we can only lose our salvation if we no longer believe that Christ is our saviour, or we wilfully live our lives in such a way that does not comply with Biblical standards. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that if we have doubts or lack faith we will lose our salvation. In fact, Jesus was always telling his disciples "O you of little faith!" If having little or no faith were conditions for casting out of God's presence, why did Jesus keep his disciples around?
Where in the Bible does it teach that Jesus' faith replaces ours when we have no faith and in danger of losing our salvation / blessings / health / wealth?
The Bible verses above are also quoted completely out of context. The meaning of Hebrews 11 & 12 are clear. Moses had faith in God, even though it started out as a very small faith. He ran away in fear of being discovered. He later grew in faith such that God allowed him to meet face to face. The writer of Hebrews used Moses and others examples of having faith in God to encourage believers to also persevere in faith, because at that time it was tough to be a Christian because of all the persecution and martyrdom going on.
Yet this writer somehow bends time and space to say that God saw Moses through the "faith filter" that is Christ. Whereas Moses lived perhaps some 2000 years before Christ was born! The writer of Hebrews obviously had the time line correct – past faith heroes serving as examples for present day Christians to persevere in faith in Christ who had already risen and returned to Heaven.
Where does it say in the Bible that the paralysed man had no faith and Jesus had to heal with the excuse that his friends had faith instead of him? The point that Jesus was making was that He has the authority of God to forgive sins. The healing was secondary, as a proof of the authority He claimed to have. See Mark 2:5-11. There were also religious / cultural connotations of disease in Jesus time (see John 9:2). Knowing that context, this paralysed man's healing is a demonstration of God's grace, not a demonstration of faith's merits.
Where in the Bible does it say that Jesus had to "conjure up faith" in order to raise Lazarus? The fact is clear to anyone who reads the Bible – after getting a desperate message to come and heal Lazarus from his beloved Mary and Martha, Jesus waited 2 days for Lazarus to die first before he made the journey! The reason is given by Jesus himself in John 11:4, 14-15. Jesus' healing of Lazarus was not due to "conjuring of faith" but to inspire faith!
Where in the Bible does it teach that Jesus had to transfer his faith upon the man to heal his ear? Even the verse quoted by the writer says no such thing. Jesus was to be led like a lamb to the slaughter, in fulfillment of prophecy. A lamb does not have followers fighting and killing for him on the way to the slaughterhouse! This healing is a demonstration of God's grace and mercy, NOT the merits of faith.
Perhaps the greatest heretical statement in the article is "The law says you must love with all your heart. Grace tells you all you need is to believe in your heart." Where in the Bible does it teach that? Jesus himself says that not a letter of the law will be abolished, and He was the ultimate fulfilment of the Law. (Matt 5:17-18)
Even Romans 10 that the writer quotes is taken completely out of context. In using it to justify the false dichotomy between "grace" over "law", he neglects v.5 which clearly says "Christ is the culmination of the law…"
Faith is not some "magic power" that God needs to do His work. It is arrogant and heretical to believe that God is dependent on some external stimuli to gain enough strength to do His work.
If we believe in a sovereign and almighty God, then we must also believe He works wherever and whenever He pleases. How can God be so "weak" that he cannot move unless he gets "power" from faith? A clear example would be in Genesis. If God needed faith to "empower" his work, before anything in the universe was created, who had the "faith" to "empower" God to create the universe?
Yes, we must have faith in God and Christ. Let's make sure it is a Biblical faith.
we will lose our salvation when we have unbelief.
we will lose our salvation when we have unbelief.
we will lose our salvation when we have unbelief.
Dear Chee Seng, you have read the article wrongly. I said "many have said " not "I said." The article is intended to debunk those who say "that you will lose your salvation by unbelief". I share your view that you cannot lose your salvation.
Jesus did not abolished the law? Ephesians 2:14-15
For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
Also for your information try reading the King James Version. You will realize that we are saved "by the faith of Christ" not faith in Christ.