The Faith Album -- part 3
Mothers of Nations, are you enjoying and even being challenged by this series of blogs about faith? Are you recognizing yourself in some of the photos as you turn the pages in this Faith Album? Today let’s turn a few more pages to discover two other types of faith that the Word of God describes.
FULL OF FAITH
The first is demonstrated by the Bible character Stephen. He was chosen to serve in ministry because he was known as a man “full of faith.”
In Stephen’s day, the number of disciples was rapidly multiplying. As a result, problems within the church were beginning to occur due to the number of people requesting help and assistance with their daily living needs.
The Grecian (Hellenist) Jews complained about the Hebraic (Palestinian) Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. Those in charge of the distribution were the Palestinian Jews. Because of these complaints and conflicts between the two groups, the twelve disciples gathered to find an answer to this problem.
Out of their discussion came the conclusion that they needed to be ministering the Word of God and not dealing with food problems. Therefore, the disciples agreed to find seven men, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, who could oversee the responsibilities of food distribution while they spent time praying and ministering the Word.
The Bible says in Acts that they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, plus six other men.
Acts 6: 5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch.
For this ministry position, Stephen needed to be full, not half full, or partially full of faith. It would be like a car that needed gas. Half full you can only get halfway to your destination. But with a full tank your vehicle has the energy required to make the whole distance.
Obviously, these issues the men faced were not easy. Full of faith meant that Stephen could operate by his commitment and not by his moods or emotions. He could continue to do his job being persistent and faithful. The disciples knew that a man full of faith would get the assignments done and completed with excellence as well.
Working in the ministry for the past thirty-five plus years, I have found that there are many people in the church full of faith. Some of the most powerful saints serve in the church in the helps ministry before the Lord sends them out into full-time service.
I believe the helps or serving area sharpens our walk with God. Let’s just be honest. It is not easy to continue walking in faith to the fullest when you work with some of the saints! But if you can successfully make it through the petty issues, arguments, bickering, and complaining, you are definitely a person full of faith!
UNFEIGNED FAITH
On our next album page, we find “unfeigned faith” depicted. Over the years I have had many opportunities to meet all kinds of people. Each one has had a different measure of faith, but the people of unfeigned faith are just a little more fun to be around than some of the other types.
These are the real faith talkers and the real faith walkers. You know this by the experiences they have been through and the areas in which they live. Unfeigned faith is a sincere faith. It is not phony, false, or disguised as something it is not.
Paul warned in I Timothy 1: 3-4 about false teachers of the law who dedicated themselves to false doctrine, to myths, and to endless genealogies. These people created and promoted controversies, rather than God’s work which is promoted by faith. In these verses Paul tells Timothy, “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God’s work – which is by faith.” (NIV)
The goals of the gospel are to love from a pure heart, keep a clean conscience, and operate in sincere faith. To Paul these false teachers of the law were full of meaningless talk.
Unfeigned faith is to believe what you say and practice it. I have met many ministers with such sincere hearts to follow God. Many on the foreign field know what it means to be hungry, to face danger, and to lose loved ones because of the gospel. To me, these are the ones with pure unfeigned faith. There is nothing false or pretentious about them. They are not advertising their exploits or taking glory for anything, but rather they just purely spread the Word of God wherever and whenever they can.
Once when I was ministering in India, the Lord began to impress upon me that a friend in the ministry in another nation was in great financial need. The burden was so deep that I could feel the friend’s agony. Calling home, I asked my husband to send some money that day with our son-in-law who was going to Africa. I requested that our son-in-law go immediately to our friend’s home and deliver the money upon his arrival in the country.
Little did I realize, but at the very moment our son-in-law drove into our friend’s yard, our friend was talking to the Lord as he stared up at the stars in the sky, reminding God that he was standing in faith. You can imagine my friend’s delight when the money was delivered into his hands at the very moment he was asking God for help!
This is a wonderful example of someone who lives by faith from minute to minute and from day to day. With a church of thousands to oversee, my friend still needed a miracle, or he would have been in severe trouble. Like an innocent child, he trusted that God would hear his prayer. That is unfeigned faith!
Mothers of Nations, I am challenged today to endeavor to walk in unfeigned faith. How about you?
Dr. Sharon Predovich
