Faith That Makes a Difference

So how important, exactly, is faith?

I've heard all the stories and cliches. Faith is when you trust someone or something enough that you can take action without worrying- you know- the "having faith in a chair" story. John says that faith is the conquoring power that brings the world to its knees. The person who wins out over the the world's ways is simply the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 5:4-5)

I know Jesus. I don't have any doubt about that. I feel him move in my life. I hear his voice. He is more to me than my conscience speaking or a warm fuzzy feeling. What I'm learning, however, is what this might mean for my life and the way I live it. According to John, it's not my faith that Jesus is trustworthy, or that he was raised from the dead that makes a difference. It's my faith that he is the Son of the Living God.

Having faith that Jesus is the Son of God means understanding that this is the same, One and Only, who caused, with the power of his words, creation to come into existance. This is the same Son of God who, with that same power, caused himself to come back to life after being killed. This, according to Paul, is the great power that is at work in me if I have Jesus in my life (Romans 8:9-11)

All too often I limit the Power of Jesus in me to the power of suggestion. "Do that thing over the other thing" or "Speak to that person in such and such a way". When is the last time I allowed that power to be the power that spoke the world in existence or raised someone from the dead? And what would it look like if I did allow the power to perform in my life that way?

According to John, I would have the power to bring the world to its knees (I John 5:4-5). And according to Paul, I would have the power to live a life that is free from the defeat of this world and the death that comes with it (Romans 8:1-17). And according to Jesus, I would be able to move mountains (Matthew 17:20)

Before any of this is possible though, I must first know intimately this Son of God who lives in me. I cannot know his abilities without knowing him well. I will pray Paul's prayer for myself as well as for you:

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe

(Ephesians 1:17-19)