There is so much in my spirit that I want to share as I sit down to write this article that I’m sure I will not be able to fully convey it all. For some time I have been praying that the Lord would bring me to a new level of faith and trust in Him. My heart is yearning for a fresh baptism of spiritual power, and a new depth of the knowledge of Him. But, then I think of that old adage, “Be careful what you wish for!” We tend to forget that true faith is forged, founded, purified and tested in the furnace of trial and affliction! The Scripture tells us that, “...for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found...”, (1Pt.1:6-7). John tells us that, “This is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith.” (1Jn.5:4).
Overcoming faith!
An overcoming faith is just that, it is faith which has overcome! Overcoming trial, overcoming affliction, overcoming discouragement, disappointment, and opposition, the list is endless. John calls it “The Victory”. That in itself implies a contest, a battle, and a struggle. There can be no victory where there is no struggle! How often do we like to quote the verse, “We are more than conquerors...”! Yet, rarely do we take into consideration the context in which Paul spoke. “Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written; ‘For your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” (Rom.8:35-37). Again, to be a conqueror means that we have conquered something! We all love the taste of victory, but we often don’t like the recipe!
Where does the victory lie? When is the conquest realized? Is it by merely professing our faith? By merely saying, “I believe”? Is it by simply giving mental assent to certain truths and positively confessing them? No. The victory lies in enduring to the end! The writer of Hebrews tells us; “For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.” (Heb.10:36)
The 11th chapter of Hebrews speaks to us about the great men and woman of faith and how they overcame the world and were approved of God. “And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised...”, (Heb. 11:39 N.A.S.). Did you catch that? They overcame the world, they were approved of God, they were heroes of the faith, but, “They did not receive what was promised”! Let me tell you a secret! What made them worthy of God’s approval and recognition was not that they received something, but rather that, through enduring in faith, the integrity and character of their faith was proved to be genuine. Unfortunately all too often we have equated victorious faith with obtaining something. Don’t misunderstand me on this point, “God is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him.”! (Heb.11:6).
However, a careful examination of Hebrews 11 will show that while some, “Through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness and obtained promises...”; There were others, “...Who were tortured...had trial of mocking's and scourging's, chains and imprisonments...they were stoned, sawn in two... they wandered about destitute, afflicted, tormented... and they did not receive the promise...”, (Heb.11:35-39). I realize many of today's ‘faith’ preachers and authors do not include these people in their books, but praise the Lord! God included them in His book!
Many of us need to learn that, the character of our faith is not measured by what it procures but rather by what it endures!
What is desperately needed in our lives today is a faith that is enduring! A faith that is persistent in the face of strife, opposition, and affliction. Oh! To have a faith that overcomes the obstacles of adversity, affliction, and disappointment! For some time I had wondered what Jesus meant when He said, “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Lk.18:8). It seemed to me that, with the Gospel being preached all over the world, with big T.V. ministries preaching ‘faith’ messages, that there certainly were more and more people walking in a ‘procuring faith’ than ever before. Now as wonderful as ‘procuring faith’ may be, there is no doubt in my mind that what is really needed is an “enduring faith”! Many today are falling away from the Lord because they haven’t "procured" some felt need or desire! Many are, “Shipwrecked from the faith” because of a wrongly held view of faith!
I feel compelled to state it again! Our victory lies not in what we procure but in what we endure! Are we faithful? That is, are we full of faith to endure? Though the promise tarries? The Holy Spirit tells us that, “Moses...chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God...and He endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” (Heb.11:24-27). The vitality of faith, the dynamic which gives faith strength to endure lies in, “Seeing Him who is invisible.” In other words, “Who”, not “What”, is the object of our faith! The faith that honors God and is approved of God is the faith that, “Looks not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal...for, ...faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the confidence of things not seen.” Our assurance and confidence should not be placed in the circumstantial events of our lives or we will be shaken. The question we need to be asking ourselves is, what are we “Seeing”? What are we looking for or at? Who are we looking at? Moses fixed his gaze upon “Him who is invisible”. King David also lived as “Seeing Him who is invisible.”, for he said, “My eyes are continually toward the Lord...”, (Ps.25:15). Abraham, with his gaze fixed was, “Looking for the city...whose builder and maker is God.” (Heb. 11:10) “And not being weak in faith...he did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith...being fully confident that what God had promised He was also able to perform.” (Rom.4:19-21).
An enduring faith is a faith that is fully confident and convinced of the character of a trustworthy and faithful God. An enduring faith is a faith that walks with God not for a mere season, but for a lifetime. "By faith Enoch walked with God, so all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty-five years, ...and Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him, translating him so that he did not see death, for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” (Hybrid of Gen.5:21-24 & Heb.11:5). What pleased God was Enoch’s enduring walk of faith! Do you think that for all of three hundred sixty-five years Enoch never faced discouragement or disappointment? Never faced failure? Never had questions, fears or doubts? Did Enoch never feel anxiety or frustration? Do you think God never brought Enoch through the furnace of affliction”, to, “Prove the genuineness of his faith”?
I want to encourage all who may be reading this, put your hope fully in God! For you have need of endurance! Be diligent to hold to, “The full assurance of hope until the end, do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”, (Heb.6:12). “For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.” (Heb.3:14).
His grace is still amazing to me! - Andy White
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