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Faith, a Characteristic of Jesus' Life

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Published: 20Nov2007
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Faith was an everyday occurrence in Jesus' life. Take for example the very first miracle He performed at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee (John 2:1-12). Jesus commanded the servants to fill the pots with water, and water was taken to the head of the feast where it became wine. It never even occurred to Jesus that the water would not be turned into wine, He simply expected it to happen.

There are many other instances of miracles that were performed in Jesus life, such as the ruler's daughter being raised (Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:40-56), or the time He commanded Peter to catch a fish and take a coin out of its mouth (Matthew 17:24-27), or when He cursed the tree that immediately died (Matthew 21:18-22; Mark 11:12-24), or when He walked on water and commanded Peter to also walk on water (Matthew14:22-33;Mark 6:45-52; John 6:15-21). In each of these cases, He simply expected to see happen whatever He had commanded to happen. He never doubted; He never worried; He simply expected it to happen. Faith was simply an every day characteristic of Jesus' life.

Faith also played a very important role in Jesus' death on the cross. Jesus went to the cross with the complete and full expectation that He was going to rise again from the dead three days later. Not only was that the command He had received from his Father which He accepted at face value, but He was also thoroughly convinced that He had the authority to claim His own resurrection:

"Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father." (John 10:17-18, NKJV)

While there were several resurrections recorded in both the Old and New Testaments, none had ever involved the simple faith of the dead individual. Every time someone rose from the dead, it was at the instigation of the faith and command of another individual. This time, however, Jesus was laying down His own life on the cross, deliberately at His own volition, and then commanding His Own resurrection. Even though it had never happened previously throughout all recorded history, Jesus was thoroughly convinced it was going to happen this time, simply because that was what His Father had said. It had apparently never even occurred to Him that it wasn't going to happen exactly as His Father had said it would. That is powerful faith!

There were, however, limits to what Jesus' faith could accomplish. Since God can only act from a position of unity, the Holy Spirit could only move when others exercised faith in agreement with Jesus' faith. Take for example, the resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:1-44). at least twice Jesus encouraged Martha to believe, apparently, so the miracle could occur:

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26, NKJV)

Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" (John 11:40, NKJV)

In fact, unbelief limits the very power of God Himself:

Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief. (Mark 6:5-6a, NKJV)

If we ever expect to see God working in our lives, performing miracles, or simply answering our prayers, we need to walk in faith without unbelief!Only then will we witness the power and glory of God.

Jon Straumfjord is the author of numerous articles about the Seven Spirits of God and the God of the Bible. He is also the creator of the website http://www.7-spirits.com , and is the author of the book "The Seven Spirits of God."

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