Faith and Trust

We cannot escape the fact that faith works by love, and as such, faith requires a trust in God in order for it to work. Without trust, our faith in God will be nothing more than an anxious attempt to implement a formula; or we end-up treating faith as if it was a chance thing, a gamble, that might just work, so it’s worth giving it a shot.

Faith should always be approached with the attitude that if we get it right, if we have the right understanding and right motive, then it will work every time. But without hope you will not have the positive expectation that is faith; without trust, you will not be able to trust the One who hears your prayers and meets your needs.

Without trust in God you just end-up putting your faith in other people and things. It is incredible how some believers can develop a faith in tithing as a means of getting their needs met, but they are still reluctant to trust in God. This de-personalises the concept of a loving Father giving good gifts to His children and turns tithing into a formula that will never work.

Trust is vital in obtaining intimacy with God. In the natural sphere, you could not obtain intimacy with your spouse if you did not trust him or her – it is the same with God. The Holy Spirit lives in us – you can’t get more intimate than that! But we can grieve Him and desensitise ourselves to His leading.

We cannot just sudy the Bible, keep rules or even implement faith formuals. No matter how much revelation we gain from God’s Word, we need love, which includes trust, in order to be able to have faith for anything. We could gain an amazing depth of revelation from God’s Word, yet without love, we will not be able to be led by the Holy Spirit, and therefore, will be unable to practically apply that knowledge.

Intimacy with God makes us sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Intimacy with God comes through love. The Bible tells us that we can understand all mysteries and all knowledge, but without love, we are nothing. We are nothing because without love, we will be unable to be guided effectively by the Holy Spirit. See 1 Corinthians 13:2.