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During the 1960s, "Keep the faith, brother!" became popular. People reassured each other with that expression when their hopes and dreams became frustrated.
After the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., his advocates reassured one another with it. They believed that the only limitations they faced would come from that which they viewed as insurmountable. They expected to attain their plans, and they did.
We exercise faith constantly. We could not live without it: it activates all human action from the simple to the complex. Faith exists within the human breast. God fixes it there as a natural faculty of man. Faith brings to fruition all that we do.
Faith governs our lives .For example, it determines the meals we eat. We believe food has value, so we eat it believing that it will benefit our bodies. When we enter a restaurant to eat, we enter with faith that the food will taste good. Faith chooses the cars we drive. We start them and drive them by faith. We set the alarm clock and turn the light switch in faith that they will work. It dictates whom we marry and our intentions for the future. We send our children to school in faith.
However, mankind has misplaced their faith. For some, they profess blind faith in a “higher power.” These blinded people rely upon some impersonal nebulous force to help them attain their goals.
As their success by the world’s standards grows, then faith in their “higher power” grows, too. Faith in their spiritual force, they say, helped them achieve prosperity.
For others, however, a set of principles on success has captivated them. The success gurus preach them with religious fervor. Their students follow them with equal zeal. These rules of prosperity control their lives. As they achieve their goals, they credit their faith in the principles of success that they followed.
As George Bernard Shaw has said:
"We have not lost faith but we have
transferred it from God to the medical profession."4
Indeed, mankind has misplaced their faith. A set of principles on success or an impersonal “higher power” has captivated us. We believe them instead of God; hence, we sample only simulated success.
IT REQUIRES FAITH IN GOD
Faith In God Secures God's Riches.
Success and prosperity by God's standards require faith in God. Without it we waver like the waves of the sea. Apart from it, we cannot receive anything from God. To complete what He has in mind for us, we must "Keep the faith... in God."
Faith brings down God's prosperity. It's like an angel who transmits the heart's cry to Christ. Withdraw that angel and we send no prayer nor do we receive answers. Prayer fails for want of faith. Faith secures aid from the Eternal God in time of need. It delivers the hunted to their Refuge.
Faith joins us with God through Christ and dresses us with His nature. Through faith, we defeat the enemy of our souls.
Daniel's life exemplifies this truth. The obstacles and opportunities that he met we meet, too. When we rely on God as Daniel did, we experience God's success in our lives, too.
Faith In God Brings Righteousness.
Daniel believed God, and God called him righteous. In Ezekiel 14:14, God described him as "righteous."
Daniel's faith in God never wavered. Those about him sought for knowledge from the stars to understand the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar. The enchanters and sorcerers relied on magic potions. They gave up the splendor of the Immortal for images formed like creatures and mortal man, and then they worshipped them.
But Daniel learned truth from the One Who made the stars. He knew the power of the Everlasting.
Daniel loved God, and his faith in God gave him right standing with God.
Our good works do not pacify God. Neither does church membership nor faithful attendance in church pardon us before God. In Isaiah 64:6 we read:
"We are all as an unclean thing, and
all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags..."
The best deeds of rightness and justice cannot ever justify man before God. Man has a sinful nature, which separates him from God and needs redemption. Since no one can please God by good works, God in grace and mercy provided a way for sinners to become righteous.
He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to redeem sinners. His death on the cross paid the penalty for the sin of people like you and me. Everyone who trusts Christ's substitutionary death as sufficient for them experiences salvation from their sins.
The Bible unequivocally states this truth in John 3:16-17:
"For God so loved the world, that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life. For God sent
not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him
might be saved."
Further, in Galatians 2:16, God says:
"A man is not justified by the works of
the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works
of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."
Again, in Titus 3:5, He affirms:
"Not by works of righteousness which we
have done, but according to His mercy He saved us..."
Right standing before God does not result from good works. God counts man righteous only through faith and complete dependence on Jesus Christ. When man places his faith in Him, God then declares him righteous. It comes solely from our faith in God. God says in Romans 4:5:
"But to him that worketh not but
believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for
righteousness."
To experience success as God designed it, we must first put our faith in God and in His provision for our redemption, Jesus Christ.
Faith In God Resolves The Rigors Of Life.
Daniel
also believed God in the rigors of everyday life. As a teenager, he suffered as a captive
POW. The Babylonians captured him in
their siege of
For three years, he studied the culture and creed of the Chaldeans. Though of royal Hebrew blood, he served as a helper in the courts of his conquerors. Despite his lowly rank, his faith in God did not waver. Daniel, though frustrated and outcast, believed God and experienced God's prosperity.
However, we commonly reserve success only for the rich and famous. But prosperity does not always come dressed in fine linen. Nor does it feast exclusively at luxurious banquets. It does not only reside in mansions, either.
We can enjoy God's success as a celebrity or as a captive. His prosperity comes to those with rags or riches. We can enjoy it in little cottages or lordly castles. When we pursue God's purpose and plan for our lives, God prospers us beyond our dreams.
In faith, Daniel rejected the customs of his captors. According to the customs of the day, a monarch fed his captors from his personal kitchen. Daniel's diet contained food from the king's table. Their meat included pork and other meats, which God called unclean.
In addition, God had assigned specific preparations for those meats that the Hebrews could eat. Finally, the king often ate meat previously sacrificed to idols.
But, God taught His people not to defile themselves. Daniel knew God's restrictions. In faith, he rejected the traditions of the Babylonians. Instead, he espoused the principles of the Almighty. It says in Daniel 1:8:
"Daniel purposed in his heart that he
would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat..."
A test diet of beans and water made Daniel's face fairer and fatter than ones who ate the king's meat. God honored his faith and caused him to prosper.
The modern Christian finds himself in a similar situation. The world urges him to find success by conformity to its principles. Its motto proposes that prosperity depends upon how things look. It says that the attainment of personal desires brings success.
But, God commands the Christian to reject the customs of the world. Do not allow them to shape your life. Instead, allow the Holy Spirit to renew your mind. He will transform your life and bring complete, durable happiness.
The Bible states in Romans 12:2:
"And be not conformed to this world:
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is
that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
In the daily routines of his life, Daniel trusted God. He did not permit the world in which he lived to squeeze him into its mold. And, God met his need.
God has promised to provide our every day needs, too. As we trust Him, like Daniel, our faith grows.
As a result, we know the prosperity of God. He is not like the big supply sergeant in the sky, however. He sees our needs differently than we do. God meets the needs of the lonely, homeless, and impoverished with prosperity that defies circumstances.
In Philippians 4:19, we read
"God shall supply all your needs
according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
In Matthew 6:33, Jesus said:
"But seek ye first the
To have the prosperity that God gives, we must trust Him. God calls His children to live a life of faith. Our faith in God springs into life when we trust His Son, Jesus Christ, and His Spirit confirms our sonship.
When we depend upon His provision for us, we become righteous before God. Therefore, success God's style starts to function in our lives.
As we further exercise our faith in Him, we discover God's plan and purpose for us. Then we savor prosperity beyond our dreams.
Biblical Law #2: Prosperity God's style requires faith in God.
