Faith

Without faith it is impossible to please Him . . . —Hebrews 11:6

Faith in active opposition to common sense is mistaken enthusiasm and narrow-mindedness, and common sense in opposition to faith demonstrates a mistaken reliance on reason as the basis for truth. The life of faith brings the two of these into the proper relationship. Common sense and faith are as different from each other as the natural life is from the spiritual, and as impulsiveness is from inspiration. Nothing that Jesus Christ ever said is common sense, but is revelation sense, and is complete, whereas common sense falls short. Yet faith must be tested and tried before it becomes real in your life. “We know that all things work together for good . . .” (Romans 8:28) so that no matter what happens, the transforming power of God’s providence transforms perfect faith into reality. Faith always works in a personal way, because the purpose of God is to see that perfect faith is made real in His children.

For every detail of common sense in life, there is a truth God has revealed by which we can prove in our practical experience what we believe God to be. Faith is a tremendously active principle that always puts Jesus Christ first. The life of faith says, “Lord, You have said it, it appears to be irrational, but I’m going to step out boldly, trusting in Your Word” (for example, see Matthew 6:33). Turning intellectual faith into our personal possession is always a fight, not just sometimes. God brings us into particular circumstances to educate our faith, because the nature of faith is to make the object of our faith very real to us. Until we know Jesus, God is merely a concept, and we can’t have faith in Him. But once we hear Jesus say, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9) we immediately have something that is real, and our faith is limitless. Faith is the entire person in the right relationship with God through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

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信

人非有信，就不能得神的喜悅。 （來十一6）

反常理的信心，是宗教狂熱；反信心的常理，是理性主義。信心的生活卻將二者調和成正確的關係。常理不是信心，信心也非常理。二者代表了自然與超然的關係，直覺與啟示的關係。耶穌基督所說的一切話，非從常理，乃從啟示，在常理無效之際，他的話依然有效。信心必須受試驗，然後這信心才真實。 [我們知道萬事都互相效力]，這樣，無論什麼事發生，神的煉金術總能把理想的信心，變作實際。信心必須從個人開始，神整個計劃就是使理想的信心，在他兒女身上實現。

日常生活中每一細節，都在啟示神，叫我們可以在實際經歷中，證實我們所信的。信心是一項極主動的原則，總把主耶穌放在首位－－[主啊，你這樣說過（太六33），看來全不合理，但我要依你的話去做。 ]若要把頭腦的信心變成個人產業，便市場都要經歷爭戰，不是偶爾經歷。神放我們在某一環境中，是要教育我們的信心；但一旦聽見耶穌說：[人看見了我，就看見了父。 ]我們就有了實際的東西，信心就毫無止境。信心就是透過耶穌基督的能力，全人與神建立正確的關係。

祈禱◆但如今，[神啊，求你堅固我的守]－－主啊，請在這一刻，到我這裡來，以你自己來充滿我，那麼，我便不會再有未滿足的渴求。