Faith and Powerlessness

Powerlessness is met by faith like two sides of the same coin. If we truly understand our powerlessness and if we understand faith, we are almost certainly off to a great start. But if we understand our powerlessness and have a false understanding of faith, we are of no use to the Lord. The question then is what is biblical faith.

These verses in the Sermon on the Mount are our guide in answering this question. Blessed are the poor in spirit, the powerless, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
When the Messiah preached, our Lord and our God He preached “the kingdom of God is within your reach, repent and believe the Gospel”. If we believe in an ever increasing experience of the kingdom of God in our daily life and we have faith that God will do for us exceedingly abundantly beyond anything we could ask or think as we place our faith in the Messiah and His work in for us, in us and through us, then we are beginning to have faith.

Static or Dynamic Faith
The bible teaches that the father of faith is Abraham. Abraham through faith left Ur and began a journey to the promised land. Abraham believed God and therefore in hope against all reasonable hope traveled from His home land to the promised land. He was promised a nation, a city in which righteousness dwells, a city whose architect and builder is God. So too we believe in a promised land but the difference is that the saints of the Old covenant did not receive but we believe for better things for us.

In my case, I am for ever aware of my compulsiveness and weakness, faith says, “If I follow the spiritual direction of Jesus Christ as taught in the Sermon on the Mount then I will find a day by day victory”. No regrets. No thirsting for a future that never comes but instead a day by day righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

We have often been taught that faith is belief in a creed or a series of immutable truths. Jesus is God; Jesus died for sins; God is all powerful all loving creator. All these things are true but they are not biblical faith. Faith in the Gospel is that I through faith in Jesus Christ can enter the kingdom today. Today is the day of salvation. This is not a faith in immutable truths but faith in change in our lives today. Change. Faith is faith for change. Radical complete change. Change from worldly passions to holy affections. Faith to go from materialism to generosity, from resentments and gossip to love and forgiveness. Faith to become fruitful for God. No matter how difficult or impossible it seems faith meets our powerlessness.

Therefore, faith if we hear the Gospel promises of power from God, is the answer that only the powerless can really have faith for. I am a hopeless cause. But in hope against hope, I place my faith in Christ for immediate deliverance. As I meet this powerlessness with a look to Jesus, I immediately am in His power and His presence.
This is the first great lesson: Powerlessness and faith. The greater the understanding of our powerlessness the greater prepared we are for power. The powerless the hopeless cases have no options. It is precisely our folly that becomes are greatest asset. If it wasn’t for the fact that my addictions have defeated me so absolutely, I wouldn’t really be so absolutely without any choice but to place faith in the Messiah and to reach out and say I will follow. Whatever direction you give, I believe. Here is f