Honoring Faith
I Samuel 14:6, “Then Jonathan said to the young man who was carrying his armor, “Come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised ; perhaps the LORD will work for us, for the LORD is not restrained to save by many or by few.”
Wow! Jonathan, the son of Saul and the best friend of David had amazing faith. He knew that God could and would deliver the Philistines into their hand. Jonathan did not merely believe that God would give them victory, but he KNEW God would do it! This is the kind of faith that really honors God.
Take for example the Roman centurion who came to Jesus. Matthew 8 tells the story of a centurion who approached Jesus for his servant’s healing: Matthew 8:1, “When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. 2 And a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” 3 Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing ; be cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one ; but go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”5 And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, 6 and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” 7 Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”8 But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 “For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go !’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come !’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this !’ and he does it.” 10 Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.”
This faith is what truly honors God, and I believe to some extent humbled Jesus because the centurion admitted that He was able to do what no one could do. I believe God is looking for men and women who show this kind of strength in their faith. As children of God we must believe with everything we have that God will do what He says, and what we ask. I’m not a “name it, and claim it” kind of preacher’ but the Word of God does say in Matthew 11:22, “And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God.23 “Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.24 “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.”
Jesus qualifies this bold promise by saying the we must have a heartfelt belief in two things. We must believe, or know, that God is able to do what we ask, and second we must be certain that our request is in line with God’s will.
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Father God, I thank You for promising me that all my request’s which are made in Your name will be met, and I ask that You give me the wisdom to search my heart and Yours to know for certain that my request is in Your will. In Jesus’ name, Amen
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