The Life Foundations Nexus
HOW TO HAVE PERFECT FAITH IN GOD
By Dr. Michael
J. Bisconti
In order to have perfect faith
in God, we need to live righteously and we need to understand the difference
between faith and “faith experience.”
Faith cannot be seen, heard,
felt, or in any other way perceived.
Faith experience, on the other hand, is something of which we are
conscious. Faith experience is
something that we sort of feel.
Faith experience in God
is sort of a feeling that God gives us when we have faith. HOWEVER, GOD MAY NOT
ALWAYS GIVE US FAITH EXPERIENCE!!! There is a reason for that.
The opposite of faith in God is
rejection of faith in God. Rejection of
faith in God is called “unbelief.” Now,
analogously, there is a difference between unbelief and “unbelief
experience.” Unbelief cannot be seen,
heard, felt, or in any other way perceived.
Unblief experience, on the other hand, is something of which we are
conscious. Unbelief experience is
something that we sort of feel.
NOW, THERE ARE TIMES WHEN GOD GIVES A PERSON
UNBELIEF EXPERIENCE INSTEAD OF FAITH EXPERIENCE EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE FAITH
IN GOD!!!
Please understand what we are
saying and what we are not saying. We
are saying that God may at times cause us to feel like we have no
faith in him. We are not saying
that God ever wants us to voluntarily reject faith in him.
Now, why would God give us
unbelief experience at the same time that we have faith in him? Here is the reason:
One of the
effects of unbelief is for us to do something that we should be trusting God to
do. For example, we do something wrong
and, so, we make things hard on ourselves in an attempt to “pay for our
sins.” Of course, we can never pay for any
sin. Now, when God gives us unbelief
experience, he may also give us, without our knowing it, SOME OF the
effect of unbelief. Such unconscious,
partial effect of unbelief explains those occasions where we do things
that we didn’t mean to do, such as saying something insensitive that we didn’t
mean to say. Such unconscious,
partial effect of unbelief also explains those times when we seemingly
voluntarily refuse to speak out about some injustice.
Why does
God give us such partial effect of unbelief? The answer is very simple but first I will give you the proof
from Scripture. 1Kings 3:16-28 says, about King
Solomon:
Then
came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood
before him. And the one woman said, O
my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child
with her in the house. And it came to
pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered
also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us
in the house, save we two in the house.
And this woman's child died in the night; because she overlaid it. And she arose at midnight, and took my son
from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid
her dead child in my bosom. And when I
rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had
considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear. And the other woman said, Nay; but the
living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is
thy son, and the living is my son.
Thus they spoke before the king.
Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth,
and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is
the dead, and my son is the living.
And the king said, Bring me a sword.
And they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, Divide the living
child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. Then spoke the woman whose the living child was
unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord,
give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but
divide it. Then the king
answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is
the mother thereof. And all Israel
heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for
they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.
Whoa! Did you read the part in large, bold type? It appears as if Solomon said something that
showed a lack of faith in God! After
all, if Solomon had faith in God, wouldn’t he have said “let us trust God to
show us to whom this living child belongs”?
Not necessarily. SOLOMON DID
HAVE FAITH IN GOD AND SHOWED THE WISDOM GOD HAD GIVEN HIM!
GOD (notice the words above:
“the wisdom of God was in him”)…GOD…GAVE SOLOMON THE
SPEECH OF UNBELIEF though Solomon had faith.
So, then, why does God give us such partial effect of unbelief?
IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS, FOR
THE GOOD OF OTHERS!!!!!!
Getting back to our main subject, a person achieves perfect
faith in God by living righteously and by NOT MISCONSTRUING UNBELIEF
EXPERIENCE TO BE UNBELIEF.