Jim Chafee – Power of Belief – July 19, 2017

This power of belief – well, the power is not in believing the power is in God but believing enables us to access the power of God. It moves the heart of God to enable Him to do the work.

 

It reminded me of something I heard years ago. Someone was talking about faith and they were talking about the old steam engines. They have the big wheels and there was a bar that came and pushed the wheels. The bar was attached to the engine. The bar conveyed the power from the engine to the wheels. They said the bar is like faith. That is what believing is, it conveys the power of God and helps us to go. It is a bit like someone has a close friend or contact of a high official in the government. They would have no power themselves but because of their connection they could have a lot of influence. That is kind of how believing is. It gives us access, and it is because of who we know and who we believe in and who we are trusting.

 

Daniel in the lion’s den probably taking a nap and his friends were walking around in the furnace so the belief, it helped them to be quiet and be calm and wait on the Lord and He did the work. It enabled them to trust God. If we don’t trust Him, we don’t believe and it greatly hinders the work of God. One aspect of the power of believing is it has a very [quieting] effect. Everybody could be stirred up and worried and fussing and trying to do everything and we can be trusting and God will take care of us. In the face of sometimes great things, it is best just to wait and be quiet. That is the power of believing. The power we could have.

 

Another thing of the power of believing is that we go to the Lord. The centurion believed in the Lord and went to Him. That was the power believing had sent him to seek the Lord’s help. Another part of believing – blind men be according to your faith. Said, “Don’t tell anyone,” and they went out and blazed it around. There was some fault in their belief. Their eyes were opened but they didn’t obey. One aspect of true belief is that we will obey and we know that His will is best. Obedience follows believing and repentance and then salvation. Then about the mountains cast into the sea. Believing has the power to take away hindrances and helps us move on and get past them. Peter bowed down and said he was a sinful man and said, “Depart from me.”

 

Line of a hymn – those who believing a pardon have found. That is another aspect of believing is those who find a pardon. Those that have committed crimes serve a sentence and then look for a pardon. They may spend a lot of money and a lot of troubles and go to a lot of places and they can’t find it but with the Lord Peter found pardon. In John 11:25, Jesus said unto her, “I am the resurrection, and the life. He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” That is the power of belief. Believing in the resurrection is a wonderful power. It changes our whole outlook on life. It makes us willing to do anything – willing to sacrifice and give.

 

We heard in Pretoria that faith is believing without proof. I like that thought. Asked myself what is this believing and its true deep meaning. One thing that came to mind is that we need to be willing for things we don’t understand but because we believe it, we are willing for it. Believing is self surrendering trust. To believe is an action by which we can prove to God we love Him. There is nothing that means more to God just to trust Him. There is so much unbelief but just this that we can truly believe Him and it is being right with God. It is impossible to be right with God without believing in Him.