Stop Worrying! Jesus is Having Faith for You
I have been thinking about faith lately.
I have also been thinking about how I believe most people misunderstand the subject and suffer needlessly. Maybe you are one of them. Most of us are so trained in thinking in an individual way that it becomes very difficult to rest in Jesus’ faith on our behalf! Yes, you heard me correctly!
Jesus Christ is having perfect faith FOR you before the Father!
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not asking you to produce the perfect faith that he “demands”, and at this point it would be very wise for you to remember that you have a corrupt and sinful nature! This means that whatever “faith” you have is also sinful and corrupt – including your faith in God! If we are really honest with ourselves, all of us are really no better than the man mentioned in Mark 9:24, who said to Jesus, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
And that is where Jesus, the God/Man, stepped in and saved the day for each of us!
I think most people (perhaps even you!) suffer needlessly because they are actually having faith in their own faith rather than having faith in God’s faith for us! Let’s face it, our personal faith, because of sin is admittedly weak! After all, how can something sinful and corrupt (YOU and your faith), offer a faith to a perfect God that is sinless and un-corrupt?! At best, your personal faith in God is like a roller-coaster; up one minute and down the next! I have been there and done that, and I hate the T-shirt, too!!
Now don’t get me wrong! In one sense, part of the reason you have weak faith in God the Father, Son and Spirit is that you also have STRONG faith in something else! No person anywhere REALLY lacks faith! We either have faith in the Truth or faith in a lie, but we definitely have faith and belief in something, usually VERY STRONGLY!!
The kind of faith that the Father, Son and Spirit urges us to have in Him is like the faith my young daughter exercised one day when she asked me if she could mow the grass.
She was way too young and uncoordinated to get on the lawn tractor and mow safely, but she desperately wanted to share in MY mowing of the grass. So, what did I do? You guessed it! I lifted her up into my lap and let her “mow the grass”. She “turned the key” (yeh, right!). She “turned the wheel” (her hands on top of my hands!) She “accelerated” (by placing her little feet on my shins and banging them up pretty good!) She also bragged afterwards about how she “mowed the grass” that day! Ha-Ha!
Do you get the point??? My daughter actually did NOTHING that day, EXCEPT share in my mowing of the grass!! In fact, the truth be told, other than the love and bonding between us, she was more of a hindrance and safety hazard in mowing the grass that day! I literally did EVERYTHING! I shared my mowing of the grass with her! I shared my ability to mow the grass with her!! I also shared MY FAITH with her! Between the two of us I was the only one who knew how to mow the grass in confidence and assurance, and she got to participate in my confident assurance – MY FAITH!! She placed her faith IN ME AND MY FAITH!
That’s biblical faith!!! We are supposed to have faith IN JESUS!
In other words, we are supposed to have faith in his faith on our behalf, just like my daughter actually had faith in my faith! She wasn’t worried about a thing while I mowed, but was having loads of fun!
You and I could never work up enough faith to trust and embrace the Father, Son and Spirit – not in our sinful flesh! It’s too much of a strain and burden to bear on our sinful humanity! Many of us are burnt out on faith because our faith is misplaced! We are trying to have faith in our own faith. But the problem is that our faith is so small and corrupt that it, honestly, can NEVER really hold up to the “faith challenges” it is presented with!!
We are supposed to embrace the fact that Jesus is standing in for us!
We are not only supposed to be trusting that Jesus stood in for us (past tense), BUT, that Jesus is STILL standing in for us and is having faith FOR US – FOR YOU – FOR ME, RIGHT NOW!! It even takes Jesus to help us embrace this truth!
This is why faith in God’s Good News of grace is called a GIFT (Ep 2:8!). This is why Paul said we don’t have to worry about anything – Phillipians 4:6 – that includes our faith! This is also why the Apostle Paul wrote what he did:
For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ~ Gal. 2:19-20
Do you see?! We live by the faith OF the Son of God – Jesus!
He is having perfect faith for you and I before the Father! So be at rest and “chill”! Have your doubts, anxieties, and worries if you want (you’re going to have them anyway, you are sinful and corrupt remember?!) But as Jesus gives you grace (and He does and will share grace with you!), embrace that he is having faith for you and keep “mowing the grass” of life in His confidence!
A long time ago, the Father planned for you to be Adopted and lifted up into His Relationship in Jesus Christ! 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ literally lifted you up with all of humanity up into this relationship that He shares with His Father in the Spirit, in His ascension! You Have ALWAYS been the child the Father always wanted from the day you were born – no matter who you are – and you are seated in the heavenly places with God in Jesus!! (Ephesians 1:3-15, and 2:4-10!!!) .
Yes, the Father Son and Spirit Like you Very, Very MUCH!
In fact, God the Trinity Loves You MORE than He Loves Himself as the One True God!!! And if you cannot have faith in this true fact right now, it’s okay! Jesus is still standing in for you and having faith for you….REMEMBER?!!!
Have faith IN HIM – in Jesus – and in His ability to share His faith with you, more and more overtime!!! Look at Who He is! Look at the imaginative world he created – the cosmos (EVERYTHING!) – and let this be a sign to you that He is a Relational and Creative Genius Who can WIN YOU (not coerce or force you!) into embracing Him and His faith on your behalf!
~ Tim Brassell
Trinity and Humanity 
Great article!
I was reading up on the different translations via Bible Gateway and found this in the World Wide English KJV.
19Through the law I died. Now the law has no power over me so that I may live for God.
Most say that we died “to” the law, which is correct, but the law had it’s way over us, and we died with Jesus when he died through the law for us.
So my comment to anyone who wants to live by the Law (Old Covenant) so they won’t die, I’ll just tell them, “too late, you already died! The law got to you when Jesus died, only you died with Jesus (and Jesus died with and for you) so you might as well drop that idea. If you live by it again, it will kill you again, only Jesus will not die a second time. Have faith in the first one, trust Jesus and his faith”
Boyd
I had to leave another comment here since something came to me about faith in Christ.
Anyone who has gone swimming with us knows about our struggles with our 6yo daughter when it comes to pools. She stays on the steps and “swims”. She refuses to come out even in water that goes up to her waste, let alone further.
Even our attempts to give her flotation devices, water wings, etc, does not give her security. I try to get her out by carrying her, holding her, embracing her, encouraging her, yet she screams and yells and carries on so much that I have no choice but to stop, fearing “child abuse” accusations.
And a large pool arena does not help, with all the echoing of her screams.
She wants her “secure” pool side steps. Then claims, “when you and mommy are not looking, I swim across the steps”.
Sorry kid, that does not count!
I told her, you need to learn to trust me to carry you.
Then an epiphany came to me.
Those steps are our church, our religion. We have more faith in that than in Christ.
Those steps cannot nor is willing to save her if she took a misstep (sin in life) and fell face first into the water. In fact, those same steps may crack her head open if she hits it hard enough.
Yet, I am willing to protect her and save her if necessary if she would just trust me. Especially since most of the time, being over 6′ tall, I am standing on the floor of the pool anyway.
So seeing that, I see us struggling in church, by the pool side, sitting on the steps (pews) taking in what others are doing in freedom. We are much safer in Christs arms in the deep water than we are sitting on the steps alone.
Christ is out there, swimming, enjoying life and inviting us all to join him. Some get out there Olympic style and swim and play volleyball and have a great time! Some are hanging on to a partner, others use flotation devices and others can swim to their hearts content, but all are out there, weak and strong.
But those who sit on the side will never enjoy the real Jesus and his enjoyment of life when we do not trust him outside of our church and “reality”.
Now that is not to say church is wrong, steps are necessary to get us into the pool if we cannot dive in. But staying in one place when the purpose is to “swim” in Christ, is our danger.
Boyd
Hey Boyd! I appreciate the insight and pictures your comments have elicited! I can picture telling others “too late, you already died!” Ha-Ha! I have also felt the law “cracking” me up side the head, powerless to adopt, save and relate with me as God! Now that is a “crack up” and an “ouch” at the same time!
Our hope for redemption from our weaknesses is that wherever we are, there he is upholding and encouraging us to participate in His more fun ways! Peace, Love and Blessings!