“But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:32).
What a thing for Jesus to say—He has prayed for you. It reminds me that Jesus is sitting on the right hand of the Father, right now, making intercession for you.
Is faith enough? That is a hard question. Now, understand I’m not minimizing faith or diminishing the power of faith. Faith is necessary. Without faith there is no way we can be saved. “…without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
Faith is necessary. But I asked, “Is faith enough?” Let’s look to what James, the first General Overseer said.
“14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works” (James 2:14-18).
Is faith enough? James says what good is faith if it doesn’t have works to back it up. Can faith save you? As much as I appreciate my faith, there must be more. We must be willing to give up and do something about our faith. Faith alone is not going to get the work done.
Jude said, we must “…earnestly contend for the faith…” (Verse 3). Synonyms of the word “contend” are fight, wrestle, and war. The word contend is a verb—an action word. If we are going to contend for the faith, then we are going to have to act. We can “Amen” the preacher all day long, but faith is more than nodding our head, we must contend for the faith. We are going to have to get up and move. The faith that we are fighting for is going to take work. No matter where we come from around the globe, we must be willing to get up and fight for the faith “…which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). Again, our faith must not fail; we must fight for it. We must be willing to stand up and be counted as one of His.
Mark gave this faith filled account in chapter five:
“25 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, 26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, 27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. 28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. 29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. 30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? 31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?” (Verses 25-31).
This woman spent all of her money and she became worse. Jesus asked “Who touched me?” This woman in the Bible pushed through. She was sick, probably frail. She had spent all of her money and was probably discouraged. You may be poor, sick, and discouraged today, but Jesus knows your faith.
This woman knew that if she could just get to Him, she could be healed. Jesus said, “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” She didn’t just sit on the sidelines and say, “God, I have faith. Come heal me. Oh, Lord I believe in You.” I have an image of this woman pushing through the crowd to touch the hem of His garment.
We must get up from where we are and push through whatever the enemy has put in front of us. Your faith is not going to last if you do not push through. We’ve got to get where Jesus is. There will be obstacles, people, who will stand in our way. We can’t sit on the sidelines anymore and expect to receive.
If I must crawl, then I’m going to get on my knees to get to Jesus. If it means having to climb, I’m going to find my way over that wall to Jesus. If it means I’m going to have to fight, I’m going to fight through my circumstances to Jesus. I’m not going to let my Healer, Savior, Deliverer, Interceder pass by without getting what I need from Him. Your faith will not last if you do not push through. Jesus said, “I have prayed for you.” Then, He said, “That thy faith fail not.” Time is not a factor with God. Straightway the woman’s body was healed. She didn’t sit back. You may be having a rough year, but I know a Man who can take care of that. But it will require you to do some pushing through to get to Him.
James essentially says, “Show me your works and I will show you my works by my faith.” I believe we must contend, fight, and protect the faith to get to where Jesus is.
Daniel was a man of faith. His faith didn’t fail. Daniel didn’t put up a fight as they took him to the lions’ den. “My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt” (Daniel 6:22). What a man of faith! His faith didn’t start when the proclamation was signed. “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime” (Daniel 6:10). Daniel was preparing before the lions’ den.
If you want your faith not to fail, you have to prepare, now. Daniel opened his windows to pray. He didn’t hide under a blanket, he prayed as he always had—three times a day. It isn’t a matter of if, but when, we will contend for the faith.
I wasn’t very good in school. I hated to study. I would go to school, listen, and get by. I never studied until it was time for a test, then I crammed. My mom would yell at me at midnight. That doesn’t work with God. He wants us to prepare now for what is coming, “That thy faith fail thee not.”
Think about the word exercise. To stay healthy physically, we must exercise, daily, not once a year. The same is true in the spiritual, I must exercise my faith, daily. We must put in the time, just like Daniel. When persecution came, when he was in front of the lions, he was able to prevail because he exercised, daily. Take the time now!!! Exercise your faith now.
The last thing I want to do is get out of my comfort zone, but sometimes that’s what it takes to exercise our faith. It may mean giving God some extra time. It may be speaking to someone when you do not feel like it or when you don’t feel like you have time. It may mean giving extra money to missions or fasting a meal for our missionaries on the field. Whatever He asks of you, do it, exercise your faith. We cannot sit on the sidelines; we cannot have faith and do nothing with it. If we do, we will ultimately fail.
If we are going to contend for the faith, we can’t have sideline Christians anymore. We can’t say we have faith and do nothing. If we live like that, we will fail. Satan desires to sift us as wheat (Luke 22:31), he wants us to fail, give up, turn around. Please remember, Jesus prayed for you. He is making intercession in your behalf that your faith does not fail. He wants you to do your part—that’s your responsibility. Aren’t you thankful for the faith? I am.
