Showing Faith

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

SHOWING FAITH

1 Cor 12:7-11

7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.   11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

NIV

The next gift of the Spirit has been seen in various ways because this is the gift of faith. So often we see faith as that which is needed for salvation because of what Jesus said. Many times he referred to faith, such as telling the woman with the issue of blood that her faith has made her whole, or in Mark 11, when he said, have faith in God, and if one does, he is able to tell a mountain to go throw itself in the sea. Jesus also told people the reason they couldn’t do something is their having little faith. We also know that God gives every man a measure of faith and it would seem it would then be up to us to exercise it, so our faith would not be little, or weak, but rather we would have a strong faith in God. This faith is the type of faith in God and it does relate to our salvation or our relationship with God. But, then here we have a faith that is a gift of the Spirit which in relation to the rest of the gifts, is something other than the faith in God type faith. This is a gift of the Spirit for the purpose of the common good and it is manifested as he determines in whom he determines when he determines. This is some kind of supernatural faith that would build up the church in some way, for it has to be for the common good. Someone would be able to do something far beyond the normal because of being used by the Spirit to manifest this incredible amount of faith. It would have to even be a greater faith than to be able to move mountains. Of course, that teaching by Jesus has been seen as a metaphor in that there are mountains in our lives, things that are as big as a mountain, which we can overcome through faith. But he continues in that teaching that if we have faith, without doubt, anything we say and believe, it will happen, that it will be done for him. Jesus also went on to say, that anything we ask in prayer believe that we have received it and it will be ours. However, there is a condition to all that. We must forgive everyone of everything they may have offended us by doing or saying. Still, this gift of faith is far more than that kind of faith. We cannot be certain just how that looks, or whether we have even witnessed this gift manifested, but then maybe we are just no open to allow the Spirit to manifest this type of faith in us, so we hold back because we lack a fuller understanding of what would happen if this gift of faith were to show up. What would this supernatural faith cause to happen that would be for the common good? It cannot be just for one person, but it must be for the whole church. It seems this would be believing God in such a powerful way that a miracle would happen in front of everyone. But then miracles are another gift entirely. Still, something big would have to happen because of this gift of faith. On the other hand, if because Jesus said that we could ask for anything, then we should be able to ask the Spirit to manifest his gifts in us, that than would include this supernatural faith so as to do something that would build up the whole church. Still, it is up to Him to determine the manifestation of His gifts, but we certainly can ask to be used, and He would certainly take that as an opening to exhibit himself within us and through us to show faith.