What is your faith in God based on?

Let me ask you a question. I assume you believe in God. I assume you have faith in Him. But I still need to ask this question. What is your faith in God based on? Is it based on what God does or who God is?

A person with A Faith Based on What God Does lives by the unspoken motto: I believe God as long as He does what I ask. Your faith is built on how often and how well God answers prayers. Such “faith” depends on results and is fueled by sight.

Faith in what God does is your ticket to ride a roller coaster that ascends the hill during times when God’s activity is obvious and then barrels down the hill the moment God seems inactive. The process never stops.

What is wrong with basing your faith on the obvious works of God, on what He’s doing?

What about those times when God does not work according to your requests or expectations? What about those times when He obviously allows your loved one with cancer to glorify Him through restoration in heaven and not on earth? What happens to your faith when a child dies? If your faith is based on what God is doing, you are in for the scariest ride of your life. You are in for a constant up and down, manic depressive relationship with Him.

Genuine Faith is Based on Who God Is and it walks steadfastly with God for the pleasure of His company not for His results. God does not call upon us to seek His works. He calls upon us to seek His heart!

Why is faith based on who God is a faith not greatly moved? Because it focuses on a God who is not greatly moved! It increases our understanding of His ways. Understanding who He is will help us more accurately interpret what He does.

You see, what God appears to be doing changes constantly from our perspective. He may heal one person while He calls the other home. He may be glorified in the poverty of one and the riches of another. He will likely exalt you one year and humble you the next. Our entire lives are lent to change. But who He is will never change. As He reveals Himself to you, He remains the same. In the midst of a society where the only thing you can count on is that you can’t count on anything, God is your guarantee. His faithfulness flows from who He is. To please Him, our faithfulness must do the same.

Then you may be wondering, “So, Is it wrong to ever expect God to move in an obvious or miraculous way?”

Friend, if you could just comprehend that a faith based on who God is frees Him completely to show us what He can do! It’s all a matter of the focus of our faith. Right motives invite real miracles.