October 2007

And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
—Hebrews 11:6, NLT

Every kingdom operates on a medium of exchange. By this I am referring to what is valued as necessary for the exchanging of goods, materials or valuable items. Faith is the medium of exchange in God’s kingdom.

God has set up the system so that faith is an invaluable commodity. Anything of worth in His kingdom travels through the exchange of faith.

Salvation, for example, is granted only through faith. No amount of good works or religious activity can ever save a lost soul.

Because faith is the medium of exchange in His kingdom, God had to devise a way by which humanity could access the faith needed for any transaction. He accomplished this by offering faith as a gift. This placed it easily within reach of all people (see Eph. 2:7-8).

The Greek word used for “gift,” doron, sheds much light on the magnificence of the medium of faith. This word is always used to denote a gift freely given. The word also emphasizes the beneficiary nature of the gift. The recipient is always bettered by receiving it.

God not only freely gives us the gift of faith but also in His wisdom takes the initiative to activate it in us. Romans 10:17 says that “faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.”

This means faith is activated when we hear God speaking to us. Without hearing God’s voice we are unable to bring forth true biblical faith.

We also find that the stimulation of biblical faith in the human heart usually perpetuates crisis of belief. Why? Because God always gives us God-size assignments. He rarely asks us to do something we can do on our own.

He stretches our faith. It is not uncommon for believers to struggle with this dilemma, supposing that something is wrong with their faith. Not so!

Many assume that because faith is the medium of exchange for the kingdom it is a magic password with which we can manipulate God. This assumption is incorrect.Faith is not some kind of arm-twisting technique that forces His hand.

Faith is sometimes called the “currency of the kingdom.” Are you using the commodity that God values as necessary for the exchanging of goods, materials or valuable items?

He has given each of us a measure of faith. What are you doing with yours?

John Chasteen is the assistant dean of Southwestern Christian University Graduate School in Bethany, Oklahoma. He writes a weekly blog at heycoachjohn.com.