"Faith is the Victory"

Luke 7:18-19

“The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

A question that keeps being asked, every time the gospel is proclaimed, many in our churches leave, not sure if the one they have been told about is the one to attach their hope and dreams to.  Most will acknowledge a need for something bigger than themselves, and many leave wondering is the preacher giving a factual report, or is it just doing what preachers are supposed to do? 

If so, you and John the Baptist have the question in common, for like John you are in a prison, now John has bars and a lock where yours is the deceptive prison controlled by the one John the apostle calls the thief, who has come to steal, kill, and destroy.  John cannot go where Jesus is so he seeks reports from the men who have followed and worked with him in his ministry. 

Do you recall John’s first encounter with Jesus? “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”  (John 1:29-34 ESV)  So if you have bought into the worlds system plan for life, it is not based on faith, it is centered on man’s reasoning, on what can be seen and touched, and it laughs at people of faith. 

You as a follower of Christ have the written Word of God; John had the words God had spoken to him in the wilderness.  John acted on Faith, it was the victory, faith that knows God does not lie, it cost him dearly in this world, but as one who is a follower of Christ, what would you have given to have heard Jesus proclaim: “I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John.”

Few books written by men of faith have had the impact on my life as has “Faith is the Victory” by Buell H. Kazee.  In a very low moment in his life, after preaching, teaching and believing about faith, Buell had a very large crisis of God not answering his prayers.  He does not share what it was but does share it brought shame on his life and ministry.  The following is a small part of what God said to him: “Faith is not trusting God to get something; faith is trusting God when there seems to be nothing left.  When everything is gone, with no hope of restoration; when there is nothing on which to base one’s faith; then can you still trust God?”  Buell goes on to state: “Unconsciously, I had preached that if we trust God our faith will bring the victory.  But now I saw that it rather says, “Faith IS the victory!”  And that is what the old song says, too, but I hadn’t seen it before.  So, it is not when you get what faith is asking for, that you have the victory; it is when you have faith, though everything be denied, that you have victory.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice