What is Your Faith Rooted In?

(Colossians 2:6,7) "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." 

(Romans 12:3) "For I say through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." 

Last year I wrote a couple of posts dealing with the subject of faith.  I was stating that in the adverse times that we're facing in our world, the just must live by faith.  That's the way it has always been.  We've lived in perilous times since the days of the apostles.  The early apostles had to live by faith themselves.  They were faced with persecution.  They were thrown to the lions and tried for their faith.  The emperor Nero unmercilessly persecuted those that stood for the faith.  Those were dark days in Rome.  We're living in dark days today around the world.  Even though Christians in America haven't been persecuted yet for their faith, it could happen eventually.  As I speak, Christians are being persecuted around the world.  Christians are persecuted in communist countries and in Muslim countries, for example.  In our day we think we're being persecuted if somebody curses at us or if they make fun of our faith.  That's not persecution.  We haven't had to go underground to conduct church services.  We haven't had to have our heads chopped off because we stand for truth.  America doesn't know what persecution is.  Regardless of the age in which we're living, God's people must live by faith.

What is faith?  Faith is entrusting our lives to the Lord.  We're trusting in him to guide us through this pilgrim's journey.  Hebrews 11 is the faith chapter and it defines what faith is in the first verse and gives examples of men of faith throughout the entire chapter.  Faith is trusting that which is unseen to the naked eye.  However, when I speak of faith, I'm not making reference to blind faith.  We're not placing faith in an unmoved mover or a creed.  Those that have been redeemed by the blood possess the Holy Spirit in their hearts.  I guarantee you that the work God performs in a believer's heart isn't blind faith.  It's real and you can feel it.  God has proven himself over and over again.  We're not serving a God that's unfaithful toward us.  God's never one time lied or broken his promises to us.  Therefore we can place our faith in him.  So when we place our faith in him, it's not a blind nor misdirected faith.  God's too big for a child of God to not be able to feel him inside of us if we're born again.  He works in mysterious ways.

Sometime back I listened to a YouTube clip by the Gaithers concerning the background behind the song they penned years ago entitled, "Because He Lives."  It was penned around 1970.  They said it was a time of turmoil in America with the Vietnam War, protests, racial riots, etc.  Gloria Gaither was making the statement she heard someone saying how could a couple give birth to children given the turmoil that was taking place in the world.  Gloria commented by saying we can live the way we live because He (Christ) lives.  You can give birth to children and raise them for the glory of God because He lives.  We have a Lord that's touched by the feeling of our infirmities.  We have a God that can see us through difficult times regardless how dark the days are.  It's the Spirit of God that enables us to live for Jesus.  It's not something man can do on his own. 

If anybody says they don't have faith they are wrong because Romans 12:3 bears out the fact that God has given to every man a measure of faith.  Luke 17:6 says that if our faith is the size of a grain of mustard seed, then we can move mountains.  The issue at hand isn't so much the size of our faith but what our faith is rooted in.  Every man has faith in something.  The question is where is your faith rooted in?  Mankind--saved or lost has faith.  Some place their faith in silver and gold, Wall Street, their possessions, their business, loved ones, their pride, themselves, and the list continues.  We all place our faith in something or someone.  However, have we placed our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a result of repentance from our sins?  If we haven't, then we can't live by Biblical faith.  Faith in a child of God is produced as a result of the new birth.  Once that new birth takes place we must nurture that faith by adding to it as II Peter chapter 1 mentions.  If we don't then it becomes destitute.  Faith must be nurtured and fed in order to grow.  The reason why many of God's people are weak in their faith is because they haven't properly nourished it.  One can't be a man or woman of faith if they don't nurture that which has been birthed in them.  If you don't feed a newborn child, then he/she will starve.  The same principle goes with our faith.  In order for our faith to grow, we must nurture it.  We must add to our faith and follow the precepts and commandments of the Bible.  Otherwise, we'll be spiritually anemic. 

The problem with many professing Christians in our mainline denominations today is they've never been born again.  Their faith isn't rooted in the right source.  If you're not born again, then you won't possess the faith needed to persevere during times of trouble and persecution.  Faith in God isn't something a child of God can muster up themselves.  Saving faith is birthed by the Holy Spirit.  It's not a work of man.  It's true that a child of God must add to their faith, but that faith is produced by the Holy Spirit when a sinner turns from his sin and trusts in Jesus to save him/her.  If you're going to serve God in this wicked and untoward generation, we need to make certain that our faith is rooted in the right source--which is Jesus Christ.  If we place faith in our works, in our church, or in ourselves, then our faith is counterfeit.  We can only live victorious in a tumultous world if we've met the master.  Otherwise our faith is in vain.  And that faith will produce fruit.  It will produce good works.  That doesn't mean good works saves us.  It doesn't.  James says that faith without works is dead.  If your faith is real, there will be some visible manifestations of that faith.  That will only happen if your faith is rooted in Christ as a result of being born into the family of God.  What is your faith rooted in?  Is it in yourself, in your family, in your denomination, or in your wealth?  Ephesians 4:5 says there's one Lord, one faith, one baptism.  That faith is rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ.  If your faith isn't rooted in Christ it can be.  That only happens when a sinner repents of his sin and turns to Christ.  Nothing else will suffice.