Kathryn Kuhlman: Faith Is More Than Belief
Our emotions and desires are often mistaken for faith and it is so easy to blame God when there are no results from something that has been purely of the mind and not of the heart.
One of the most difficult things in the world is to realize that faith can be received only as it is imparted to the heart of God Himself.
It cannot be manufactured. No matter how much we nurture and cultivate that spirit the world interprets as faith, it will never grow into the type of faith that was introduced by Jesus.
When we come to our salvation, it is still a matter of faith and, again, He gives us His faith to believe. “Yet to all who received Him, He gave the power to become sons of God, to those who believed in His name” (John 1:12).
The same Holy Spirit who convicts the sinner of his sin and sees to it that he is given enough conviction to convince him of his sin, will provide faith enough to convince him of his salvation.
But no man in himself possesses that faith. It is given him by the same One who gives the faith for our physical healing: the Author and Finisher of our faith—Christ Jesus!
With Him there is no struggle!
How often in a miracle service I have seen conscientious people struggling, straining, demanding that God give them the healing for their body, and yet there was no answer.
We can believe in healing! We can believe in our Lord and His power to heal. But only Jesus can work the work that will lift us to the mountain peaks of victory. We have made faith a product of a finite mind when all of the other gifts of the Spirit we have attributed to God.
To many people, however, faith is still their own ability to believe a truth, and is merely based on their struggles and their ability to drive away doubt and unbelief through a process of continued affirmations.
There is belief in faith, but faith is more than belief.
Faith is a gift. Jesus is our faith, and the Giver of every good and perfect gift is from the Author and Finisher of our faith.
Active faith is unquestioning belief, trust and reliance upon God with all confidence. Faith can become as real as any of our senses.
When we receive His faith we also receive understanding. Everything that God has for His children He puts within the reach of faith, then He turns around and gives them the faith to appropriate the gift.
Then Jesus spoke. With Him there is no struggle and the waves of doubt and anxiety and worry all fade away and a glorious and marvelous calm and peace enter into the heart and mind of the one who has received that which only He can give.
The only noise will be that of praise and adoration from the lips of the one who has just been healed by the Great Physician.
