Mark 4:39-40 (NKJV) Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”
In the above passage, Jesus rebuked the disciples for their lack of faith in Him because He had already told them, “Let us go over to the other side” (Mark 4:35). This should be the anchor and substance of their faith. Similarly, Jesus expects us to have faith in His word of instruction.
We can conclude that Jesus expected the disciples to have some level of faith after He had spoken. He expected them to believe in His Word and not doubt because faith pleases God. Likewise, we must also have faith in God in our walk of faith on earth. God wants us to be in faith whenever we pray for something, stay in faith after we receive a word of promise, and not allow doubt to derail our faith in Him.
2 Thessalonians 1:3 (NKJV) We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other,
Moreover, God doesn’t want our faith to stagnate but to grow from small to great. He wants us to have faith in His ability, faithfulness, goodness, and entirety as God. True faith comes from the heart because we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths, and we will speak forth what we believe and have convictions in our hearts. Therefore, faith must begin in the heart, but after that, we must deal with our doubts and unbelief in the mind.
We are generally uncomfortable when we cannot see, feel, or lack sufficient information about the issues at hand. Anxiety will arise until the evidence is before our eyes. Unfortunately, the Kingdom of God does not work this way. The evidence is not presented before our eyes, and everything must be done by faith in God and His Word. Thus, it can be challenging for us to believe in something unseen.
As such, we need to develop our faith muscle by exercising faith in the little things and believing in God for great things. Faith is found in the heart and not the mind. However, renewing the mind will make faith in God easier. A mind that is not renewed with the Word hinders faith in God as a Christian because it will rationalise away God’s abilities. Reason or rationalism is in the realm of the soul, which is affected by our senses. If reasoning and rationalism are elevated above the Word of God, it will deny our faith in God and His abilities.
Sermon Series: Faith cannot coexist with Doubt
心思更新
马可福音 4:39-40 耶稣醒了，斥责风，向海说：“住了吧！静了吧！”风就止住，大大地平静了。 耶稣对他们说：“为什么胆怯？你们还没有信心吗？”
在这段经文中，耶稣因门徒缺乏对祂的信心而责备他们，因为祂已经告诉他们：“我们渡到那边去”（马可福音 4:35）。这本应是他们信心的根基和内容。同样，耶稣期望我们信靠祂的话语。
我们可以得出结论，耶稣期望门徒在祂说了之后有一定的信心，祂期望他们相信祂的话语，而不是怀疑，因为信心是取悦神的。同样，我们在地上行走时，也必须在信心中生活。神希望我们在祷告时要有信心，在我们接受祂的应许后要继续持守信心，不让怀疑破坏我们对祂的信心。
帖撒罗尼迦后书 1:3 弟兄们，我们该为你们常常感谢神，这本是合宜的，因你们的信心格外增长，并且你们众人彼此相爱的心也都充足。
此外，神不希望我们的信心停滞不前，而是希望我们的信心从微小增长为伟大。祂希望我们相信祂的能力、信实、良善以及神的完全。真正的信心来自于内心，因为我们在心里相信，并用口承认，我们将说出我们所相信的，和我们心中的信念。因此，信心必须从心中开始，但之后我们必须处理心中的疑虑和不信。
当我们看不见、感觉不到，或对手头的问题缺乏足够的信息时，我们通常会感到不安。直到证据摆在我们眼前时，焦虑才会平息。不幸的是，神的国度并不是这样运作的。证据不会首先摆在我们眼前，所有的事必须通过信心来完成。因此，我们要相信看不见的事物，会变得相当具有挑战性。
因此，我们需要通过在小事上行使信心来培养我们的信心肌肉，并为伟大的事物信靠神。信心源自心中，而不是理智。然而，心思的更新将使我们更容易在神面前有信心。一个没有被神的话语更新的心思，会阻碍我们在神里的信心，因为它会理性地排斥神的能力。理性或理性主义存在于灵魂的领域，而灵魂则受我们的感官影响。如果理性和理性主义被抬高到神的话语之上，它就会否定我们对神和祂能力的信心。
讲章系列: 信心不能与怀疑共存
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