'Faith' is one of the most misunderstood words in the Christian's vocabulary. It is often confused with 'belief'. Faith is more than belief. A belief is a mental acceptance, personal conviction or an ideological persuasion. Wars, acts of terrorism and horrible atrocities have resulted from people going to battle with their 'beliefs'. Shameful acts of hatred have been perpetrated in the name of Christ by those who held Christian 'beliefs' but failed to exercise Christian 'faith'.

The exercise of faith is like the activity of a car's clutch. The clutch engages the power of an automobile's engine for the purpose of rotating the driving axle to turn its wheels forward or backwards. It is the power of the engine that drives the wheels, not the clutch. The clutch merely engages the power of the engine for the purpose for which it was intended. So faith is the willful trust that engages us with the power of God for the purpose of doing what He intends in our experience. Faith is only as strong as the object being trusted.

Three skaters of various degrees of faith can go out on a pond of thick ice. One is perfectly confident the ice will hold them up, the other is reasonably convinced having skated on frozen lakes before, and another, a first-timer, has such little faith that he wears a life preserver, fastens a rope to his body and ties the other end of the rope to a nearby tree before anxiously moving out onto the ice on all fours. When he discovers what the other two already have - the complete adequacy of the object trusted, he is able to relax a bit, stand up and skate. He does this not because his faith is strong, but because the object of his faith, the thick ice, is trustworthy. The first skater had the most faith, the last one had the least. But all three are equally able to skate because they avail themselves to the ability of the ice on the pond surface to support them.

The object of the Christian faith is the person and work of Christ. He has proved Himself trustworthy. His life, ministry and death fulfilled the Messianic prophecies of Scripture. His resurrection from the dead vindicated His claims. His substitutionary death can be relied upon as a sufficient payment for our sins. Not only are we reconciled to God by His death, but we can trust that His life in us through the Holy Spirit is sufficient to save us on a day to day basis (Romans 5:10). The same Jesus that died for us rose again to live in us. We receive the good of what God has done for us in Christ only when we appropriate it by faith. By faith, we get out of the Savior seat, where we were trusting in our own efforts to put ourselves in a right relationship with God, and we let Jesus sit in the Savior seat by trusting what He has done on our behalf. "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him." (Colossians 2:6). How did you welcome Christ's Lordship into your life? By faith! How do you continue to live in Him? By keeping your faith in gear!

Jesus rebuked his disciples for being of 'little faith' (Matthew 14:31; Matthew 8:26; 16:8; 17:20). He wasn't rebuking them for the little quantity of faith, but the limited duration of their faith. Their trust in Christ was not long lasting. The disciples had seen Christ's sufficiency equal every challenge. They had just participated in the miraculous multiplication of the fishes and the loaves. Peter had begun to walk on water. But when he saw the wind and the waves, his faith slipped out of gear. When faith slips out of gear we either go into neutral (natural energy, natural wisdom, sense knowledge) or reverse (fear). When faith fails to engage us with the mind, will, purpose and power of God, we slip back into the old way of living.

Jesus spoke about having "faith as small as a mustard seed." (Luke 17:6). A mustard seed is so small that you might not notice it. You might discount its potential. You might drop it or lose it. But it is very powerful and produces rapid growth of a disproportionate size, a plant that looks like a tree with great branches. Jesus was making it clear that it is not how much faith you have (quantity) but the object of what your faith is trusting in (quality). The little act of planting a tiny seed in the ground calls upon that seed to let loose its life! The mustard seed can do great things because it has the life and power to do so. The object of our faith is the good seed - Christ. The seed of the Christian life is Christ Himself! By faith Christ becomes the life-giving source of our activity and not just the 'belief' motivating it. Don't fall short of engaging the power of God to go the full distance in His plan. Continue to depend upon Him, offer Him fresh obedience and watch Him change the landscape in your life by moving mountains.

P.S. (Practical Steps)
How to keep your faith in gear:

• Focus on God's Word (Who He is, What He has done and promised Romans 10:17).
• Acknowledge Him in all your ways (Proverbs 3:6) (Without Him you can do nothing!)
• Invoke Him into action (Call upon His name- phrase found 26 times in Bible- Call upon the Lord; Psalm 50:15).
• Thank Him ahead of time (1Thessalonians 5:18; John 11:41).
• Humility of heart and mind that will let God be all that He is in you! (James 4:6).

May the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation disperse any paralyzing fog by giving you a greater knowledge of Christ (Ephesians 1:17).