Faith Requires Love's Foundation

Mark 6:5-6 “Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.  (6)  And He marvelled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.”

Just as faith will allow us to receive from God so it is that unbelief will prevent us from receiving from God. When our Lord Jesus walked in the flesh, everywhere He went He healed the sick and cast out demons, for the scripture teaches us that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38). Nevertheless there was one town that Jesus ministered in where He was unable to perform any miraculous healings, which was His home town of Nazareth. In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit reveals to us that our Lord “could” do no mighty work there, speaking about His hometown of Nazareth. And so when Jesus left that town, the blind people in that town were still blind. The lame and cripple people remained lame and crippled. The deaf in that town were still deaf. And yet in every other town where Jesus ministered they experienced great miracles. Some even had their dead raised back to life, but not the town of Nazareth. So why is it that Jesus was unable to perform any miracles of healing in the town in which He grew up? It was certainly God’s will to heal every disease in that town, for we have already seen that Jesus was anointed by God to do that very thing. And so God didn’t prevent them from receiving His healing power and Jesus didn’t prevent God’s healing power from flowing through Him. This same passage of scripture reveals to us that it was their own unbelief that prevented them from receiving from God and nothing else, for the scripture declares that Jesus marvelled at their unbelief. And so we see that just as faith will allow us to receive from God, so it is that unbelief will prevent us from receiving from God. We saw earlier that Jesus also taught us the same truth, for He taught us that the one who has faith and does not doubt will receive from God (Matthew 21:21-22), thus clearly implying that the one who doubts and does not believe will not receive from God.

James 1:6-8 “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.  (7) For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; (8) he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

Doubt and unbelief are synonymous terms. We have already looked at the above quoted passage of scripture when we discussed the concept of becoming fully convinced in our minds. Nevertheless it is worthwhile to quote this passage of scripture in this section as well, because in this passage the Holy Spirit very clearly tells us that those who doubt can be assured that they will receive nothing from the Lord. In other words their prayers will go unanswered, for if Jesus could not heal the sick in His hometown of Nazareth because of their unbelief, then He will also not be able to answer any prayers offered to Him in doubt and unbelief, it is that simple.

Galatians 5:6 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.”

There is one other area that will prevent our faith from working, which is when we are not walking in love. In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit teaches us that our faith works through love. In other words if we are not walking in love, then our faith can no longer work for us. So why is that? Well you will recall that the doctrine is called faith toward God, which means that our faith is in the supernatural power of God. And so if we are not walking in love then we are no longer walking in fellowship with God, for God is love, and those who are out of fellowship with God cannot expect Him to hear and answer their prayers.

1 John 3:21 “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.”

The above quoted passage of scripture plainly declares that that if our hearts do not condemn us then we have confidence toward God. In other words we can exercise our faith in God and in His power. When believers are walking outside of love however, their hearts will condemn them and they therefore no longer have confidence toward God. Without confidence toward God it is impossible to exercise faith in God’s power. And so there is no getting around it, not walking in love will prevent your faith from working. So if you are out of love toward anyone, repent and get back into love as quickly as possible, for as soon as you do, your faith will begin to work for you once again.

Michael E.B. Maher

Faith Toward God

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